Chapter 16

chapter 16

‘It’s about time for him to burnout from studying.’

Raynard has already been studying for more than a month. During his lessons, he clenched his teeth and slapped his cheeks to fight off the exhaustion dawning on him. He gave his undivided attention in his tutoring sessions and he was such a diligent student that never made any excuses nor underhanded tactics just to avoid his classes.

Rather, he was the type who would stay up late at night and sacrifice his sleep just to finish his incomplete assignment.

Even though he never expressed his feelings explicitly, the fatigue had obviously caught up to him. ly, he had lived freely without any responsibilities. However, his life suddenly did a 180 degree which definitely added an unspeakable amount of stress for a child like him. Irena understood the gravity of the situation he was facing.

In fact, when she was in Korea, she also lived more freely. However, when she reincarnated, she too had to go through all the formalities of being a noble and had experienced difficulties.

‘Let’s see, shall we grant your wish today?’

At that moment, Betsy, who had left earlier to grab some snacks, arrived. She brought along iced fruit drinks and chilled pudding.

“Betsy, are there any cool, shaded areas nearby to play in?”

“A place to play?”

Raynard, who had been eyeing the pudding longingly, suddenly raised his hand like he had caught on to what Irena was thinking.

“It’s so hot, so we want to go to the river and swim!”

“Swim in the river?”

Betsy’s eyes widened quickly after hearing his answer, but quickly switched into a serious expression as she started to ponder.

“There’s no river. However, there is a lake at the outskirts of the city. I heard that a lot of people go there to relax in their boats. But the weather is terribly hot, I don’t know if it’s possible for us to visit.”

“We can just take these.”

Raynard held the cold drink and a few ice cubes fell into his embrace. The moment he shouted, “Ah, it’s cold!” Betsty took the ice cubes from him and looked back at him. A small laughter erupted from her.

Raynard embarrassingly scratched the back of his neck before carefully moving closer to Irena’s side.

“Irena, are you going to go to the lake?”

“Do you want to go?”

Usually, he would nod his head immediately. This time, however, he thought about it deeply before planting his head on Irena’s shoulder. Seeing as he did whatever he wanted by rubbing his face on Yurina’s shoulders, she took it upon herself by poking his head away from her.

“What’s wrong?”

He firmly placed his head back onto Irena’s shoulder.

“Can we really go? I still have lessons left.” he mumbled.

“Magic lessons?”

“Yeah.”

“If you didn’t have any lesson to attend to, would you want to go?”

“Of course.”

Finally, Raynard quietly responded and requested something he wanted to do with Irena. As a matter of fact, it was burning hot and here he was sitting so close that she could feel his body heat radiating off of him.

Every time he took a breath, she felt the heat near her neck and shoulders from where his face lied, resting on her shoulder.

Irena slightly frowned before using both her hands to grab his shoulders, pushing him away.

“It’s hot. Move over a bit. Betsy, tell Dave that he’ll join us going to the lake. After that, help me and Ray for the outing. Also, make sure to pack more snacks. Betsy, let’s go together.”

“Are we really going to go?”

“We aren’t going to play. I’m going to tell Dave to have your lesson by the lake.”

“Yay!”

As she told him, she made sure to add that he was still going to take his lesson. However, not knowing what made him so happy, he raised both his hands to the ceiling and screamed.

“I’m going to make sure you take your lesson there.”

“I know. Still, I’m happy.”

Smiling brightly, Raynard picked up the vest he had thrown on the ground earlier and put it back on. Getting ready to depart, he ran to his room.

‘He likes it that much?’

Irena was hot and tired and continued to sit on the couch. From the hallway, she heard his footsteps reverberate and a sigh escaped from her.

After sitting there for a while, Raynard came back with new, soft clothes and even wore a hat. He urged her to pack up what she needed and finally left to go back to his room.

“Woah, this is a lake?”

As soon as Raynard got off the carriage, his eyes enlarged in astonishment and he stared at the lake excitedly. In order to avoid the heat, there were a lot of people at the lake.

In Irena’s stead, Betsy replied with a chuckle.

“Yes, this is the city’s largest lake called Leman Lake. Isn’t it fascinating?”

“Yeah! This is my first time seeing a lake. Back in my hometown, we had a river instead.”

Raynard had no idea that a river and lake would be so different. He went to the shore and splashed around with his hands. Afterward, he cupped some water in his hands, ready to splash them to Irena. To avoid him, she hid behind Dave who was tall enough to cover her.

There’s no way Raynard could splash his teacher in an attempt to get to Irena. He let out a disappointed sound as he poured the water to the ground.

After rummaging around, Betsy gave Irena an umbrella and shortly after, gave one to Raynard as well. His was yellow in color that reminds someone of a baby chick. He told her that it didn’t fit his style, so he returned the umbrella back to Betsy.

“The sunlight’s going to give you a sunburn. Even if I put cucumbers later at night on your face, it’s going to sting. Since today’s sun rays are strong, I recommend using the umbrella.”

After hearing that, he finally took the umbrella. However, perhaps because of the flower embroidery, he couldn’t handle it anymore. He reluctantly put the umbrella over his head with a long face.

“Isn’t there anything besides this?”

“Except for the one Lady Irena is using, that’s the only one we have. You have no choice.”

“It fits you. Don’t you think so too?”

Standing in the back, Dave finally came towards the lake and kept looking back and forth between Raynard and the umbrella. When he finally stopped, he started to laugh and ruffled Raynard’s hair.

In normal situations, Raynard would’ve immediately fixed his hair but instead glared at the umbrella.

Dave couldn’t help it anymore. He lightly tapped the center of the umbrella as it started to shift to a black color. Betsy, who was busy fixing Irena’s clothes, realized halfway through the color shift and screamed.

“Magic Teacher!”

“Ah, I only temporarily changed the color of the umbrella with magic. It’ll go back to its original state in three to four hours so don’t worry about it too much.”

“You should’ve told me ahead of time. You surprised me.”

Whether those two kept talking or not, Raynard, who was equally as surprised, took both hands and raised the completely black umbrella and started spinning it. He raised his hand and tapped the inside of the umbrella.

“I wish I could use magic like that soon too.”

With sincerity, he spoke his inner thoughts. Irena took her pink umbrella and closed it. She then poked his hands.

“You’ll be able to do it.”

“Do you really think I can do it?”

“I believe so.”

“I’m still not so sure myself.”

“Why? Dave said you’ve been doing well.”

She wasn’t just saying that to make him feel better. Dave told Irena himself that Raynard’s ability was hard to believe. When he first met Raynard, as he was testing him, he was aware that he had a lot of potential. However, now that he was teaching him personally, he believed that he would surpass his expectations.

‘Beatus’ wasn’t just a legend anymore. It seemed to be the truth. Raynard attending and studying in Crohn Academy was something she was looking forward to. She was curious as to how he was going to grow.

Of course, it’s only been a month since he’s been studying basic magic so there was no real way to measure his magic abilities. Even so, Dave is expecting that his abilities will improve.

However, the one who was most frustrated was Raynard.

“Even so, I still don’t really know how to do anything. Teacher uses magic with ease. Is it possible for me to be able to do the same?”

“Definitely.”

“When exactly?”

“You just started learning how to use magic. Did you seriously think you would already be able to use magic just like that?”

Irena poked the center of his forehead. She didn’t use that much strength to cause any harm, yet Raynard carefully rubbed his forehead and acted as if it was painful.

“I know it doesn’t hurt. Anyways, standing here is hot. Let’s get on the boat now.”

“Yeah, let’s do that!”

Raynard smiled brightly and nodded his head in agreement. He took Irena’s hand and tightly grasped it. She wondered whether it was because of her body exposed to the extreme heat or simply because they were holding hands, and his hands in particular were burning, that it suddenly felt hotter.

However, Irena did not convey her thoughts and instead followed her servant to the boat they had prepared.

“Raynard, among the natural elements, water holds the most mana. You remember that from last week’s lesson, right?”

When Irena told Dave to hold a lesson at the lake, she wasn’t joking around. The moment Dave heard from Irena that they weren’t there to play, but rather take a field trip, he diligently started his lesson.

He even brought a magic textbook. Raynard, who was mentally prepared to relax freely and eat snacks, stopped himself and frowned.

“I feel like I’ve been deceived.”

Irena didn’t get a chance to eat her pudding earlier in the study room. She took one bite before shrugging her shoulders.

“What do you mean deceived? The lesson was set in stone. I clearly told you.”

“Still, I didn’t think a lesson would actually happen.”

“If you finish quickly, you can play. Concentrate and listen. If you do, it’ll end before you know it. I specifically asked Dave to cut the lesson shorter today.”

He stared at her dejectedly with his puppy eyes. However, she acted as if she didn’t see him and took several more bites of her pudding. Giving up his act, he turned his body to face Dave.

“Yes, I remember. That’s why even if you use the same magic throughout all of the natural elements, water will have the strongest power and reaction.”

“You remembered it well. That’s why whether it’s a river or a lake, you can use a broad or large magic spell.”

“What about valleys?”

“The results are the same.”

Raynard, who complained about studying earlier, was now fully concentrating on Dave’s words and could barely use the umbrella properly. Still opened, the umbrella eventually moved to an area of the boat and lied there without use. Under the strong rays of the sun, Irena could the sweat brim on Raynard’s forehead. In response, she shared her umbrella and leaned over to cover his head. As a result, her left shoulder was exposed and gradually grew hotter. However, she could endure at least this much heat.

Raynard faithfully brought the ice that wouldn’t melt by his side. Because he liked the coolness the ice provided, throughout the lesson, Raynard would randomly and mindlessly touch it.

With his cool palms, he would reach for his warm forehead and cheeks and then go right back to the ice and hold onto it. He did this several times.

Irena closed her eyes and raised her head. Because she was sharing more than half of her umbrella with Raynard, her eyes were out in the open for the sunlight to hit them. It didn’t bother her though. In the surrounding area, the other boats that were out on the lake resonated with children’s laughter.

“This is nice.”

After a long time, she was experiencing a peaceful day. In fact, it’s been a while since Irena was able to relax like this.

Before meeting Raynard, she was still adapting to her new life and trying to search for him. Then she brought him home. After that, she’s been taking care of him. Recently, she was attending his lessons with him. She had no time for a break with how busy she was.

As she sat there with her eyes closed, she suddenly felt her cheeks turn cold and flinched. She opened her eyes.

Right in front of her face, she saw Raynard’s red eyes. Their eyes met and Raynard’s eyes lit up and he smiled brilliantly.

“It’s cool, right?”

“Huh?”

“If I do this, it feels cool.”

The hands that were on Irena’s cheeks left as they reached for the ice once again to rub against it. From the coldness of the ice, his eyes twitched a bit as he continued to knead the ice until his hands turned red and he returned his palms back to Irena’s cheeks.

She flinched once more because it felt as if the ice was directly touching her cheeks. She closed her eyes and slightly moved her shoulders.

From her closed eyes, Raynard let out an innocent laughter.

“It’s cool, right? It’s cool, right?”

“Yeah, it’s cool.”

“It was the right choice to bring this. If I didn’t, we would’ve been burnt.”

He rubbed the ice once more and lightly slapped his cheeks before returning to Irena’s cheek with a strong grip.

Squish, squish. It felt as though he was touching mixed flour since Yurina’s cheeks were so soft. The corners of his lips raised.

“The lesson is over. Really, it’s fine to play now.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Irena opened her eyes the moment she felt his hands leave her face. In that short time, Raynard approached the edge of the boat and dipped both his hands in the lake. He leaned forward and from where Betsy was standing, it looked dangerous. Shocked, she immediately grabbed his shirt.

Splash, splash. He was hitting the surface of the water and sprinkled on his face. Irena wiped off the water that had hit her face too and considered scolding him to stop, yet she held back and decided not to. Instead, she approached his side and sat down. She reached with her right hand and splashed some water to him.

“Ah, it’s cold!”

Raynard yelled as he tried to block his face from the chilly water. He quickly reacted by dunking his hands in the water and readied himself to get back at her. The moment he turned to face her, he was struck by Irena’s dazzling smile and was stopped in his tracks. The water just slipped through his finger.

“What are you doing Ray?”

Irena braced herself to block the water with her umbrella, but saw the blank stare that came across his face. When he finally came to he waved his hands around to dry as Betsy came by with glasses of juice.

“I got dizzy from the heat.”

He told her that it was due to studying under this heat as he ate his snack as if he was preparing for war.

His eyes looking at the ground.