Chapter 24

chapter 24

Yurina lifted her hand over her head and slowly rubbed the bracelet.

In Raynald’s eyes, Yurina’s white wrist and red ruby ​​seemed to go better than his red eyes and ruby ​​brooch. The combination of white and red was very pretty.

Yurina, who was looking at the bracelet around the candle light, smiled with her hands neatly.

“Thank you, Ray. It’s pretty.”

“You’re welcome.”

Raynald gaze was down because he couldn’t see her eyes for some reason. He looked down at the transparent and white wrists that showed blue veins, and strangely, he felt his neck was hot and itchy.

The finger that touched Yurina’s hand also felt like it was hot as if it had caught a well-baked egg potato. Rather, her hands were a little cooler than hot.

The two have been silent for a long time. Yurina shut her mouth looking at her wrist and bracelet in her hand, and Raynald couldn’t speak because he was trying to calm his belly down.

“I’m asking because I’m really curious.”

Yurina broke the silence that had been going on for a while and opened her mouth.

“How did the kid, who was burdened with the brooch I bought for him, think of buying this for me?”

She was genuinely puzzled. Raynald had received more than a certain amount of pocket money every month because of Carthia’s sponsorship, but he probably hasn’t collected enough money to buy the luxury bracelet yet.

Of course, even if it wasn’t pocket money, this much could be bought for him by the Carthia family if he wanted it.

But Raynald still felt burdened by the Carthia’s excessive favor. But how did he willingly tell Betsy that he wanted to buy her a present with the money of the Carthia family?

“The Marquis said it was my birthday, so he asked me to tell him anything I wanted.”

“A birthday present? Did you say you wanted to buy this for your birthday?”

Raynald nodded, looking at Yurina’s puzzled face.

“Yes.”

“Ray, thank you for the present, but you should buy what you want for your birthday. It’s only your birthday once a year.”

He could answer the remark without hesitation.

“This is what I want.”

Yurina rejoices, so smiling face to face with him. That’s all he wants to see the most on this happy birthday.

Yurina shut her mouth for a moment at his reply and gently rubbed the ruby bracelet with her fingertips, showing him the pretty smile he wanted.

“Thanks again, Ray. It’s really pretty. It’s as pretty as your eyes.”

It was strange. I’ve always seen this smile, but my heart was pounding so hard today.

It’s really strange. Even though I was embarrassed of her smile, my heart wasn’t this full.

The first unfamiliar feeling was embarrassing, and Raynald hurriedly put his hand on his left chest.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

A small heart beat senselessly. He held his breath to calm the heart of his own free will.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

His heart beat a little faster and stronger. Raynald lowered his head and glared at the invisible heart. This is a demand.

“Ray?”

Yurina asked with a puzzled look, but he was no longer confident of facing her gaze. His eyes, unaware of his inner affairs, were ashamed.

If I could, I wanted to hide in a hole and avoid that gaze. I felt burdened to be in the same space with her.

‘But….’

Ironically, another impulse came at the same time.

I wanted to keep looking at Yurina’s eyes. I had to go to bed soon, but I wanted to stay with her a little longer.

I want to hold hands like this, take classes every day, practice dancing, and joke around. I wanted to be next to her like this.

A few months later, I had to leave for the academy where she and Dave were preparing hard for admission, but suddenly I thought I didn’t want to leave.

Even with children from the orphanages, who had been living together in the same room for more than a year, broke up without regret, and now I was afraid to part ways with Yurina, who had been together for only three months.

I can meet a lot of new people at the academy, but what does it matter? Because there’s no Yurina in it. She would stay here laughing at me and practicing writing with me.

“Yurina.”

I don’t want to go to the academy. Can’t I just stay here with you like this? You can work harder here. I will learn magic harder with my teacher, too. I can stay by your side and protect you from now on.

Raynald swallowed it up from inside his throat, looking at the blue eyes that looked at him. He crave his earnest hope back into his throat.

*****

As she read in the book, the winter of that year had a stronger cold wave than ever before. It was her first winter here, but Yurina was able to fully agree that this winter is one of the coldest in history.

Since there is no instrument that can accurately measure the temperature here, an absolute comparison cannot be made. But considering the temperature, it felt much colder than in Korea. It was the case even when the Carthia’s mansion had enough firewood without worrying about the budget.

‘It’s so cold.’

She shuddered with a sudden surge of chills and wrapped a thick shawl around her shoulder. She took a sip of the tea Betsy brought her earlier to warm up, but it didn’t work well because she got so tired. On the contrary, she felt her body shudder again.

“Is it that cold?”

Raynald, who was doing the assignment Dave gave him, looked at Yurina, who was shaking in front of the fireplace.

Yurina was amazed that he was fine even wearing an indoor uniform. On the other hand, he looked at Yurina and said, ‘She has grown so fine that she can feel this cold’.

‘That sounds a bit right.’

Unlike the dwarf, who seems likely to live with a cold, Raynald was not surprisingly cold. Perhaps because of the lack of tremor, he grew up in the bitter cold every year and got used to it.

On the other hand, Yurina, who always wore an electric pad in Korea, couldn’t stand the cold when the electric pad disappeared. Her possessed body of Yurina was also very weak because she would always be cared for with utmost care.

“Yes, it’s cold.”

As Yurina curled up and barely mumbled, Raynald looked at her and held his tongue. He put down the strange magic tool he was doing his homework and came up to her and sat down.

“I’ve never seen a child as cold as you. Where I used to live, the kids were playing outside wearing thin clothes.”

He gently rubbed the teapot that had been lukewarm with his palm. Soon, white steam rose from the kettle as if it had just been brewed.

Yurina carefully drank the hot tea he was following. The warm feeling of going down the esophagus made her back warm.

“Thank you.”

“This is nothing.”

Raynald shrugged lightly. Even though it was an act that seemed arrogant, he nodded his head because he had the ability to match it.

Yurina grabbed the glass with both hands and stared closely at Raynald, who began to do his homework again.

Suddenly, he grew up to think he was a nobleman if someone saw him who didn’t know his origin. There was dignity even in the hand movements of writing and the hand movements which flowed down his forehead when he turned his hair back.

For international students from all over the world in the academy did not need to be proficient in royal language. But the royal language was somewhat learned to prevent any inconvenience in living in the kingdom. According to Dave, Raynald also learned all the basic magic theories.

He is already ready to leave for the academy. Now it remains only to accept the admission from the academy.

Yurina looked at him and looked out the window. As soon as the first snow would come, the sky was white.

It was a perfect winter. That meant the time had come for Raynald to leave for the kingdom soon. It was what she had hoped for, but her heart was heavy as if she had a stomachache.

‘I think it’ll be empty when Ray leaves for the academy.’

Yurina looked at Raynald’s side and closed her eyes.

*****

One day in winter when the first snow fell.

A carriage without a pattern ran vigorously toward Carthia’s mansion in the middle of the capital. Even though the snow would have piled up and the floor would be slippery, the carriage would not slow down, nor would the wheels slip and stagger.

Yurina, who was watching the snow hanging from the window with Raynald, narrowed her eyes to see a suspicious carriage.

‘Whose guests from this morning?’

Then, I suddenly get up from my seat, realizing that I had a guest who could come at this time.

“Yurina?”

She led Raynald’s hand looking up at herself with a mysterious face and came out on the first floor alone. As if the expectations were correct, the Marquis of Carthia and Dave were coming out before her to greet the guest.

There were five guests in all. Three of them were guards, with swords on their sides, and the other two were wearing wizard robes.

As soon as the five people first greeted the Marquis of Carthia, Dave smiled brightly and hugged the shoulder of the man standing at the front of the guests.

“Welcome. How long has it been since I saw you?”

Judging from his expression and tone of speech, he did not seem to have known each other for a day or two. The man also responded with a bright smile.

“It’s been 10 years since you ran away from the academy.”

“Didn’t we meet once after that?”

“Oh, we did. Then, is it the first time in about five years? Anyway, Dave. It’s a lot of luck getting out of the Academy and back to the Empire.”

“Haha, your face looks like 20 years older. I think it’s hard to be a professor.”

The man, believed to be Dave’s age, looked in his early thirties, apparently exhausted from the long journey, though his face was dull.

It must have been a joke to see you in your own age, but it didn’t sound like a joke to me because it came out of Dave’s mouth, who looked like he was in his twenties.

Whether the man felt what Yurina felt, he frowned at once and punched Dave on the shoulder.

“This guy. The joke doesn’t sound like a joke because you said that.”

“Oh, my God. I’m not kidding. I meant it. Why don’t you come out of the academy now? I’m sure the Marquis Carthia will accept you if I speak well.”

“I’m telling you, my goal is to educate juniors. Who’s going to teach the students if they leave school like you? So where’s the rumored boy?”

The man raised his hand over the eyebrows and looked around. Just when Yurina and Carthia’s gaze met, Marquis Cartia called the two young child.

“You’ve come down well. Yurina, Raynald. Come here.”

As the two approached each other, a strange man showed courtesy and kissed Yurina on the back of her hand.

“Nice to meet you for the first time. I’m Jeremy Hutson, professor of magic theory at the Royal Academy of Crohn.”

“I’m Yurina Carthia. Nice to meet you, too. You seem to have met Dave. Are you an academy colleague?”

“Yes, I am.”

“My skills are much better, young lady.”

When Dave broke in with a smiley voice, Professor Hutson, who had a good face, first hardened his face when he saw him.

“What do you mean? Don’t you know that my grades are better than yours?”

“These grades that those boring professors are evaluating are good for you, but aren’t you even aware that my skills are better?”

The two men, who had always been close to each other during their teenage years at the academy, fought back and forth just like teenage boys. As this seemed to have no end, Yurina stood next to Raynald with her arms folded.

“You said you were from the Academy, right? So are you here to see Ray? Dave once told me that people might come from the Academy to see Ray in person.”

Before speaking, Professor Hutson’s head quickly returned to Raynald.

“Oh, Dave! This boy is the one you talked about…..”

“That’s right.”

He lifted up the glasses that had slipped down with his trembling hand and snapped at Raynald’s hand. Despite his rude and petty behavior, Raynald only slightly hardened his face, and did not make a fuss about letting go.