Chapter 159

2. Aiden’s Observation of Reynard

Year 467 of the Imperial calendar, Spring, Reynard 13 years old.

Reynard, who was scribbling notes in his book dryly, looked out of the window with his chin propped up. Aiden, who was half-listening and half-ignoring the professor’s lecture, sighed when he saw his friend like this.

‘He’s like that again.’

It was already the third day since Reynard, who couldn’t even drink a drop of water, lost his energy and became listless like a sapling.

Whenever he had a chance, he would stare blankly at the sky, and even when Aiden tried to talk or play jokes, he just pretended to listen and react. He used to respond grumpily, but consistently.

His face, which was already slender, became even more gaunt as he barely ate. At this point, it was only natural for Aiden to worry about his friend.

Of course, Aiden could fully understand Reynard’s feelings. Not only Reynard, but all the freshmen who suddenly had to live in a dormitory away from their families became depressed with homesickness after admission.

Even now, more than half of the students sitting in the classroom were looking gloomy.

That was something even positive Aiden agreed on.

He had always wanted to come to the capital from his rural territory, so he was busy exploring here and there during the day, but at night, when things got sentimental, he missed his family and felt mixed up.

Those little siblings of his, who only chirped like sparrows, why were they so precious?

The real problem was that he didn’t know how to get his friend back on his feet.

Unlike Aiden, who openly spoke about everything from family stories to trivial stories about his rural territory, Reynard rarely spoke about personal matters.

The only thing he had said was about his sponsor when they first met. Of course, he didn’t even know what Reynard liked or disliked.

‘He might feel better if he makes more friends.’

Children suffering from homesickness tried to shake off thoughts of their families by sticking with friends as much as possible, and Aiden was one of them.

It would have been better if Reynard interacted more actively with friends, but he was indifferent even to the children who showed interest first.

As a result, Aiden was the only one who had a proper conversation with him. Even so, it was possible because Aiden didn’t care about his sour response and stuck with him.

There was a time when he felt good thinking that he was his only friend, but not now. Aiden thought Reynard needed more friends.

“Hey, Reynard.”

As Aiden tapped on his shoulder, Reynard, who had been staring out the window, slowly turned his head. Instead of opening his mouth, he asked with his eyes, ‘What is it, why are you calling me?’

“Let’s go eat some snacks after class. Nathan says the walnut pies they sell in the cafeteria are really delicious. I haven’t tried it, so you probably haven’t either, right? We always hang out together. Let’s have that with milk today. Let’s call Nathan and go together.”

“I’m fine. You go.”

Reynard waved his hand as if he really wasn’t interested, and then laid down on the desk.

“Hey, hey. Don’t do that, let’s go together. Let’s go.”

“Who’s chatting during class time?”

The professor, who was explaining about nature magic in a voice that would make anyone sleepy, pushed up his glasses looking at Aiden. Aiden scratched the back of his head awkwardly looking at the professor.

“I apologize, professor. I’m a bit mixed up thinking about my family.”

“Of course, you miss your family. But try to concentrate and not talk. You’re having a hard time being away from your family, you should work hard and graduate soon.”

“I understand!”

He said so, but Aiden wasn’t able to focus on the class at all. He poked Reynard’s arm, who was still lying on the desk, and whispered softly.

“Hey, hey. Let’s go to the cafeteria together after class.”

Normally, when he is this persistent, Reynard would nod his head, albeit annoyed, but today he doesn’t even pretend to listen and turns his head away. Aiden also felt a little upset.

‘It’s really serious.’

While Aiden was wrapping his head in thought, the basic magic theory class ended. He tried to forcibly take Reynard to the cafeteria, but Reynard shook off Aiden’s hand and headed to the dorm.

Looking at his drooping shoulders, Aiden made a groan.

‘Is that guy feeling spring fever?’

The weather had warmed up and flowers with heart-warming colors bloomed all over the academy. Spending time alone in a single room without friends in this lovely season, he must have felt even more lonely.

‘It would have been nice if he used a multi-person room instead of a single-person.’

Aiden, who had been staring at Reynard’s back that was quite far away, suddenly clapped his hands and smiled.

* * *

A friend’s friend is a friend.

Aiden, who grew up in the countryside with few peers, had always lived with that saying from childhood.

Although he was a noble, he was only a rural baron in the name only, so he didn’t have any real noble dignity to show off. On sunny days, he would go out to the fields and play with the children of the territory until his clothes got dirty.

His thoughts remained unchanged even in the academy where many children his age gathered.

‘My friends are Reynard’s friends.’

Reynard was his first precious friend he made when he came here, and they were the same age. Nathan, Alex, and Thomas, who shared the room with him, were a bit younger, but they got along well, so they were friends.

So, it would be great if Reynard became friends with these three people and got along well!

Just imagining the four of them talking together cheerfully made Aiden feel happy.

Of course, if Reynard had heard this story in advance, he would have passed by snorting that he wasn’t interested, but sadly, Aiden planned all this without Reynard knowing.

Thanks to that, when Reynard came out of the dorm room without notice and saw the children gathered together, he closed the door and went back in.

Before the door completely closed, Aiden could catch a glimpse of Reynard’s somewhat flustered face.

“Hey, hey? Reynard! How could you just leave!”

Aiden urgently knocked on his door. He knew Reynard would be uncomfortable, but he was very taken aback because he didn’t expect him to run away like this.

After knocking on the door a few more times, Reynard’s grumpy voice could be heard from beyond the door.

“What’s all this about suddenly?”

“These are my roommates. I brought them to formally introduce them. Do you remember what I told you before? The youngest one standing to my left is Nathan… the one who said he couldn’t sleep because he was picking his nose too much…”

Nathan, the eight-year-old who was sucking on the lollipop Aiden had given him as a bribe, puffed out his cheeks.

“I didn’t pick my nose.”

“No, Aiden is right. You were picking your nose a lot. You were even doing it yesterday.” 

At Alex’s agreeing words, even Thomas nodded his head, and Nathan couldn’t retort any further.

He pouted his lips, which had turned blue from the candy, and bit down on the wide lollipop in his mouth.

“Reynard, can you come out? They are all nice and good. Let’s get along, okay?”

At Aiden’s pleading words holding the doorknob, the door opened again. Reynard crossed his arms and looked at Aiden’s brightened expression.

“Wow, your eyes are red. Like a rabbit.”

Nathan, who had stopped sucking on his candy, pointed at Reynard’s eyes with his finger and muttered blankly.

Nathan had spoken innocently, but sometimes such naive admiration could hurt someone. Although rumors about ‘Blessed’ had already spread throughout the academy, and there was no mocking or teasing of him, Reynard was still sensitive about his eyes due to his mental wounds.

Alex, who was watching Reynard trying to go back into the room covering his eyes, hit Nathan’s head with his fist.

“Ouch! Why did you hit me?”

“If you rudely point at people like that, it’s not good. And I told you before that it’s because he’s a ‘Blessed’.”

“Blessed?”

“Yes. He received the blessing of the goddess, so his eyes are red.”

Aiden, hearing the whispering behind him, turned around and glared.

“You guys, don’t ever talk about the eyes, whether it’s Blessed or whatever. He’s just like us, why are you doing this? Nathan, your eyes are just blue like Reynard’s eyes are just red. No one finds your blue eyes fascinating. Right?”

Nathan rolled his eyes while vigorously eating the candy until it made a clinking sound as it hit his teeth. He seemed to not understand why he couldn’t find the unfamiliar red eyes fascinating, but eventually nodded his head.

Being still young and needing someone’s touch, he always followed whatever Aiden, who was acting like a leader in the dorm, said.

“I got it.”

“And don’t bite the candy, make sure to suck it. If you do it wrong, you might get hurt.”

“Okay.”

“And after eating, make sure to brush your teeth in your room.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, you’re so good.”

Aiden affectionately pinched Nathan’s cheek that was puffed out because he was sucking on the candy, then turned to look at Reynard again.

Perhaps because the three little ones were unfamiliar, he was looking at them with a slightly stiff face, but he didn’t seem to be trying to go back into his room.

Aiden was very pleased to see him patiently waiting.

“Now, I’ll formally introduce them. As I said earlier, the little one eating candy right now is Nathan. He’s also a noble, but unlike me, he’s the third son of a somewhat renowned count family in the capital. He’s only eight years old, so we need to take good care of him.”

“Hi, brother! I’m Nathan! You can call me Nate! That’s what my family calls me.”

Nathan, who had noticeably shrunken his lollipop in his hand, waved with his other hand. Reynard raised his hand lightly in return to substitute for a greeting.

“Is it okay, brother! Can I call you brother Rey?”

Nathan took a step closer, and Reynard, who flinched and retreated two steps, narrowed his eyes.

“That won’t do. Call me Reynard.”

“Why? Brother, your name is too long and hard. Then what does your family call you?”

At the word ‘family’, Aiden was startled and covered Nathan’s mouth with his hand. The topic even more sensitive than his red eyes was his family.

As Nathan struggled and cried ‘That’s it! That’s it!’, the remnants of the melted candy got sticky on Aiden’s palm, but Aiden didn’t mind and watched Reynard’s reaction.

Contrary to his expectations, Reynard didn’t look displeased but crossed his arms and slightly shook his head, looking at Nathan and Aiden in turn.

“It’s like having another Aiden.”

At those words, Aiden almost yelled out in surprise but barely managed to suppress it.

Why? Why me?