CH 199

So she had to find Darrel.

“I can’t help it. I will help you.”

“Re, really?”

“Yes. I’ll have to miss a few classes, and my assignments are pushed back one after another, but what can I do?”

He tapped Rieta’s forehead. The touch was strangely friendly.

“You can’t live without me.”

Noel smiled.

The smile was the same as when he was a child.

“Then let’s go to the library. If he’s not there, I guess we’ll have to find the professor who took Brother . . . Are there any characteristics?”

“He was tall. His clothes were a bit shabby.”

“There is not one or two such professors . . .”

“Oh, there were a lot of ink marks on his sleeves!”

“Is there anyone in the academy who isn’t like that!”

Noel immediately lifted up the sleeves of the clothes he was wearing.

Yep, there were ink marks.

“Um, and . . .”

Rieta thought for a moment.

Then she immediately thought of another one.

“Ah!”

The moment she opened her mouth with an excited voice and clapped her hands with joy.

Suddenly, Noel’s palms pressed against her lips and closed them.

“. . . ?!”

She looked up in surprise and saw Noel looking over the cabinet.

Creak.

Soon there was the sound of the door opening.

It seemed that Noel noticed a suspicious sign around the hallway.

“Noel, you here?”

It was the sound of someone shouting echoed in the quiet seminar room.

Judging by the familiarity of the voice in Rieta’s ears, it seemed to be the classmate whom he met in the library.

Of course, Noel did not answer that call.

If he didn’t answer, they would go somewhere else to find Noel.

. . . I feel a little sorry.

Rieta still looked up at Noel, her lips pressed against Noel’s hands.

Due to the close distance, Noel’s chin almost touched her forehead.

“I guess he’s not here.”

“Where did he go?”

The students murmured dissatisfied among themselves.

“Where, is there anywhere else to look for?”

“Well, I think we’ve been to almost all of them . . .”

“Then why don’t we wait here? After all, it’s the place that Noel borrowed. He will come back sometime.”

“That’s right.”

The students rushed into the seminar room.

Someone dragged a chair and sat down, opened the cabinet and began to rummage through things.

Others pulled open the curtains that Noel had closed.

“Who the hell closed the curtains? So dark.”

The students sat comfortably and started talking.

It was mainly dissatisfaction with the class.

As that time continued, Rieta’s heart became more and more uncomfortable.

What to do?

As her worries deepened, Noel removed the hand that had covered Rieta’s mouth.

Then he briefly tapped Rieta on the back.

He seems to be trying to tell her that it’s okay.

. . . Calm down.

When he was in the mansion, he only seemed to be easily angered and excited.

Well, he was young back then.

So, now?

Rieta lifted her head slightly and looked up at Noel.

She soon met his gaze as he looked down, so she had to avert her gaze.

That surprised me!

She was so startled that her heart raced.

. . . Was that look somehow unsettling?

Noel patted her on the back again. Pat pat. He did so calmly.

That was weird.

If Noel did this, she should feel comfortable . . .

Strangely, the startled feeling did not subside, and her heart was beating all the time.

It’s because it’s an unfamiliar place.

Rieta made up a plausible reason and nodded her head slightly.

“Oh right. The dormitory?”

At the same time, the topic about Noel started again outside.

“Who looked at the dormitory?”

“Oh, we haven’t been there yet.”

“Damn it, it’s there! He dared to throw away the group assignment and run away to the dormitory?!”

All the students, who were in heightened spirits, jumped up from their seats and rushed out the door in an instant.

“Haah.”

Rieta sighed heavily.

“You are so timid, how did you get here?”

Noel swept the area near his heart even while speaking harsh words.

“Darrel was with me when we came in. It was fine.”

Noel turned around to Rieta’s answer.

He looked a little sulky, was she mistaken?

“Noel?”

“How long are you going to stay there? What are you going to do when everyone comes back?”

He hurried out first, out of the cabinet, and Rieta grabbed her clothes and followed him.

As she came out of the seminar room into the hallway, Rieta compared herself to the other students inside her heart.

She wondered if she was the only one who looked awkward.

But fortunately, no one looked at Rieta.

“What are you doing?”

Then, Noel, who was ahead of her, called her out with the umbrella open.

“Ah, yes. sorry.”

Rieta quickly went under the umbrella and stood next to Noel.

“I’m worried that something is strange or unnoticeable.”

“The clothes you wore a while ago were much stranger, weren’t they?”

Was it so? As she touched her chin, Noel’s steps grw a little faster.

It was the same with Rieta as she wanted to rush too, so she diligently followed his steps.

All the way back to the library, Noel’s umbrella was again tilted toward Rieta, which, of course, she didn’t realize.