# 71
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* * *
“Why did you come so late?”
When I ran to the front door with the drink, Allen made a fuss.
Normally, I would have complained about him losing his temper for no reason, but now I had no choice but to understand.
This is because Lucio was standing behind Allen.
“I must have been eager to see the academy as soon as possible.”
Moreover, Lucio, a celebrity from the academy, is enough, as well as Allen and Diana, who have just arrived in the capital.
While the three members of the Duchy of Elad were standing together, not only the academy students, but also the people on the street were busy looking at them.
“Sorry, you've been waiting for a long time, haven't you? Please eat this first.”
I quickly bent down and covered Allen's mouth with the drink.
“Yummy!”
She laughed at the sincere exclamation that came out immediately and looked at Lucio.
Today he was wearing a blue school uniform with the academy logo on his chest.
It was a sight I had missed and thought I would never see again.
“You should try that too mister, it's very refreshing.”
I offered a drink to Lucio, who looked annoyed, perhaps unhappy about being a spectacle.
Instead of accepting the drink, Lucio looked at me, then turned and entered the academy.
She looked at him with a blank expression and muttered angrily.
“This is really delicious...”
Of course, it may seem insignificant in Lucio's eyes, but it was the first thing I bought with the money I had worked so hard to save back in the day.
It's always bothered me how many times I've received handouts in the past and gotten nothing in return, so I wanted to pay it back in some small way. For some reason, I felt sad.
“I will eat it all.”
At that time, Jack next to me took a drink from my hand.
“I still hold on to what I gave you.”
I smiled brightly as I watched Jack calmly comfort me.
And he said.
“If you eat all of this, you'll get a stomach ache.”
* * *
The academy was already crowded with many visitors.
Although most of the students were families, there were also a fair number of tourists who wanted to take a look inside the high walls.
This was my first time entering the academy, so I couldn't hide my excitement.
The statue of the First Emperor standing tall at the entrance, which had always been seen only from the outside, was even more majestic when seen up close, and the wide streets and monumental buildings that showed great interest in the landscape caught the eye.
But what excited me more than anything else was the magical barrier that surrounded the entire academy.
Since it was a place filled with valuable research materials for students and professors who represented the future of the empire, it was only natural that a protective spell would be applied.
However, given that the academy's location was extremely large, it was impossible to calculate the amount of magic stones that would be poured to maintain this barrier.
“Noona, what is this?”
At that time, Diana, who was watching with Allen and looking around with a very excited face, asked me.
I looked at the pocket I was carrying and said.
“It's nothing special, it's like a bracelet or a necklace.”
Actually, I was a little late buying this, so I bowed to Yen.
After looking at the fountain, I was waiting for my drink to come out, and happened to find a stall ling accessories right next to it.
I was really looking for this type of item, so I thought it was right and happily bought bracelets and necklaces that contained a lot of gemstones.
In fact, it was so dull in color and rough in appearance that it was difficult to call it a gem, but it was a gem, albeit of the cheap kind.
I remembered Jack looking at me with a puzzled look on his face as I cleaned up everything that was lying on the stall, completely emptying the pockets of the paychecks I had saved so far.
“What, this looks pretty cheap.”
At that time, Allen looked at the bracelet sticking out of his pocket and frowned.
“You've bought a lot, even if you only buy one, buy something a little better.”
It was a noble and rich remark, but I actually agreed with it.
But I couldn't refuse.
“Now I try to compete with quantity, not quality.”
When I said that, Allen seemed to think I was a very arrogant person, but this is something that cannot be helped.
“This is the basis of my work!”
He asked as she shyly took what was in Aline's hand.
“Do you like this?”
“...I see, you like it.”
If I said no here, I couldn't explain why I bought so much, so I just nodded, feeling embarrassed.
He raised the most adorable dog among the dogs to Diana, who was watching with her shining eyes.
“Miss, do you want me to do this for your wrist?”
“Huh? This is Noona...”
I really liked Diana, who shared everything she had with me without any sign of wasting it, but who was not greedy about her own.
I promised myf that later, when I made a lot of money, I would buy her something really nice, so I opened the fragile bracelet loop and tried to put it on Diana's wrist.
Toorrrr!
At that moment, the thin thread suddenly exploded, probably because it was cheap, and the jewelry that was attached to it fell to the ground.
'No, my money!'
Most of them fell immediately, but a few were seen rolling in the distance.
To me, they looked like gold coins and I couldn't miss a single one, so I rushed to pick them up.
Trrrrrrrrrrrk —
The jewel, which had been rolling endlessly, stopped when it touched someone's foot. Long white fingers picked up the jewel.
I raised my head, squinted for a while against the backlight, and finally made eye contact with someone and gasped in surprise.
A handsome boy with thick, bright blond hair and fine, fine lines, as if filled with sparkling gold dust, was looking at me.
Golden lashes flashed above droopy, puppy-like eyes and translucent emerald eyes.
'What kind of person shines like that?'
“Is this yours?”
Even his voice was soft and gentle, like that of an angel.
I felt like I was being purified just listening to it.
I nodded absentmindedly and he asked as he carefully placed the jewel on my palm.
“You look young, are you a student here?”
When I shook my head, the boy smiled faintly.
“Then it seems that you came here to attend a festival, do you have someone attending the academy?”
I was somehow impressed by the kind eyes and kind words, so I quickly tried to shake my head and say no.
“Ascart.”
But the boy took his eyes off me first when he heard a voice coming from behind him.
I turned my head behind him and saw Lucio standing there with a scary face.
* * *
'I knew it would be like this! I thought there would be an uproar when I saw Askal's face!'
The identity of the handsome boy whose eyes seemed to have opened was, as expected, Askart Pylos, the Archduke of the Principality of Pylos.
'Honestly, even if he said he was handsome, I was half expecting and half doubting how good he was.'
After seeing him in person, I realized that his reputation was not exaggerated at all.
"Handsome! Really, really!"
Even in Diana's eyes, Ascart's appearance is exceptional.
When Diana, who always boasted that her brother was the most handsome in the world, clapped in approval, Allen said: “Diana!”
He couldn't hold back his anger and jumped.
“Ha-ha-ha, um, thank you.”
Even though he was tired of receiving compliments on her appearance all her life, Askart blushed and felt embarrassed.
As he smiled shyly, flowers seemed to bloom around him.
It was a face that naturally exuded admiration, but for some reason, it felt strange.
Granted, I've never met Askart in my previous life, but I feel like I miss him a lot.
This was the first time I felt this way when I saw someone.
'Why am I like this?'
For some reason, my chest was hurting, so I pressed my heart hard.
Then I heard the sound of a tongue clicking next to me.
“Askart, he usually stays in the library and doesn’t come out, but today he came out for some reason.”
Lucio spoke in a very sharp tone.
At first glance, one might suspect that their relationship was not good, but from what I heard from Aline, they were close friends, along with Prince Nicholas.
Apparently, like Aline, Lucio did not like hearing his younger sister Diana praise Ascarte.
“When I looked out the window, the sunlight was so nice, I thought I was going to take my first walk in a while.”
Unlike Lucio, Ascarte answered with a kind face.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was a lie that I was just in the library, and the area under my eyes looks a little dark and tired.
His face was so bright that I noticed it too late.
At that time, Askart looked at me, perhaps because he felt my gaze staring at me.
The droopy eyes quickly disappeared.
Askart didn't change her attitude towards me even after she learned that I was the Duke's maid.
On the contrary, he was still so cute that I felt very sad.
'Well, I'm really sorry for comparing you to Kenneth Peter.'
Maybe it was because of his appearance, but I somehow liked him even though it was my first time seeing him.
In my previous life, I only heard that he graduated from the academy and returned to the Principality, so I had no idea what kind of person he was, but looking at him now, he didn't seem like a bad person at all.
"If you've walked through everything, why don't you go now? I thought you said you didn't intend to go to the festival."
As I made eye contact with Ascart, I heard Lucio's harsh voice again.
The atmosphere became cold from the words, which were more like a shouting order to congratulate the guests.
“Lucio… I didn’t know, but your younger sister was very sick.”
However, I wondered if I was being too harsh on his friend, so I looked at him sullenly, and our eyes instantly met.
I don't know if my complaint was conveyed correctly, but Lucio added quietly to Ascarte.
“You hate crowds of people.”