Chapter 128
At breakfast, Clois, watching Evi, asked with concern,
“Did a bug bite you?”
“Huh?”
“You kept scratching the back of your hand. I wondered if a bug bit you while you were sleeping. Can I see your hand? We might need to put some medicine on it…”
At his words, Evi quickly shook her head.
“No, I’m fine! I wasn’t bitten!”
Evi spoke a little louder than intended and subtly covered the back of her hand with her sleeve.
“Medicine doesn’t necessarily hurt,” Clois added, still worried, but Evi shook her head vigorously as if to insist she really was fine.
She glanced at her hand. There was nothing on it.
‘Thank goodness.’
Evi rubbed her hand against her clothing, recalling the morning’s events.
She had woken up to an itch on the back of her hand. At first, she thought maybe a bug had crawled on her.
Being in a villa in the forest, it wasn’t unusual for insects to get inside.
But even when she tried brushing her hand away with her eyes closed, the itch remained.
“…?”
When she finally rubbed her eyes and looked at her hand,
“…!”
Evi jumped up in shock.
A faint mark, like one she had seen long ago, had appeared on the back of her hand.
‘Why is this showing up now?’
Startled, she immediately went to the bathroom to wash her hands. But the faint mark didn’t disappear at all.
Returning to her bed, she covered herself with the blanket, trembling.
It had only appeared in dangerous situations before.
It had shown up briefly when she returned to the gifted academy.
But nothing had happened since…
‘Why now, when His Majesty is here?’
Thinking back, it seemed her hand had been itchy since she arrived here. And after taking a nap with Clois, the itchiness had become more frequent.
At first, she thought she might have eaten something wrong and gotten a rash…
‘I never thought it would come back.’
Evi stared at her hand with a resentful expression. What on earth could it be, appearing again now?
‘I hope it disappears. Nothing’s wrong right now. His Majesty and the knights are here, so there’s no danger.’
She kept rubbing her hand, silently praying.
Clois and the other knights wouldn’t probably tell her to stay away just because she was in pain.
No, they’d likely worry and take her to a doctor.
‘I don’t want to cause worry.’
So, she wished for it to vanish.
Perhaps Evi’s prayer worked. Before the maid arrived in the morning, the mark on her hand had completely disappeared.
Still, the itch lingered.
After breakfast, Clois pondered what to do next.
Since they had played excitedly at the other children’s house, he was now wondering what to do for fun here.
The fortunate thing was that whatever he did, Evi enjoyed it.
‘Still, having her study foreign languages here… that seems a bit much…’
Then he remembered his own childhood, studying after getting tired of playing at the royal villa, and he laughed quietly.
But the laughter turned into a bitter smile.
It was ridiculous how he kept trying to find similarities in trivial things.
Even if Evi resembled him, it was purely coincidental.
Hair color, love for reading, preference for grape juice over apple juice, dislike of certain foods—all things that many people could share.
Why did he feel such a sense of affinity toward this particular child?
‘By the way, her hand still seems itchy. Maybe we really should put some medicine on it.’
It wasn’t just her hand that needed attention.
From playing so much, her cheeks and shoulders had been sunburned, and her skin kept peeling.
‘I should tell the royal doctor to check her as soon as we return.’
Just then, the knights, sprawled like wet laundry on the terrace, suddenly stood up.
“Someone’s coming.”
“I know.”
Clois looked toward the villa path alongside the knights.
“Aiden.”
Rommel threw a sword to Aiden.
The moment he caught it, the knight who had been digging in the ground, complaining about catching the least in fishing, disappeared. Only the fastest-drawing knight from the royal guard remained.
Aiden approached the incoming figure. Fortunately, it was a royal staff member.
He handed a letter to Aiden and then quickly left. After reading it, Aiden delivered it to Clois.
“It’s a letter from the Prime Minister.”
Sigh.
At this, Clois and the others all let out short sighs.
The very person who most wished Clois could rest had contacted him.
It meant something had come up that required his return to the palace.
“So… it seems I need to return now.”
Clois felt a pang as he saw Evi’s face fall.
The week was nearly over anyway; it was just one day earlier than expected…
“The day we couldn’t play together this time, we’ll go somewhere else another day.”
Evi nodded repeatedly. Though she seemed to understand, the disappointment on her face hadn’t completely disappeared.
“When we return, the seasonal festival will be soon. How about we go together then?”
Leaning close, Clois whispered to Evi as if it were a secret.
“Do you want to try the lottery again?”
At the invitation to go outside together again, Evi’s eyes lit up.
“Sure!”
As Evi finally smiled, the worried expressions of the knights eased.
“Promise.”
Clois extended his pinky, and Evi hooked hers with a smile.
“Then let’s meet again at the palace.”
Clois mounted his horse, waved to Evi, and turned to leave.
“Let’s go!”
Rommel, Sigmund, and Aiden escorted him as they ran.
Evi, with Hilde, waved at the departing group.
Even until the path bent out of sight, Clois and the knights kept looking back, waving to her.
Once they disappeared completely, Hilde said,
“Shall we get ready to leave too?”
“Yes!”
Evi answered energetically and returned to her room, gathering her magic stones and dolls.
Although she would have fewer days to play with Clois…
“This time, I’ll let His Majesty pick first.”
She still had the part-time pay given by Duchess Kylerun.
This time, if she went outside with Clois, she could buy something for him.
Already anticipating the seasonal festival, Evi hurriedly packed her bag.
“I’m back!”
“Miss Evi!”
As soon as she stepped out of the carriage, the three maids, Amber, Vicky, and Cindy, greeted her warmly.
But that didn’t last long.
“No, Miss! What happened to you?!”
While at the mansion, they had carefully tended to her, fearing she’d get hurt. But Evi returned looking like a child who had just rolled around in the fields.
“What happened, Knight?!”
“Ah, well…”
“Your face and shoulders are all sunburned!”
“You can’t avoid that when playing outside…”
“And your hands! What are these scratches?!”
“They happen sometimes when fishing…”
“And these bruises on your arms and legs!”
“The valley terrain is a bit slippery…”
Hilde’s voice grew smaller and smaller as the maids’ sharp questions continued.
Had there ever been a day in her life where she felt so tongue-tied and shrinking?
Finally, after hearing Eirin’s scream, Hilde returned to the palace.
“How much fun did you have at His Majesty’s villa…?”
When playing at Ruska’s house, she had stayed close by, putting a hat on and applying cream to prevent burns.
But at the emperor’s villa, even the knights apparently just played freely together.
“But it was really fun!”
“…I’m glad you enjoyed it, but with a face like this, we’ll need to adjust the dress color… sigh…”
Thinking of contacting Madame Crevel, Eirin mentally searched for suitable alternative colors.
“What did Eirin do?”
“I got ready to return to the gifted academy. I sent letters to Ruska and Arsel asking what they were studying, but not a single reply. I don’t know what’s keeping them so busy. Are they preparing for the seasonal festival too? We have to prepare as well.”
“What do we need to prepare?”
“Just remember the general event order. Arsel and you might receive gifts separately from the dean as the top students. Then you’ll need to prepare a thank-you. But before that…”
Eirin picked up an invitation from the table and shook it.
“First, let’s calm Professor Males. You really are coming, right? I think we got at least a hundred letters while you were away.”
The invitation Eirin held was from The Divine Natural Numbers.
