“Jane!”
He was a young man who was around Raynald’s age or at least a few years older.
“Papa!”
The baby, who was playing with her clenched fists in Yurina’s arms, smiled and reached for him.
‘Your family, right?’
When Yurina handed the baby over, the young man breathed a sigh of relief and hugged the baby.
“I’m sure I was watching you well, so how did you get here? I was so surprised when I thought I lost you!”
“Kya.”
“I was about to break down. I promised my sister that I would take good care of you. You didn’t get hurt, did you? You didn’t fall, right?
He scanned the child from head to toe. While sighing with relief after confirming that there was no injury, he looked blank after finally noticing Yurina.
“Uh, I mean…”
Yurina opened her mouth first to avoid any misunderstanding.
“I took her with me because I thought she lost her family since she was crying alone. If I left her there she would have gone farther.”
Fortunately, he bowed his head to Yurina without any sign of doubt.
“Thank you! I kept watching her play, and maybe it’s because there were a lot of people, she disappeared in the blink of an eye. I could have been in big trouble…”
When the man, who was talking quickly, made eye contact with Yurina, he could not speak and closed his mouth. He looked closely at Yurina’s face and his cheeks turned red.
“Hey, you know, I mean…”
When she saw him blushing to his neck, she patted on his shoulder to change the topic and gently rubbed the baby’s cheek that was constantly babbling.
“I’m glad, though. I found her dad before it was too late.”
“Dad! No!”
“Ooh!”
The child trembled at the sudden shouting. However, instead of soothing the child, the man quickly gave Yurina an explanation.
“It’s not dad, it’s uncle. She’s my sister’s daughter. My sister had something to do today, so she asked me to look after her instead, so I was taking care of her. I came out because I was frustrated from staying at home and Jane felt stuffy.”
“…”
“It’s true. I’m her uncle.”
Who said anything? It was unbelievable to see him heated up alone and talking without any hesitation.
“You know, I mean…”
The man opened his mouth again when he looked at Yurina, who was smiling because she couldn’t find anything to say.
“Thank you for finding Jane, and… it’s fate to have met you like this, so if you don’t mind, can I treat you to dinner?”
“What?”
“If my sister hears about today she’ll ask me to invite you for dinner. I’m indebted to you, so I can’t just let you go…”
“What were you talking about?”
Raynald’s voice, which was lower than usual, was mixed with the man’s voice. Although his voice was definitely much louder, strangely, Raynald’s voice was clearer in Yurina’s ears.
Raynald, who approached from the back of the man, quickly stood next to Yurina and scanned the man up and down. He was smiling, but the face of the still reddish man, stiffened as if he were nervous.
The baby named Jane, who was in his arms, looked at Raynald’s face as if she had become interested in the new face.
“Oh?”
“How are you, baby?”
Raynald, who stroked the child’s curly hair, smiled and asked Yurina again.
“What were you doing? Who’s this baby?”
“Oh, she was crying after losing her mom, so I took her for a while.”
“What about him?”
“Her uncle.”
“I see.”
Raynald nodded lightly at the man. He didn’t introduce himself because it wasn’t a situation where he needed to. The man raised his head with a puzzled look.
Unlike her uncle, Jane smiled and reached out to Raynald. Raynald lightly grasped and unfolded the small chubby hand and pulled Yurina by the arm.
“It`s late so my teacher will be worried. Let’s go back soon.”
Yurina asked, looking at the ivory handkerchief in his hand.
“All ready to go?”
“Yeah. Come to think of it, it’s dinner time soon. Let’s go and have dinner with our teacher.”
Yurina looked up at the sky listening to Raynald’s whisper. The sky was red before she knew it.
Yurina greeted the man and the baby and stood in front of the man after stopping Raynald, who was about to return.
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your invitation to dinner. I think I have to go back because I have something else to do. You don’t have to worry too much about it because if anyone else saw a crying child, they would have also tried to find their family.”
“Ah yes. Thank you anyway.”
The man gave a look to Raynald standing next to Yurina and shook the baby’s hand.
“Jane, say goodbye to your sister. Bye.”
“Papa.”
“Yes, bye.”
Yurina waved to the baby. Strangely, she couldn’t take her eyes off the baby, so she waved her hand until the man greeted her and walked back.
Sometimes the baby pulled her head over the man’s shoulder and waved to Yurina. When Yurina smiled unknowingly, Raynald asked her a question.
“Do you like babies?”
“Hmm…. I don’t think I like them. Actually, I don’t get to see them much. But I keep seeing her smile because she’s so cute.”
Yurina was waving at the baby, so she answered roughly without looking back at Raynald. Raynald came next to Yurina.
“By the way, what dinner?”
“He thanked me for finding her and wanted to invite me to dinner.”
“That’s… that’s a big deal.”
“Yeah, it’s a big deal.”
“I guess I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
The quiet, low-pitched words were more like talking to oneself than words to Yurina. At the moment, Yurina’s hand, which was waving, paused. But she soon waved nonchalantly as if she hadn’t heard him.
“Yurina.”
“Yes.”
“Yurina.”
He called her as much as he could and said nothing. Only then did Yurina look up at Raynald, feeling curious.
While she was looking at the baby, he was looking at Yurina the whole time, and as soon as she looked up, their eyes intertwined in the air.
His eyes, which smiled softly whenever they met, did not smile this time. Even though it was minor, the impact of the change was quite large.
Yurina looked into his cold eyes and murmured to herself.
“Why…”
Why aren’t you talking to me?
Why are you looking at me like that?
What the hell did you want to ask? I didn’t even know for myself.
It was like she was talking to herself, but because he stood so close, Raynald must have heard the short question. However, there was no answer this time.
Instead, a big hand behind Yurina’s back squeezed her hand. It wasn’t painful, but it was a little stronger compared to his usual gentle hold.
Perhaps because that wasn’t enough, he intertwined his fingers with Yurina’s and no matter how hard Yurina tried to pull her hand out, it was too tight.
* * *
Raynald, who had been close to Yurina the whole time, wouldn’t stay away from her even for a moment after she had been on the streets of Ness.
Thanks to this, Yurina and Raynald started eating breakfast together and stayed together until they returned to their rooms to sleep.
Even at night, Raynald escorted Yurina to her room.
One day they went to the streets, one day they read books in the library, and another day was a peaceful day of leisurely playing in the academy.
Including the day they first met and traveled together, which was well over a week ago. Eventually, Yurina couldn’t stand it and asked Raynald.
“Ray, don’t you have to go to class?”
“Huh?”
Raynald, who was organizing the lunch basket, tilted his head as if he hadn’t heard her properly. Yurina narrowed her eyes as he seemed to pretend to not hear what she said.
“I asked if you don’t have to go to class. It’s already been more than a week.”
We finally met after a long time, so I tried to overlook this deviation. Since Raynald had been working hard at the academy for the past five years, I thought it would be no problem if he missed about a week.
However, seeing Raynald, who felt completely guilty about skipping classes, she began to worry.
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
I thought that he would stay sincere and not miss class. However, I am starting to worry a little bit about the aftermath that this will bring.
Yurina could just stay with him and go back, but Raynald has to stay here for more than two years. She was worried that this incident might make his life difficult because he would be on the blacklist of the professors and students around him just because he believed in his academic ability.
Raynald would have said it didn’t matter if he heard this, but Yurina couldn’t take it lightly.
However, unlike the complex mind of Yurina, Raynald tapped the basket with his hand without much concern. The light glistened, and the basket on the grass disappeared in an instant.
“You don’t have to pay attention. It’s all right.”
He smiled lightly and pulled Yurina’s hand.
“Where shall we go today? Is there a place you want to see?”
It had already been more than a week since they met, but he still looked excited, so Yurina couldn’t force him to attend class anymore. Instead, she began to follow him.
“Let’s go to the library again. There’s a book I want to look for.”
“Really? Then let’s do that.”
However, there was a voice that caught the two before entering the library.
“Hey, Raynald!”
The male student ran with a thick book in his arms.
“Uh, Patrick.”
“You were at school? Then why didn’t you come to class? The professor is looking for you.”
The male student who was raising his glasses, which were as thick as a book, found Yurina standing next to Raynald and exclaimed, “Oh!”
“Do you have a girlfriend? I don’t think you’re an academy student…”
“What the hell is this about? Did you call me because you wanted to say something?”
“Oh, that’s right. Professor Hutson is calling you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Why? It’s because you’re skipping classes without permission.”
“You’ve never looked for Aiden.”
“Isn’t that because he’s skipped so much that he wasn’t worth looking for? You are very precious to the professor.”
He answered lightly and tapped Raynald on the shoulder.
“You’d better go anyway. They told me to tell you to come to the class when I found you, but they told me to catch you and bring you to class today. I think you’d better go if you want to graduate on time. Your graduation thesis might keep getting rejected if you don’t.”
“…….”
“Anyway, I made it clear. I saw earlier that Aiden was really thinking of tying you up with a rope and taking you with him. I can’t do it with magic, so I need to catch you with my body.”
He giggled and walked toward the library. Yurina shut her mouth and tapped Raynald’s arm, who was thinking seriously.
“Go. Professor Hutson is the one who came to the mansion before, right? Dave’s friend.”
“You’re right, but…”
“When I heard Dave, he seemed to care about you. Go ahead. He must be very worried because you missed class without telling him.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be waiting here.”
“Well….”
Raynald looked around for a moment.
“Go to the dorm in case the conversation is long. I’ll be there when I’m done. Let’s look around the library tomorrow and go to the park today. There must be a lot of flowers because it’s autumn.”
“Yes, I will. Then come over after that.”
Yurina lightly pushed Raynald’s back and turned back without hesitation. For a very short time, she felt like Raynald’s eyes were on her back, but Yurina walked forward without looking back.