Yves had seemingly caught on to my worries and supported . He brought dicine that was going to make taller from god knows where and handed it over to .
When I refused to take anything expensive, Yves explained that he purchased this through the fruits of Harun's labor and not to worry. I graciously took it after hearing those words.
Hylli seed to have told the people around him sothing. Passersby threw complints like, "So cool," "So handso," "So fierce," etc. whenever they walked by .
That wasn't all. When our cafeteria food included any milk, all of the swordsmanship class students would get one and handed them over to . Because of that, my desk always had a mountain of milk. My female swordsmanship juniors also told to cheer up and gave dried anchovies as well.
Even the people serving the cafeteria food recognized . Whenever I ca over to have a al, they always gave foods with high calcium like anchovies or milk.
This was the first ti I had received so many people's cheers and good wishes, so I was embarrassed at first. But when I got used to it, I just felt extrely grateful.
Anyway, the boys weren't the only ones that had betrayed by growing up when we began our second year of school. Hestia had also grown rapidly during break.
During our break, Hestia had grown in height, breasts, and even hips. Hestia, who had looked like a little girl before, had matured and now looked more like a grown woman.
Of course, they had probably taken ti to grow little by little, but I had just realized it so the difference felt stark.
All of us were still children, but they were taking the steps toward maturity. Everyone but .
There wasn't a single thing that had changed for . If my face had matured even slightly, I would've felt reassured. But nothing had changed. My face still had baby fat.
Hestia looked at my depressed form and opened her mouth to speak.
"Shushu, do you just want to grow taller?"
"……….I just want to get bigger."
I replied, sighing. I still looked like a little kid.
"It's okay if you're small! Small girls make guys want to protect them, you know?"
"Yeah, I don't want that. I don't want to be protected."
I wanted to be relied on. I wanted to be soone that wasn't protected, but protected others instead. I wanted to be soone that was trusted. Like a comrade on a battlefield.
"Really? Oh, that's right. Shushu, you said you weren't going to date, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Honestly, because I don't think I'll be able to. So I want to live by myself and eat well and be happy."
If I wanted to date, I needed to stay away from Hestia but I didn't want that. I didn't want to sell over a happy relationship to gain sothing that was only a possibility and was unknown to .
Moreover, I was pretty content with my life as it was, and dating was just sothing that I was curious about. Dating was, well, our world-famous, popular Hestia could do my part for . Hahaha.
Anyway, Hylli wasn't asking to get closer to Hestia these days. Well, he was probably trying his best on his own. Cory and Yves seed to be interested in Hestia as well. Good luck to all of them.
Anyway, if all of the male characters ran over to and asked to help them get closer to Hestia, whose side was I supposed to take? Well, Cory was the most trustworthy. Should I pick Cory?
If it was Cory, I could entrust Hestia to him. He would be a good husband. No, but I couldn't just ignore Hylli's wealth and power. Hylli was kind and easily trusting of others, so he probably wouldn't cheat on Hestia.
On the other hand, I worried about Yves slightly. It looked like Yves was going to have Hestia wrapped around his fingers, that's why. Yves would probably treasure Hestia, but I still felt uneasy. Yves was good at manipulating people, so he would probably hurt Hestia's feelings often. Well, then Yves was a no-go.
When my ntal calculations began to get more complicated, I sighed. Man, whatever. It wasn't sothing I needed to think about. She'd be fine.
"Dating as a student? Just study instead, Hestia."
When I whined, Hestia smiled and nodded.
Hestia and I walked near the school and began to chat. While we were busy with our conversation, soone walked in front of us.
That person was also carrying a ton of stuff, but they also seed to be focusing on sothing else: their head was pointed downwards and they were walking while staring at their feet, seemingly deep in thought.
Hestia accidentally bumped into the person in front.
"Goddamn it."
That person muttered, voice tinged with annoyance. The person who had bumped into Hestia was soone I was used to seeing from before.
Silver hair and jewel-like eyes, it was the beautiful boy, Swanhaden Blanche. Swanhaden was a bit taller than when I had last seen him.
Thinking of, he had said that he would be transferring in as a second year…. It did seem late, it looked like he was entering today.
It looked like Swan's belongings had fallen to the ground. Most of the items were weapons and potions.
I helped Hestia stand back up and began to collect the items that had fallen onto the floor. When I handed them to Swan, he didn't even look at as he snatched up his belongings.
Swan, who had stood back up, stared briefly at the floor and then turned his head to look at Hestia. He seed like he wanted to say sothing, but snapped his mouth shut.
Then, he briefly stared at Hestia.
"It's been a while."
Swan was smiling, looking at Hestia. He wasn't one for smiling often, but he was forcing himself to smile.
Then, he kept staring at Hestia after we passed. With an unfathomable look in his eyes, Swan soon walked towards the male dorms.
Anyway, why did he not even pretend to see ? It probably wasn't because I was so short that he didn't see . I even helped pick up his belongings.
I understood him pretending to recognize Hestia because he liked her. But regardless of how much he liked her, he knew from the past too. Couldn't he pretend to recognize ?
Oh, maybe he forgot? If so, I could understand. It wouldn't matter too much, but it was just slightly sad. Was my presence that forgettable?
I stared as my childhood friend, Swan, disappeared from my sight. I rembered how horrible his personality was from before, I probably needed to keep my guard up. If he asked to help get closer to Hestia, I would definitely reject him.
But what if he stabbed in the back if I didn't approve of him? I rubbed the back of my head warily.
The swordsmanship teacher called all of us to one spot. Next to the teacher stood Swanhaden, who we had seen yesterday.
"Here's a new student who's entered the swordsmanship class this year. He's new and may need guidance, so please help him out."
The teacher said he was a new student and introduced him to us. Even though Swan was the one getting introduced, he seed uninterested, preferring to look at an ant on the ground instead. His wide eyes were slightly closed, as if sleepy.
The swordsmanship class students started whispering amongst themselves.
The Blanche Dukedom was a very private group. Although the dukedom held an incredible amount of power, they never really ca out of their ho.
Swan's family was famous for producing white magic users ti and ti again, so they were only really at battlefields. The Blanche family mbers would don white robes and treat bloodied soldiers on the battlefield, almost resembling a saint.
And that kind of family, famous for their healing abilities, had a child in the swordsmanship class? It was obvious that everybody was shocked. Well, Swan's pretty face also shocked everyone too.
I listened to Swanhaden's introduction and looked at Hylli who was right next to .
Hylli hadn't spoken a word since a few monts ago. When my mood seed to plumt, Hylli would always try to start a conversation, but he was strangely quiet today. No, to be exact, Hylli had started to shake minutely the mont Swanhaden had entered the hall.
Swanhaden listened to the teacher introduce him to the class with a bored expression, but seed to et eyes with Hylli. He smiled brightly at Hylli.
Then, Hylli began to grind his teeth. He seed to also realize just how an that smile really was.
"Ugh, he really ended up coming. And he's smiling so brightly too, unlike his usual self. Why is he doing that?"
"Why are you shaking like that? Hylli, are you weaker than Swanhaden?"
"….that's not true. But anyway, him and I are absolutely incompatible."
At Hylli's words, I began to think of the tis I had t Swan when I was younger. Swan had taken on the sword from a very young age. He had used our training hall after following his father to our ho, and we had bumped into each other a few tis before. Even though we probably didn't talk much.
I rembered seeing him practice the sword just once when I was younger. Unlike Hylli, his movents were both sharp yet gentle. But it was so long ago. I didn't know his current style.
I asked Hylli about Swan's fighting style. Hylli frowned.
"His sword style? It's just beating soone up. He just attacks without any defense, so he's an absolute pain to fight."
…….he doesn't defend? I beca curious at Hylli's statent. Wasn't defense a part of swordsmanship>?
Anyway, Swan, he was wearing a turtleneck shirt with a long-sleeve like before.
When he was younger, he had a lot of scars here and there and wore turtlenecks with long-sleeves to hide it, but it seed that he had more scars than before.
When the teacher's short speech was over, the students all split to continue practicing.
Hylli was also preparing to escape.
"Hylli, where are you going?"
But Swan's voice rang from behind us. When I turned around, he was looking at Hylli with a pretty smile on his face.
Swanhaden grabbed a wooden sword and twirled it around. It looked like a windmill.
"It's been so long since I've seen you. You're going to hurt my feelings like this?"
Hylli turned around, grabbed my shoulders, then walked in front of . At first, he walked, but when Swan said sothing laced with a smirk, he began to run.
I'd never seen Hylli run so fast. As he grabbed and seemingly ran for his life, Hylli whispered quietly to .
"Shushu, is he still following us?"
At Hylli's question, I turned around to check.
Um, it seed like Swanhaden had gotten bored of Hylli and had turned around to walk towards the teacher. Looking closer, it seed that the teacher had called him.
I felt bad for Hylli, who had puffed up in warning like a pufferfish.
A prince, scared of a duke. I patted Hylli's hair as I tousled it.
When I promised Hylli that I would protect him, Hylli first seed to relax but then told that he could protect his own body. His pride seed to have been damaged.
Thinking of, Hylli, Swan, and Cory had known each other from before.
And also, Swan and Yves seed to know each other from before, too. I wondered if all of the male characters had been as close in the novel, but I couldn't rember it. I just let it slide.
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