Chapter 108

Ariel wasn’t of high rank. She wasn’t under his command, and they weren’t friends, either. Sure, he might’ve been acting like a friendly senior to her lately, but that was all it was, an act. They hadn’t known each other long, and from any angle, they weren’t exactly close.

In short, he didn’t have the kind of connection with her that would justify putting any sort of significant expectation on her.

And yet, he realized he was hoping for something from Ariel. Not even anything grand, just something as small as wanting her to pay a little interest in him.

‘What do you even call something like this?’

Lexius searched for the right word.

He had never been in a situation like this before, and couldn’t even come up with the right way to define it. The whole feeling was unfamiliar and awkward. What was this ridiculous urge to want someone’s attention for no reason… It felt like the childishness of a little boy picking on the girl he has a crush on.

The moment a fitting definition came to mind, a coarse curse slipped from his lips.

“What the hell? Why would I?”

He muttered the question to himself, baffled by feelings he couldn’t make sense of.

It was certain that he didn’t dislike Ariel. He liked her appearance, and there was nothing unpleasant about her behavior. She was easy to be around. Even when he taught her harshly, she kept up without complaining, which he thought was kind of admirable. But all of that was because he saw her as just someone under his guidance. She wasn’t supposed to be anything special to him.

That was how it should’ve been.

The identity of that fleeting emotion was such a clear weakness that he had no choice but to deny it so strongly.

So, Lexius quickly erased the thought. He buried it before it could take root.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

Ariel sat quietly in the library, folding soft pink crepe paper into decorative flower balls. Her fingers moved delicately as she folded the paper.

A white balloon rolled near her feet while she worked.

With permission from the librarian, she had lightly decorated the reading room where she usually studied with Lexius. Thanks to her efforts, the space felt warm and cheerful.

“I don’t know if senior will like it… He might not even come.”

Ariel murmured to herself as she completed the final paper flower. She arranged the dozens of flower balls across the desk, and together they looked like a tiny garden in bloom. She ran her fingers gently over the crinkled petals, as if tending to real flowers.

The flower balls looked so well-made that it was hard to believe it was her first time making them. She didn’t have any memories of doing it before, yet her hands moved like they had done it countless times. She figured she must’ve done it in a previous life.

That thought made her feel a little sad, like she had made them for someone she couldn’t remember.

Realizing how she felt only made her sink deeper into a pit of gloom. But maybe that was exactly why she needed to keep going. If there was someone she had forgotten, then this was her chance to remember and she had to give it everything she had.

Ariel pulled out one last balloon and started pumping, trying to chase away the heavy feeling dragging her down. She tied it off, set the pump aside, and with that, the decorating was just about done.

She had shifted the desks and chairs around, set out cake and snacks, tucked in some small props between the white balloons and soft pink paper flowers, and even sprinkled a bit of glitter. The once-stuffy room now had a surprisingly festive air, almost like a birthday party had sprung up out of nowhere.

“Hmm…”

Ariel made a small, displeased sound as she looked over the reading room.

She had gone through all this trouble to lift Lexius’s mood, but to someone of his status—a noble of the highest class—it probably looked embarrassingly plain.

‘And it took me more than five hours, too…’

Ariel sat down with a slightly dejected expression.

She could’ve asked the Countess to help her put together something more impressive, though that would’ve taken time. And right now, this was all she could manage. The birthday-party-like reading room was the best she could do on her own, with what she had.

‘The gift I requested from the Count’s estate won’t even arrive for at least three days…’

She pressed her fingers to her brow, lost in thought. Honestly, there was a good chance Lexius wouldn’t come at all.

Even though they had agreed to meet at 8 PM on Thursdays and Saturdays, with the kind of mood he was probably in today, there was no guarantee. If that happened, everything she had prepared today would be for nothing. If worse came to worst, she could always try tracking him with her phone, but even that would be difficult if he was too far away.

Feeling anxious, Ariel pulled out her phone.

To her surprise, he was quite close by. Ariel quickly stuffed her phone away. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when his icon showed up right at the entrance to the reading room. And just as she slipped the phone into her uniform pocket, the door opened.

Lexius walked in, and the moment he saw the room, his brow twitched in mild confusion. His face clearly said, ‘What is this?’

Ariel, who hadn’t truly expected him to come, awkwardly stood up from her seat.

“Welcome, senior.”

“What’s all this? Did a circus come through here or something?”

He muttered as he lazily kicked at a white balloon that had rolled near his foot. It bounced up for a second, then flopped back down and rolled off.

Ariel let out a sheepish laugh.

“I was trying to make it look nice, but I guess it didn’t work.”

Lexius’s frown eased just a little at her words. His face was still unreadable, but at least he didn’t look annoyed anymore. He glanced around the room with a disinterested look.

“You did all this yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“No wonder it’s kind of small.”

“I did what I could. It’s hard to do more when you’re on your own.”

“You could’ve just hired someone.”

“I couldn’t afford to pay anyone.”

“So you really did all of it by yourself?”

“Yeah. Hiring myself is free, after all.”

Seeing Ariel respond playfully before he knew it, Lexius made a strange expression.

“Don’t do this kind of thing anymore. It’s not to my taste.”

He said it plainly, without any particular emotion. His tone wasn’t brusque or cold, but it wasn’t exactly kind either, leaving Ariel unsure of how to respond. He didn’t seem angry, so should she be glad? But since he said he didn’t like it, should she be disappointed?

“Then what do you like, senior?”

“….”