The venue for the party was decided to be Aiden’s dorm room. Yurina thought that they might be caught because it was right across from Raynald’s room, but Aiden snorted and boasted after hearing such concerns from Yurina.
“He never comes to this room first.”
Additionally, Raynald should be taking Professor Hutson’s class by now. Raynald had no choice but to go to class even though he was worried about Yurina. He was threatened with no graduation thesis if he missed it without permission again.
“I have about three hours to go.”
Aiden rolled up his sleeves as he entered the dorm room. In fact, Aiden had to go to the same class as Raynald, but he was absent to prepare for the birthday party. Yurina felt sorry about him missing class, but he said confidently that he had noticed her concern.
“I didn’t even want to go to class today, so that’s great. I’ve missed a lot of classes till now, so Raynald won’t question it.”
The sight of him lifting the corners of his mouth, unlike a man’s, was just as naughty as a child’s. Yurina smiled at him without realizing it.
‘You have a good friend.’
Even without listening to how Raynald and Aiden got along, she could picture the two of them.
The door opened after Yurina was decorating with the help of Bessie and Aiden for thirty minutes. Yurina looked behind her, worried that Raynald might have come, and met the eyes of a strange child with his head peeking out through the crack in the door.
“Huh?”
The child didn’t come in or move, frozen in place with unblinking blue eyes. Aiden straightened and went to the child first, he placed his hands on his hips with a serious look.
“It’s class time, so why are you here?”
“I want to help too.”
The child licked his lips anxiously. Aiden let out a sigh as if he couldn’t stop him, he moved out of the way and stood in front of Yurina.
“This little boy here is Nathan. Nathan, this is Raynald’s friend, Yurina. Say hello”
Nathan was a cute boy with plump cheeks. At thirteen he did not resemble Raynald, but Yurina thought for a moment that he strangely had a similar feeling to Raynald.
Maybe it was because Raynald was thirteen when he left the mansion.
“Sister, hello! I am Nathan. Can I call you sister?”
“You learned it in etiquette. You must call her Miss Carthia.”
As Aiden lightly hit his head with his fist so it didn’t hurt, Nathan rubbed the area where he was hit and groaned.
“This is the Academy.”
All students were equal at Crohn Royal Academy, where nobles and commoners were both present. And at least within the academy, the students called each other by their first names.
There were some who secretly suppressed commoner students by using their status as aristocrats, but they were punished upon discovery. The worst-case scenario was expulsion.
Discrimination was strictly prohibited not only by status but also by region of origin. This was because such discrimination could interfere with the academic atmosphere.
So Nathan’s argument was reasonable in a way. The problem was that Yurina was not a student here.
Yurina shook her head at Aiden, who was about to say something to Nathan and bent down to match Nathan’s eye level.
“Do you call Ray brother?”
“Brother Raynald? Yes!”
“Then you can call me sister. If Ray is brother, then I’m sister. Because we’re friends.”
Nathan smiled brightly and nodded, but frowned after.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why do you call brother Raynald, Ray?”
“It’s a pet name.”
“But he told me not to call him that.”
Yurina didn’t know how to respond to the unexpected comment. Ray was a pet name that she thoughtlessly came up with when naming Raynald. This is because the name ‘Raynald’ was too long.
In fact, it was only Yurina who called him Ray, but she never felt special about it. She only realized after Nathan said something.
‘Did Ray think it was special?’
For some reason, a corner of her chest heated up. Yurina also smiled at Nathan to hide her burning face, then helped Bessie with the table.
“Wow, it doesn’t look like our room!”
Nathan was more innocent and cute than she thought, maybe it was because he grew up with people like Aiden.
He followed Yurina around like a duckling as she prepared for the party with the help of Bessie. She was excited about having a surprise party for Raynald.
“Sister, is there anything I can do for you? I’m really good at organizing parties!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! I’ve been preparing for brother Raynald’s birthday party.”
Nathan’s expression full of pride touched Yurina’s heart. She wondered how much this little boy could have helped her, but Yurina smiled and responded.
“Well, let’s see what we can do?”
“Yes!”
Nathan nodded with a bright face and ran toward Bessie, who was putting dessert on the table. Instead of helping he put a macaron that Bessie handed him in his mouth and laughed. Yurina watched him open his eyes wide, saying it was delicious.
“Cute.”
On the surface, Yurina and Nathan looked like peers. Yurina looked taller, but in reality, she could have been slightly shorter if she took off her heels.
There was only a two-year age difference but she couldn’t help thinking someone was cute when they were cute.
Nathan also treated Yurina as if she were five or six years older than him. Perhaps since she was a friend of Raynald, who was about to become an adult, it made her look like an adult as well.
‘No matter how you look there’s no resemblance to Ray at all.’
Unlike Ray who was scrawny at his age, Nathan was of average build. His cheeks were a little chubby as if he hadn’t lost any baby fat yet. Unlike Raynald, who was shy of strangers, Nathan was friendly.
There was no resemblance to Raynald anywhere, but Yurina’s eyes kept seeing the 13-year-old Raynald’s face.
“Sister, this is brother Raynald’s favorite! I know him well because he’s my friend!”
After thinking for a while, Yurina finally got the answer when she saw Nathan shaking a cupcake topped with whipped cream with an excited expression.
He resembled that innocent child-like figure without any pretense. He was similar in that his bright appearance looked pretty.
‘Ray has some good friends.’
Yurina waved lightly to Nathan, imagining how Raynald would have acted.
Only three days left in the kingdom. With these children, Yurina thought she could go back to the Empire without any worries.
* * *
“Raynald, where are you going?”
Raynald stopped on his way out of class to the voice from behind. Aiden stood smiling when Raynald turned around.
Aiden ran like a horse and clung to Raynald’s arm.
“Where are you going in such a hurry? Is there something urgent?”
“Where did you go skipping classes and now you’re coming back?”
“It’s a nice day. I went for a walk. So what are you going to do now?”
“What am I going to do?”
Raynald responded bluntly, pulled his arm out of Aiden’s, and took a step away. Normally, he would have matched Aiden’s rhythm, but now he couldn’t afford to. There was only one person on his mind.
‘Yurina said she was with Master.’
She had smiled at Raynald, who was reluctant to leave Yurina, saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll be with Dave.”
Dave was usually stuck in the library or professor’s lab when he came to the academy. Then, was Yurina there too? Or somewhere else.
Raynald was agonizing, Aiden smiled playfully and opened his mouth.
“Are you looking for the Carthia’s little lady? I know where the Young Lady is.”
“Where is she?”
“Wow, you didn’t listen to me, but now that I’m talking about Miss Carthia, you are interested? I’m disappointed.”
“You don’t know.”
He wouldn’t know.
Aiden rushed over and grabbed Raynald’s arm as he tried to get away. “Wait, I really know. I know!”
“Where is she?”
“Only if you follow me.”
Raynald squinted at Aiden’s expression. It was suspicious to keep smirking, but it didn’t seem to be a lie. In fact, he was too active and talkative, but he was not a liar.
Raynald followed him obediently. However, he soon realized that Aiden was walking toward the dormitory and stopped walking. Something was off.
“Where are we going now?”
“To meet Miss Carthia.”
“It can’t be in a place like this.”
“Don’t talk, just follow me. You don’t trust your friend?”
Aiden, who was more powerful physically than with magic, walked into the dormitory as if dragging him. Raynald had a suspicious face.
‘It’s weird to think about it.’
Aiden was headed to Raynald’s dorm room. No, he thought it was Raynald’s room. But Aiden looked back at him with a grim look on his face and stood in front of the door.
“This is your room.”
“Yes, it’s my room.”
“Yurina’s in there?”
He meant don’t talk nonsense, but Aiden just grinned and shrugged. He pointed at the door with his chin.
“Open up.”
Still, Raynald didn’t want to open the door, he placed his hand on the doorknob.
“Don’t look at me like that, just open up and be fooled.”
What the hell are you up to? As he said, Raynald turned the doorknob to be fooled.
Neverland Translations 