Faint but Clear (2)
"Why did you keep glaring at me? Were you pretending to be angry?"
"Was it strange?"
"I thought it was the return of the cold ice queen."
He had noticed to some extent, but he acted cautiously just in case.
He was relieved that it wasn't a mistake he had unintentionally made.
Dolores hugged him.
After leaving the tower master's seat, her physical affection had become more active.
"But then, my favoritism would be exposed. It would be so lovely to stay hidden like this while pretending not to get along. Can you even imagine?"
"Are you going to call me out and glare at me like this every year?"
"Don't worry. I'll give you some variations."
"No......"
What to do with this cheeky girl.
Seeing her face closing her eyes and slightly pouting her lips, Reed grabbed her cheek.
He marveled at the mochi-like texture that was even more elastic than before.
"Wow, it's chewier than before. You must really be eating well."
"…I'm really getting angry?"
As her expression turned cold, Reed quickly kissed her, feeling a sense of incongruity.
Then she smiled as if nothing had happened.
"Where did you leave Rosaria?"
"I didn't call her, and I thought she'd be bored if I brought her, so I left her at the tower. She's been really into board games lately."
"Will the child let you do that?"
"Since I played with her every time she suddenly entered my office, I think it's okay to be a bad dad for about three days, right?"
"How romantic."
Dolores giggled and teased.
There's still more time when they can be together like this without being disturbed by anyone.
At that, Dolores hugged Reed tightly.
"I think it's time to take an academy tour soon, so can you let go of me a little?"
"Can't we just go like this?"
"If the person who was acting cold to avoid showing favoritism suddenly does this, wouldn't they be flustered?"
"You're right. That would be really annoying. Then how about we just kiss as soon as we meet next time?"
"You'll be scolded for flirting in a sacred academic place."
"If someone objects, they can just come at me. I scolded ten people yesterday, so it's no problem if there are more."
Dolores spoke with a confident expression.
If it was last year, it would have meant proving that she could beat the headmaster Anton's beloved students, but from this year, it has been carried out like a kind of event.
Reed gently let go of Dolores, who was in his arms, and asked.
"Let's talk about work. How's the magic engineering major these days?"
"The number of majors has decreased compared to last year, with only 12 graduates."
"That's not very good."
"But, as I mentioned before, we started recruiting magic engineering talents from the freshmen this year. As I heard last time, we're testing about 30 selected people, so why don't you go and see more then?"
"Hmm... Do you have their profiles?"
"I brought them because I thought you might need them."
Reed looked at the documents Dolores handed him.
Even at a quick glance, Reed couldn't help but click his tongue.
"It's going to be tough for them to survive..."
Out of the 30, 20 were commoners, and the remaining 10 were nobles who had come to get a diploma from Escolleia by any means necessary.
The biggest problem for the commoners' studies was money.
Because the quality of life was no different from that of the nobles, tuition fees and maintenance fees were based on the standards of the nobles.
Since the conversation with Kaitlyn often revolved around the difficulty of not having money, it must have been a significant issue.
'If there are some useful talents among them, I should support them.'
He was thinking of making a proposal to the dean, as he had something in mind for nurturing talent.
"That's something I'll take care of separately."
Reed looked down at Dolores and spoke.
"Now I'm going to go see the graduates. Do you want to come with me?"
"Is it okay?"
"You were just saying let's kiss earlier."
"That was obviously a joke."
Dolores blushed, and Reed shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, then, let's say there was a misunderstanding, and it's resolved."
Dolores rolled her eyes and then got up from her seat as if she had nothing more to think about.
"So..."
Dolores grabbed Reed's hand.
"Let's hold hands."
"Sure, we can."
Dolores stuck to his side and smiled broadly.
It was finally the moment when she could walk hand in hand with her fiancé through the campus, a dream she had had for a long time.
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Dream big tl dot com
[Original Source – dreambigtl . com]
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A strangely alien vividness.
It felt like reality, but there was a feeling of being trapped in a space that was not free.
Reed knew what it was.
'Is it this dream again...?'
Last time, he had dreams of studying without any context and researching magic.
While thinking about what kind of dream it was this time, he heard a voice that still had a babyish tone.
"How do you like your bread, oppa?"
"Oppa" was a term only Dolores used.
Reed looked down.
When he looked lower than usual, there was a girl with blue hair sitting there.
Bright eyes and a wavering face.
The girl was as cute as Rosaria, exuding innocence.
Reed knew who the girl was.
It was Dolores from her childhood.
Reed sat next to Dolores and had a meal together.
"I like to spread butter and raspberry jam on mine."
She picked up a butter knife with her small hand, spread a layer of butter evenly, and put raspberry jam on top.
He took a bite of the toast with the butter and raspberry piled up appetizingly.
He ate the crunchy toast and laughed sheepishly.
"Is it good?"
A stern-looking voice.
Although it sounded younger with a higher accent, it was undoubtedly Reed's voice.
Dolores nodded her head.
"Yes. It's really delicious."
She looked as pure as Rosaria, with only blue hair.
Dolores brought the toast to Reed's mouth.
"Do you want to try a bite, oppa?"
Should he?
But Reed didn't move. Instead, he wiped the breadcrumbs from the corner of his mouth with his index finger.
Dolores put down the toast, blushing.
"Just watching you eat is enough for me. Eat a lot."
"Yes..."
Dolores started eating the toast.
With her face flushed, she blamed herself for looking so naive.
She tried to eat the toast without getting breadcrumbs on her mouth, but the toast was bigger than her small mouth, so it stuck all over.
Reed just looked down at Dolores.
Seeing the girl, who he had worried about starving every day, continually feeling the happiness of eating, he felt joy.
