Chapter 11
Valenti was wearing a black shirt with silver lines and sapphire decorations on the collar, a black vest and dress pants, and a slightly long white dress jacket. All the clothes had embroidery in the same color as the fabric, making the elegant sheen beautiful even up close.
The jacket’s collar and sleeves were black, decorated with sophisticated silver embroidery. The elegant shoulder line and emphasized waistline accentuated Valenti’s sleek and angular physique.
Perfectly dressed, Marquis Valenti spread his arms as if to catch Emily, who was slightly falling from a low height due to the teleportation magic. As she set her foot down and raised her head, he naturally hid his hands behind his back and greeted her.
“Good afternoon, Miss Emily.”
“…Yes, good afternoon, Marquis Valenti.”
Marquis Valenti, dressed up as if attending a party, was truly dazzling. His forehead hair was swept back, emphasizing his light gray eyes, and somehow he seemed more adult-like than usual, revealing the precarious beauty unique to a man in the transition between boy and adult.
As Emily stared blankly at his surreal appearance, Valenti’s expressionless eyes trembled slightly as they met hers.
“Are you returning from town?”
Emily, distracted by Valenti’s appearance, startled back to her senses when he spoke. Remembering that she had rejected his offer to go to town together, Emily felt slightly embarrassed and answered as kindly as possible.
“Huh? Oh… yes. I just got back.”
Emily glanced at Marquis Valenti’s face, but his expressionless face was impossible to read, leaving her perplexed. Valenti naturally began to escort Emily as they walked.
“I see. Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes, it was my first visit to town. It was really lively and beautiful.”
“Is that so? Did you have lunch? There’s quite a nice restaurant near the central fountain.”
Emily recalled the row of expensive restaurants at Valenti’s words. Remembering that she had just passed by, thinking she couldn’t afford to enter with her pocket money, Emily smiled awkwardly.
“Ah… I didn’t have time for a restaurant, but I’d like to go someday. It looked really wonderful.”
“I see. There are also many good tea houses in that area.”
“You seem to know the area well.”
“Yes. After all, the town is the closest place to the academy, so I’ve been there often over the past two years.”
“Ah, that makes sense…. But, wait a moment, Marquis Valenti.”
Emily, who had been swept along and walking with Valenti as he smoothly led the conversation down the central path, suddenly stopped in confusion. Valenti turned to look at her with a puzzled expression and asked what was wrong.
“What’s the matter, Miss Emily?”
‘…Am I the only one who finds this situation strange?’
She hadn’t noticed immediately because he had followed so naturally. She had assumed he was waiting for his turn to use the teleportation site since he was standing in front of it.
“No… it’s just, aren’t you going to use the teleportation magic, Marquis Valenti? It seems like you’re intending to return with me.”
As Emily pointed to the teleportation magic site behind them, Valenti looked at her as if to say ‘what do you mean?’ and answered.
“I’m on my way back to the academy now.”
“…Dressed like that? Weren’t you going somewhere?”
“No. I’m just on my way back now.”
Emily looked curiously at Valenti, who said he was on his way back to the academy at two in the afternoon in formal attire, but soon thought it might be possible and didn’t ask further. Something felt off, but unable to pinpoint exactly what, Emily resumed walking with a puzzled expression, and Valenti began to walk beside her.
“Shall I carry your luggage, Miss Emily?”
“No, it’s fine. The box is light. Thank you for offering.”
When Marquis Valenti reached out his hand to Emily with the offer, she politely declined. He withdrew his hand, but again seemed subtly disappointed, which made her feel strange.
“What do you usually do on weekends, Miss Emily?”
As it was still midday, there was no one around. As Emily walked side by side with Marquis Valenti, her elbow carrying the books and box brushed against his arm several times, so Emily moved a few steps to the left to create some distance.
“I just rest. I read books, do assignments, and go for walks.”
“I see. Do you enjoy walking?”
“Yes.”
But before they had gone a few steps, Emily’s elbow brushed against his clothes again, causing her to look to the side in confusion. As Valenti kept moving closer to Emily, and Emily kept trying to maintain distance, the two were soon walking oddly skewed to the left instead of straight down the path.
“Um… isn’t it uncomfortable for you to walk like this?”
Finally, as they had moved off the path onto the grass, Emily couldn’t hold back anymore and asked him. Valenti looked at her with a face that still didn’t understand what she meant.
“It’s not uncomfortable at all. Are you uncomfortable? Shall I carry your luggage?”
“No, no. It’s fine.”
At her words, Valenti’s eyes widened slightly as he offered to carry her luggage again, but Emily refused, saying it was okay, and looked ahead again.
‘…This person has a strange sense of distance.’
The thought crossed Emily’s mind. Forced to maintain a close distance with him as they walked, Emily was inwardly searching for a topic of conversation as an awkward silence fell after their dialogue ended. Just then, she noticed his black dress shoes.
“By the way… you’re really dressed up today.”
“…Do you not like it?”
When Emily mentioned Valenti’s attire, he lowered his gray eyes slightly and smoothed his outer garment as if displeased.
“What? No! It really suits you!”
Startled by this, Emily vehemently denied it, to which Valenti looked at her and nodded slightly.
“I see. Thank you. I’ll continue to dress well in the future.”
“…Ah, yes.”
She still thought the conversation was strange, but Emily felt somehow exhausted and gave up on pointing it out. Just as she was walking, hoping to reach the dormitory quickly, when they were about halfway down the central path, thick raindrops suddenly began to fall.
As Emily let out a small scream at the sudden downpour that followed the first few drops, Valenti quickly took off his white coat and put it over Emily’s head. With still a considerable distance left to the academy, the two ran to the grassy area beside the path and took shelter under a large tree.
The rain was so heavy that it created a mist over the grass, and Emily and Valenti were instantly soaked. As they ran under a very large, mature tree to escape the rain, they were able to avoid most of it thanks to the densely intertwined branches and leaves. However, it couldn’t block everything, and a few drops still fell on their heads.
“Are you alright, Miss Emily?”
Valenti, despite water streaming down his black bangs from the rain, checked on Emily first. Thanks to the coat he had quickly draped over her head, Emily was less wet than Valenti, but her long brown hair was quite damp and was wetting her thin dress.
“I’m fine, but… Oh no! What should I do! My gloves!!”
Emily was more alarmed by her wet box than by being wet herself. Momentarily forgetting Valenti’s presence, she let out a small cry and hurriedly opened the box to check inside. Unfortunately, she had been carrying the book on the inside and the box on the outside, so while the book was barely wet, the edges of the paper box containing her new purchases had changed color due to the rain.
Emily anxiously untied the ribbon on the box and examined the contents. Fortunately, the gloves and ribbon were intact, but the shawl had small water stains. Emily sighed in relief seeing the gloves were fine, but her expression darkened with worry that the white shawl might discolor from the rain.
“Are the gloves alright?”
Startled by Emily’s reaction, Valenti was looking at her box. When he looked at Emily’s face and asked if everything was okay, Emily, realizing she had shown an embarrassing side of herself, blushed slightly and nodded.
“Ah, yes. Thankfully, they’re fine. I’m sorry, I was just so flustered…”
“No, it’s alright. But the shawl seems a bit wet. It might be best to separate it, or it could wet the ribbon and gloves.”
“Oh, you’re right. Um… how should I separate them?”
At Valenti’s suggestion, Emily quickly took the gloves and ribbon out of the box but soon found herself in a dilemma. She had nowhere else to put them. It was still raining, and even under the tree, raindrops were still falling through, leaving Emily pale with worry in this difficult situation.
Watching her, Marquis Valenti unbuttoned and took off the vest he was wearing. After shaking off the water a couple of times, he handed it to her.
“Use this. The fabric is somewhat water-resistant, so the inside should be fine.”
“What? Oh, no, that’s…”
When he held out his luxurious vest, which looked dozens of times more expensive than Emily’s gloves, a flustered Emily immediately refused. But Marquis Valenti, pretending not to hear her refusal, took the gloves and ribbon from her hands and wrapped them tightly in his clothes.
“No, Marquis Valenti! If you do this…!”
“It’s alright. My clothes are made of a material that doesn’t matter if it gets wet. If you’re really concerned, we can keep them like this until the rain stops.”
Emily, startled by his actions, tried to stop him, but Valenti shook his head, tightly tied the clothes, and put them in the box. Placing them in the dry part of the box wrapped in clothes would prevent the rainwater from spreading. After Valenti placed the box and book on a large tree root where raindrops wouldn’t fall, Emily thanked him.
“…Thank you so much, Marquis Valenti.”
“It’s nothing. More importantly, raindrops are falling on your side, please come a bit closer to this side.”
More concerned about the water droplets falling on Emily’s cheeks than on her clothes, Valenti lightly grasped Emily’s shoulder and guided her to where he was standing. Even though he wasn’t directly touching her shoulder because of his white coat draped over it, he felt he could clearly sense her body heat.
