Chapter 155: The Hundredth Smile
Sue’s life finally returned to normal after the hellish winter. Her anxiety eased as her body recovered.
She was walking home from the academy through the park that day. The clear weather and refreshing breeze put her in a good mood.
But there was someone at Libra Lake. There were always people at the lake, but this was different. It was a small figure, standing alone on the shore. The figure started to wade into the water.
The splashing sounds faded, and the figure was halfway submerged when Sue finally snapped out of her daze.
“W-wait! Don’t die! Don’t try to die! At least not in front of me! Please!”
Sue, not caring that her white academy uniform and the cloth bag on her waist were getting soaked, jumped into the lake. Luckily, the small figure wasn’t moving anymore.
“Don’t die! Don’t die!”
Sue, gasping for breath, grabbed the child’s shoulder and turned him around. A head of black hair turned to look at her listlessly.
“…Huh…?”
It was Evan Fritz, tears streaming down his face.
“Y-Young Master Evan?”
Sue, struggling to process the situation, deliberately said his name. Evan, pushing her away, shouted, his voice choked with sobs,
“Yes! I’m Evan Fritz! So what?! Got a problem with that?!”
“…No problem.”
Sue took a step back, intimidated. But she quickly regained her senses, feeling the cold, wet sensation on her skin, and grabbed his wrist.
“Let’s get out of the water first. We have to get out.”
“Sob… Sob…”
He was now quietly sobbing, his loud cries replaced by sniffles. Sue looked at him with pity.
“…Shall I take you to my house?”
It was an offer she could make because she knew the situation, or rather, she could vaguely guess it. He didn’t answer, but Evan, trembling like a frightened rabbit, followed her out of the water.
“The weather is so nice today, isn’t it? It’s already spring. Look at the flowers blooming in the park. Aren’t they pretty? Just like you, Young Master.”
Sue tried her best to soothe him as they walked out of the park. He didn’t answer, but she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, hearing his footsteps following her.
***
“Welcome home, M-…?!”
The servants, who had been waiting in the entrance hall to greet their mistress, were all shocked.
Her uniform was soaked, as if she had been caught in a downpour, her hair was a mess, and more importantly, the boy peeking out from behind her… He was definitely…
“This is Young Master Evan of the Fritz family. Prepare him some dry clothes.”
Sue headed to her room, after watching the servants whisk Evan away.
After bathing and changing, she wrote two letters, one to Fritz and one to Acrea, informing them that Evan was here and asking them to retrieve him as soon as possible.
Evan, now clean and dry, was already sitting at the dining table when dinner was ready. Sue smiled at Evan, who was glaring at her sullenly.
“It’s nothing special, but please enjoy your meal.”
The simple dinner she had planned had turned into a luxurious feast thanks to the unexpected guest.
Evan, who seemed to have skipped at least two meals, devoured everything on his plate.
“Miss.”
Ten whispered, reporting the reply to the letter she had sent.
“Young Master Woo Acrea is coming to pick up Young Master Evan.”
As expected, it was Acrea.
Sue dismissed Ten, and Evan, his energy restored, looked at her and said with a bright smile,
“That was delicious.”
He had too much energy now.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Yes, Sue, my bedroom is ready, right?”
“Bed…? …Yes, of course.”
Too much energy was also a problem.
Sue took Evan to the drawing-room and served him dessert, waiting for Acrea to arrive.
“The cinnamon cookies are delicious too!”
She had brought him home after finding him in the lake, but Sue was starting to feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of taking care of Evan “Fritz.”
It wasn’t her job to alleviate his sadness and help him grow.
“Sue, I actually ran away from home.”
“Oh my.”
Evan, oblivious to her thoughts, started to pour out his heart as he munched on the cookies.
“Everyone’s just angry.”
“Angry?”
“About the broken engagement.”
“Ah…”
Sue pretended to be surprised. She had already guessed why the arrogant little boy had tried to drown himself, ever since she had seen him crying by the lake.
“After the broken engagement was announced, my brother, Father, and Mother were all angry. My brother is always out, and Father and Mother won’t even talk to me… They’re always out meeting someone. Are they going to apologize to Sister Enzhe?”
Sue couldn’t bring herself to agree with his wishful thinking.
“That’s… That’s really… unfortunate.”
All she could do was smile and sympathize with him. After all, Evan hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Sister Enzhe is gone, my brother is gone, and Brother Woo doesn’t come to the mansion often either. So I ran away, and I saw the lake, and I just wanted to jump in…”
His face clouded over, as if he was remembering the incident at the lake.
‘Even a child has his own struggles.’
“I want to cry, I’m bored, and I want my brother to come back soon. I’m so unhappy, it’s not fun, and I’m not happy…”
In the novel, Evan had been too busy teasing Halo and then falling for her to feel unhappy, bored, or unhappy.
Halo’s absence had not only stunted Shina Fritz’s growth, but also his younger brother’s, Evan Fritz.
‘Maybe I should have left Halo alone… if they were going to break up anyway.’
But Sue quickly changed her mind. If she had left Halo alone, she wouldn’t be here now. She had been able to survive because she had pushed Halo to the background. She couldn’t forget that.
She smiled, her expression carefully measured.
“Then why don’t you… meet some friends your age until Master… Shina comes back?”
She thought it was a harmless suggestion. But judging from the arrogant little boy’s pout, she had stepped on a landmine.
“Friends? Hmph, they’re not my friends.”
“What?”
“What kind of friends are those who just bow and scrape, calling me ‘Master Evan, Master Evan’?”
Ah, right.
He didn’t have any friends.
Come to think of it, the only characters Evan interacted with in the novel were Halo’s peers.
But you had rejected Halo in the novel, saying, “I’m going to play with my friends.” What, was that just a bluff?
“Why are all the kids at the academy like that? Do they think they’ll get a piece of bread if they grovel?”
Evan, who seemed to have a lot of pent-up frustration towards his peers, was back to being his arrogant, cocky self, his tears forgotten.
“Everyone treats me like that. Except for my brother, Brother Woo, and Sister Enzhe. You’re doing it too, right now.”
His emerald eyes, now full of life, glared at Sue like sharp arrows.
‘Why is he suddenly attacking me in the middle of his rant?’
Groveling for a piece of bread.
It wasn’t wrong, and it stung a little, but Sue felt even more wronged.
“But Young Master Evan… You would be angry if I spoke informally to you, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Haha…”
Sue couldn’t hide her bitter chuckle. Evan, realizing the inconsistency in his words, blushed and added,
“Well, I’m not really going to scold you.”
He sighed deeply, like an old man.
“You saved me… And you gave me a place to stay…”
She hadn’t given him a place to stay…
“And you don’t look very happy either.”
“…What?”
Sue’s face hardened at his sudden, genuine attack. Evan pointed at her.
“You look like you’re always thinking dark, gloomy, and dirty thoughts!”
“…Ah… Ah, so that’s what you meant. I thought…”
“Huh?”
“Hehe, I’m having a wonderful time every day.”
“…? Uh, okay…”
Sue sighed with relief. Evan’s mind had gone blank for a moment, then he had awkwardly returned to reality.
What had he just said?
Sue quickly changed the subject.
“It can’t be helped, that’s how the noble society of Atlantis is. You have to bow your head to those above you, and stand on the heads of those below you.”
“…I know! But even when I tell them to treat me normally, they don’t.”
Evan, falling for her trick, complained about his peers. The problem was that Sue had also fallen for her own trick. Her mind was relaxed.
“We can’t trust you, Young Master Evan.”
“What? …What? Why?”
Evan asked, his eyes wide with shock. Her serene smile wasn’t a lie.
“People are easily frightened. That’s why.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hehe, I don’t know. But if you asked me the same favor, I would bow my head a hundred times, even if you asked me a hundred times.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Sue blinked slowly. And at that moment, the drawing-room door opened. It was Nine.
“Miss, Young Master Woo Acrea has arrived.”