Although it was cold, it was a very beautiful voice. Listening to that, Anita’s heart regained its calmness, and it was enough to forget the burden on her heart.
‘Are you a fairy from the fairy tale?’
Or a dwarf? Do dwarves have pretty voices?
Anita rubbed the tip of her itchy nose from the chilly cold.
squeaky.
With the sound of a chair being pushed, calm footsteps gradually got closer. As the sound grew louder, a yellow light drew closer as well.
The identity of the yellow light was a lantern that a boy carried.
A blond boy in a thick cardigan.
Skin as white as a pure white snowfield that no one has passed by. His height is smaller than Anita’s. With his green eyes, his expression was that of anger.
‘I thought he was a doll because he was so pretty.’
I even thought he was a girl, but he was a boy.
A small, white, pretty boy. Anita, convinced of his identity, stood up in surprise.
“You are a fairy!”
The forehead, which had been furrowed, distorted even more intensely.
“Oi.”
The boy clicked his tongue with a look of displeasure.
“Noisy.”
Contrary to his warm milky appearance, a cold wind was blowing briskly.
Anita fell silent at his cold attitude.
‘……aren’t you a fairy?’
Oh, you are not.
Yeah, there are no fairies in the real world.
Her face was burning with embarrassment for having done something stupid. It was a completely different emotion from the shame of standing in front of the children who mocked her.
If I wanted to run away then, I wanted to hide now.
“If you’re not going to read a book, go away.”
With the last warning, the back she saw was as cold as the front.
As the light that shone on the boy’s face moved away, the shadow of the library embraced Anita.
Clearly, it was the darkness that I didn’t care about until I met him, but the spacious library was strangely cold and dark.
‘Because the library is a place to read books.’
It was not right to disturb the boy.
But there’s nowhere for me to go.
Her father was busy, and all the children shun her, so the only place for Anita was a secluded room.
A cold room with no lights on.
A quiet room because there is no one there.
‘If I read a book, wouldn’t it be okay to stay here?’
The worries did not last long.
Anita immediately ran to the nearest bookshelf and picked up the first book she found. Then she approached cautiously towards the boy who was sitting.
She deliberately sat at a distance, far away from the only lamp the boy had brought, and it was not a good environment for reading.
What should I do? What should I do?
After thinking for quite a while, she plucked up the courage to take a seat across from the boy, but she was greeted with his fierce eyes.
“I, I want to read too.”
It sounded like an excuse that came out of nowhere.
Fortunately, the boy’s glance was quickly turned towards the book he was reading.
‘Phew.’
Anita sighed in relief and opened her book.
I didn’t know I brought a foreign language book.
‘No wonder he glared at me.’
Again. I did something that would make my face hot again.
Anita sat in the distance with the front page of the book open.
Then all of a sudden, the words in the book the boy was reading caught her eye.
‘Quils huh? It’s a language that I can read a little.’
Without realizing it, I read the boy’s book with concentration.
Too difficult.
It was so difficult and I was so curious. I couldn’t endure it and opened my mouth.
“You know…… How do you read the last line of the third paragraph on page 21?”
There was no answer.
I sat down disappointed and concentrated again. The more I looked, the more I was amazed at the sentences that were difficult to interpret.
“How can you read all these difficult sentences?
As expected, there is no answer.
Being ignored over and over again, I kept asking, “Hey, I’m confused by this word, is it ‘cooperation’ or ‘give up’……”
It was then.
The boy who got up at once disappeared through the bookshelves and then reappeared.
He was carrying a book that was at least twice as thick as the one he was reading.
Anita’s complexion turned pale.
‘Are you trying to hit me with that book? Did I bother you that much?’
The boy put the thick book down in front of Anita.
“If you don’t know, keep your mouth shut and read it.”
Anita swallowed dry saliva and checked the title of the book.
《Quils Dictionary》
He must have been bothered that Anita was asking too many questions. She carefully hugged the dictionary the boy had given her.
“Thanks.”
“And don’t keep talking to me. It’s annoying.”
Hm……
I sat quietly and read the dictionary he recommended.
After finding the meaning of the confusing word, I couldn’t overcome the boredom and repeatedly nodded off and woke up.
‘I can’t. It’s late, so I have to go back to my father.’
But this dictionary is good.
The dictionary in my house is written with difficult words that are difficult to understand, but the words in this dictionary can be understood without needing to look for other meanings.
“Can I……”
I was going to ask if I can borrow this.
[And don’t keep talking to me. It’s annoying.]
I couldn’t open my mouth at the sharp warning.
“I……”
Huh, but I really want to ask.
“I, this……”
“What?”
At that moment, the boy with his tired face turned to look at her.
I wonder how annoying I am right now. You probably don’t want to see me, do you? When I thought about it, I felt guilty.
Anita whispered in the lowest voice she could make.
“Can I borrow this?”
“How are you going to carry that?”
“I can carry it.”
“You can’t.”
It was such a firm denial.
“I, I can carry it!”
“You can’t.”
“No. I can carry it!”
Anita held the Quils language dictionary in her arms.
Ugh, it’s really heavy.
“See? You can carry it?”
It was much heavier than I thought, it was difficult for me to breathe, but it seemed that I could carry it and go down.
The boy glanced at Anita with displeased eyes and looked back at the book.
“If you can’t return it within a month, I will report it as theft.”
It was a goodbye. However, Anita couldn’t move and asked awkwardly, “You……aren’t you going to ask my name?”
As he turned his head with a confused expression, as if making an excuse, Anita revealed the reason.
“You have to know my name to report it as a theft. I am Anita Völlen.”
I thought I would be ignored again, but surprisingly the boy said his name.
“Lancelot Edenbair.”
Ah.
‘Edenbair…… He was the child living in this house.’
Come to think of it, there was nothing surprising.
Because only the owner of the house can enter this library with indoor clothes.
Anita left the library. She hesitated whether to say goodbye or not, but in the end, she didn’t.
*
The moon was covered in clouds and night has come.
Anita took her father’s hand and got into the carriage returning home.
He’s always a decent father anytime, anywhere. Her father, reeking of alcohol, ruffled her hair and asked, “Did you get along well with your friends?”
No.
“Yes.”
“Did you have fun?”
No.
“Yes. I had fun.”
“We’ll see them often in the future. Don’t make any mistake and get along well.”
I felt a little better at the fact that I was going home, but I became depressed in an instant.
I don’t want to see them again.
Even though I made no mistakes, they shunned me.
There was only one child in that lovely mansion who did not shun me.
‘He will despise me when he finds out that I am not a noble.’
When I thought about it, I felt more depressed.
‘It’s okay. Because I have my father, my nanny, Mary, and Berry.’
It’s really okay. I don’t need anyone else. I’m happy enough for now.