Ch.7978. An Extraordinary Ordinary Life (3)

# 78. Not-So-Ordinary Daily Life (3)

At that moment.

Rachel watched the two of them talking as she came down from the stands and thought to herself.

‘He likes it… very much.’

Rachel was displeased seeing him flirting with her while ignoring her own feelings.

Still, he was her boyfriend, and Rachel wasn’t anything special to him, so she couldn’t say anything.

‘But that’s… not right… I waited so long..’

Even if they weren’t anything to each other, feeling upset was still feeling upset.

Of course, given his personality, he probably didn’t break the promise intentionally, and something must have happened.

But right now, she didn’t want to hear any of that.

Maybe she was just throwing a tantrum, but that’s how she felt right now.

While she was sulking to herself, Reina, who was returning to the classroom with Rachel, said:

“Why don’t you just let it go? It’s not like he did it on purpose.”

“But still…”

“He might not have told me what happened, but he’d probably tell you if you asked. You’re the princess, after all.”

“What do you mean ‘after all’?”

Reina laughed incredulously and said:

“And stop being so jealous. He’s not even your man to begin with.”

“J-jealous!? It’s not like that!”

“Oh, really? Well, if you say so…”

Rachel raised her voice at Reina’s clearly disbelieving expression.

“I’m not jealous.”

“Alright… Anyway, make up with him quickly.”

“I’ll think about it…”

As Rachel was making such weak protests, someone was cautiously approaching her alone.

“Oh!? Wait a minute… he’s coming this way?”

“Coming? Who?”

“Who else? Anyway, I need to go to my next class. Good luck.”

With those final words, as Reina was about to leave, Rachel called out in a flustered voice:

“Hey! Wait…”

“Take care, and have a good talk!”

Reina hurriedly ran off somewhere, and Rachel stared blankly after her.

“No… if you just leave like that…”

Rachel took her eyes off the already departed Reina and looked at Albert approaching her.

Albert cautiously asked Rachel, who was looking at him with a cold gaze.

“Can we talk for a moment?…”

“Ah… I need to get to my next class.”

“It’ll really just take a moment…”

But Rachel ignored his words and tried to leave.

She wanted to make up with him, but the anger from before hadn’t completely subsided yet.

“Class is about to start soon… Let’s do this another time, another time.”

There was still some time before class started, so she could have stayed to listen, but Rachel didn’t seem to want to.

Rachel tried to end the conversation and head to the classroom for her next class.

But then, after hesitating briefly, he moved with a bit of courage.

“Just listen for a moment!”

Albert grabbed Rachel’s hand as she tried to escape the situation.

Rachel, surprised by the warm touch that suddenly seized her hand, instinctively turned around, and there was Albert, holding her hand with a flushed face.

He spoke in a barely audible voice.

“Just… listen for a moment…”

Rachel, whose face was also flushed like Albert’s, spoke in a somewhat softened tone and voice.

“Fine… what is it?”

“About… what happened the other day…”

Albert was clearly referring to what had happened on Sunday.

“Yeah… so?”

“First of all… I’m sorry.”

Albert bowed his head in apology, and Rachel was taken aback by his sudden action.

After a moment of surprise, she asked again with a prim tone.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For forgetting our Saturday evening appointment and making you wait all day…”

“So you stood me up and had fun with your girlfriend? Was it nice?”

“I’m sorry… really sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen…”

He was apologizing sincerely, so Rachel’s anger was gradually subsiding.

“But… can you let go of my hand now?”

“Huh? Oh! Sorry…”

He let go of her hand in surprise, and Rachel looked at him with satisfaction.

Rachel seemed to have almost forgiven him for his behavior, but she was still curious about what had happened.

“So what happened that night? What was so important that you forgot our appointment?”

“Well… it’s a bit difficult to explain here. I’ll tell you after the academy ends.”

“Alright, see you later.”

With those final words, Rachel left to attend her next class, and he stared blankly after her.

“Is she… no longer angry?”

As he was uncertain about what had just happened, Chris approached him.

“Of course she’s not angry anymore. Didn’t I tell you? Men need confidence! Just grab her hand firmly! That’s all it takes.”

“She definitely seems much better than before…”

“It’s more than just ‘better,’ I’m telling you.”

Seeing Chris’s confident demeanor was somewhat reassuring.

Usually, Chris wouldn’t react like that unless he was certain.

“Well… if you say so.”

“Don’t forget next time. If you do it again, it could really be serious trouble.”

“Of course I won’t.”

Albert made a firm promise to himself that he wouldn’t do it again, and probably there wouldn’t be such incidents in the future.

Probably…

After making that firm resolution in his heart, he asked Chris:

“By the way, what’s our 6th period today?”

“That teacher is on a business trip today, so we have free periods from 6th to 8th.”

“Then what should we do?”

Chris answered Albert’s question with a bright smile.

“Come at me.”

“Huh?”

“I said come at me, but don’t use any skills.”

“Huh?? This situation feels familiar somehow…”

“Shut up and come at me.”

Albert chuckled at his shameless and confident response.

“Aren’t you being too cocky for someone who’s too scared to let me use skills?”

“I told you earlier, men need confidence.”

“Don’t you know the saying ‘too much of a good thing’?”

“In times like these, the saying ‘the more the better’ applies.”

Albert was dumbfounded by his inexplicable confidence, but his body was already heading toward the arena.

“Don’t cry when I beat you.”

***

After finishing that long sparring session with Chris, I was waiting for her in the library.

‘That was really tough…’

It was incredibly difficult, probably because of his request not to use skills.

But it seemed like I was now at a similar level to guys like Chris or Raycle.

Even without using any skills, my stats didn’t seem to be lacking at all.

Of course, my defense was still too low, so it still hurt if I got hit badly.

As I was thinking about that sparring session, the library door opened, and the person I had been waiting for came in.

And she greeted me cheerfully as soon as she saw me.

“You came quite early today?”

“You told me to come, Noona.”

“W-well, that’s true.”

She continued the conversation as she sat down at the table where I was sitting.

“About what I wanted to talk about earlier.”

“Yes.”

She hesitated a bit, stalling for time, and I quietly waited for her to speak.

“Um… are you free this weekend?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then would you like to go on a date this weekend?”

I was momentarily taken aback by her rather direct date proposal.

Somehow, I thought someone like her would use a more roundabout way of asking rather than using the word “date” directly.

“I’d love to.”

“Then I’ll let you know where to meet on the weekend. But more importantly, the kids will be here soon, so please keep our weekend date a secret…”

“Won’t everyone find out anyway when we go on the date?”

It was true that she was famous enough that almost no one in the Empire, especially in the capital, wouldn’t recognize her.

“That’s true… But don’t you think we won’t be caught if we hide well?”

“How?”

“People don’t recognize me when I just wear a mask, you know?”

“What? Really?”

She nodded at my question.

‘They don’t recognize her with just a mask?’

It’s true that she has a small face, so a mask would cover most of it, but it still didn’t make sense to me.

If she only wore a mask, it wouldn’t hide her distinctive silver hair and purple eyes.

“Aren’t they just pretending not to know you?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure either. They all seem to glance at me occasionally…”

Then it was certain they were just pretending not to recognize her.

To begin with, the image of her shown to the public through media was quite different from how she appeared in front of me.

Right now, she looked cute and gentle, but in the media, she was often portrayed as a charismatic leader.

‘That’s probably why they don’t acknowledge knowing her…’

But she didn’t seem to realize this fact.

“They probably all know but just don’t approach you.”

“What should I do then?”

“Doesn’t it not matter? We’re planning to go public anyway, and they’re not really bothering us. But why do you want to hide that we’re dating?”

“Because Riel will tease me again…”

The reason was surprisingly trivial.

“From what I can see, you can’t avoid that. Just enjoy it.”

If you can’t avoid it, it’s best to enjoy it, and Riel’s teasing was something she couldn’t escape.

After hearing my words, she spoke in a timid tone.

“I’ll try…”

“By the way, when are the others coming?”

-Clunk!-

“They’re here.”

With eerie timing, the library door swung open wide, and those kids we were just talking about entered the library.