Chapter 62: An Unexpected Kindness

“This is the young lady’s room.”

Sion stared blankly at the door.

Estroza Perwell’s room was located at the end of the second-floor hallway.

There was a sign hanging on the door.

-Knock no matter what!!!

“This is….”

“Oh, don’t mind that. The young lady hates it when people enter without knocking… of course, I sometimes enter without knocking because I want to see her get angry.”

“…Yes?”

“Shall we go in for now?”

He felt like he had heard something he couldn’t ignore.

Anna, the servant, knocked on the door with a straight face.

-Knock knock knock.

“Young lady, are you there? You have a guest.”

Anna knocked and put her ear to the door.

But there was no sound from inside.

“Is she not in the room?”

“No, she has a bad cold, so she must be asleep.”

“Then I should just go back….”

“No! It’s okay. You’re curious about your girlfriend’s room, right?”

Anna winked at Sion as she said that.

‘She’s not my girlfriend, and I’m not particularly curious about the room….’

He missed the timing to tell the truth, and he was still being misunderstood as ‘Estroza’s boyfriend’.

When and how should he tell her so that he can clear up the misunderstanding without being awkward?

While he was thinking, Anna opened the door wide.

“Come on, come in. Take this too.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s dangerous to leave outsiders alone, but I’m relieved if it’s her boyfriend. …I’ll be outside the room, so feel free to stay. Here!”

Press!

Sion couldn’t resist Anna’s urging and entered the room.

When he turned around, the door was already closed.

The door wouldn’t open, as if she was holding the doorknob from the inside.

‘…This is a big problem.’

The misunderstanding was growing uncontrollably.

Even if he said “I’m not her boyfriend” now….

Wouldn’t he get stabbed with a knife for daring to aim for our young lady?

‘But what is this?’

Clatter.

Before entering the room, Anna had handed him a tray.

On the tray were a spoon and a bowl with warm steam rising from it.

When he gently opened the lid of the bowl, it was ‘porridge’.

…Come to think of it, it’s lunchtime now.

“Ugh… Anna? Anna?”

Rustle—

Sion couldn’t even breathe when he heard the sound of someone tossing and turning on the bed.

Her room, which was larger than a dormitory room, was full of cute patterns and dolls.

Perhaps because the bed was surrounded by dolls, she didn’t seem to notice Sion’s presence yet.

“Anna, did you knock…? Anyway, I’m hungry, so give me food….”

“…….”

“It’s not porridge again, is it? Can’t you secretly buy me something? Porridge tastes bad~.”

“…….”

“Anna…? Why aren’t you answering?”

A voice full of aegyo that was 180 degrees different from usual.

Sion was just frozen with the tray in his hand.

It was right after that that Estroza noticed something was wrong.

Feeling frustrated, Estroza raised her upper body and looked at Sion.

She… was wearing only a thin camisole.

The camisole, soaked in sweat and clinging to her body, showed Estroza’s curves without filtering…

“Why aren’t you saying any……….”

“……Hello?”

“……………………Huh?”

Her face blank, she looked at Sion.

Sion also froze and exchanged glances with her.

Like that, 1 second, 2 seconds…

And when it was 3 seconds.

“Kyaaaaaak——! Wh, why are you here!!”

Estroza screamed and covered her body with the blanket.

“W, wait a minute. First, lower your voice and calm down….”

“Calm down!! Get out, get out right now!”

“No….”

Swoosh! Swoosh swoosh!

She started throwing the dolls around her indiscriminately.

Because it was a fluffy doll, there was naturally no impact.

He could only hope that other servants wouldn’t come and make the problem worse.

“How did you get in here… ugh.”

“…Estroza!”

She grabbed her head and staggered.

Her upper body leaned to the side.

If she kept going like this, she would fall off the bed.

‘No!’

Sion placed the tray on the bedside table next to the bed.

He grabbed Estroza’s upper body as if he was pulling her in for an embrace.

Fortunately, he was able to prevent the catastrophic event of her falling off the bed.

But….

“…Are you okay?”

“…….”

Estroza up close.

Her pure white eyes, seen up close, were as beautiful as snowflakes.

The place where those eyes were directed was….

It was Sion’s hand that was grabbing Estroza’s chest.

“…Ah, I didn’t mean to do this….”

“Yo, you pervert!!!”

Slap!!

Sion was slapped in the face by Estroza as is.

---

“…So you’re saying you came here at the request of Professor Variyes?”

“Yes.”

“And… Si, Sion is mistaken for my boyfriend, and the servants forced you into my room… is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. …I’m answering for the third time.”

“Haa….”

She massaged her forehead and sighed.

Sion was sitting on a chair placed for guests.

One side of his cheek was noticeably swollen.

‘I was unfairly hit….’

Sion was creating ice with magic and rubbing it on his cheek.

He reached out to save her, but that hand just happened to touch a bad place.

He was upset because there was not even 1% of intentionality.

…Of course, the touch of her chest was still vividly imprinted on his hand.

“So what is that document?”

“This is it.”

“…Hmm.”

Rustle.

Sion handed over the paper from his pocket.

There were two papers in total.

One was Variyes’ class plan, and….

“…What is this?”

“That’s a note I wrote separately.”

“Why is this….”

“I just thought it would be helpful… ah, I wrote mine separately, so don’t worry.”

What Sion handed over was a note summarizing today’s class content.

A detailed note that, when viewed with Professor Variyes’ class plan, could be understood without problems.

Estroza put it on the side table.

“…Well, I understand the reason you came all the way here.”

“I also came because the professor told me to….”

“Still, you could have not come, but you came directly, right? …So I have to thank you.”

Sion’s eyes widened at her words of gratitude.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because it’s the first time I’ve heard a thank you….”

“That’s rude. I can also give a normal thank you.”

“…Don’t you usually say it in a roundabout way?”

“That’s… something you don’t need to worry about.”

“…….”

Sion nodded silently.

Sion and Estroza are both adults.

They were past the age of needing to be nagged by someone.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“The servants will see you off.”

“I understand. …Ah, before that.”

Sion pointed to the tray on the side table.

“The servant Anna asked me to deliver it. I think it’s today’s lunch….”

“…Porridge again?”

“I think so. …Please take care of yourself and see you in class later.”

“Whatever.”

“…Then bye.”

Creak.

Sion got up from his seat.

He had delivered the document, and all the errands were over.

The servants might ask why he was leaving so soon on the way out, but… he could make up an excuse that he seemed sick and was going early.

As he was about to leave…….

“……Ugh.”

Thin arms trembling.

Estroza was struggling to move the tray on the side table onto the bed.

But perhaps because she was weak due to the cold, her arm was shaking precariously.

It was as if the tray would spill on the floor at any moment.

Clunk!

“…What are you doing?”

“Did Anna usually feed you porridge?”

“…What’s that got to do with you—”

“Just sit still.”

Creak.

Sion pulled a chair and sat in front of her bed.

The fact that the servant had been feeding her meant that she didn’t even have the strength to hold a spoon.

She needed someone to feed her.

“You can just go out and call a servant. There’s no reason for you to care….”

“Just shut up and open your mouth.”

“There’s no need to do this at a—”

“Just eat it.”

“…!”

Estroza opened her mouth in surprise.

Sion’s spoon went right into that mouth.

Estroza trembled at that fact, but she didn’t spit it out again for fear of spilling food on the blanket.

Munch munch.

Estroza savored the porridge.

Sion took another spoonful of the still-steaming porridge and blew on it.

He gently brought the spoon to Estroza’s lips.

“…….”

“Eat up quickly. You said you were hungry.”

“…Why are you suddenly using informal speech….”

“We’re the same age anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Just open your mouth.”

“…….”

Estroza’s lips opened shyly.

Sion prepared the next spoonful while checking her condition.

‘…She doesn’t get angry when I use informal speech.’

In fact, it was rare for students of the same class and the same age to use honorifics with each other in college.

Even in the situation of meeting for the first time, there were cases where they used informal speech with each other.

In Estroza’s case, he had met her several times, so there shouldn’t be any problem with using informal speech now.

However, the only problem was the difference in status between Sion and Estroza.

“Are you done eating?”

“……Yes.”

“Here.”

“……Ugh.”

Sion fed her the porridge, taking into account Estroza’s eating speed.

Estroza, with a face that was slightly flushed perhaps because of the cold, accepted the porridge.

Until the bowl of porridge was completely emptied.

There was no conversation between Sion and Estroza.

Only the sound of the spoon scraping the bottom of the dish and the sound of Estroza eating porridge echoed in the silence.

The two were able to enjoy a strange peace.