Chapter 111: Let’s Go Ho
At the outer edge of the crowd, beneath the shadow of an old oak tree, stood a small figure.
Her black-and-white maid dress had been washed until it was spotless. Over it, she wore a slightly oversized warm coat. Her chestnut hair was simply tied back, revealing a small, pale face.
She stood very straight, her posture impeccable, but the hem of her long skirt was stained with dust and grass clippings. And if one looked closely, her center of gravity kept shifting ever so slightly.
When her left foot grew tired, her weight slid onto the right. After a while, it shifted back again.
That tiny motion, together with the few chestnut strands that had slipped free of her hairpin and been tousled by the wind, betrayed just how long she had been waiting.
It was Cosette.
His little maid.
She seed to have been standing there for a very long ti. Her back was ramrod straight, yet both hands were clenched tightly around the apron in front of her. Her eyes were wide open, unblinking, fixed on the inspection point as they followed Ryan’s figure without wavering.
She had been waiting here since this morning, perhaps even earlier, from the mont the assessnt exit had opened.
She had watched student after student being carried out on stretchers, unconscious or groaning, all of them in miserable condition. She had listened to the discussions around her about how dangerous the forest was, and who had encountered what inside. No matter how much confidence she had in him, her heart had surely been lodged in her throat the entire ti, worry winding around it like creeping vines.
And only now, after seeing with her own eyes that Ryan had walked out intact—more than intact, almost at ease—accepted inspection, and received the physician’s approval…
Every bit of her attention was tied to Ryan in the center of the clearing. Her light brown eyes were wide, unblinking, brimming with worry ready to spill over. Yet when she saw that he was unhard, and the physician nodded, a trace of relief welled up within them.
Ryan saw a soft sheen of water quickly gather in those light brown eyes of hers, eyes that always held caution and quiet perception.
She blinked hard several tis and sniffed forcefully. The hands clutching her apron at last loosened a little, and her shoulders sank by the slightest degree, as though a burden weighing a thousand pounds had finally been lifted.
Then she noticed Ryan looking at her.
Like a startled little animal, Cosette’s cheeks instantly flushed a faint pink.
She hastily lowered her head, but could not help darting a quick glance back up at him. She tried to press her lips into a smile, yet her slightly reddened eyes and the moisture still lingering in them made that smile look extraordinarily soft, and even a little clumsily adorable.
Ryan finished cooperating with the final record-taking and signed his na on the confirmation board handed over by the physician. The tip of the pen lifted from the paper. He turned around, but instead of heading toward the platform where the instructors had gathered, and instead of acknowledging the few unfamiliar faces nearby that seed eager to approach and say sothing, he walked straight into the crowd.
The buzzing voices around him abruptly fell in volu as he approached, shrinking into more subdued whispers.
Countless gazes clung to him—curious, probing, astonished. There were even several looks from younger girls who, after a mont of startled surprise, seed to be seeing clearly for the first ti what this infamous young villain actually looked like: that tall fra, that cold, sharply defined profile, that indifferent expression which seed wholly untouched by the commotion around him. Once the old label of despicable and incompetent had been torn away, there was sothing strangely arresting about him.
A few of the girls instinctively nudged one another with their elbows. A faint blush crept across their cheeks, and as they watched him draw nearer and nearer, their hearts inexplicably began to beat faster.
Then Ryan Velt passed right by them without even slowing by half a step.
He parted the crowd as though separating flowing water, never stopping, his destination clear as he walked toward the farthest edge of the clearing, beneath that solitary old oak tree.
As Cosette watched her master walk directly toward her, it felt as though every gaze around them focused with him, and she beca instantly flustered.
She wanted to stand even straighter. She wanted to show him a perfect smile. But the numb ache in her legs from standing so long surged up all at once at precisely this mont.
Ryan had only just stopped in front of her, and the words “You’ve been waiting a long ti, haven’t you?” had not even fully left his mouth before her knees weakened and her body swayed forward uncontrollably.
A strong hand caught her arm in ti.
Even through her clothes, she could feel the warmth and steadiness of that palm. Cosette’s face flad red all the way to the tips of her ears.
“I-I haven’t been waiting long! Master, are… are you all right?”
Her voice was tight. She tried to steady herself on her own, but her legs felt as though they were stepping on cotton, with no strength in them.
Ryan kept hold of her, his brows drawing together slightly.
“And you call this not waiting long?” His gaze swept over the grass clippings on her skirt hem and the fine sweat at her temple. “I’m fine. The physicians already confird it. Co on, let’s head back to the dormitory first.”
Cosette nodded hard, her light brown eyes still shimring with moisture, though now they shone brightly.
Ryan very naturally did not let go. Instead, he supported her lightly by the arm, half steadying her as he turned and began walking toward the dormitory area.
Under the gaze of everyone present, Ryan Velt—whose reputation within the academy was famously complicated—simply led away his little maid, who looked both small and bedraggled, passing through a sea of astonished and probing stares with perfect calm.
Cosette’s cheeks burned. She was so embarrassed she almost wanted to hide herself away, yet at the sa ti, an unprecedented warmth filled her chest so completely it almost overflowed.
Her master had walked straight to her in front of everyone, caught her, and taken her away. That feeling of being plainly seen and deliberately chosen made even her fingertips tremble.
Behind them, the voices they had left behind began to swell again.
“Wait, Velt just now… went to find his maid?”
“Looks like it, right? He walked straight over and even held her up?”
“Wasn’t it because of that little maid that Velt got into a conflict with soone back at the start of term? Didn’t he beat up another household’s servant?”
“I think so! It caused quite a scene at the ti.”
“So that’s how it is… No wonder he suddenly brought a personal maid to the academy this term.”
“Looking closely, that little maid is actually pretty cute…”
“Tch, who knew Velt had a side like this?”
“Why am I kind of jealous of that maid…”
“Wake up! That’s Ryan Velt!”
Ryan heard none of that, or rather, did not care. Once he had guided Cosette a certain distance away and left the densest part of the crowd behind, the numb ache in her legs eased quite a bit.
The sunlight along the campus path was thin and scattered, and in the distance they could still see people moving in and out of the dical tents.
“Master,” Cosette said softly. Her voice had returned to its usual gentleness, though there was still a trace of hesitation in it. “I… I can walk by myself now.”
Though she treasured the warmth and support coming through his hand on her arm, and though it made her feel indescribably safe, reason and long-ingrained common sense kept warning her—this was improper. She was a servant. She should not have her master supporting her like this, especially on the academy grounds where people might see.
She struggled inwardly for a mont. In the end, she still gently but firmly withdrew her arm from Ryan’s hand.
The instant she lost that support, her heart felt oddly empty, but she imdiately straightened her back, stepped half a pace behind him, and resud the standard posture of a maid walking slightly to her master’s rear, though the flush had not yet fully faded from her cheeks.
Ryan turned his head and glanced at her. He said nothing, but he slowed his steps slightly so that she could keep up more easily.
The two of them, one ahead and one behind, passed through the tree-lined path and walked quietly toward the dormitory building.
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