Chapter 113: What Are You Looking At?
“Go answer the door,” Ryan said.
“Yes, Master.” Cosette responded and trotted over to the door.
Out of habit, she arranged her face into a polite, gentle expression. As she opened the door, she had already prepared her words of thanks. “Thank you for your hard work, please—”
Her voice stopped abruptly.
Standing outside was not the usual silent attendant whose only job was to deliver the food boxes.
A slender figure that carried authority as naturally as breathing, pale golden hair flowing like honey in the corridor light, and gemlike blue eyes.
The Empire’s Second Princess, Cecilia Ishtar, stood at the door in person, holding the familiar multilayered carved food box in her own hands.
And half a step behind her, Ilis, with her black hair, blue eyes, and habitual expressionlessness, held another food box of considerable weight, like a silent shadow.
Cosette froze on the spot. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively stumbled back two steps, nearly tripping over her own skirt. Her voice caught in her throat and ca out in a different pitch.
“Y-Your Highness…?!”
Inside the room, Ryan, who had just straightened up from beside the tea table, also paused.
He turned, and through the gap at Cosette’s side, his gray-blue eyes t the violet-blue eyes outside the door with perfect accuracy.
For a brief mont, the air seed to stop moving. Only the enticing aroma of food drifting stubbornly from the gaps in the food boxes continued to spread, seeping into the sudden silence and making it even more awkward.
Cosette’s startled cry made Ryan’s brow shift slightly.
He set down the towel with which he had only half dried his hair, walked to the door in a few steps, and naturally positioned himself half a pace in front of the flustered little maid behind him. His gaze settled on the Princess outside.
“Cecilia,” Ryan said, “why did you co in person?”
Princess Cecilia’s gaze had originally been resting on Ryan’s face. At his question, her blue eyes naturally drifted downward for an instant—perhaps to indicate the food box in her hands, or perhaps for so other reason. But once her gaze moved, it stopped.
The Ryan Velt before her looked rather different from the one she usually saw at the academy, neatly dressed and coolly reserved.
His damp brown hair was still dripping, and water trailed down the line of his neck into the slightly open collar. The white shirt he wore at ho was thin and soft, darkened slightly by moisture and clinging enough to outline the beginning shape of a young man’s chest, shoulders, and arms, rising and falling gently with his breathing.
It was not the exaggerated physique of a fully grown man, but a kind of youthful beauty that quietly held strength within it.
The corridor light slanted across him, making the faint lines beneath the damp cloth seem even clearer.
The Princess’s gaze appeared to still for the briefest instant, and her long, dense lashes trembled faintly.
Only when Ryan spoke again, with a trace of puzzlent, did she lift her eyes once more and et his gray-blue gaze, as though that montary pause had never existed.
“Won’t you invite in?” she asked, after clearing her throat lightly.
Ryan glanced at her, then at Ilis behind her, who looked like a human background panel, and finally at the two heavy food boxes in their hands.
“Entering the boys’ dormitory doesn’t seem very appropriate,” he said calmly, his tone giving no clue whether he truly ant to refuse or was rely asking out of politeness.
Cecilia raised a brow slightly, and an amused glimr flashed through her blue eyes.
“You care about that?” she asked. “Given your current reputation in the academy… it is not as though it could get much worse. Or is it my reputation you are worried about?”
The corner of her lips curved faintly.
Ryan fell silent for a mont.
That was true enough. His reputation had already been torn to pieces long ago. One more stain made little difference. As for the Princess’s reputation… if she did not care, why should he?
“Please co in.”
He stepped aside to make room.
Cecilia inclined her head and entered with asured grace, carrying the food box inside. Ilis followed silently behind her. As she passed by Ryan, those blue eyes seed to flick quickly over his open collar before lowering again at once, calm as still water.
The Princess naturally set the elegant multilayered food box onto the small round table in the center of the room. Ilis placed the other box beside it without a word.
Cecilia turned, her gaze brushing over Cosette, who was still standing by the door in visible nervousness, before returning to Ryan.
“I ca because I needed to talk to you. Bringing lunch was simply convenient on the way. Eat first. We can talk while you eat.”
The fragrance of food was already slipping from the seams of the carved food box in enticing wisps. At almost the sa mont, Ryan’s stomach very appropriately let out another clear growl.
In the slightly quiet room, the sound was especially distinct.
“It seems I ca at exactly the right ti,” Cecilia said with a smile. “Eat first, Ryan. We can talk while you eat.”
Her attitude was perfectly ordinary, even rather gentle, with none of the hauteur expected of royalty. After all, since signing that Covenant, the relationship between them was now more that of partners with mutual interests than anything else.
Ryan nodded. He did not bother with false courtesy, and instead turned to Cosette, who was still stiff by the door.
“Get lunch ready.”
Cosette ca back to herself as if waking from a dream and hurriedly answered yes before running to the side room to fetch bowls and utensils.
Ryan naturally walked to the round table and pulled out the chair he usually sat in.
There were only two chairs in the room, arranged for the way he and Cosette normally took their als.
Cecilia’s gaze swept over the simple arrangent, and sothing stirred in her blue eyes. She casually walked over to Ryan’s bed and sat down with elegant ease, even pressing lightly on the mattress with one hand as though testing its softness.
Ryan glanced at her once and said nothing. He took the bowls and utensils Cosette handed him.
Cosette, for her part, brought over the other small chair and sat near the edge of the table. She kept her head lowered the entire ti, and the tips of her ears were still faintly red, whether because of the Princess’s presence or because of what she had seen earlier.
The food boxes were opened one by one, and the rich, inviting scent quickly filled the room.
As always, the dishes were delicate and perfectly suited to their tastes. The people responsible for this matter under the Princess’s command were clearly taking their work very seriously.
Ryan and Cosette began eating as usual, their movents natural, though the presence of two extra spectators in the room made Cosette chew even more quietly than usual.
“I have already heard that you completed the assessnt ahead of schedule today,” Cecilia said, watching Ryan eat as she spoke at an unhurried pace. “You did very well. In that case, one of the five slots for the Lower Division is certainly yours.”
Ryan swallowed his food and answered with a simple hum.
There was nothing to be modest about. In full view of the entire crowd, he had been escorted out personally by instructors. Anyone who was not blind could guess the result.
“So,” Cecilia continued, tapping a finger lightly against her knee without thinking, “before long, Minister Morris from your Lower Division will probably send soone to call for you. Once the others who secured their slots have also co out, he will gather all of you together and explain the matters concerning the upcoming exploration of the Starfall Ruins.”
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