Chapter 246

Chapter Thirty-Three Idle Chatter in the Dormitory

“No.”

I immediately lied.

There wasn’t any special reason; I just instinctively felt that these things were better left unknown to them.

“Really not?”

Sarah pursed her lips and stared at me, her gaze slightly puzzled… as if she suspected something. I suddenly felt guilty and shifted my gaze uncomfortably, placing my hands behind my back.

“Mmm.”

Indeed, that night, I saw her among the crowd… Did she recognize me too?

She probably didn’t. After all, it was so dark, even the streetlights were out…

“If you’re injured, you wouldn’t be able to come back so soon.”

To dispel their doubts, I raised my hand and gently patted my chest, smiling sweetly.

“See? I’m fine.”

“… That’s not certain.”

Sarah stepped forward two steps, standing right in front of me with a particularly serious expression.

“You’re wrapped up so tightly; I can’t tell if you’re injured or not…”

She made claw-like gestures in front of her, curling her lips as if about to pounce at me.

“I need to check!”

“Wah—!”

I screamed in fright, ducking under her outstretched arms and hiding behind Daisy, only to realize Sarah wasn’t chasing after me.

“Just kidding. You’re okay, that’s good.”

She remained where she stood, smiling at me.

“… I’m fine.”

I breathed a slight sigh of relief.

“You certainly look lively… Rumors are truly scary.” Sophia shook her head lightly, then patted Sarah on the shoulder, “Alright, now you must be relieved, right? Even though I said long ago there was nothing to worry about… Peyilo, you don’t know, these days when Sarah couldn’t see you, she seemed like she lost her soul, sighing every day… just like a lady in love who can’t see her lover, very annoying.”

“Don’t say such nonsense!” Sarah’s face turned red, frowning and pushing away Sophia’s hand on her shoulder, “I’m not like that at all!”

“Clearly you are…”

“What a terrible metaphor, not being able to see one’s lover!”

“Just feels very fitting.”

“… Annoying blonde woman.”

“Her Majesty has the same hair color too, which is my pride~”

“Stop it… Sarah, I really, am fine… don’t worry.”

I wanted to change the subject quickly…

So I walked straight to the desk, looking at the jumble of items, and said to them, “Why did you take in all these things…”

Hearing my words, Sarah and Sophia immediately stopped arguing, both rolling their eyes at me in perfect unison.

“Please, do you know how clingy those people are? If we hadn’t taken them, who knows how long they would have kept pestering us.”

“Exactly!” Sarah rarely agreed with Sophia, but she chimed in, “Asking during class, asking during meals, and even asking when we return to the tower… The funniest part is, some of them, having the nerve but no courage, leave things at the door without saying anything… Every morning there’s something new. Some have names written on them, others don’t dare write names, completely unknown who they belong to, making it impossible to return them… Can’t just leave them there, right?”

“Everyone is so enthusiastic… Tsk tsk. When I saw the real Peyilo before, hardly anyone dared to approach and talk to her…”

“What do you mean by ‘real’…”

I looked at the pile of ‘gifts’ on the table, feeling quite troubled and frowned.

“Tomorrow, we should return all of them.”

“But there are so many! Are you going to return each one individually? That’s too troublesome… No, Peyilo, you mustn’t speak to those people, they have evil intentions!” Sarah said, her eyes darting around, a sly smile forming, “In my opinion, why don’t we just pick what we like and divide them among ourselves!”

“That wouldn’t be right…”

Daisy, who hadn’t spoken for a while, hesitantly opposed.

“Sarah, what happened to your chivalry?”

Sophia, who had already reached the vanity table and was applying something to her face, heard Sarah’s words and also…

She looked somewhat displeased.

“This has nothing to do with chivalry… What do you think, Peylo?”

“Let’s return them.” I shook my head at Sarah. “Whoever owns something should claim it back from the administrator or grandmother.”

“Good idea.”

Sophia shrugged indifferently.

Sarah hesitated, “But will Administrator Grandma care about these?”

“I don’t know…”

“She probably will.”

“So, we should return everything?”

“Mm-hm.”

I responded lightly, but my gaze unconsciously drifted to the wrapped pastries in brown paper.

This, I haven’t tried before… It looks good though, sweet or savory?

I wanted to know its taste…

Before I realized it, I was already holding and squeezing the pastry in my hand. Hesitating for a moment, I swallowed and cleared my throat, trying to casually ask them, “Do you know what this is?”

At the same time, I glanced sideways at Sophia standing by the dressing table. Our eyes met.

Sophia chuckled.

“If you want to eat it, just eat it.”

“…I was just asking…”

“Then give it to me.”

“No.” I quickly shook my head, holding the pastry close to me. “Actually, I haven’t had dinner yet…”

I lied again. Actually, I had eaten over two pounds of pork ribs and many Captain Gray pastries before coming here.

Sophia’s smile deepened. “Then go ahead and eat it.”

“…Okay.”

Since my intention was discovered, I decided not to hide it anymore. I quickly unwrapped the pastry, took a piece of white flaky cake, put it in my mouth, and walked toward my bed while chewing, placing my satchel down and tidying up a bit.

“What are you eating?” asked Sarah curiously beside me, then suddenly remembered something. “Ah, speaking of which, Peylo! I brought deer meat pies for you this time! But since you didn’t come, they all went bad…”

“Ugh!”

I hurriedly swallowed the pastry in my mouth and looked at Sarah with wide eyes. “Deer meat pies…”

Sarah said her mother’s deer meat pies were delicious. How regrettable!

“Yes, it took a lot of effort to make them!”

“Pfft—”

Daisy sitting on the edge of the bed suddenly giggled. Seeing us looking at her, she immediately blushed and covered her mouth in panic.

Sarah looked somewhat displeased. “Daisy, why are you laughing?”

It seemed she winked at Daisy… What was she doing? Was there something wrong with her eyes?

“Oh no, nothing… Hehehe—”

“Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry…”

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the deer meat pie?” Sophia asked.

“No!”

“The deer meat pie is very tasty…”

Finally, Daisy explained with a small voice, still smiling.

Very tasty indeed…

“What a pity…” I shook my head and said to Sarah, “Sarah, I’m sorry.”

I took out another piece of pastry, ate it in one big bite, and savored it.

This one is also very tasty…

“It’s okay, I’ll bring more next time!”

“Great!”

…

Time always passed quickly during idle chatter.

Soon the sky grew dark, and after several girls took turns washing up and got into bed, Sophia brought up the topic of me again.

“Now, Peylo is famous in the academy, right?”

“Not just that. Yesterday, I heard someone talking about calling Peylo something… Little angel of Eros? Beautiful black fairy? And some other things, I can’t remember exactly.”

“Pfft—”

“Who came up with those nicknames? They have terrible taste…”

“I don’t know, everyone seems to be saying it, but Alex must be involved.”

“Alex… Come to think of it, does Peylo know about it?”

“Know what…”

I felt a bit sleepy. Lying in bed with my eyes closed, my voice sounded lazy and soft.

“About Alex and the first-year students.”

“Mm-hm…”

My drowsy mind kept spinning for a long time.

“Alex? Who is that…”