Chapter 278: Chapter 293: Little Girl.

Before I knew it class was dismissed… And I was following the teacher to his office… He opened the door holding it for me and closing it as I stepped inside, sending shivers down my spine. I didn’t feel any danger consciously… But Isy put certain thoughts in my head that just made it impossible not to be nervous… Much less in a closed room.

“Take a seat.” He said calmly, walking behind his desk while reading a letter in silence. His reading speed must have been slow too… Because minutes had passed in silence… I couldn’t help but shift around in the chair, literally twiddling my thumbs, and constantly changing my posture, trying to figure out how far back my shoulders should be for it to be considered straight… Eventually, I found it impossible to decide and just gave up. “Uh… Erhm… Teacher?” I muttered, unable to bear it any longer, and all too eager to leave.

He slowly set down the letter, rubbing his eyes, his cheeks slightly flushed, and I instantly lost the nerve to speak.

A moment longer and he let out a sigh. “Sorry… I thought it best to organize my thoughts so that it would be harder for you to pick apart my words and make them sound like crows scratching on the windows when I’m intending to be an eagle gracefully landing on your arm.”

I felt another wave of chills, suddenly wishing I was in my armor again, unsure if what he said was gross, cringy, or kind of romantic, my head quickly turning to a jumbled mess with an ever-increasing desire to run away before all thought just left right out the window.

He cleared his throat, speaking softly. “During the first week of class, you made several things very clear. One of which is that you disagree with a lot of what I say. We argued, and that was that… However, rather than changing your mind… Or you changing mine… Instead, you simply shut your mouth and kept quiet… A trait that in some cases is even worse for a leader than being wrong… I… Apologize… For yelling during our arguments… But I hope that you don’t let your shy nature overtake your ability to command.”

‘What?’ “Is… That what this was about?”

His eyes widened slightly. “Yes…”

“Oh…” I took a deep breath. ‘So he’s just worried about me not debating him anymore in class? That’s… Weird… Isn’t it? But a relief at least.’ I let out a heavy sigh, my heart finally calming down. “Sometimes even leaders should keep their mouth shut.”

“Like when gossiping about the kind of man they like?”

My face heated up so quickly that I thought it might pop. “That’s… I wasn’t… I mean… Sorry…” I looked up at him to see him awkwardly looking away, but only feeling more embarrassed as a result, knowing full well my blushing must have made him just as uncomfortable...

“Just try not to gossip in class, it might distract others.” He let out another sigh before looking at me again. I was so embarrassed my vision was starting to tint, which only meant that I wasn’t going to stop blushing anytime soon… “As for how we address each other. I’m sorry for shortening your name… I read it like that in a letter and let my tongue slip. I will address you properly, and I hope you will do the same, preferably by my last name, at least while we are in class.

I slowly uncovered my face, trying to pretend like I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. Hoping if I acted confident things would at least return to normal. “Sorry lord Aberbubera…”

He raised an eyebrow as I completely butchered his name, prompting me to slowly cover my face again.

“You, don’t have to apologize…” He slowly reached out a hand but awkwardly pulled it back before letting it get anywhere near me. “Just… Call me Aber if it’s too difficult… Shortening my last name should be fine…”

“Sorry…”

After another long silence, I thought it would be best to say something to try and at least take his mind off of how awkward I was being. “You said you read my name in a letter? Did my mom write you?” ‘but… That doesn’t make much sense either, does it? Although It’s not entirely unreasonable she would know his family.’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He shifted back in his chair. “No, it was my mother actually… She wanted us to… Well… It’s not important right now. You can go.”

‘His mom… She wanted us to do what… What could his mom possibly want him to do with me… A girl she doesn’t know… That so happens to be strong, talented, and from the same region…’ My heart accelerated again as I started to feel dizzy. ‘Was Isy right?’ I slowly stood up. “Uhm… Thanks. I mean, wait no It’s… I’m, just, going, too, leave now…” My foot got caught on the chair as I took my first step, but luckily I was able to catch myself. Of course, it didn’t help much…

When I stepped outside Mo and Isy were waiting for me. One looked at my face and Isy quickly took a deep breath but closed her mouth instead of saying anything.

‘I should speak first…’ “He wanted to… Actually… I’m not exactly sure what he wanted…”

“Oh. Is that so…” She said with a wry smile. “So he just wanted to talk?”

“Would you drop it already? He doesn’t like me! He probably thinks I’m a problem child that’s awkward and hard to deal with…”

“And cute and adorable, and tough.”

I let out an uncomfortable groan, nudging her with my shoulder and pushing her slightly as we walked. “He just wanted to apologize for yelling at me and encourage me to talk more in order to take on the responsibilities of being a leader or something. It’s not like he proposed…”

She just laughed. “No, just said he missed herring you talk and apologized for yelling right after you said your ideal man didn’t yell at people.”

My feet suddenly stopped in place as my body reflexively shuddered again, my legs tensing up too much for me to move. ‘What? No way… He was… But I did…’ “I feel sick…”

“And if nothing happened then why are you so red?”

Mo nodded. “It’s true, very red. I remember one time I killed a woman who was having an affair, she looked like you do now.”

I growled at her. “You’re not helping…”

“I’m confused, like red from all the blood?”

“Huh? No, it was because–”

“Mo…”

She paused, looking back at me before calmly turning back to Isy. “It’s because… She was… Really embarrassed that she got caught committing a crime… Yeah, that must have been it.”

Isy’s face suddenly turned bright red, connecting the dots, and just like that Mo was the only one of us that could still be defined as sharp and alert. ‘How can she tease me when she reacts that much to something like that…’ Mo turned and gave me a thumbs up but I just shook my head. As much as I felt like I was getting teased, I was all too relieved that Finlo and my brother weren’t there, otherwise, I was sure it would have been much worse.

Just then Isy stumbled around a corner and ran directly into Bear, freezing completely stiff and almost falling, would it not have been for his firm grip on her shoulder with one hand. After staring at him for a moment she quickly jumped away.

Mo pointed at him, tilting her head, and then turned and pointed at Isy before lowering her finger and turning to me. “Earlier before class. Is that why you?”

“No!... Don’t bring that up…” I took a deep breath. “Please… No more talking about boys…”

Bear folded his arms. “You lot are lively as ever… Little Lizard… uh…”

‘Don’t say it… Don’t… I’m fine… I don’t need you to ask why my face is red…’

“Anyway, I just finished talking with our the two guilds, it seems like they’re doing alright so far. Their teachers are tough, but it sounds like they are improving rapidly. As for that room, you were asking about, from what I gathered, it seems to be where all the sewage is brought together and converted into gas that they use to heat the building during the winter. It’s actually pretty interesting. The reason the door is so heavy and locked, is to stop said gas from leaking out, but also to prevent the smell.

I let out a sigh of relief as he continued talking, instead of teasing me or drawing attention to my face. Feeling my body finally relax I turned back to Mo. “See, Bear is the best. He doesn’t tease me like you two…”

She crossed her arms. “Yup… You’re an ideal man.”

“Bwhu… Don’t–” I slowly looked back at him, stopping for a moment ‘Wait, but isn’t he technically everything I described? I raised my fingers and started counting off. “Calm, levelheaded, strong, confident, hard-working, he speaks softly, he helps me when I need it, and never lets it show when he’s hurt… Holly… He is like the perfect guy. I’ve said that before though. Although, I guess I haven’t seen how he reacts to someone crying in front of him.” I looked up from my hands, my brain quickly thinking back over everything I just said and then stopping in its tracks as I stared at him.

“Please don’t… There’s little I dislike more than seeing little girls cry.”

On the bright side, my embarrassment was gone… On the downside… I was slapped in the face with reality. “Little girl…” I repeated as my skin crawled, feeling a gust of cold wind that wasn’t there. It was like a part of my soul was trying to leave my body, feeling stupid for thinking about romance in the first place.

I let out a heavy sigh and felt myself finally starting to return to normal. “So the others are doing fine… That’s good… We should get going… We have our own training to worry about… And I need to get into that room. Mo, you said we could pick the lock right? And Bear, you found a map? Can I see it?” Mo grabbed Isy, who was still a little out of it, and we headed out as he handed me the map of that section of the tower. “Oh, and… For the record… I’m older than you… Even if I am tiny…”