Chapter 29: Tangled Gaze
As I walked through the campus, I could see cute round fruit peeking out from between the trees colored red and yellow.
I picked up a leaf from the ground and held it up to the sunlight. The brightly colored red leaf was beautiful, and the veins on the leaf entertained my eyes like delicate patterns.
I realized that it was almost time for the lesson to end, and gently returned the fallen leaves to the ground before heading to the classroom where William was.
When I looked in the direction of the classroom from the corner of the hallway, there was a small crowd in front of William’s classroom.
I swam through the crowd as if I were used to it and arrived at the center, where the person surrounded by people reflected my figure in his lapis lazuli eyes and looked relieved.
“Leah…”
I shielded William-sama, who looked relieved, from behind.
“William-sama has plans after this. Please dismiss.”
I raised my voice so that everyone in the room could hear me, but in a volume that would not be disrespectful to the nobles.
The people surrounding William-sama grumbled dissatisfaction, but when they saw that I did not budge an inch, they reluctantly began to move away.
***
This scene was first observed when the new students entered the school this year.
As usual, I went to meet William-sama in the classroom and was astonished to see that he was surrounded by a group of fresh-faced new students… or rather, new students wearing brand new uniforms.
William, who has consistently demonstrated his intelligence and compassionate spirit to people since entering this school, seemed to be the top choice for people who wanted to recruit allies among the nobles. Currently, the nobles who have children in the school, and those who will have children entering the school in the future, are all urging their children to “do whatever it takes to get into Lord Moore’s good graces.”
Furthermore, out of the three major ducal families in the country, only William from the Moore ducal family had children around the age of being enrolled in the school, which also fueled the movement.
The students who knew William’s nature did not try to force themselves on him, but the new students, who had no way of knowing his personality, ended up rushing to the classroom where William was.
Of course, the new students also crowded around Prince Finlay, but he easily escaped from them with his usual finesse. This ended up causing even more new students to flock to William’s side…well, this is a side story.
“Lord Moore, would you like to have tea with me? I’m sure it will be a fun time!”
“Oh, Lord Moore is going out with me to the city. I know the capital well. Don’t you want to go?”
“Rather than that, won’t you try the specialty of my territory? My room is full of rare things.”
They chattered excitedly, and William, surrounded by the new students with glittering eyes, was at a loss as to what to do, unable to reject the new students due to his kind nature.
I also wondered what to do, but seeing William’s distressed expression, I made up my mind and broke through the new students to rescue William.
From then on, the battle between the new students and me began.
One day after school.
I went to greet William earlier than usual, and he was already surrounded by several new students.
(He’s already here at this time…)
As I approached, feeling somewhat impressed, I was stopped by the voice of a noble teenager.
“Lord Moore, won’t you hire my family’s knight as your first escort knight? Our knights in the knight unit are excellent. They will definitely be of service to you.”
The teenager bragged, and William slightly furrowed his brow.
“I’m sorry, but I already have my first escort knight.”
“Do you mean that knight who always interrupts us? Such a knight is not worthy of serving Lord Moore!”
Another teenager raised his voice to block William’s words.
“Is he not a man with a poor appearance? If you are to protect the Duke, a more robust knight would be more appropriate. In addition…”
The teenager lowered his voice.
“I heard that he is an orphan. You never know when he might betray you for money.”
At those words, William’s expression fell.
William looked silently at the noble teenagers, but then he smiled as if pasted on.
“You may not know this, but my knight is quite strong. He’s strong enough to lift me up. And besides…”
William leaned close to them and whispered.
“There’s no way he would ever betray me.”
William, who had looked up, noticed me standing a little way off and brightened his expression.
“Leah!!”
He pushed through the surrounding noble teenagers and came to me.
“You came to meet me, sorry for making you wait. Shall we go?”
As he said this and began to walk, I frantically turned my body to follow him, and cold eyes chased me from behind.
Looking back, the nobles from before glared at me with hateful eyes.
Their gaze continued to entangle me until it was out of their sight, and I shuddered secretly.
