"Good thing we made it in time, or I would have regretted it for three months."
"It's because you spent too much time buying protective charms." Adeline rubbed her stomach.
As expected of ice cream made by Princess Dorothy's exclusive pastry chef.
It seemed like she had eaten a bit too much again.
She had clearly decided to start dieting.
It would be so embarrassing if Felyn felt any excess fat on her stomach when he was giving her a massage.
If Felyn knew Adeline was thinking this, he would definitely retort with something like "I'm not going to touch your stomach!"
"Adeline, I'll head back to the classroom now."
Linda, standing on the steps, waved goodbye to Adeline.
She had originally planned to walk Adeline out of the school, but halfway there, Teacher Sofia had called her to attend a school meeting.
After saying goodbye to Linda, Adeline walked alone around the school at a leisurely pace.
The last traces of summer sunlight filtered through the gaps between leaves, casting light and shadow on Adeline's rose-tea colored curls.
She sat on a bench under a tree, her legs together, slightly angled to one side.
She hadn't run into Felyn at all today, and she wondered what he was doing.
But since he wasn't in his service period, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to bother him too much.
Adeline took out a novel with a gold-embossed cover from her handbag and placed it on her knees.
She adjusted her sitting position, her black thigh-high stockings outlining the elegant lines of her long legs, looking noble and captivating in the sunlight.
A breeze blew, and her hair fluttered gently. She raised her hand to tuck a loose strand behind her ear, the gemstone pendant on her wrist glinting softly.
Tonight would be Felyn's service time.
She had been busy the past few days, so she had postponed her service schedule.
It felt like she hadn't seen Felyn in ages.
Adeline's fingers gently glided across the pages, caressing the paper.
Just then, a figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat hurried past on the path.
The person was walking quickly while covering their mouth with their hand, speaking softly into a seal.
"Cough cough cough, I'm sick right now, lying in bed and can't get up, cough cough cough, please cancel this afternoon's performance for me... I know, thank you so much, I'll rest and recover properly, don't worry about me."
This person was wearing an oversized coat, high-waisted pants, and sneakers.
The hat brim was pulled down low, as if deliberately avoiding others' gazes.
But a distinctive strand of silver-white hair fell from the edge of the hat, strikingly visible in the sunlight.
Adeline closed her book and observed for a few seconds.
This was Zervanie, wasn't it?
What was she doing at the school?
Adeline wasn't the type to bury her questions in her heart and then lie awake at night thinking about them.
"Miss Zervanie?"
The figure clearly stiffened, pausing for a moment before seeming to want to quicken her pace and leave.
"Miss Zervanie, are you leaving already?" Adeline persisted.
Zervanie sighed, realizing she couldn't avoid this, and turned around. She removed her hat, her ice-blue eyes meeting Adeline's gaze, and a somewhat forced smile appeared on her face.
"Miss Adeline, what a coincidence." Zervanie's voice was still sweet, and an amiable smile appeared on her face.
The two beautiful girls met like this under the tree shade, and the air around them seemed to become subtly charged.
She adjusted her hat and sat beside Adeline.
"Miss Adeline, what brings you here?"
"I'm friends with the student council president here. I came to accompany her."
"I see. Miss Adeline, that pendant on your wrist looks so beautiful today. Where did you buy it?" Zervanie leaned close to Adeline's wrist, making admiring sounds.
"I bought it at the commercial district in Homhot. If you like it, we could go shopping there together sometime."
"Really? Thank you, Miss Adeline!"
Even though such things had happened before, when Zervanie had forced herself on Felyn in front of Adeline and they had almost come to blows.
But now it was as if none of that had ever happened, like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while having a casual chat.
Adeline straightened her skirt hem and adjusted the position of her thigh-high stockings.
"Miss Zervanie, are you still pestering Felyn?"
The sunlight became more glaring, drawing a clear boundary between the two.
The world suddenly became quiet, and even the leaves stopped swaying.
"Oh my, Miss Adeline, you're being so direct all of a sudden."
Zervanie had been keeping track of news about herself lately.
She was worried that Adeline would reveal the relationship between herself and Felyn. Although she hadn't directly told Adeline that she liked Felyn, anyone could see that her relationship with Felyn was unusual.
Fortunately, there hadn't been any rumors like "Zervanie has a man in her house" or "Zervanie forces men in her house." Adeline hadn't spread this story.
In front of this excellent and intelligent young lady, any pretense now would be easily seen through.
It would be better to admit it frankly and openly—Adeline would definitely keep her secret anyway.
Although this way of leaving her professional fate in someone else's hands made Zervanie very uncomfortable, there was no helping it.
Who told her that when she saw Felyn in her house, she couldn't resist reaching out to remove his mask?
But thinking about it again, that day Adeline had seemed very protective of Felyn.
Maybe the two of them had a good relationship.
If she could get closer to Adeline and have her put in a good word for her with Felyn, wouldn't winning over Felyn be just around the corner?
Right now, when she spoke to Felyn, he might have psychological resistance.
Last time at the merchandise store, after she gave him her autograph, he just greeted her and left.
But if someone else spoke well of her in front of him, maybe Felyn would gradually accept her?
Zervanie, you're such a genius to think of something like this!
Thinking of this, Zervanie's smile became even more radiant.
"Miss Adeline, actually that day I didn't mean to do it. I just like Felyn so much, and I hadn't seen him in so long, so I couldn't help but reach out to remove his mask."
"Like him?" Adeline's voice trembled slightly.
"Yes, we were actually going to get married! But then he suddenly left." She lowered her eyelashes, her voice carrying just the right amount of choking emotion. "Did I do something wrong somewhere..."
Zervanie's knees swayed left and right, her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes began to moisten, presenting the image of a bullied little girl.
In her script, Adeline would definitely soften at this point and then help bring her and Felyn together.
As for whether Adeline might also like Felyn, Zervanie hadn't even considered it.
What a joke—Adeline and Felyn? Her panties had a higher chance of ending up with Felyn.
But she didn't notice that Adeline beside her couldn't hear anything else now.
The world around her had become silent, with only those two words echoing repeatedly in her mind:
[Marriage]
(End of Chapter)