Chapter 237

Chapter 237

The last lunchbox was to be delivered to the home of the Rivet family, who lived on the farthest outskirts. With four daughters and a newborn son, along with Mr. and Mrs. Rivet, a total of seven people lived in a small cabin.

Their cabin and tiny farm were destroyed after a disaster passed through, leaving the Rivet couple suddenly homeless. With family members falling ill with an unknown fever one after another, Mrs. Rivet often tearfully recounted how they would have starved to death if it weren’t for the help of others.

Deatrice wished she could visit not only on weekends but sometimes even on weekdays, but the journey was long and not easy due to the dangerous roads.

Looking at a log placed carelessly over a rather deep ditch, Lucius chuckled briefly in amusement.

“Do we have to go this way?”

Equally perplexed, Vivian hesitated at the edge of the ditch. Anita, with a stern expression, stood at the edge of the ditch, and then turned to scold Nakia, who had frequently visited the Rivet family’s home but had just started to protest.

“Miss Celia, if there was such a difficult path to take, you should have told us sooner. What is all this?”

“I’m sorry. I completely forgot about the ditch.”

Apologizing with a flustered expression, when Nakia also apologized, Principal Anita shifted the blame onto the other teachers who had been with her.

“Miss Fram and Ms. Hicks, did neither of you ever think about this ditch throughout the whole journey? I’m really disappointed.”

‘How distracted must they have been walking with the nobles.’

Anita’s gaze seemed to say as she looked down at the teachers. Lucius briefly stepped aside to look at Deatrice before stepping forward with a gentle demeanor, as if trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

“It’s not their fault for there being a ditch. Let’s leave it at that. For those who feel uneasy, my knights and I will help you cross.” He flashed his trademark trustworthy smile.

But even if he hadn’t offered, no one would have refused the suggestion. Crossing a ditch relying on the hands of handsome knights. Teachers and students alike lowered their heads in excitement, exchanging covert glances and expressing their noisy emotions only with their eyes and fingertips.

Fortunately, the path to cross was short.

Lucius stationed a knight at the beginning of the log bridge and stood at the end himself, assisting people in crossing by holding their hands. Teachers and students crossed one by one. The log was narrow, and the ditch was deep enough to submerge most men’s chests, so everyone crossed carefully.

Since everyone had already crossed holding Lucius’s hand, Deatrice couldn’t stubbornly insist on going alone without needing any help. She just hoped her trembling wouldn’t be noticed by him.

Lucius’s knight gave Deatrice a brief nod and handled her more courteously than the others. As they held hands and stood on the log, their eyes naturally met at the end where Lucius was.

Skillfully masking his emotions, Lucius simply extended his hand towards Deatrice out of duty. Deatrice, also trying to avoid touching too much, only grasped the tips of his fingers as she descended.

However, in her effort not to touch too much, she failed to avoid the mud right beneath.

Just as her shoes and hems were about to become a mess, Lucius swiftly and smoothly wrapped his arm around Deatrice’s waist, lifting her up. In an instant, their bodies rose, coming into close contact. When she regained her senses, Deatrice found herself safely placed on the clean ground.

Though it was a brief contact, everyone was surprised by their intimate gesture. Even Lucius, only realizing the attention after everyone’s gaze fell upon them, looked flustered.

It was not a calculated action; it was just a reflex to extend his hand towards her, one of the many ways he had held her countless times before.

But most of the people present here didn’t know the time they had spent together as a married couple. In that instant, Lucius, who had suddenly embraced a woman he had never seen before, became a strange man.

To evade the crisis, Lucius casually proceeded to lift Vivian next, placing her back on the ground just as he had done with Deatrice.

Vivian’s face flushed red to her neck in an instant, and with her head half-bowed, she murmured a grateful thank you. Of course, people didn’t interpret it as Lucius intended, thinking, “Ah, such behavior is just normal for him,” but rather, “He used Vivian as an excuse in embracing that woman.”

Nevertheless, any suspicions about there being something more between Deatrice and Lucius were dispelled.

“Damn it.”

Lucius rubbed his throbbing head as he looked at Vivian’s flushed cheek, seemingly completely smitten.

He had made a mistake. He shouldn’t have done that. It would have been better to apologize directly to Deatrice. Lucius, who had been using Vivian’s subtle favor to his advantage all along, had no intention of openly displaying affection.

After all, he was a married man, and if this story reached Boviki’s ears, it could lead to a complicated situation.

What did that apology even mean?

But at that moment, more than anything else, apologizing while calling Deatrice by that absurd alias felt most dreadful.

In any case, that mistake made the journey back a bit more hellish than the journey there.

“So, my cousin at that time… Oh, my cousin was studying at the Imperial Academy. Maybe you’ve met him. Ah, if you did, he should have spoken to you first. Anyway, you must meet him. He’s a really interesting person. There was even such a thing when I was six years old…”

After that contact, Vivian seemed even more animated, as if she had gained some certainty. The conversation started when she was six and progressed by three years each time, while Lucius responded with vague smiles.

Suddenly, Deatrice appeared in front of them. Well, “suddenly” is a bit of a joke, considering he had been looking at her continuously.

However, she conversed with Rosalynn and other teachers, paying him no mind.

Lucius kept his gaze on Deatrice, wondering when she might turn around to look at him.

But whether she was conscious of his gaze or not, Deatrice didn’t turn around even once.