Senior, I've Come to Visit - Chapter 29

Eloise wasn’t flustered; she stayed calm and, in a state of deep focus, kept healing Miles. In the brightly shining magic, her pale-blue eyes and white face showed through as if transparent. Nardi felt as if he were being drawn in, bewitched.

Quiet, yet always catching the eye.

Someone who tried not to get involved in anything, yet at times stepped forward like an apostle of justice.

Eloise was a person who was good and upright, with a noble sense of justice.

Of course,  many men had a crush on her.

Even after that, Nardi kept faithfully following her with his eyes or quietly trailing behind her and ended up witnessing confession scenes several times in person. Noble or commoner, all kinds of male students confessed to Eloise, and from upper-floor windows of nearby buildings or from behind the garden bushes, Nardi watched and listened.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can date you.”

And fortunately, Eloise firmly rejected every single confession.

On that point, he felt deep relief, but at the same time, he was afraid he would hear the same words himself. From the start, he had never managed to progress things to the point where he could even confess.

It might sound like an excuse, but because they were in different years, there were limits to how naturally he could approach her, and on top of that, Eloise avoided people and didn’t let anyone close. He was a boy in his mid to late teens with zero dating experience, for whom having a crush at all was a first. He had grown up in comfort and had a variety of experiences, but in this area, he was immature and clumsy.

He was so awkward that he even once asked Eloise why she had turned someone down, right after she had rejected another confession.

One day, on an afternoon full of sunlight.

In a secluded corner of the rose garden, Eloise sat at a table reading a book. It must have been a place she liked, because she often came there, and so Nardi too sat on a nearby bench and quietly spent time there. There was some distance between them, but it still felt like being together with Eloise.

At that moment, Leon approached, hesitating, visibly tense.

Leon was in the same year as Eloise and was one of the commoner wizards she often saved from trouble. Nardi instinctively sensed that Leon had come to confess to Eloise.

“Hey, Eloise.”

“Huh?”

“Could we talk for a minute?”

Eloise closed the book she was reading and looked at Leon. Under her gaze and attention, Leon floundered and his face turned red.

“Thanks. Um… Eloise, do you have someone you like?”

Just as he expected. Nardi tensed up along with him and held his breath.

“No, I don’t.”

Her answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

“I see…. Then maybe, would you be willing to go out with me?”

“….”

“I’ve actually liked you sincerely for a long time. Of course, if you don’t like me, there’s nothing I can do. But since there isn’t anyone else you like, I was wondering how you’d feel about at least trying to go out with me, so I decided to ask….”

His uncertain voice grew smaller and smaller.

“….”

After a brief silence, Eloise opened her mouth quietly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can date you.”

As if she had settled on that one line beforehand, she always refused with the same words. Still, maybe because she was a little bit closer to him than to others, she sounded less firm than usual and more cautious.

“Ah, then of course! I totally understand! Thanks for answering me honestly. I’ll get going now, see you in class. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.”

The boy named Leon babbled again with his face bright red, then hurriedly turned away and left. Nardi took in from start to finish the sight of Eloise watching Leon’s retreating back with a slightly awkward look, then going back to reading her book as if nothing had happened.

Eloise, the person directly involved in Leon’s confession, was completely unfazed, yet he, who had nothing to do with it, felt pointlessly stifled and impatient.

He had seen it happen more than ten times himself, so how many confessions must Eloise have received if he counted the ones he hadn’t witnessed?

Nardi found the men who confessed to her annoying, yet at the same time, he could understand them. Eloise was someone any man- no, any person, couldn’t help but fall for. She was very pretty, a genius, and even her personality was charming; who could possibly not fall for her?

And he thought that even if all the men who confessed were rejected, their courage alone was impressive. Afraid that he too would be rejected, he didn’t even dare to confess and told himself it was not yet time to confess anyway. Objectively speaking, there was nothing between him and Eloise at all, and Nardi wondered whether she even knew who he was.

Having done nothing but secretly harbor a crush, he suddenly grew anxious whenever situations like this arose. For the moment, he was incredibly grateful that Eloise didn’t have anyone she liked and was turning down every confession, but her mind could change at any time, and she might accept someone’s confession sooner or later.

Is it really all right for me to just sit here doing nothing like this…?

Just as that sudden impatience hit him, Eloise checked the time and began gathering her things to leave.

Before he knew it, he stood up and strode toward her. It was an extremely impulsive, spur-of-the-moment act. He blocked her path as she shouldered her bag and was about to leave the garden.

“…?”

Eloise looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

Up close, she was even prettier, and a sweet scent came from her. He could now understand why Leon had babbled like that. When Eloise’s indifferent pale-blue eyes turned to him, his heart pounded violently and his mind went completely blank. Having blocked her way, now that he was actually facing her, he couldn’t think of anything decent to say.

“…Why did you turn him down?”

This was not what he had meant to say, not something so trivial.

He tried to convince himself that at least it was not the worst thing he could have said. Since things had come to this, if he went a step further and asked about her ideal type, he might be able to strike up a natural conversation….

“….”

But perhaps it was indeed the worst question, because Eloise slightly raised her eyebrows and looked bewildered. Then she laughed quietly and answered in a light tone.

“Class is about to start.”

As she brushed past him, a faint breeze stirred. On that breeze rode the scent of roses and a pleasant fragrance.

Left behind, he stood there blankly, watching Eloise’s back. Only after she left the garden and disappeared from sight did he let out a pained groan and clutch his head.

“Aaah….”

He found himself pathetically, ridiculously pitiful.

Eloise must think he was utterly absurd.

Some stranger suddenly showing up, openly revealing that he had eavesdropped and asking why she had turned the confession down.

If he put himself in her shoes, he was out of his mind. He had clearly lost his mind for a moment there.

Writhing in misery and feeling a bone-deep regret, he stood in the garden for a long time. At the same time, he kept recalling over and over Eloise’s face and eyes as he had seen them up close, and the scent that had tickled the tip of his nose.

People don’t change easily, so days like that kept repeating afterward.

Nardi, like many boys his age, was very shy and lacked boldness, so he couldn’t easily approach the girl he liked. Thankfully, it seemed Eloise was indifferent to romance, as she kept turning down confessions and didn’t seem to be seeing anyone. Like that, time flew by like an arrow, and before he knew it, it was time for her to graduate.

On Eloise’s graduation day.

The academy was filled with the laughter of graduating students, but Nardi was just depressed. The thought that he had let three years slip by in vain without achieving any progress dominated his mind.

Now Eloise would go to the Magic Tower’s research division, while he had to stay at the academy for one more year. He had liked attending the academy together and being near her, but for the next year, they would be physically far apart, and it would be hard to see her as often as he did now. After a year, he too would go to the Magic Tower, but….

“Unnie!”

Regardless of how he felt, Eloise smiled brightly and walked toward someone.