“What do you mean?”
“Ah—actually, I’m from the rebels… .”
The boy with brown hair in grade B trailed off and didn’t finish his sentence.
“You look so much like the person I met there.”
Aselia looked at Kalisten when the B-class’ words were over. He sighed.
“No, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Ah, yes… Excuse me.”
The B ranker concluded the same. He was a child growing up in a rebel camp, but he was caught and sold by a slave trader during their move to the border. He was only 15 at most, but many people were sold here at his age.
But he spoke up because he thought Kalisten looked exactly like the Kerno tribe leader who commanded the rebels he had seen at a glance. Moreover, he vividly remembered that they had the same pitch-black striking raven hair and rare red eyes.
The same fascinating sculptural face that made it hard to take your eyes off it.
“E-eat this too.”
“I’m fine.”
One of the B-grades tried to hand him chocolate pudding.
“I only need one, Aselia will eat it.”
“Ah… can I?”
“Yes!”
“Thank you. Instead, you two eat this, bacon.”
“Thank you!”
Aselia moved two pieces of bacon from her plate to theirs. She then smiled lightly as she held the chocolate pudding in her hand.
Pushing his pudding towards her, Kalisten stated,.
“I’m full, so eat this too.”
“Uh? But Kal… .”
“I think I’ll get sick if I eat more.”
“Then, may I… .?”
“Huh.”
Unconsciously, Aselia beamed brightly, and Kalisten felt his heart thump.
“Are you sure you don’t want anymore Kal? It’s really delicious… .”
Kalisten felt he was in big trouble because Aselia looked so cute that his ears burned.
“Give it to me.”
“Ah, yes.”
She looked slightly regretful, but she smiled brightly when she made eye contact with him again. He took the spoon from her and scooped out what was in his hand. Then he brought it to her and instructed:
“Say ‘ah’.”
“What?”
“‘Ah’ do it.”
At his words, Aselia opened her mouth slightly.
“You mean to open my mouth, right?”
“Uhm.”
His heart felt unsettled when he noticed Aselia’s pink lips seemed to be getting slimmer today, but when she opened them, he thought she was so pretty that he let out a small sigh without realizing it. He quickly shoved the pudding at her so she would not notice his thoughts.
“Um… .”
Aselia was about to say something, but the pudding slipped into her mouth. As he watched her eat the pudding, munching in her tiny mouth, he felt his heart beat faster than before.
“Do you like it?”
he asked when she almost swallowed the whole serving.
“Uh-huh, but we used the same spoon.”
Her casual words warmed his ears. It wasn’t intentional, but it felt so embarrassing.
“You dislike it?”
“No, but if it touched my mouth, I thought Kal wouldn’t eat anymore… .”
“No, I won’t.”
After saying that, Kalisten scooped out a little bit of pudding. And then he put it in his mouth.
No matter when, it felt like a terrible sweetness to eat.
“Hehe.”
Aselia chuckled like a child when she glanced at Kalisten, who looked red, seeming to have a fever from the chocolate. She then remembered that chocolate was high in calories and made a person’s heart beat faster.
Recognizing his condition and he handed her a spoonful of her pudding again.
“Eat it all.”
“Alright.”
Before Aselia could finish eating her meal, she had to eat all the chocolate pudding he had fed her.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
After the meal, all the other two went out. Aselia thought it would be awkward to be alone with Kalisten, but surprisingly it wasn’t. She was in a Z-class room, so books were on the shelves.
Aselia pulled out a psychology book, ‘My Neighbor is Bothering Me,’ which seemed to be the easiest of the books.
“Are you going to read that?”
“Would you like to read it together?”
“Yes.”
She had suggested it off-handedly without thinking; he affirmed it too quickly for her to refuse, so she grabbed the book and went to the sofa with Kalisten.
“Let’s read in bed.”