The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 25
Hartbisa pulled at the fabric at her fingertips, removing her glove. A pale hand, seemingly bleached white, contrasting with her black dress, was revealed. She cracked the joints of her hand that looked like it belonged to a corpse.
“I’ve never tasted children’s blood before. Thanks to you, I’ll find out today.”
The moment she extended her hand, Raoul screamed in terror at Hartbisa’s blood-red eyes and ran away.
“Ahhh! She’s crazy!”
His companions also fled in haste, nearly tripping over themselves. As they ran away with their tails between their legs, Hartbisa stuck out her tongue with a “beh” and waved her removed glove.
“This is just a lady’s glove though.”
Then Hartbisa turned to Dayan standing behind her and gave him a pretty smile.
“How was that? Was your sister Cellie-like enough?”
***
“You had that side to you?”
Dayan narrowed his eyes as he watched his sister walking down the corridor casually as if what happened earlier was just a dream. Hartbisa shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know what he meant.
“I’ve been through a harsh social debut myself, so I know how to handle people who live and die by such rumors. They’re just kids anyway.”
Hartbisa smiled lightly, hoping Dayan hadn’t been too hurt by it. Thanks to that, Dayan also felt it wasn’t such a big deal.
When they reached the back door of the lecture hall, Dayan continued.
“There will be chairs set up when you enter through the back door. You can sit there.”
Hartbisa nodded. As Dayan was about to leave, he added one more thing.
“Don’t do that kind of thing in the lecture hall. I don’t make friends anyway.”
“Did you dislike it?”
When Hartbisa asked worriedly, Dayan looked at his sister’s face for a moment before averting his gaze and answering.
“No, it made me feel secure.”
At his small but definite answer, Hartbisa smiled brightly.
As Hartbisa waved her hand wishing him good luck with his presentation, Dayan added, “Don’t cause any trouble,” before leaving.
Entering the lecture hall, wooden chairs were placed at intervals. Hartbisa sat somewhere in the middle. In front of her sat students who weren’t presenting today. Some began whispering and glancing at her when she appeared.
Rather than recognizing her as a Cellie, it was more because of her unusual pink hair and striking beautiful face, rare to see in the Empire.
Hartbisa sat down unconcerned, looking around at the podium where Dayan would stand and surveying the lecture hall where he usually took classes. Other students were also freely taking their seats, preparing for class.
The gentle breeze coming through the open windows, the pleasant chatter of children, and the scratching sound of pens writing – it all sounded so nice.
A small joy of studying, something she had forgotten while staying in that tiny room, began to bloom. As Hartbisa was thinking how glad she was to have come to see Dayan, she noticed two boys sitting right in front of her.
“No, I’m telling you this is right. Did you sleep through the last class?”
“My grades are better than yours, you know?”
Hearing their small argument, she straightened her back and looked down at the notebook between the two. They were arguing over an assignment similar to what she had helped Dayan with. Hartbisa stood up, went behind the two, and spoke.
“If you remove the last pronunciation mark and read it, it will be easier to interpret.”
She said this out of habit from helping with Dayan’s homework, but the two turned around startled. They hesitated briefly at the sight of Hartbisa blinking her round red eyes with a bright smile, but then she pointed at the notebook as if telling them to try what she said.
One boy tried following Hartbisa’s instruction with a doubtful face, but the problem they had been struggling with was quickly solved.
“It really works?”
“What?”
At those words, when the other boy also applied Hartbisa’s method and confirmed the problem was solved, his eyes grew wide. The two looked at each other, nodded, then turned to Hartbisa.
“Can we ask you more questions?”
“Of course. Anything I know, I’ll help with.”
Hartbisa smiled brightly, happy that she had been helpful. Her appearance was as radiant as a spring garden. The two boys blushed and asked in a deliberately grumbling tone.
“You don’t seem to be a student here, who are you here to see?”
“Dayan.”
“What?”
They had naturally assumed she was the sister of one of their classmates known for being kind, like Sena or Elric.
But at the name that came from her lips, their brows furrowed. Hartbisa, unbothered, repeated the name again.
“Dayan Cellie. I’m Dayan’s older sister.”
Dayan’s sister? They had heard that Dayan had a sister who shared the same surname, but rumors were rampant that this sister was rude and ruthless, befitting a Cellie, and had been expelled from social circles.
Based on the rumors, the two had arbitrarily imagined a woman emanating a dark and gloomy aura, but seeing Hartbisa’s smile that contrasted with her black dress, they stammered their question.
“We heard you don’t go out much…”
They had also heard rumors that she was confined due to her vicious personality, but they swallowed their words, unable to ask directly. Hartbisa scratched the back of her head sheepishly and smiled.
“I did come out for the first time in a while because Dayan acted cute and said he really wanted me to come.”
“What? Dayan did?”
“We’ve never even seen him smile.”
While his sister being different from the rumors was surprising enough, the idea of Dayan acting cute made the two gape as if they’d heard something impossible. Hartbisa laughed embarrassedly.
“It’s true though.”
To Hartbisa’s eyes, her brother’s letter had been plenty cute. After all, she couldn’t have imagined it in her previous life. As Hartbisa smiled secretly to herself, she seemed to have a good idea and clapped her hands, muttering softly.
“You know, I actually helped a bit with Dayan’s presentation that’s coming up.”
“Really? We heard he prepared his assignment really well.”
Having seen Hartbisa’s skills earlier, it didn’t seem like a lie, and the two boys’ eyes lit up. Hartbisa narrowed her eyes and whispered.
“So, I was thinking, could you clap when Dayan’s presentation is over? If you do, I’ll tell you my study secrets.”
The two boys looked down at their assignments full of unsolved problems, then nodded decisively as if they’d made up their minds.
***
When the presenter’s presentation ended, applause broke out. Dayan’s expression sank as he watched from behind the curtain.
He had expected this from the moment he invited Hartbisa. Even as a polite fiction, his peer relationships weren’t good.
While he could handle contempt alone well enough, he worried whether his sister might be hurt by such attitudes.
In that sense, what happened earlier was truly unexpected.
‘Neither Dayan nor I are as fragile as you think we are.’
In the past, she would have probably turned pale and tried to escape such a situation somehow, but instead, she had thrown those words right back at them so refreshingly.
Dayan smirked as he remembered his sister’s confident face and straightened his shoulders. After all, this was a presentation he had prepared wanting to show her. To tell her that he was doing well, just as she had taught him.
When his turn came, Dayan boldly stepped onto the podium. He could see Hartbisa, sitting in the front of the guest section, brightly smiling and waving her hand slightly. Encouraged by this, Dayan was able to focus on his presentation.
“That concludes my presentation.”
The presentation was concise, and thanks to the simple explanation, it was even easier to understand than the regular class, yet no one voiced their admiration or clapped.
Only Hartbisa began applauding as if she had been waiting for this moment. Silence fell. Then, as if indifferent to such things, applause rang out.
Clap clap clap.
At Hartbisa’s lonely applause, Dayan bowed his head as if expected, acknowledging just one person, but at that moment, several students around Hartbisa joined in with loud applause.
Seeing this, those who had been watching cautiously began to clap one by one, and it spread like a wave throughout the entire lecture hall.
Dayan’s eyes widened in bewilderment as he awkwardly received the applause, then bowed his head once more in acknowledgment.
“Dayan, when did you prepare so well? It was even more perfect than when I helped you.”
At Hartbisa’s praise, Dayan’s ears turned red as he shrugged.
“Of course, you think I would have invited you without preparing properly? How about that, I did better than you when I did it properly.”
More than his arrogant tone of bragging, Hartbisa smiled with satisfaction at his use of the term ‘sister.’
“Is that so? That’s good, these friends seem to have a lot they want to ask you too.”
They were the ones who had followed Hartbisa’s lead and clapped first.
Since they had barely exchanged words normally, the two froze under Dayan’s gaze. When Hartbisa nodded as if to say it was okay, one of the boys opened his mouth.
