Chapter 3.2

Due to the age difference, Diana treated her like a child. If she was going to treat her like a kid, she shouldn’t talk about adult relationships or adult products.

Calling her “our little one” and “cutie” while giving her large-sized condoms and insisting her first boyfriend should be well-endowed was truly contradictory.

No matter how many times she asked her not to do that, it never worked.

She once thought it was mostly her fault for opening the wrong door without knocking, so she shouldn’t criticize Diana’s hobbies. If Diana hadn’t forced her hobbies on her, she would have treated her like a sister.

“I bought some gifts from afar. Want to see?”

“I don’t need them.”

She spoke sulkily. Diana’s gifts always needed to be viewed with suspicion.

“Why not? You’ll need them for your bridal lessons.”

“I’ll buy those myself.”

“Sure, sure, my little sister is all grown up now.”

Diana tousled her hair wildly. She was still hugging her. The teacher would arrive soon. Erica was worried about her hair getting messed up.

“Ah, stop it. Go inside and rest.”

“Sister, you are still lively and energetic.”

“…Did you drink?”

Diana was a sister Erica was embarrassed to introduce to others. Especially now, it seemed she might run into the teacher. She anxiously tried to push Diana away with both hands. Diana squealed, saying her hands touched her chest.

“Miss?”

Gasp. Please let it not be true. 

She hoped she had heard wrong, but she met the teacher’s eyes from within Diana’s embrace. The teacher stood at the entrance, eyes wide open. His gaze was intense.

“Eek!”

In an instant, she pushed Diana away. Diana staggered, placing her hand on her forehead in shock.

“Wow, who on earth arrived?”

Diana turned around. Erica tried to block her, but was too late.

“You pushed your sister, oh my.”

“Did I interrupt?”

The teacher asked with a smile. It didn’t seem like he genuinely wanted to know. It was more like, ‘Surely that’s not the case? Please say it’s not.’

Meanwhile, Diana exclaimed in admiration, and the teacher urged her to answer quietly, looking directly at her.

“No, you came at the perfect time.”

“Oh my, my, are you Erica’s etiquette teacher? We briefly met here before. It’s nice to officially greet you.”

Fortunately, Diana didn’t inspect the teacher up and down. In the uncomfortable situation, she shuffled her feet discreetly, and the teacher glanced at Diana before focusing back on her.

Oh. The way he looked at Diana was quite cold earlier. Was it just her imagination? His gaze towards her was warm again.

“She must be your sister.”

“Oh, yes, she is.”

“Excuse me. Teacher, you look young. How old are you?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Diana interrupted. The teacher, still focused on her, spoke.

“Miss, how old do you think I am?”

“What? Oh, um.”

She couldn’t estimate the teacher’s age. The teacher’s elegant demeanor made him seem much older than her, yet his soft skin made him appear to be her peer.

“I like younger men.”

“Sister!”

Erica shouted in front of the teacher at Diana’s nonsense. She felt secondhand embarrassment.

“Why? It’s true that younger men are nice.”

“Are you really drunk? Stop saying weird things to the teacher and go inside.”

She pressed Diana’s back firmly. But Diana braced herself and resisted. Her desire to stay with the handsome man was evident. Her sister never let go once she set her sights on someone.

“Can I take that class too?”

“No!”

Oops, the words slipped out before she could think. Erica belatedly noticed the teacher’s reaction.

From the teacher’s perspective, having more students might be beneficial. 

Did I interfere unnecessarily? 

She regretted it slightly.

“I asked the teacher, why are you answering?”

“Well…”

Anyone but Diana becoming the teacher’s student was something Erica opposed.

Erica shifted her eyes and subtly glanced at the teacher, noticing his faint smile. Hmm, he didn’t seem upset about her interrupting.

“I only want to teach Miss Erica.”

At the teacher’s unexpected words, both Diana and she blinked simultaneously.

She wanted to ask what he meant all of a sudden, but the teacher checked his watch and looked troubled.

“It’s already 8 o’clock sharp. Miss, did you review well this time?”

“…Yes.”

“I should praise you.”

Her face flushed with heat. Even without looking in the mirror, she knew her cheeks were red.

“What kind of lesson makes you blush?”

“I told you, it’s bridal lessons.”

She flinched under Diana’s inquisitive gaze. She wanted to escape this uncomfortable spot quickly. Diana tried to continue the conversation with the teacher, but he smoothly ignored her advances and suggested they head to the lesson room. Her sister was persistent, but the teacher was quite decisive.

She finally managed to shake off Diana and went up to the second-floor studio. She prayed fervently that Diana wouldn’t come looking for her after the lesson.

“You seem close with your sister.”

“What? Absolutely not.”

Close? She didn’t even want to hear it as a joke. It made her shudder.

“Even if she’s my sister, I find her a bit overwhelming.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

Hmm? Relief? Was that a relief?

“Is this the work you’re drawing this time?”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s not published yet, so as long as you don’t mention the title and content elsewhere, you’re welcome to look.”

The teacher turned the pages of the illustrations. He examined them thoroughly, making her feel embarrassed.

Though she prided herself on her drawing skills, she worried about any parts she might have glossed over. Gradually, her concerns about her sister faded from her mind.

As the teacher’s hand moved, scenes of the deep forest where the fox lived, the cave landscape, and the fox’s silhouette crying under the moonlight passed by. Seeing them gathered and viewed consecutively made it feel as if the story of the fox and the girl unfolded before their eyes.

The teacher paused at the meeting of the fox and the girl. Had he noticed the resemblance between the fox and himself? She felt tense and fiddled with her hands.

“By any chance…”

“Yes?”

“Never mind.”

Whew, for a moment she thought her heart would drop. The teacher was looking at the girl, not the fox.

The teacher asked if he could touch the illustration, and she nodded. The completed illustrations had been quickly dried using wind magic, so touching them was fine.

The teacher gently brushed his fingertips over the canvas paper.

“Do you like that scene?”

“Oh, yes. It reminds me of my childhood.”

As expected… he noticed…

Her pupils shook like an earthquake.

“Uh, in what way?”

“I had a friend like this.”

His voice carried a hint of nostalgia.

So the teacher had a friend too. 

Somehow, she imagined that friend was very beautiful.

“But it’s in the past tense? You don’t meet anymore?”

“Well.”

The teacher looked away from the illustration and turned his head. She met his gaze directly. He sometimes gave slightly evasive answers to questions. But when she looked into his eyes, the questions faded away, and she simply accepted it as it was.

“You said you reviewed earlier, but how much did you do?”

“Well… quite a lot?”

Her eyes shifted sideways. Reviewing a lot was good, but the method of review was quite embarrassing. She couldn’t speak confidently about it.

The teacher smiled with satisfaction. 

“I see you’ve thought of me a lot. You’re a diligent and good student. I should give you a gift.”

“A gift?”

The teacher nodded and took something out of his bag, handing it to her. She blinked and looked at his hand.

“These are… silk gloves.”

“Yes, I’ve imbued them with magic to protect your skin from the hot sun these days and to support your wrist joints. When you work on illustrations for long periods, don’t your wrists get strained?”

Wow, a sound of admiration escaped her lips.

After working for hours, her hands would often go numb, requiring her to frequently put down the brush and rest, rotating her wrists. It was something truly necessary for someone who held a pen or brush for extended periods. The unexpected item lifted her spirits and filled her with excitement.

“Wow, thank you so much! But I’m worried they’ll get dirty with paint if I wear them while working.”

The silk gloves were white with delicate embroidery. They looked so luxurious that she hesitated to wear them casually.

“You don’t need to worry about that. They also have a cleanliness spell, so there’s no need to wash them separately.”

“Wow, they have a lot of magic in them. Aren’t these expensive? Where did you get them?”

“I purchased them from the Oditolium shop.”

“What? When? I’ve never seen them.”

She quickly recalled the catalog of items from the Oditolium shop. No matter how much she thought about it, she had never seen gloves so perfectly suited for her. She was someone who never missed any of Felix’s items!