After all the afternoon classes ended, Vivian, just like every day in the past, walked with steady steps toward the Student Council office located on the west side of the Academy Main Building, holding several heavy magic books and Student Council documents in her arms.
The glow of the setting sun cast a long shadow of her silhouette, laying down a sharp outline on the smooth stone path.
However, when the oak door carved with the Student Council emblem drew near before her eyes, her footsteps unconsciously slowed, eventually coming to a stop about three paces from the door.
In her mind, she uncontrollably flashed back to the words she had accidentally overheard on the tree-lined path this morning, as well as the affectionate yet lonely side profile of that blond youth.
"If... he is inside right now... what... should I say to him?"
"Order him to watch his words and actions in the future, and not say strange things in public anymore? Or... just pretend I didn't hear anything at all and handle official business as usual?"
Several options quickly flashed through her mind, but every one of them seemed to come with an indescribable discomfort.
A rare trace of hesitation flickered in her ice-blue eyes. Always decisive, she now unexpectedly stood outside her own office door, engaged in a brief spell of mental preparation.
However, just as she took a deep breath and prepared to push open the door, determined to maintain her usual professional demeanor no matter what situation she faced—
"President? What are you doing standing here? Aren't you going in?"
A familiar, somewhat timid voice suddenly sounded from very close behind her.
"!"
Vivian's body froze almost imperceptibly.
Although her facial expression instantly returned to its usual icy coldness and calm, as if covered in a layer of frost, there was no doubt that, having been lost in thought, she had been startled by the sudden voice.
She slowly turned around and looked toward the source of the voice.
Yelena stood a short distance behind her, holding a large cardboard box filled with documents in both hands, which almost hid half of her face.
She poked her head out from the edge of the cardboard box, her round face carrying confusion and concern.
"I was thinking about the academy's budget allocation for next month. Some details need careful consideration."
Vivian spoke without batting an eye or changing color, then, as if to prove something, pushed open the door to the Student Council office directly.
And upon seeing that there was no one inside, the heart she had been holding up in suspense finally settled back into place.
"Oh, so that's how it is."
Yelena nodded, carrying the box as she followed her into the relatively cool room.
Placing the cardboard box on the low cabinet near the entrance, she seemed to suddenly remember something and turned around to address Vivian, who was placing the books in her arms onto the main desk:
"By the way, President, Student Greg asked me to pass a message to you. He said... he needs to go to the academy's Market District today to purchase some essential alchemy materials and basic items for his studies, so... he might not be able to participate in the Student Council's daily activities and disciplinary patrols today."
Yelena spoke somewhat cautiously; after all, Greg's leave request process could hardly be considered standard.
She was a bit worried that the President might be displeased because of it.
Hearing this, Vivian's fingers organizing the books paused for a fraction of a second before resuming their movement.
Putting away the last book, she raised her head, turned her ice-blue eyes toward Yelena, nodded, and spoke in a flat tone:
"Is that so? I understand."
Her reaction was much calmer than Yelena had anticipated. She didn't ask for details, nor did she point out the procedural issue; she simply... accepted it.
I won't be seeing him today...?
The moment this realization surfaced, without even Vivian herself noticing, the slightly tense lines of her shoulders and neck relaxed imperceptibly just a fraction.
The sense of tension that had lingered in her heart since this morning seemed to dissipate quite a bit along with it.
"That's fine too..."
She thought to herself.
At least today, she wouldn't have to face that guy, nor deal with those exasperating rumors and gazes.
As for the issue of his non-standard leave request process... she would take note of it for now and bring it up another day.
Right now, she strangely had no desire to look into it.
Seeing that Vivian didn't say much about it and didn't seem angry, Yelena breathed a silent sigh of relief.
A reassuring smile appeared on her face, and she turned around, preparing to handle the box of documents she had brought in.
However, just as her hand was about to touch the edge of the box, as if summoning immense courage, she suddenly turned back around to look at Vivian and said:
"President! Um... I, personally, actually really support you and Student Greg!"
"Huh?"
Vivian's fingers flipping through the documents froze, and she raised her head to look at Yelena in stunned surprise.
Yelena's cheeks flushed slightly red, but her gaze was exceptionally earnest as she continued:
"Because, through spending time with him these past few days, I really think Student Greg is a very excellent, hardworking, and kind person! He's completely different from what everyone used to say! So... so I think the two of you right now would be a great match!"
After finishing those words, as if she had exhausted all her courage, Yelena picked up the large cardboard box like a startled rabbit and practically fled into the archive room at the side of the Student Council office.
Inside the spacious main Student Council office, Vivian was suddenly left all alone.
She maintained her posture of slightly looking up, her ice-blue eyes gazing at the tightly closed door of the archive room, her facial expression frozen in a complete blank.
"A good match...?"
She slowly lowered her eyes, her gaze falling onto her hands resting crossed over her knees.
In her mind, scenes long covered in dust flashed uncontrollably.
During their childhood, the blond boy in the garden who would carefully hand her the prettiest flower he had picked; in the corner of the banquet hall, the profile of the youth who, despite being scolded by his father for failing to recite lengthy etiquette rules, still smiled at her...
Those images had faded long ago, obliterated by the countlessly disappointing, maddening, and even repulsive realities that followed.
Brought back up inadvertently now, they only caused her to feel something like being frozen at the bottom of a lake...
Solitude and detachment.
She gently closed her eyes, completely repressing that fleeting flicker of vulnerable emotion.
When she opened them again, absolute clarity and calmness had returned to her eyes, as if that split second of distraction had never occurred.
She no longer thought about Yelena's words, no longer thought about Greg's nonsense from this morning, nor did she look at those blurry phantoms of the past.
She merely picked up her pen again, opened the first document awaiting approval, and channeled all her attention into the concrete and complex academy matters before her.
As if only by doing so could she allow that heart, which occasionally stirred with mysterious ripples, to settle back down and return to the cold, icy lake surface she was accustomed to.
Rate on N.U.
