Chapter 29: The Annoying Teacher

The students gathered around Lyr exchanged glances, each wearing a disgruntled expression.

“Alright, those who need a break, go take one. Then hurry and prepare for the next class,” Lyr said, smoothing things over from the side.

Since Lyr said so, the people surrounding him all dispersed.

Lyr let out a long sigh, this time not bothering to hide it at all.

“Again with this situation,” he muttered to himself, truly unable to understand what was going on with his own state lately.

Those voices came from who knew where, as if they really had come from the mouths of those people just now, yet the words they actually spoke were not like that.

The two sets of voices were completely opposite.

Seeing that almost everyone had left, Yilu finally stepped forward, standing below the podium, looking up at Lyr who was above.

She could tell Lyr’s state was a bit off, and wondered if it had anything to do with her own antics last night.

Lyr glanced at her, offering a faint smile. “You really helped out a lot just now.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I had no intention of helping you,” Yilu said, appearing completely ungrateful. “I just thought they were noisy, that’s all.”

Lyr gave a bitter smile. Whether Yilu intended to or not, she had genuinely helped him just now.

Right now, he really needed to rest.

Just as Lyr was about to tidy up the textbooks on the desk and leave, Yilu placed a hand on his book.

This inexplicable action made Lyr look at Yilu again in confusion, noticing a hard-to-describe displeasure flickering across her face.

He even wondered if Yilu’s eyes were wearing some kind of accessory. How could this person keep glaring at people with such a fierce look?

Yilu took a deep breath and exhaled. Lyr, looking down from above, could vaguely see her chest rise and fall slightly.

“This is for you… And, Teacher Lyr, you are truly detestable.”

After saying this, Yilu turned and walked away without looking back, leaving Lyr standing there, baffled.

What had he done to upset her this time?

When he lowered his head to look at the spot where Yilu had just placed her hand, he discovered a piece of candy, exquisitely wrapped in paper, had been left there at some point.

Lyr picked up the candy. Through the wrapper, he could faintly smell a light mint fragrance.

Did she really think his throat-clearing earlier meant he had a sore throat?

‘This person… doesn’t seem entirely terrible.’

At the very least, it seemed Yilu simply wasn’t good at expressing her goodwill.

Thinking about it, under the premise that everyone considered her temperament terrible, using ordinary ways to express kindness would, in fact, seem even stranger to people.

—

This scene was seen clearly by Tif, who was standing on the steps at the back.

Her mouth slightly agape, one eyebrow squinted while the other was raised, she didn’t even know how to describe her own emotions.

What was going on between her idiot older brother and that notoriously infamous Miss Yilu?

“Still saying nothing happened?” Teanya snickered from behind.

Although she didn’t have much interaction with Yilu, she wasn’t meeting her for the first time either.

Yilu’s temperament gave off an aura of not wanting too much contact with people, especially after her brother had his incident. No one dared to get close anymore, afraid of being implicated in something.

Tif whirled around. Clearly having heard this, she tilted her head and stared at Teanya, formally confirming that she definitely knew something.

And it seemed vaguely related to that Miss Yilu.

Teanya was made a bit nervous by her unblinking stare.

“You, come with me.”

Regardless of whether Teanya was willing or not, Tif grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the exit.

They reached the podium area, just in time to run into Lyr.

“Hey, Tif…” Lyr called out to her, wanting to say something.

She was already upset about Lyr not coming home last night, and now hearing him call her, her temper still hadn’t settled.

Tif said, “Teacher Lyr, is there something?”

Her tone carried a very obvious deliberateness, making Lyr’s head involuntarily tilt back slightly.

Why was Tif even more prickly than Yilu today?

“If there’s nothing, then I’ll excuse myself,” Tif said, pulling Teanya straight toward the door. Just as they reached it, she suddenly remembered something, turned her head, and said to Lyr, “You really are a detestable teacher.”

“Wait… you… I…”

Completely unwilling to pay Lyr any mind, Tif pulled Teanya and walked away without a backward glance.

His attention completely focused on Tif, Lyr didn’t even see Teanya frantically signaling to him, trying to convey a message for him to help her.

‘What a day,’ Lyr could only shake his head.

—

After leaving the classroom, following the crowd to the other classrooms, Yilu walked slowly by herself, in contrast to others walking side by side.

She was used to this situation.

‘Why do you have to make yourself look like that over a simple matter?’

She pursed her lips, one hand clenched into a fist, the other open, constantly knocking them against each other, looking rather like she was rolling up her sleeves for a fight.

This made the people nearby even less inclined to approach.

Her current state of mind held an indescribable subtlety.

Because Lyr had helped her several times, she had stepped in to help him, which could be considered repaying a favor.

Or perhaps, because she had dawdled too long in his room this morning, she had actually started to somewhat like his scent.

The ‘detestable’ she had just said to Lyr wasn’t entirely false either.

Yilu disliked excessive interaction with people. It wasn’t that she genuinely disliked it; she simply didn’t have the spare energy to express her feelings to everyone.

To give an analogy, what Yilu disliked was like encountering a puppy. At first, it was enthusiastic and affectionate toward you, and you responded seriously. But then you turn around and find it’s actually like that with everyone, not just you.

Yilu couldn’t say whether her feeling this way was good or bad.

But she truly, really hated this feeling.

Her seriousness, in the other person’s eyes, was just an ordinary, commonplace thing. It made her feel a bit stifled inside.

‘If you’re going to be like that, then just don’t bother with me. But you insist on shamelessly appearing in front of me.’

‘Fine. Now I’m starting to pay attention to you, only to find you’re like this with everyone else too, even surrounded by many people.’

‘Then what am I? An optional pastime you can take or leave?’

‘What kind of thing is this? So annoying.’

With nowhere to vent this stifling feeling, seeing a stone pillar nearby, Yilu paused, stepped forward, and kicked it, treating it as Lyr.

“I really am going to gouge your eyes out. I’m not joking at all.”

She still remembered the warning she gave Lyr during their first meeting. He probably remembered it too.

The words were said, but after meeting this guy so many times now, she hadn’t followed through on her threat at all. Instead, she was the one feeling stifled by him. Just thinking about it made Yilu feel displeased.