Chapter 26: Graduate Students’ Apology

“I-I bought way too many snacks—?!”

“Is that so? It would be nice if there were some teenagers here to help finish them, right??”

What’s with this awkward and forced dialogue?

Just moments ago, my unstable emotions had settled down quietly. No, they had sunk into a state of stunned silence.

Stunned to the point I unknowingly stopped in my tracks, I heard the sound of a door closing behind me.

Professor Radvisin had not come out of his private office and had shut the door from the inside.

‘Is he telling me to talk with the graduate students?’

I sighed deeply, then looked up to glance at the two graduate students.

I thought they had disappeared somewhere abruptly earlier because they felt uncomfortable being out in the open.

But now it seemed there was another reason.

“Senior, I told you this isn’t right, didn’t I?”

“When did you say that?! You even said it seemed like a good idea.”

“That was when I agreed that we should apologize by giving snacks.”

She seemed to have lowered her voice somewhat, but it was still loud enough for me to hear clearly.

This host body will turn 18 in just a few days.

I wondered if I should tell her that she was way past the age where snacks could easily mend feelings.

But I held back, worried that they might ask if I was still upset about it.

“Um, so… Karvald… right?”

“You can just speak comfortably.”

If this really was Karvald, the Doctoral Graduate Student, who was at least seven years older, would have spoken formally, and I would have let it be.

Meanwhile, the host body would have used informal speech.

‘But raising the level of speech before revealing one’s identity, and then lowering it later is too authoritative, isn’t it? Letting graduate students speak formally is the same.’

Besides, since I would be getting help from Professor Radvisin, I’d be encountering the graduate students frequently.

Not only that, but they were kind and polite enough to have gone so far as to prepare gifts instead of just verbally apologizing.

So it wasn’t a matter of “maybe,” but “definitely” they were trying to improve the host body’s image.

In many ways, maintaining a good relationship with them was beneficial for me.

Also, apart from that…

‘They seem like decent people. I don’t know their names yet, but they don’t seem to be original characters!

Among the original characters, there are no graduate students from Valhalla Academy.

Their appearances don’t remind me of any important character’s descriptions either.

Given the world, there’s no guarantee they won’t die, but at least they’re not confirmed dead.

And if they’re graduate students, they wouldn’t be jumping into dangerous battles.

So it should be okay to get along with them.’

“Sorry. I think we misunderstood you based on rumors. So we brought snacks as an apology. Would you accept them?”

There was no reason to refuse.

But the amount was too much to take all at once. The two were each holding a pile, so how was I supposed to carry all that back to my dorm alone?

So I only took two breads from the Doctoral Graduate Student and two snack bags from the Master’s Graduate Student.

“Thank you for the gift…”

“Why not take more?”

“If I take any more, I’m sure I’ll drop them on the way back to the dorm. Besides, I plan to come here again tomorrow, so I’d like to eat the rest with my seniors then.”

If I wasn’t careful, they might misunderstand me as “Karvald is a noble young master who wouldn’t even touch these mass-produced snacks, so he’s just pretending to accept a few.”

No, the real Karvald would have probably thrown away the snacks he accepted.

Or gotten angry, asking if they were seriously giving him this junk to eat.

That’s why I deliberately added, “Let’s eat the rest together tomorrow.”

This way, I could prevent misunderstandings and also send a message about wanting to get along in the future—killing two birds with one stone.

The Doctoral Graduate Student smiled brightly, seemingly pleased with my answer.

“Rumors really can’t be trusted! They said you had a haughty and prickly personality, but you’re quite approachable, huh?”

Generally, rumors are unreliable, but the rumors about this host body’s personality were true.

I found it awkward to either confirm or deny them. Agreeing that I’m approachable with my own mouth was out of the question.

Just as I was about to brush it off with an awkward smile,

“But aside from personality, the rumor that you bullied other students—is that true?”

The Master’s Graduate Student asked cautiously.

Maybe she was worried because it bothered her that Karvald had bullied someone last semester, or perhaps she was jealous because the senior she liked was being nice to me.

I didn’t know which.

Either way, it was a topic that needed to be addressed at some point.

Before I could answer, the Doctoral Graduate Student cut in.

“Why bring that up all of a sudden?!”

“I feel like we’ll be seeing each other often, so it’s better to clear things up. And you said you were concerned about that on the way to buy snacks.”

“True, but if there’s something wrong with his behavior, the professor will surely correct it. Let’s not make him feel bad unnecessarily.”

“I’m not trying to put him down… If Karvald is a good kid, maybe the person he bullied was the bad one? Or that person did something seriously wrong to him? I wanted to ask about that.”

“I don’t think so…”

I also doubted it. I agreed completely with the Doctoral Graduate Student’s comment.

Thinking so inwardly, I replied to the Master’s Graduate Student’s somewhat defensive question without showing it.

“I was the one who bullied him. He didn’t do anything wrong and is actually a decent and kind person.”

There was no point lying. A little investigation would reveal the truth immediately.

I didn’t want to shift the blame onto the victim, Leysir, by making up stories.

The two graduate students flinched, their eyes darting nervously as they stared at me, surprised by my frank answer.

Neither seemed sure how to respond.

“I sincerely reflected on my actions and apologized to that student. As for my fiancée, since I can’t break off the engagement immediately, I’m keeping my distance for now. I thought it’d be better to talk after showing I’ve changed.”

“You’re going to break off the engagement?! Didn’t you really like her? I heard you were obsessively attached?”

The Doctoral Graduate Student jumped in with a shocked expression.

Outwardly pretending not to care, she was probably very interested in the host body’s rumors.

“I didn’t have feelings like that. I just…”

“You?”

“Um… it’s nothing.”

“What do you mean it’s nothing?!”

I trailed off with a ‘I’m a person with a story’ look, then finally fell silent.

The Doctoral Graduate Student reacted as if she was frustrated and dying to know.

I certainly couldn’t say, “I was probably just lonely.”

She already treated me like a kid. If I honestly revealed Karvald’s true psychology, that treatment would only get worse.

Anyway.

“I’m keeping the engagement only until she can establish independence from her family.”

“Sounds complicated on that side too.”

“Yes. Our engagement was out of necessity, not because of mutual feelings like you two.”

“You’re… you’re saying that?! Saying it like that makes it sound like you and I like each other and are even engaged! We’re not like that!!”

By deliberately linking the engagement with feelings, it made it sound like two separate matters, yet connected.

Then the Doctoral Graduate Student blushed and raised her voice.

“It’s true you’re not engaged, but saying you don’t like each other is definitely a lie!”

“Our junior has a good eye~! Senior, since it’s come to this, should we just get engaged for real?”

“What are you saying right now?!”

From being cautious earlier to suddenly calling me ‘our junior’—

I figured she was just wary before.

I quietly watched the two bickering with this odd affection, completely ignoring their antics.

Now, neither seemed to care about Karvald’s obsession with his fiancée anymore.

The Master’s Graduate Student’s attitude toward me had also turned friendly.

Exactly the result I wanted.

“Well, good job for reflecting. Don’t bully anyone else from now on, okay?”

Still flushed, the Doctoral Graduate Student tried to sound mature and composed as she chided me gently.

She probably felt embarrassed about my previous outburst in front of such a junior.

I replied that I understood, and she looked satisfied.

“By the way! You still don’t know our names, right?”

“I’ve actually been curious for a while.”

“Why didn’t you ask earlier?”

“I was afraid you’d misunderstand me as trying to find out to cause trouble…”

I said while lowering my gaze.

Though I did this deliberately, the words themselves weren’t a lie. I really couldn’t ask.

The two graduate students let out a simultaneous sigh.

The solemn atmosphere was palpable.

When I sneaked a glance upward, I saw their faces filled with apology.

I wondered if maybe I had a talent for acting.

“My name is Blida Miskun. And this is Elska Hwigreki.”

The Doctoral Graduate Student—no, ‘Senior Blida’—revealed their names.

As expected, they were names I’d never heard before.

I restrained the urge to breathe a relieved sigh and tried to maintain a natural expression and tone as I answered.

“You seem to already know who I am, but I’ll introduce myself properly. I’m Karvald Austri of House Austri. Senior Blida, Senior Elska, I look forward to working with you.”

“Nice to meet you too~”

“Let’s get along well.”

I bowed respectfully as I introduced myself, and the two seniors responded with warm smiles.

I briefly worried if my behavior was too far from Karvald’s usual character.

But looking into their friendly eyes, I felt confident my judgment was right.

‘No one knows how Karvald really treats graduate students anyway, since last semester he probably never met any.’

Moreover, if it’s ‘close’ graduate students, then this attitude shouldn’t raise suspicion.

And if it’s known that I’m receiving help from Professor Radvisin, even more so.