Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 20

To My Teacher, From Vanessa (20/146)

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

As soon as Vanessa mentioned she was going to work part-time at a cafe in Seogote, Lina raised her eyebrows, and Chebati couldn’t hide his worried expression. Evan’s mouth dropped open.

After a moment of silence, the three spoke at once.

“Vanessa Rose, are you out of your mind?”

“Vanessa, I think it’s too much for you.”

“Hey, are you crazy?”

Vanessa was so pleased with her plan that she didn’t even hear them. Vanessa replied, her bright blue eyes sparkling.

“It’s just for a little bit on the weekends? Only 4 hours.”

Lina frowned at Vanessa’s seemingly unhinged words. Four hours? How could she say that when she already had no time to rest?

“Why? Isn’t the money the teacher gives you enough?”

“Absolutely not! The reason is a bi~g secret.”

“When are you going to work out?”

Evan, unable to say anything harsher than ‘crazy,’ tore at his hair as Vanessa replied casually.

“That’s the same as always, in the early morning and evening. Except for weekend evenings.”

Chebati opened his mouth very carefully.

“But Vanessa, you’re already too busy with classes and assignments. You barely sleep 5 hours a day. I know you consider it lucky that you get to study, but it’s just as physically demanding as any other job.”

“I’ll just try it for a month! If it’s too hard, I’ll quit.”

Vanessa smiled brightly. Lina and Chebati exchanged glances. *She’s not listening, is she?* I guess not….

It was difficult to openly oppose her. In fact, there were some people within the Academy who studied while working to make a living.

But it was clear that they took fewer classes than Vanessa.

Lina Delina seriously considered. Should she tell Vanessa’s ‘teacher’ about this?

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

To my kind teacher,

Am I too late in replying? It’s because I’m secretly working on something. These days, I have no time to rest on weekdays or weekends.

Saint Barando kept his secrets and became a star, but I’m not going to become a star. I can’t help but want to write something in a letter as soon as possible.

What do I want for Saint Barando’s birthday [a major holiday in this world]?

Nothing! Except for you coming to visit me.

This is a joke mixed with sincerity, so you can lightly ignore it. But it would be even better if you didn’t.

Is there anything you want, Teacher? If so, please send me a reply quickly. I definitely want to give it to you as a gift.

Is the letter too short? Look forward to it!

Dreaming of a reply,

Vanessa Rose.

P.S. Are you sensitive to the cold, Teacher?

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Finally, the evening of the last day of October arrived. The next day was Saint Barando’s birthday.

Vanessa wrapped the gift for her teacher in paper dyed blue. She wanted to put it in a pretty box, but even paper wrapping was too much to cram into the entrance of Honir [a magical portal].

The gifts for Lina and Chebati were already packaged in pretty boxes. And Evan….

Vanessa pondered for a moment. Still, she couldn’t leave Evan out, so she bought him a gift, but did she really need to put so much effort into wrapping it?

Vanessa nodded to herself. Okay, let’s just wrap it moderately.

Still, looking at the four gifts laid out around her, she felt a sense of accomplishment. It was worth working hard for the past few weeks.

The cafe owner knew that Vanessa was an Academy student and raised her hourly wage, saying she was working hard. Thanks to that, she barely managed to prepare the four gifts in time.

She had no time to rest on the weekends, so she was very tired, and her vision even went blurry for a moment. But she was proud that she had prepared the teacher’s gift entirely with her own money.

“Vanessa, where are you going? It’s almost time to sleep!”

“Oh, I just left something behind.”

Vanessa sneaked out of the dormitory.

On Saint Barando’s birthday, there were so many gifts exchanged between people and sent by families that a separate place was set up on the first floor of the Moon, Star, and Wind dormitories to put the gifts.

*It’s nice to just give it, but it feels even better to give it like this.*

Lina’s gift was placed under the Moon dormitory, Chebati’s under the Wind dormitory, and Evan’s under the Star dormitory. The gift wrapped in blue paper was brought back to her room.

The one wrapped in paper was a pair of black leather gloves with a fine sheen.

Hidden inside was a magic circle that she had drawn herself, after sending three letters to Jenien for advice!

There were so many times she was called stupid in the letters that she could almost hear Jenien’s shouts in her ears even as she read the words.

*’You idiot! That’s not it!’*

Jenien was the number one person who should never be a teacher, no matter what. And that was just for asking one more time, just in case.

Vanessa pouted for a moment and put a small note inside the gloves.

「Happy Saint Barando’s Birthday!

From Vanessa Rose, who respects you so-o-o much, with love.」

Then she crammed the gift into the entrance of Honir.

*Why did I even bother wrapping it nicely if I was going to do this?*

Lina, who was watching the scene from the side, snorted.

“Are you… stuffing the gift in like that?”

“What else can I do when you won’t tell me the address? You don’t know how I feel….”

“I probably know how you feel better than anyone else. I’ve been watching you barely sleep 4 hours every weekend for the past 3 weeks. Your love for the teacher is amazing!”

Vanessa subtly avoided Lina’s barbed words.

“You’re going to quit soon, right?”

“Well, I was thinking of doing it a little longer. The hourly wage is pretty good.”

“Va-nessa Rose.”

Vanessa focused on putting the gift into Honir as flames almost burst from Lina’s eyes.

“You’re going to collapse if you keep doing this.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes awkwardly at Lina’s stern warning. She didn’t know how to express the feelings she was experiencing.

Lina probably couldn’t understand this sense of obligation that Vanessa felt because she grew up in a good family.

The feeling that she had to do something.

She was afraid of only receiving from someone. How could such a relationship continue?

Wouldn’t they eventually get tired of her and start to dislike her?

“I just want to earn money and give it to the teacher instead of just receiving money from them.”

“If you’re grateful to the teacher, you should study harder and make a name for yourself later. This is a waste of time.”

A soft, gentle yellow light flowed from the inside of Honir. After a while, the gift wrapped in blue paper was nowhere to be seen.

“Of course, I will. But that’s too far away.”

Lina clicked her tongue and focused on the assignment on her desk again.

Vanessa also wrinkled her nose and sat down at her desk. Even though tomorrow was the biggest holiday in Priba, she had to finish what she had to do today.

The grammar of Edirne was difficult no matter how many times she looked at it. Each word had a gender.

But considering that most famous magic books were written in Edirne, she had to be proficient in it as a wizard.

11 PM. Vanessa firmly gripped her pen. And black letters began to quickly fill the blank paper.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

“Va….”

“Vane-ssa….”

“Vanessa!”

“Huh?”

Vanessa barely opened her eyes. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and turned her head to see Lina smiling next to her.

In her hand was the gift Vanessa had given her. Fluffy earmuffs in a deep pink color.

It was a color that no one but Lina Delina could pull off.

“I re-ally like it. It’s perfect for me. Where did you find this color? Is it a Bonapa product? Anyway, Happy Saint Barando’s Birthday! Get up quickly!”

“I went to that store four times and asked them to make it. I’m glad you like it! But why? Is there something outside the window?”

Vanessa jumped up and kicked the blanket aside as if kicking it away. The pure white, fluffy blanket was pushed aside haphazardly.

Vanessa approached the window next to her bed.

She grabbed the gently fluttering curtains and pulled them aside. Outside, students dressed in purple to ward off evil were already running around, and she could see the professors had decorated the Academy’s walls splendidly.

Every spire was adorned with ornate gold decorations and statues of Barando, and sparkling lights continued to fall from the sky.

The creatures living in the lake also seemed to be poking their heads out to watch, and the songs of fairies could be heard from somewhere.

Vanessa was completely excited and didn’t know what to do.

“Oh, what should I do? Let’s go out quickly too. I don’t have any purple clothes. Should I just wear anything and go out? Should I just dye something? This is my first time.”

Lina giggled as Vanessa babbled and stomped her feet.

“That’s not why I told you to get up. Come here.”

“Huh?”

Lina entered the small living room connected to the bedroom. It was usually a small space where they could eat snacks or rest. But today, inside it-

“Ta-da.”

“What, is it yours? There are so many gifts! Did you open them? Can I open just one?”

It was full of lavishly wrapped gifts and purple Enji flowers [a type of flower]. The gift boxes that had taken over the small sofa looked precarious, as if they would soon roll off.

Vanessa couldn’t help but be excited by this wonderful sight, even if it wasn’t hers.

“It’s so pretty!”

At Vanessa’s words, Lina narrowed her eyes and mischievously raised the corners of her mouth.

“From here to there is mine.”

Lina drew a line with her hand from where the small bookshelf was to half of the sofa.

“And from there to here is a-all yours. All the flowers are yours too.”

“What?”

Vanessa stared at the Enji flowers and gift boxes with a dazed expression. Even if she just glanced at them, there seemed to be more than ten gift boxes.

The only person who would send something like this….

“D-did the teacher send all of this?”

“I took a peek, and there were other people’s names on them too.”

Vanessa reached out to the gift box, then flinched in surprise and shrank back. The words she had always heard echoed in her ears.

*’You’re all grown up, so you have to give way to the younger children. It’s Saint Barando’s birthday.’*

But she was only in her early teens.

“Vanessa?”

Lina tilted her head and waved her hand in front of Vanessa’s eyes.

“You didn’t faint from happiness, did you?”

Vanessa barely smiled. She was still dazed because she couldn’t believe the sight that was captured in her blue eyes.

“No. Should we open the gifts and then go out?”

“Yeah. Let’s open them and go to the dining hall for breakfast! And then let’s take a nap under the tree and go play in Seogote. How about it?”

“I really like it. You’re a genius.”

Vanessa picked up the gift that was right in front of her first. It was a flat box, and the outside was bright blue with silver glitter scattered all over it. A light sky-blue silk ribbon was tied on top of it, making it almost too precious to untie.

The ribbon was slowly untied, and when the box was opened, there was a neatly folded scarf with a fine texture inside. It swayed airily while exuding a smooth sheen.

Vanessa carefully stroked the fabric. A smooth texture. Below it, there was a small note.

「To Vanessa Rose.

Happy Saint Barando’s Birthday.

From Gide.」

“Huh?”

Gide. Gide?