I Became The Childhood Friend of the Obsessive Second Male Lead

“Well, then, let’s return it quickly. I know a shortcut, so follow me.”

“Yes.”

Darrel passed through the square crowded with students and entered a space between two old buildings.

It was a rather narrow and shady area, but even here, the maintenance was perfect.

Occasionally, students would rush past them.

This seemed to be the preferred route for students who were late for class.

Some of them seemed to recognize Darrel, and even greeted him in a clumsy manner.

They spoke with polite words such as, ‘How are you, Lord Mayer?’

Of course, Darrel welcomed any and all greetings.

“Come to think of it, Young Master. You must be well-known in the academy?”

“Oh? Why do you think so?”

“You were the top student. The top students have their picture hung up.”

Rieta remembered a scary story he had once told.

Of course, after learning that Darrel’s portrait was hung up, she wasn’t too scared.

“No way. There are many better graduates, even if I do have a portrait.”

As he was speaking so modestly, a student approached him and greeted him, saying it was an honor.

They looked at Darrel with longing eyes.

It seemed that Rieta’s guess was right.

Well, Darrel is smart as well as kind. Anyone would love him.

Rieta felt proud for no reason.

Being able to be so close to such a person was definitely fortunate.

But there were also some cons. Nothing was perfect, after all.

As she went to greet the students, she found that they could hardly arrive at the library.

“Is the library far away?”

“No. It’s right at the end of this path. The library is the most frequented place for all students, so it’s easy to access from anywhere. Shall we hurry up a little?”

He lowered the umbrella slightly in order to half cover his face. Thanks to that, fewer students recognized him.

“I am kind of looking forward to it. The library, I mean.”

“It is worth looking forward to. It’s comparable to the Imperial Library . . . No, it’s even bigger. By the way, returning papers takes place on the 3rd floor.”

Finally, they made their way through the narrow buildings.

Another square opened up in front of them, and beyond that was a pretty old-fashioned stone building.

Rieta could easily guess that it was the library.

There were many students coming and going, and everyone who came out held books in their arms.

“Wow . . .”

“You admire it already? The inside is even greater.”

“The Young Master must have admired this building when you first saw it?”

“Is that so? I don’t remember, but maybe I did.”

The two smiled at the same time and started walking towards the library again.

“Perhaps . . .”

Someone spoke to them again.

This time, they appeared somewhat hesitant, probably because Darrel was mostly hidden by the umbrella.

“. . . Isn’t that Young Sir Mayer?”

The other person had a very profound voice, unlike the students they had encountered so far.

Rieta lifted her head slightly and secretly checked who the other person was.

It was an old gentleman with a large body.

“Oh my God, as expected!”

He was wearing a slightly baggy suit, and his sleeves were smudged with ink.

He looked like a person who was immersed in research.

He probably thought that his appearance didn’t matter.

She could tell just by looking at his outfit, and even more so by seeing him standing without an umbrella on a rainy day like this.

“Professor!”

Darrel was startled and quickly raised an umbrella over his head.

“Oh, it’s okay. It’s fine. I just came out in a hurry and forgot. I brought what you were waiting for.”

The professor waved his hand away, but Darrel took out a handkerchief and handed it to him.

“Thank you.”

He grinned in a funny way after patting at his wet, drenched hair.

“There are so many people who want to receive your handkerchief, but this old man took it away.”

“It’s okay. The person I want to give the handkerchief to is the professor. I see that you forgot your umbrella again. It seems that you haven’t changed.”

“Yes. I always forget my umbrella, and you always went looking for it. Even though I told you you don’t have to.”

“I hope there’s a junior who took over that mission. All researchers would be delighted.”

“Someone will show up again in a few years. You are an umbrella finder who showed up for the first time in ten years.”

Apparently, he was a professor who was very close to Darrel.

“No, let’s not stay here like this, let’s go to my lab. They said something good had just arrived. I’m sure you’ll be interested too.”

The professor pulled Darrel’s arm with a delighted expression.

He quickly took his hand away and was embarrassed for a while.

“Oh, I can’t call you ‘you’ anymore. I was about to cause big trouble to the successor of the Grand Duchy.”

“It’s okay. You address me however you wish. Of course, it already includes the title Young Sir Mayer. It is the joy of the student to see the Master looking at me with unchanging eyes.”

“Thank you so much for saying that. Come on, let’s go.”