The Only Delicacy

Scarlet looked up and her breath got caught in her throat.

From her perspective, golden rays illuminated the man, making an illusion that his head was surrounded by a golden halo as he looked down at her. Moreover, this man was extremely stunning!

Of course, living up to her eccentricity, Scarlet only thought of the scientific explanation for the halo and completely ignored his stunning looks.

However, once she had noticed the tiny impatience revealed in his eyes, Scarlet finally realized how indecent her action was. She had been staring at a stranger for too long! Her cheeks reddened to her ears and she immediately averted her gaze. This was the first time she had made a mistake of being caught unguarded.

But fortunately, this man was not her enemy, which she knew because of her gut feeling.

As the red tint in her face gradually diminished, Scarlet thought back to what he had said a while ago.

But once she had remembered his question, Scarlet instinctively moved further away from him, inch by inch, until she had finally reached the corner of the bench.

When he saw her adorable reaction, Sir Charles felt pleased despite her act of avoidance. Her body language meant that she would not easily tell this piece of information to a stranger like him. This showed how great its relevance was, thereby making her unable to answer his question directly.

For this kind of reaction, Sir Charles decided to use one of his tactics, which was to slowly close the distance between them until he could achieve his true objective.

In fact, this kind of tactic was child's play to him.

"If you don't want to answer that question, then it's fine." When she moved away, Sir Charles used that opportunity to occupy the extra space she had left and sat beside her as he nonchalantly stared out to the beautiful scenery before him.

If he wanted to close the distance, he must not rush or else his efforts would be all for naught.

When she heard that, Scarlet breathed out a sigh of relief. All this time, she had never realized that she had been holding her breath as if she was underneath the ocean.

She was only filled with gratitude, 'Thank goodness.'

At least this stranger did not perceive her body language as rude.

Even though he was leisurely looking out onto the scenery, Sir Charles' senses were all at the maximum level. Hence, despite how soft her sigh and how loud mother nature's hymn were, he had heard it very clearly.

Her instinctive actions proved that she had relaxed around him a little bit, which was a very good sign.

"You seemed sad, so I could not help myself. I'm sorry for thoughtlessly invading your privacy." Sir Charles nonchalantly replied while not looking at her once, only at the scenery.

When she had heard the hint of concern in his voice, Scarlet only thought that she had imagined it. Hence, she concluded and ended things there. This was their first time meeting, so it was not possible that he was concerned about her.

While she threw away those thoughts, Scarlet immediately became flustered and guilty at her thoughtless actions. Her conscience reprimanded her again and again. This stranger was only politely asking because of his curiosity, so why did she respond so rudely?

Moreover, she finally realized that this stranger was actually her teacher because of the uniform he was wearing.

This fact alone filled her with endless remorse and shame.

The only way to clean up her mistake now was to show sincere respect towards him and answer truthfully, she concluded. Since he was her teacher, she instinctively thought that there was no harm in telling him about her past.

"No! I should be the one to apologize for acting so rudely! Um, I'm sorry, sensei…" Scarlet hastily shook her head and apologized as her face was filled with mortification. However, before she could even finish, she finally realized another point.

She did not know this man's name at all.

"Sir Charles." When he had heard her replying back awkwardly, he finally glanced at her direction and nonchalantly introduced himself.

From his response, Scarlet could not help herself but to be stunned again. This man before her sat so elegantly like a noble. His manly voice had a chilling but warm undercurrent to it which soothed her ears more than the chorus of the birds.

They were literally levels apart!

Moreover, his expression was blank, but his brown eyes were like black holes that could see through the depths of her soul. This made her feel that she could hide nothing from him. It also made her feel that she could freely confide to him about everything deeply hidden within her heart. She did not know why she felt this way and only admired her teacher more and more.

Right now, Scarlet never realized that she had fully opened up to him with no pretense.

When he saw the unguarded look in her eyes, Sir Charles only became disappointed despite the fact that she was fully opening herself up to him. He never thought it would be this easy.

This was literally less than child's play. It was baby's play.

'This girl should guard herself some more before trusting a stranger.' Sir Charles secretly let out a sigh. It was soft enough that even the baby cupid could not hear it.

However, since she was about to die anyway, he naturally would not waste his time lecturing her. Moreover, he would never let go of this golden opportunity.

However, what he did not take note of was the fact that his being a teacher and his noble aura all helped with lessening her guard down. If he knew this, he would not make that side comment or even think about it.

"Your name?" Sir Charles nonchalantly asked even though he knew her name. This was one of the basics in getting to know a person, so of course he would not skip this meaningless question.

"Ah, sorry…. I'm Scarlet." Scarlet respectfully introduced herself as she averted from his slightly intimidating gaze. Her cheeks reddened out of embarrassment again.

Why did she always zone out whenever he spoke or moved? She became frustrated upon thinking of that.

"I see. I'll call you Scarlet then." Sir Charles replied as he stole a glance at the covered picture before looking at the scenery again.

The concern in his eyes was plainly revealed. He perfectly acted out according to his plans like a professional actor. However, his act was left on blind eyes and deaf ears. Moreover, he never realized it himself.

But whether it was really an act or not, only his heart knew. This was something he would realize in the future.

"I'm sorry for being rude, Sir Charles." Scarlet let go of all embarrassment as she calmly apologized to him and then followed his gaze by looking at the scenery before her.

Of course, Scarlet never missed his glance, because he had intentionally made it obvious.

After quite some time of deeply thinking, she finally broke the long silence.

"This picture was taken by the time I was born… The person carrying me was, as you have said, my mom." Her gaze became very gentle as she stared out onto the scenery and thought of the past that she could barely remember.

After a number of seconds, her gaze became filled with sorrow from the next thought that came into her mind. Afterwards, she became slightly flustered. This was the first time that she had told someone about her past.

From one corner of his eye, Sir Charles saw every expression plainly written on her face. He averted his gaze from the background and nonchalantly looked back at her to show that he was listening while patiently waiting for her next words.

When she noticed him staring at her, Scarlet also looked back towards him and his patient gaze calmed her down once more as she strengthened her resolve. She promised herself to be sincere, so why was she still hesitating at this moment?

Hence, she let go of all her feelings as if she was telling a story from the book.

"I have almost no memories with my mom except for this one picture. When I first saw this picture lying under a dusty corner of the table, it was the first time for me to see this kind of tender look from my mother. I have no memories left of it as a baby, but from this picture, I could tell that her affection was true." Scarlet spoke as she looked at him with the most sincere expression.

It was sincere to the point that Sir Charles held no doubt from her words, even though he was still highly alert around her.

"However, even though it was true, it was also true to say that her affection was long gone. I don't know why, but it just vanished ever since I started growing up. She ignored me like I was never there, like I was someone she never knew, and that made me very depressed as a child." Her eyes revealed a great sorrow and her blank expression became painted with exhaustion.

That expression alone was able to grip Sir Charles' heart and crush it into pieces.

He did not know why he had unconsciously felt her pain when he had never bothered to relate with anyone's pain until now. However, since he had experienced a greater pain than something this small, he never once let go of his blank facade.

"But, even though I was treated that way, I still believe that she would turn around and look at me once. I also believe that my hard work all this while would pay off and that she would finally recognize me and accept me in the future. I know that my dream seems small and stupid to most people, but my opinion won't ever change." Scarlet stared at him with sincere confidence and strong will.

That earnest display of will power could dazzle anyone who had set their eyes on her, and Sir Charles was not an exception.

He could not take his eyes off her again. However, unlike earlier, his mind was still in control.

'How innocent and naive.' As he averted his eyes back to the beautiful scenery before him, Sir Charles hid a gentle smile that could capture the heart of every maiden alive. His remark was supposedly meant to be an insult. But in his heart, he added, 'A good kind of innocent and naive.'

After thinking of that, Sir Charles looked back at her and nodded to show that he was not ridiculing her opinion.

However, his thoughts were different. These two traits made her more vulnerable for others to easily take advantage of her and that was a fact she could not avoid. She should learn more about the ways of the world before being firm with her own opinion.

Sadly, even though he wanted to lecture her, she was about to die in his palms anyway, so it was useless. As a matter of fact, despite only meeting her today, he would love to take her as his disciple or apprentice, if not for his mission or the fact that she already had a mentor.

Meanwhile, baby Alfred's fatherly instincts were heightened to a new level when he had heard her moving speech. Since his assignment was so innocent, he had to double his efforts up! She must absolutely stay as his innocent and child-like assignment forever!

Once she saw his approval, Scarlet unconsciously sighed in relief and stared out onto the horizon again. Although the blue sky was streaked by foreboding brilliant golden rays, the sun gave way to a sense of hope, making her gaze soften.

Once he saw her gaze soften, Sir Charles became captivated once more, but he never showed it once and stared at the scenery with her.

On the other hand, his thoughts were in contrast to his heart and actions.

'How disappointing.' Sir Charles thought as he unknowingly softened his gaze too. He knew by the looks of it that this girl had told him everything so far. Although she had told him her whole past, no pieces of information could be used for everything was found in the document he had read yesterday.

As expected, his conclusion was right. He was about to kill an innocent woman for no reason.

Sir Charles stared at the beautiful scenery with the same blank expression. However, his pair of light brown eyes was as deep as an abyss that held a tinge of sharpness hidden beneath it.

Was that really her whole past? There seemed to be many loopholes, no matter how many times he had thought about it.

If he did not get anything useful from this girl, then he would use other means to get to his desired objective.

Meanwhile, Scarlet never saw his sharp gaze and only thought of how her responsibility was finally over. Her heart felt somewhat lighter, but only about a percent lesser. It did not change the fact that it was still as heavy as always. However, it did ease up her pain temporarily.

As these two stared beyond the horizon, they never noticed that they were sitting so close to the point that their shoulders almost touched. They also never realized that their hearts had closed a great distance even though they only just met.

"Let's get you enrolled before the line gets longer." Without waiting for her response, Sir Charles immediately stood up and went towards the office that was quite a distance away.