Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 5.9: Eva

Now that everyone got their books, except three people in the room who either had no interest in reading or did not know how to read, they settled down. Esmeralda and Dylan sat beside each other on a couch near a large window, Austin sat across Esmeralda with a short coffee table in between them. Saddie intentionally sat beside Austin. Briana and Eva was leaning against the window sill while all the other servants stood behind their masters. Only after their masters got absorbed into their books, did they start to relax and find an appropriate place for themselves to sit as well. What no one noticed was that Austin had been covertly keeping his attention on Eva. This led him to notice how Dylan's butler blushed a little while approaching Eva after Saddie's attendant nudged him with a teasing grin before walking away. He tried to ignore how Dylan's butler used Eva's book as something to converse about, however, the longer it went on, the more foul his mood got. 

Not revealing how he felt on his face, Austin calmly put down his book and stretched his neck a little. His movements caught Saddie's attention. He casually threw a glance at Dylan's direction before calling out casually. "Esmeralda."

However, Esmeralda did not hear him. Although Saddie felt jealous, she helped him to get Esmeralda's attention. "Esmeralda!" 

Saddie's harsher tone drew Esmeralda's attention away from her book. "Yes?"

"Have you considered teaching other servants besides Briana and Eva?"

"My parents are slowly easing up on the idea about teaching all the servants of my household."

"I meant the other two who are almost always with you."

"Humphrey and Daisy?"

"Don't you think it'd be nice to give him the opportunity to learn since he seems interested?" He looked towards Eva and Humphrey, which led everyone else to look at them as well.

Humphrey started to blush as he felt like he was caught red handed. On the other hand, Eva remained as cool as a cucumber.

Esmeralda's eyes lit up. "Is that possible?" She then looked at Dylan and Saddie for their approval.

"I never thought of it. Sounds fine to me." Dylan agreed with an agreeable smile.

"What if our parents found out?" Saddie worried with a slightly disapproving frown.

"There's no one here but us now." Austin highlighted.

"So it'll be fine if no one here leaks a thing." Dylan assured.

"But, brother!" 

"I'll handle any consequences." He smiled gently and patted her head.

Dylan relinquished his position for Humphrey and Daisy to sit beside Esmeralda, Edwin automatically got materials for Esmeralda to use, Saddie was left pouting as usual, and Austin returned to his book feeling satisfied. Because only BaoBao was paying attention to Austin at this moment, only he spotted the slightest quirk in Austin's lips that hinted a tiny smile.

BaoBao started giggling again. It never gets boring watching what Austin did for Eva. You should thank him for helping you to get rid of the nuisance.

I probably would if I could. Eva had no complaints about Humphrey being drawn away from her because he had really been interrupting her progress. Since he could not read, he could only infer what the book was about and continuously ask her questions about it, which led to a conversation about guessing why she would be interested in reading a botany book. He had not gotten any of her hints that she was not interested in talking. 

Just as she started wondering why something unusual like this was happening to her, Austin helped her out. 

Now that she could read in peace, she threw herself into studying the plants of this world. While she focused entirely on reading, BaoBao took over her job of paying attention to Esmeralda's needs, only alerting her when she is needed.