Chapter 44 (1/2)
Chapter 44
… Returning to the Lord’s residence, Yeriel took out her childhood diary.
Covered in dust and stored in an old drawer, it contained memories from a long time ago.
─I didn’t get scolded when I ate breakfast today, so my brother talked to me. I was happy the entire day because of that.
—I dropped my knife while eating dinner. My brother looked at me as if I were pathetic, which made me feel sad. It was my fault. Now, even if my brother doesn’t scold me, I have to make sure I can do better on my own.
─I will try to do tomorrow what I couldn’t do today. I have to work hard.
—My brother doesn’t like it when I cry, but I did anyway when I shouldn’t. Why couldn’t I hold it back…
“… Idiot.”
She closed her diary as she could no longer bear reading it.
‘Why was I so weak at that time? Why the hell did I act like an idiot?’
Yeriel sighed and looked at the gloves on the corner of the desk. It was a luxury item that Deculein gave as a gift.
“Gift, my ass.”
Yeriel swore.
She couldn’t even remember the past when she longed for love. The child whose world was shaken by his every word was already dead.
All that was left was the pain she wanted to forget.
“I won’t be deceived, you idiot.”
Yeriel grabbed his gift and tried to throw it away.
“… Damn it.”
But she couldn’t bring herself to move her arms.
It was the first present she received in her life, as she had never even received a ‘happy birthday.’
Yeriel put the gloves in her drawer.
“I just don’t have to use it anyway.” She mumbled and nodded.
* * *
9 PM.
People gathered in the forest behind [Hadekain Romance]. The first activity in their three days and two nights of stay here was to watch magic fireworks.
Along with powerful cheers, twinkling magic rays soared into the sky.
Fizz- Hiss- Boom-!
They exploded in the air and beautifully embroidered the darkness of the night.
“Wow…”
“So beautiful…”
The place was filled with pure exclamations. The three children of the archipelago—Carlos, Leo, and Lia—were among the large crowd watching the fireworks.
“As expected from Sylvia. That was impeccably perfect.”
The seven professors of the Department of Magic each gave her team a perfect score for each firework.
“Ifi. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
Epherene’s team went last. Bringing in fireworks they engraved with an incantation in advance, Epherene, their team leader, shouted.
“We used destruction magic and harmonic magic to—”
“Just shoot it.”
“… Okay.”
The professors didn’t even pretend to be interested. Feeling down, she concentrated her magic on her bracelet.
Her soaring magic power permeated the firework pile, causing them to flare up immediately.
Fizz-!
The magic hit the sky and exploded.
Boooooom-!
As Epherene explained, the feast of destruction and harmony that ensued made curtains as beautiful as the aurora.
It was a result that could be compared to Sylvia’s team, but their professors didn’t look satisfied.
“It’s pretty, but its sound is too loud. My ear hurts.”
Professor Siare of the Department of Destruction gave 6 points.
Letran from the Spirit Department gave 4 points.
“I mean, why?!” Julia demanded an explanation, but they just stared at her silently. She pouted and went back.
“It’s okay.”
Epherene comforted Julia.
She expected that much anyway. The professors hated the commoners’ club.
However…
“10 points. They found the perfect balance between destruction magic and harmonic magic.”
They received a perfect score out of nowhere.
… Deculein.
Surprised, Julia asked. “What?! Ten points?!”
As Deculein nodded, the professors slowly glanced at each other. Relin, next to Deculein, praised them and gave them 10 points. The professors after him did the same as well.
Only Siare and Letran, who gave 6 and 4 points respectively, broke out in cold sweat. They misunderstood this as Deculein’s ‘new method of screwing them.’
“Here are the results of the Magic Fireworks Contest! 1st place is Team Sylvia with 70 points, 2nd place is Team Epherene with 60 points, 3rd place is Team Beck with 58 points…”
Thanks to that, Epherene’s team came in second place. Her members laughed, but she looked at Deculein with a slightly complicated feeling.
“…”
However, he had already left without looking at anyone.
“What was that?”
“Gosh, that’s ridiculous.”
“Hey, I was right. She’s Deculein’s favorite.”
“That’s right. At the beginning of the semester, she was supposed to be punished, but she wasn’t because of Deculein. There are rumors that he gave her private lessons.”
“Gee. Are they going out or something?”
“… No way. She’s pretty, but I don’t think she’s Professor Deculein’s type.”
A group of noble wizards whispered as they gossiped, which was unbecoming of their aristocratic background.
Epherene was mad, but she didn’t say anything.
“Ifi, look at this! This is the reward for coming in second!” Before she could do anything reckless, Julia came with the second prize. It was hard liquor.
Epherene snatched it, opened it up, and took a nap already.
“Jeez! What’s wrong with you, Ifi?”
“Wait. I have to go somewhere.”
As soon as Epherene gave it back to Julia, she ran at full speed, making sure to remember where she came from.
She had countless questions that she needed to ask him and innumerable things she wanted to know.
Today was just a trigger.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
… She felt like she had been running for about 30 minutes before she found Deculein on a bench by the dark roadside. There was a horse standing beside him.
She swallowed hard.
He didn’t seem to care about her, but she hesitatingly walked over and sat down on the bench opposite.
“…Professor.”
Deculein didn’t answer. Epherene continued without hesitation.
“I know this is rude of me, but I have a question regarding the promotion test.”
Only then did Deculein look at her.
“You mean about Drent?”
“Yes.”
Epherene felt something wasn’t right about his thesis.
The “Fire Preservation” and its casting method presented by Drent made a certain suspicion grow stronger in her with each passing day.
“The content of his thesis…”
“It’s similar to your assignment. No, it’s almost identical. Did you just realize that now?”
Deculain looked at her like she was pathetic.
“Um…”
Epherene’s tried to speak, but no words came out.
Of course, she didn’t think he would assert it with so much certainty, but deep down, she already knew it was hers.
She lowered her gaze, feeling sadness rising deep within her.
“…”
The nobles who didn’t know any better gossiped that Deculein favored her, labeling his actions as affection.
Could it really be called favoritism?
If so, why?
Why the hell?
“… Why?”
Epherene looked at the stones lying on the pavement as a breeze swept past her robe.
She could hear the laughter of wizards not far away from them.
“This is no different with my punishment, the club, and Drent’s thesis…”
She needed to ask one of the most important questions she’d been dying to find the answer to.
“Is it because of my father? Is it because of your sense of debt?”
Epherene asked with courage as she proudly raised her head.
Deculein, the most hated professor, was looking at her, his blue eyes making her body tremble just by looking at them…
“Find out for yourself.”
“…”
“Don’t be stubborn. You’re not a child anymore.” Deculein got up from his seat as he let those words out of his lips coldly.
In an instant, It seemed as if all the tension in her body had been drained away.
However, she soon was filled with anger.
Epherene clenched her fists.
“… I was going to anyway!”
Her words made Deculein turn to her.
She didn’t avoid his gaze. The fire in her heart didn’t freeze this time.
“I’ll be proposing to be under your supervision.”
“…”
“In doing so, I’ll reveal what happened and the reason why my father committed suicide!”
Deculain just looked at her. There wasn’t even the slightest change in his face.
“You once said that I’m a gem.”
She didn’t know if she’d regret saying those words one day.
“You are, so don’t waste your talents.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as her closed lips trembled.
“If so, then I will definitely surpass you. I will become greater than you as you watch me from your high horse—!”
Epherene, who vomited all of her old and pent-up emotions, gasped for breath.
Unwittingly, she wiped her tears away with the hem of her robe.
“…”
The night air softly blowing in their vicinity cooled her heat.
Under the stars, Deculain stood still, his silence frightening Epherene. She realized what she just did a little too late.
However…
“That’s a good attitude.”
He didn’t try to break her will.
He didn’t despise or mock her.
“Ceaselessly challenge life itself.”
On the contrary, he sounded rather respectful.