Chapter 36 (2/2)

“I’ve never seen anyone who can nullify magic. At first, I was amazed that a student attending classes did not practice, but I heard a magic officer from Goldina saying strange things. Was it right after the merger?”

I felt a prick of suspicion.

There was only one person who would say such a thing and one person who knew what I was capable of.

Serek. Serengevan. How long would he keep being a stumbling block to my life?

“So…?”

“I never thought there would be a human being with that kind of ability. If you have that convenient ability, there is a problem you can solve.”

“Problem? I could have helped you if you’d asked. Why are you kidnapping people?”

Instructor Xenon suddenly closed his mouth and smiled. His eye smile was so familiar that I almost returned it.

I suddenly felt cold. Even if I asked for help here, there was no one who would come to my aid.

“That’s it for today.”

I stared at the instructor who talked like he was in a class. “Tell me what’s in it for me.”

“If the emperor doesn’t kill me, you’ll see. He seems to care a lot about Miss Celestia. I don’t think you’re such a good listener.”

“Don’t change the subject.…!”

“Tell the emperor. My life, if you need it, you can take it away. I won’t run away, I won’t hide. And anyway, you’re not going to show your head to the academy anymore, right?”

If I could meet the requirements for early graduation, I wouldn’t have to come.

I didn’t like any of his blunt answers.

“Let me ask you one more question. Who the hell was the man who came to my bedroom?”

“That’s a secret, too.”

The emperor’s henchmen who were there couldn’t keep up. Perhaps if I hadn’t been a burden, the emperor himself would never have missed it, but it must have been a great skill.

What was the point of trying to kidnap me with someone like that?

Xenon grabbed and put the candies in front of me and grinned. “If I had found out before the escorts arrived, things wouldn’t have been so annoying.”

“…Teacher.”

“I’ll cheer for your graduation thesis.”

I didn’t believe that he wouldn’t run. However, the emperor had no choice but to leave the matter to him. Whether he ran away or not, the emperor would take care of the surveillance.

I felt relieved, though. I was able to talk to Instructor Xenon first. I didn’t find anything concrete, but I felt like I had a grain of it. The emperor’s cleverness and power are, of course, acceptable, but he was defensive and aggressive at the same time, threatened with so many precious things.

My head throbbed. It was time to leave.

He added, “Hey, Miss Celestia.”

“What?”

“I’d recommend not attending the year-end party.”

“Why?”

“It’s the only day of the year that outsiders are allowed in. Maybe… wouldn’t this and that happen?”

Was that worry? Whose side was Xenon on?

A year-end party. I hadn’t even thought about it. Come to think of it, it wasn’t that far off. Whoever attacked me would probably not try to attack me on my route home again, nor would he reattempt breaking into the palace. That one time, he didn’t expect the emperor to show up, so that was the only reason he took that risk to break into the palace.

Xenon was right. The next time I might be targeted, it was likely to be at the party at the end of the year.

But this was advice from the person who had poisoned me, not anyone else. I couldn’t tell if he meant it to help me or to harm me.

“Thank you for your concern.”

I closed the door with a glimpse of Xenon’s brazen face.

Sitting at the academy that day, I was so tired that I got more attention than I could take. Every instructor who came into class asked me if my early graduation assignment was going well, and the children who wanted to look good just because I came in riding the imperial carriage started to flirt more and more.

Even Vicky of class B even stepped in front of our class today, blocking the hallway. It didn’t matter that Vicky came, but it was a problem because of the annoying crowd following her.