At that moment, having thoroughly cleared the dungeon with overwhelming magic, Aster Magicos turned to look at Selena Freya.

Startled as if caught staring, Selena quickly averted her gaze.

“It’s finished. If we keep going, we’ll reach the dungeon’s treasury.”

“Ahem… yes.”

Aster glanced at her cheek.

It looked slightly flushed.

‘Is it from the heat of the flames?’

In truth, it wasn’t the flames but Aster himself.

Yet the thought never crossed his mind as he turned toward the center of the dungeon.

Aster strode forward without hesitation, and Selena followed closely behind.

At last, they reached the deepest part of the dungeon, standing before a massive stone door.

“This must be it.”

“Unlock.”

As Aster cast the spell, the heavy door creaked open with a deep, echoing thud.

He signaled for Selena to wait and stepped inside first, cautiously scanning the surroundings.

After casting a detection spell to check for any remaining traps, he swept his gaze over the room filled with ancient materials. then spoke with certainty.

“As expected. This was created by an ancient mage deeply interested in taming magic.”

“Really?”

Selena’s eyes widened, gleaming like jewels.

Aster gave a small gesture toward her.

“It’s safe. Come in. There’s plenty here that you’ll like.”

The moment he gave permission, Selena rushed into the treasury.

With sparkling eyes, she began examining the dust-covered ancient materials one by one.

She looked like a child who had just received a long-awaited gift.

And without realizing it, Aster let out a quiet chuckle.

Then suddenly, he froze.

‘The woman who threw crap at me… looks cute?’

‘What am I even thinking?’

Startled by his own thoughts, Aster Magicos quickly forced himself to refocus.

‘It’ll take her a while to calm down.’

While Selena Freya remained absorbed in her research, Aster slowly began to examine the interior of the dungeon.

Then in a shadowed corner of the floor, he spotted a bracelet.

It emitted a faint ivory glow, and despite the passage of time, not a single trace of rust marred its surface.

‘Could this be made from dragon bone?’

If so, it would be an exceptionally rare artifact.

As Aster reached out, almost entranced, and picked up the bracelet, his vision suddenly went dark.

The air around him froze.

And then standing before him was Faelin.

“…Faelin…?”

His voice trembled.

But the figure before him was nothing like the Faelin he remembered.

Instead of a beautiful dress her eyes streamed with blood, her appearance utterly horrific.

“My death… was because of you.”

“I resent you, Brother. I lived my whole life in your shadow only to die such a miserable death.”

Faelin screamed at him, her voice filled with fury.

‘This isn’t real. It’s just illusion magic. I need to break it—now.’

His cold reason sounded the alarm but the guilt crushing his heart was too overwhelming.

His lips wouldn’t move.

In that moment of hesitation, Faelin approached him with a grotesque, unnatural motion.

“Why are you still alive?”

“You don’t deserve to live.”

“Die—”

Her face twisted hideously as she lunged toward him and at that exact moment—

“Burst!”

A powerful incantation tore through the dungeon like a thunderclap.

Boom—!

With a deafening explosion, the monstrous image of Faelin that had been suffocating him shattered into smoke and vanished.

The hellish illusion shattered, and in its place stood Selena, clutching her staff, her breath unsteady.

“Tower Master! Are you alright?!”

Selena had broken the illusion herself.

The moment Aster Magicos met her amethyst-like violet eyes, his mind finally cleared.

But his chest still ached.

Dazed, he spoke without realizing it—

“…Was it really just an illusion?”

“……”

“Faelin spent her entire life in my shadow… Do you think she never resented me?”

Selena, who had been quietly watching him, answered in a flat tone.

“If she really lived her whole life in your shadow… then she might have resented you.”

Aster paused, startled, and looked at her.

“…What? Usually, at times like this, people say she wouldn’t have, at least out of courtesy.”

Selena gave a small shrug.

“You said yourself that Princess Faelin lived under your shadow. Then it’s possible she resented you. And I’ve never even met her, how could I know how she truly felt?”

It was a blunt statement, completely out of place in such a heavy moment.

And yet—rather than hurting him, her calm honesty snapped Aster back to his senses.

More than hollow comfort, it was that cold truth that awakened his reason.

‘She really is someone unpredictable.’

As Aster let out a hollow, breathless chuckle, Selena spoke again, this time, her voice softer.

“But you know.”

“…”

“You know you truly feel sorry for Princess Faelin—that your regret runs so deep you couldn’t even break a simple illusion spell.”

“…!”

“So you’re not someone so terrible that you deserve to die. Don’t keep blaming yourself for so long.”

Aster’s blue eyes trembled.

It wasn’t particularly gentle nor was it a comforting kind of reassurance.

And yet, something deep within him stirred.

More than being told that everything would be fine, her words, acknowledging his genuine remorse, reached him far more deeply.

And for the first time, he felt a quiet relief that perhaps he wasn’t the worst kind of person.

‘This kind of comfort…’

‘It’s my first time receiving it.’

Slowly, Aster parted his lips.

“…Thank you.”

It was sincere.

Truly, Aster Magicos was grateful to Selena Freya for the comfort she had given him.

Selena replied lightly, as if it were nothing.

“I only stated the facts. I’ll gather the ancient materials now.”

With a small smile, she turned away again.

Carefully, she began placing the documents into her subspace magic pouch, one by one.

Watching her busy figure from behind, Aster found himself thinking—

‘Even if our beginning was… orc crap…’

‘I don’t think this is a bad connection.’

Before he even realized it, his feelings toward Selena had already changed—far more than at the beginning.

***

That night, after returning to the Magic Tower upon completing the investigation, a familiar letter rested on Aster’s desk.

It was from someone as dear to him as a younger sister—Ariel.

[Brother Aster, have you been well?
Spring has already arrived here in the Pentium Empire. Not long ago, I went to see the spring flowers with Kylance.
Ah, and thankfully, I haven’t had to use even a single one of the attack magic scrolls you gave me. Kylance has been very kind to me. Hehe…
How have you been.?]

“Sounds like you’re doing well, Ariel.”

A warm smile spread across Aster’s lips as he read.

Without delay, he pulled out fresh paper to write a reply.

As the soft scratching of his pen filled the room, he began recounting his ordinary days, until suddenly, his pen came to a halt.

Because, without realizing it, Selena Freya’s face had come to mind.

For some reason, he felt like telling Ariel about her.

No—he had to.

Before he knew it, Aster began writing about Selena.

From their intense first meeting—where he had been hit with orc crap—to her unexpectedly exceptional magical ability, and even her bold, unrestrained personality that set her apart from other noble ladies.

He filled the page with lines about her and then suddenly stopped.

It was the first time.

The first time he had spoken so freely—so enjoyably—about another person.

And all the while, as he held his pen, a quiet, genuine smile never left his face.

“…I smiled again.”

Staring at his unfamiliar expression reflected in the small mirror on his desk, Aster Magicos could no longer deny it.

He had grown fond of Selena Freya.

Picking up his pen once more, a faint smile lingering on his lips, he wrote the final line of the letter.

[Ariel… it seems Miss Selena may become someone special to me.]

That night, the time that had stood frozen since he lost Faelin began, little by little, to move again—warmed by the presence of Selena.

—Side Story, Aster END—