“Uh… Are you going to kill him?”

“Of course not, I’ll use him for a long time. I won’t kill or use violence. There’s nothing more barbaric than using violence against the weak.”

Serena scratched her cheek as she watched Magnus casually refer to Lemerun as ‘weak’.

When Serena lived as ‘Kiel’, people who could beat Lemerun were extremely rare.

‘Maybe his talk about him being a genius wasn’t a lie after all.’

Lemerun always called himself a genius, and Serena thought there was no reason Magnus couldn’t call himself a genius too.

“I got it! I agree! I agree!”

Lemerun quickly changed his words, seemingly not wanting to be dragged away.

As soon as Magnus let go of his nape, Lemerun quickly ran away and hid behind Serena.

“…Ah, I should add one more rule. Do not approach the distance within 10m of my wife.”

“What kind of barbaric…! Are you trying to prevent a teacher from meeting his student!”

“You would have killed your student with your own hands.”

Serena’s shoulders flinched at Magnus’s words.

Seeing this, Lemerun tightly closed his mouth and slowly backed away from her.

“If… if you were stressed, you should have said something……”

“Oh my.”

“……Couldn’t you have at least given me a hint? I thought, well, you were doing well because you kept following along.”

“Ah… What do you mean? Overtime? All-nighters? Or was it cleaning up the messy lab you left and preparing meals…?”

Serena asked with a bright smile. Lemerun’s lips quivered, then he quietly closed his mouth and averted his gaze.

“Ahem, that’s something a student can do for their teacher as much as……”

“As much as…?”

Magnus tilted his head as if urging him to continue. Lemerun quickly retracted and trembled.

“As much as, it’s something that can’t be done. Ugh….. I’ll work hard from now on and pay back all the overdue wages……”

Lemerun said, slightly lowering his eyes. Magnus nodded arrogantly with his arms crossed.

“I’m… sorry for everything until now. Kiel, I just, it was all out of affection and well, you know that feeling of a teacher loving their student… It was something like that, but of course if you felt that way then I should apologize and……”

Lemerun’s words grew longer and shorter, excuses appeared and disappeared repeatedly as he kept glancing at Magnus.

“Ah, anyway, I truly didn’t do it because I disliked you……”

Ahem, Lemerun cleared his throat and glanced at Magnus. Serena frowned as she watched her long-time teacher rambling.

“Honestly, what teacher would keep a student they dislike by their side? Students usually learn everything from their teachers……”

Bang–! One of the fountain pens Magnus was holding brushed past Lemerun and stuck into the wall with a loud noise.

“Ah, I made a mistake. I got upset for a moment.”

His added voice was extremely relaxed. Lemerun gulped and shook his head.

“Not, not everything is learned that way. While I’m excellent in terms of skill……”

“You’re talking too long.”

“In personal, I mean, in individual aspects, it seems I wasn’t considerate at all. So, um……”

Lemerun glanced around, then gulped, tightly closed his eyes, opened them, and spoke.

“…I’m sorry for everything, Kiel.”

The number of times Lemerun had apologized in his life could be counted on one hand.

He was, after all, one of the few renowned professors in the empire with outstanding abilities, and he actually had the skills to back it up.

Unlike the riffraff, he was truly a genius. So he was always revered and lived thinking it was natural.

Of course, even that was all useless in front of the crazy monster who could even break magic, but still.

“Are you really sorry?”

“…No, but I really didn’t know. I didn’t know you were struggling so much. If you had just said something……”

“I told you every day. That it was hard.”

At Serena’s words, Lemerun cleared his throat and rolled his eyes.

Well, now that she mentioned it, it seemed like there were times when she did say that.

Lemerun cleared his throat a few times, then slightly nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“That, well… I just thought it was the usual lip service complaint……”

“Then how else should I have said it?”

“Well, it would have been good if you had appealed a bit more actively. Huh?”

“I laid down saying I couldn’t do it.”

“I thought that was a joke too……”

Lemerun mumbled quietly, then quietly closed his mouth upon receiving Magnus’s fierce gaze.

“I’m sorry, it seems I was very short-sighted and lacking. I should have understood even if you didn’t express it actively……”

How many times do I have to say that’s not the problem?

“Seriously….. You’re still the same, truly.”

Serena shrugged and finally burst into laughter. It was so truly the same that she was at a loss for words.

They say you laugh when something is too absurd, and now she wasn’t even angry anymore.

“Alright, I’ll think that I was able to come back thanks to you, so please suffer for exactly 10 years from now on.”

“Huh…?”

“I’m thinking of living a sweet life with my darling on the money you earn, Professor.”

“…Cough.”

Magnus coughed.

Serena made a puzzled expression, thinking that he had choked on something even though he wasn’t drinking anything, but Magnus shook his head.

“The butler will guide Colin, so you can get detailed instructions from Colin.”

“Ah, I see.”

At Magnus’s words, Lemerun quietly retracted. That’s because he realized that no matter how much he resisted, he couldn’t win.

And the fact that he couldn’t escape no matter how much he tried to run away.

“I believe you can produce results every month.”

Magnus said, patting Lemerun’s shoulder. Lemerun nodded awkwardly.

“Then I hope you adapt well to the new world for a month.”

“Th-thank you……”

“Then Professor, let’s have a meal later… no. This might upset your stomach, so let’s just have tea.”

“Let’s do that. Ahem, I’m also curious about how you’ve been……”

At Lemerun’s words, Serena stared at him for a while before speaking.

“Did you really not dislike me? Tell me honestly. I’ll tell Magnus not to do anything to you.”

“You, don’t you know what happened to the people I disliked?”

“Was I just convenient for you?”

“That’s… well, it was a bit like that. But that doesn’t mean I really treated you that way. I thought of you as my student in my own way. Although you were far from being a genius……”

Well, that’s because I wasn’t a genius.

When will this genius talk ever end? Serena thought, shaking her head.

But well, it’s not bad.

Magnus dismissed Lemerun with a gesture as if he was annoying and turned to look at Serena.

“Serena.”

“Yes?”

“How about we take a bath together tonight and have a glass of wine?”

“…No, I have to go to the Marquis’ house today.”

Serena said with a frown.

We slept for a day yesterday, what more does he want? Serena, turning pale, shook her head.

“I see. Then I won’t force you. Let’s just have a drink together.”

“…No, I don’t think so. I won’t fall for it this time.”

“I brought the jerky you like. I also changed the bed and bedding. It should be very cozy and nice.”

Serena hesitated.

She rolled her eyes.

Jerky aside, the bed and bedding? How fluffy and soft would the new bed and bedding be, and how sleepy would it make her?

A hint of desire appeared on Serena’s face. Magnus subtly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close as he spoke.

“I heard they were dried in the sun from the morning, making them nice and fluffy.”

“…Hmm, but if I don’t go home for two days, Father will worry. And all my luggage is there.”

“You can go tomorrow. If you need any luggage right away, we can send someone to get it.”

Magnus said, patting Serena’s back. It was a kind pat that wasn’t clingy at all.

“Umm……”

“Let’s just take a short nap before you go. I’m tired too, so I need to sleep a bit.”

“Just sleep?”

“Yes, let’s just have a light drink with the newly arrived jerky and sleep.”

Magnus said, lightly kissing her cheek. After rolling her eyes for a while as if contemplating, Serena nodded.

“…Well, if it’s that good, I should try sleeping once. But why did you change the bed?”

“I thought a slightly larger and softer one would be better.”

“Ah. Well, a fluffy one does make you sleepy.”

Serena said with a pleased look, as she liked to sleep buried in the mattress. Magnus nodded.

“I changed it for you.”

“You’re surprisingly considerate.”

“I love you, so shouldn’t I do at least this much?”

He whispered with curved eyes. He quickly brought out alcohol and jerky and sat Serena in a chair, slightly curving the corners of his eyes.

It’s still broad daylight. There was plenty of time since she wouldn’t be able to leave anyway when night falls.

Of course, he had no intention of forcing her, so he planned to make Serena say she wanted to do it herself.

Magnus poured the drink and pushed it towards Serena, placing his hand on the back of her hand.

“Serena.”

“Yes?”

“I like you.”

He said with curved eyes as he clinked his glass against Serena’s.

It took less than two hours for Magnus to completely captivate Serena.