Chapter 9

After Saint Evangeline’s day ended, the next morning, Terence woke alone in a desolate bed, unable to hide his bewilderment.

“She used a sleep spell on me…”

To be caught off guard by magic was embarrassing, but more than that, realizing Elina had used magic to escape from him made Terence jump up and ruffle his hair.

“D*mn. What was the reason?”

Was it because he was too hasty? Or because he pretended not to notice her attempt to hide her identity?

But there was no way he wouldn’t recognize her. He guessed Elina knew that, and perhaps acted out of embarrassment.

“Did… I do something wrong?”

Had he failed to satisfy her, causing her to leave? As he tried to recall the events of the night, his ears turned red and he let out a deep sigh.

He should have talked with her first, but when he heard she was there, he lost all reason.

After finding Elina, his anger at the man beside her and her awkward seduction made him lose control even more.

“…I thought our feelings matched, but maybe not.”

Elina had wanted to stay with him even after recognizing him. So, he believed her heart was at least partially turned toward him.

But now, after she cast a sleep spell on him and disappeared, Terence couldn’t gauge her feelings at all.

He needed to see her and talk. To tell her he had always cherished her. He had tried to give up, thought he had finally let go, but realized that wasn’t true.

Whenever he tried to get closer, she would step back and keep her distance.

He hadn’t dared confess, afraid to ruin the fragile relationship they’d rebuilt. He’d told himself to be satisfied with this, k*lling and trampling his feelings over and over.

But no longer. The feelings he’d suppressed burst forth. He had no intention of enduring anymore. He couldn’t bear not having Elina by his side.

He decided he would do whatever it took to be with her.

Terence hurriedly dressed and left his room.

He pressed his horse on, reaching the Grand Ducal castle, and handed off his horse to a servant before rushing inside.

The mages working in the annex on magical research were startled when Terence suddenly appeared, jumping to their feet in panic.

“Y-Your Grace, what brings you here…?”

“Elina?”

“Excuse me?”

“Where is Elina Harris?”

“Ah, Miss Harris left on leave early this morning…”

The white-haired mage, Rupert, answered as if he’d just remembered. Hearing that Elina had taken leave and left, Terence’s face hardened ominously.

“Did she say where she was going?”

“No, she didn’t, but since she used all her accumulated leave at once, maybe she’s traveling somewhere far…”

At Rupert’s answer, Terence nervously bit his lip and hurried away, realizing this wasn’t the time to linger.

Daisy, watching Terence’s retreating back as he burst out the door, shifted her eyes and broke into a cold sweat.

‘What is going on?’

The day after the masquerade ball, Terence wasn’t the only one bewildered by Elina’s sudden disappearance.

It was Daisy herself who had let slip to the Grand Duke’s aide that Elina would be attending the masquerade ball.

It was frustrating to see them both clearly have feelings for each other but never act, so Daisy had orchestrated it.

Last night, she saw them go into the room together and thought things had finally gone well, but by morning Elina had vanished and Terence didn’t even know where she was.

Daisy couldn’t make sense of it all, clutching her aching head from a hangover as she buried her face in her desk.

At that moment, Elina, unaware that Terence was desperately searching for her and Daisy was wringing her hands over it, was heading for the Mage Tower.

She had taken leave and left in a hurry because she didn’t think she could face Terence with a smile, but she hadn’t decided where to go.

“It’d be best to leave the Grand Ducal castle, too…”

Since she had resolved to forget him, leaving the castle was the right choice. Being near Terence would only make her think of him more.

‘I should ask if there’s a job.’

Since Prselro, the second highest mage after the Mage Tower Master, was also her Academy mentor, Elina planned to ask him for help finding work.

Arriving at the teleportation gate, she placed her palm on the crystal orb as guided by the mage. To use the teleportation circle to the Mage Tower, she had to verify her registration as a mage.

“Unattributed mage Elina Harris, confirmed. I’ll open the gate, please wait a moment.”

A wild-haired mage scratched his tangled hair and infused magic into the gate. Mages, who preferred research in their labs to moving around, rarely activated the gate.

Muttering that it had been a long time since he’d operated the magic circle, the mage beckoned Elina when it was ready.

“Go ahead. Have a pleasant—yawn—visit.”

“Thank you.”

Stepping in with practiced ease, Elina enjoyed the peaceful feeling of light wrapping around her body before opening her eyes. Before her stood the endlessly soaring Mage Tower, its grandeur undiminished.

Though it had been a while since she’d visited, nothing had changed, and she looked around with a familiar sense before heading inside.

At the center of the tower was a magically operated lift. The higher the rank, the higher the floor, so Elina took the lift up to the second-highest room.

She got off and knocked; the raven’s beak engraved on the doorknob opened, and Prselro’s voice came through.

“Come in!”

“Master!”

“Ah, Elina. What brings you here?”

Elina opened the door, greeting her mentor with a bright smile as she approached the mage sprawled on the sofa. With curly brown hair, Prselro was the Mage Tower’s Second-in-Command and Elina’s Academy mentor.

He looked about fifty, but Elina knew his true age was at least twice that. His tone was gruff, but his face was clearly pleased to see her.

“I just… thought I’d pay my respects while I was at it.”

Elina smiled and dodged the question, and Prselro snorted as he got up from the sofa. Amid piles of magical artifacts and junk, he managed to find a teacup and kettle, and with a flick of magic, boiled water and glanced at Elina.

“You never showed your face at the Mage Tower, always chasing after Grand Duke Callium. Did you get kicked out of the castle?”

“No!”

“Really? Well, never mind.”

Elina hastily denied it, but he didn’t seem convinced. Prselro had been the first to try to recruit her to the Mage Tower before she graduated, and he’d always suspected her feelings for Grand Duke Callium.

No matter what good offers he made, Elina’s heart couldn’t be swayed from going to the Grand Ducal castle.

He poured water over the tea leaves he’d roughly tossed into the cup and gestured for her to sit. Elina sat and wrapped her hands around the warm cup, letting out a small sigh.

Mention of Terence brought back memories of the previous night. Despite resolving to forget, just a moment’s carelessness brought back the feeling of his breath and his touch.

Elina fiddled with her teacup, trying to catch her breath as her aching heart throbbed. Facing Prselro, she sighed again, unable to bring up what she wanted to say.

She’d already refused his offer to work at the Mage Tower several times, so it wasn’t easy to mention it now.

She decided to delay that topic and instead asked what she’d been curious about.

“But Master, what’s going on with you? You look so tired.”

“There is something. Plenty.”

She hadn’t expected such an honest reply. Prselro’s voice was almost a cry, and concern flickered in Elina’s green eyes.

The shadow of her master, who always seemed confident as if nothing in the world was difficult, appeared smaller than usual today.

“If it’s something I can help with, I’ll do it. What’s going on?”

“Help? Forget it. I’m already finished…”

Prselro’s face, muttering while tugging at his messy brown hair, grew more wrinkled. Elina listened carefully to his rambling and finally managed to grasp the situation.

The story was this: for the upcoming founding anniversary, various magical artifacts were to be supplied for the Imperial event, but an accident at the magic stone mine had made mining difficult.

About half were made with the magic stones stored at the Mage Tower, but now they had completely run out of stones needed for the remaining artifacts, and the delivery deadline was approaching day by day, leaving Prselro anxious.