Chapter 8

The moment when the suspicion began to sprout in everyone’s hearts that perhaps the reason Julian, who didn’t even attend lectures properly, was able to maintain his academic status at the Academy without a single warning until now wasn’t solely thanks to the prestige of the Sancio family.

No matter what looks he received from those around him, Julian seemed entirely unconcerned. Except for the hours he spent sleeping in the dormitory, he practically lived in the library. His slightly thinner, sharper appearance only made his striking charm stand out even more.

The professors wholeheartedly welcomed Julian’s transformation. When word spread that the Academy director had even granted him access to the library’s ancient book archive, which was off-limits to students, the looks from the female students watching him changed drastically from before.

Just like that, two weeks passed by in a flash.

***

“Are you going to the library again today?”

After the potion-making class ended, Beatrice asked Julian, who was sitting next to her. At her words, Julian nodded.

“I still have a bit more to investigate.”

“I heard! You got permission to enter the ancient book archive, didn’t you?”

Beatrice looked at him with slightly admiring eyes.

“That’s amazing. Really. I heard students aren’t allowed in there.”

“Oh. Apparently, the area around the ancient book archive is particularly unstable with magic. But it’s nothing special. As long as you don’t use magic, it’s safe.”

Julian answered as if it was nothing serious, and Beatrice hesitated a little before bringing up the main topic.

“You haven’t forgotten, right? We have to make a potion today.”

Julian pressed his tired eyes and nodded.

“Of course. I haven’t forgotten.”

“Um… Are you very tired?”

“A little? But it’s nothing to worry about. Thank you.”

Julian stood up from his seat.

“Let’s meet in front of the clock tower at three.”

“Yes!”

“Beatrice. May I ask you a favor?”

“Yes, as much as you want!”

“If I don’t show up by three, could you come by the library? I keep losing track of time when I’m reading.”

“Alright. If you’re not there by then, I’ll come get you at the library.”

A faint smile, like a flower blooming in a barren desert, spread across Julian’s tired face.

“Thank you. See you in a bit.”

Time passed quickly. Twenty minutes before three, Beatrice came out early to wait for him. The professors, apparently pleased that Julian was finally throwing himself into his studies, had opened the laboratory for use until evening. Thanks to that, they had plenty of time, but Beatrice still felt a bit anxious inside.

‘What if something like last time happens again?’

Beatrice fiddled with her hands and shook her head vigorously.

No way. This time, they were using a completely different laboratory in another building, and ancient magic wasn’t something that happened so often anyway.

Actually, after that incident, Beatrice had quietly asked some students in the dormitory about ancient magic. But no one could give her a proper answer to her questions. Instead, their confused reactions—asking what she was talking about—left Beatrice even more bewildered.

Lost in thought, Beatrice looked up at the clock tower again. Ten minutes had already passed.

‘Julian really looked cool.’

He always looked good when he dressed up, but his focus on his studies gave him a somewhat ascetic vibe. She hadn’t noticed before because he always smiled, but Julian’s face looked much sharper when he didn’t smile. Maybe it was because he was tired, but the glasses he wore—which he normally didn’t—suited him perfectly.

Beatrice was startled and tapped her head.

‘What am I thinking!’

She kept doing this ever since the last incident. Whenever she let her mind wander, she ended up thinking about Julian.

‘Beatrice. It was just an accident. Julian has probably already forgotten about it.’

‘He’d put his fingers to my lips… It was just to escape the laboratory, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, he was someone with plenty of experience with women. It must have been nothing to him.’

‘Don’t be so old-fashioned.’

This isn’t a seminary, and Julian isn’t a seminary student. The concept of chastity she held and what others held was bound to be different.

“Huh?”

Beatrice looked up at the clock tower again and gasped in surprise. The time had already passed three by about five minutes.

Beatrice hurried toward the library. Her breath was coming up short, but she couldn’t stop walking. It was good that Julian was devoted to his thesis, but he shouldn’t neglect the assignment the professor had required in the first place. Beatrice headed to the ancient book archive where Julian was.

“Julian?”

Arriving at the entrance to the ancient book archive, Beatrice called out his name and went inside. The archive was filled with the scent of old paper. From inside, Julian’s voice called out.

“Beatrice?”

“Which side are you on, Julian?”

“Wait a second. Don’t come in. The inside is more complicated. I’ll come out now.”

Since the ancient books were so old, Julian’s warning echoed that if one accidentally bumped into or dropped them, the paper wouldn’t just tear but crumble apart. At those words, Beatrice froze in place as if she had turned to stone. Seeing Beatrice so stiffly frozen, Julian burst out laughing.

“What are you doing, Beatrice?”

“I was afraid I might bump into the books….”

Julian approached Beatrice, who looked on the verge of tears, and pushed the documents beside her to the side. Surprised by Julian’s rough handling of the papers, Beatrice quickly grabbed his hand.

“Ah, no! If you do that, the ancient books might get damaged!”

Before she could even finish asking what he was thinking, Julian answered with a voice tinged with laughter.

“These aren’t ancient books. These are papers I wrote. So, don’t worry.”

“What?”

The papers were stacked from the floor up to about Beatrice’s waist. Had Julian really written all this in just two weeks? Sensing Beatrice’s wide-eyed stare, Julian shrugged his shoulders.

“There were some calculations I had to do. I needed more paper than I thought.”

Beatrice’s mouth fell slightly open.

She had heard he wasn’t interested in academics.

But the way Julian had acted over the past two weeks was completely different from the rumors she’d heard. Beatrice, staring blankly at Julian as he pushed up his glasses, snapped back to her senses.

“I-I see! It’s good to see your thesis is going well, Julian. So, have you finished all your calculations?”

“Almost done. There are a few places I need to refine, though.”

“That’s amazing. I heard from others that it takes a long time just to find a topic.”

“I was lucky. The topic just came to me naturally.”

Julian’s eyes curved as he spoke.

“It’s all thanks to you, Beatrice.”

All thanks to her? Julian continued to say things she couldn’t quite understand. Unable to handle the way he looked at her, Beatrice quickly turned around. Walking stiffly toward the door as she had just before, Beatrice raised her voice for no reason.

“This isn’t the time for this. We don’t have much time. Let’s hurry and get to the experiment.”

He said she had been helpful.

‘Coming to get him like this must have helped Julian, too, right?’

Beatrice couldn’t be sure exactly how she had helped with Julian’s thesis topic, but she was willing to do anything she could to help him graduate.

“We can use the laboratory until seven, so there are still three hours and a bit more left.”