I had expected Ellin to launch into yet another elaborate misunderstanding, but instead, she met me with a serious gaze.
She intended to confront the matter head-on without any preliminary probing.
I had no desire to follow her lead, so I simply savored the coffee Aisel had prepared.
Even though we currently had to rely on hand-drip coffee, it had a surprisingly refined flavor.
‘Some of this might actually be better than what a machine makes.’
While I occupied myself with such pointless thoughts, Ellin finally broke the silence.
“I want to join your research group.”
“I refuse.”
“I can contribute to your research.”
“I abandoned that research.”
“That is a lie.”
The exchange came rapidly, as though she had already anticipated every response I might give.
I lowered the coffee cup I had raised and looked at Ellin.
If I turned away or avoided her gaze here, she would take it as confirmation.
So I merely shook my head gently, adopting a slightly weary tone.
“That research cannot be completed.”
“Countless researchers have already published results. If we combine your knowledge with mine, surely—”
I shook my head.
“If I truly intended to complete it, I would have recruited another professor, not an undergraduate like you.”
“Confidentiality is important to you, is it not, Professor? You do not want the research to be misused. Please trust me. If anything, because I am only an undergraduate, people would pay even less attention to—”
Haah.
Ellin stopped speaking at my sigh.
It was strangely unlike her after she had been firing off words like a machine gun.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she had stiffened.
She did not know what I was about to say and therefore could not bring herself to continue.
“Let me correct one misconception you have.”
Ellin bit her lip but maintained a proper posture, signaling that she would listen.
“I never intended to improve the runes.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was merely a derivative.”
Ellin’s face twisted.
That?
Her eyes clearly conveyed disbelief, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘Why am I going through all this trouble?’
Of course, to Ellin, who knew nothing of my actual thoughts, this probably looked as though I were revealing some grave truth.
It was nothing of the sort.
“Ellin, what do you believe runes are?”
“The foundation of magic. They brought about magic’s golden age, and eventually its downfall as well.”
“No. That is not what I mean. Forget those formal answers… What are runes to you?”
When she did not answer, I shifted my gaze toward the rapier hanging on the wall.
I rarely drew it, but I had placed the weapon in one corner of the office just in case.
If possible, I hoped I would never have to draw it at all.
“Do you not simply regard runes as another source of power you could acquire?”
Ellin’s brows immediately furrowed.
And that was exactly the reaction I had been aiming for.
It was also the reason I had gone to Professor Prezel and looked through Ellin’s personal statement.
“That is precisely why you cannot do this. Everything you are asking of me right now—that is why the answer is no.”
Ellin trembled faintly, like a child who had been struck directly at a truth she herself had never recognized.
She looked desperate to deny it, yet unable to think of anything to say.
“…You intend to bury research that could leave its mark on the history of magic merely because of something like that?”
“I have no desire for fame. I am not even a Mage. What benefit would there be in a swordsman like me leaving his mark on the history of magic?”
Then I shook my head once more.
“And research ethics matter, Ellin.”
Ellin cried out almost reflexively.
“What in the world did you see to make you say something like that, Professor!?”
What did I see?
‘Absolutely nothing……’
Once again, I had simply memorized the ramblings of my drinking buddy almost word for word.
I wanted nothing more than to laugh this whole thing off and tell her to do whatever she pleased.
‘The only reason I am doing this is because it would wreck the original story. Otherwise, I would have told her everything long ago.’
But right now, I needed to give the impression that I had seen something extremely important, extremely terrible, and extremely dangerous.
Something along the lines of, Do not go any further.
One of those painfully dramatic lines.
…To think I had to say something like that seriously at my age.
Do not laugh.
If I laugh, I lose.
“…The greatest obstacle preventing us from using runes is none other than our vocal organs.”
“That is true.”
Even if one knew the original meaning and pronunciation, the lack of the necessary vocal organs still made the runes impossible to use.
That meant the greatest obstacle was the loss of those organs.
“You already know how dangerous the rogue Mages are who conduct human experiments in the name of Ancestral Reversion, Atavism, and returning humanity to its pure state.”
Ellin swallowed uneasily as the scale of the discussion abruptly expanded.
“Ellin.”
I met her eyes, making it clear that I would not explain this twice.
Though the real reason was that I did not possess the mental endurance to perform this ridiculous act twice……
“That is a Taboo. A line you must never cross unless you wish to become a mindless monster.”
Had it worked?
Ellin clutched the end of her sleeve and bit down on her full lower lip.
The moisture gathering around her eyes caught my attention, but I deliberately ignored it.
I could hardly wipe her tears away when I was supposed to be driving her away, not comforting her.
“…If I pursued it, I would become a mindless monster?”
Those were my own words, but they were impressively dramatic.
I had no idea whether that was actually true, but for now, we would say it was.
Maintaining a solemn expression, I nodded.
“Rise and decline always have their reasons.”
“I see……”
***
Aisel instinctively hid herself when she heard the crying.
‘W-what is happening?’
She had delivered the coffee, then briefly stopped at a nearby bakery because there had been nothing suitable to serve alongside it.
Privately, she had also intended to share the sweets with the professor once Ellin left.
‘This is absolutely not the atmosphere for that!’
Instead, the room was filled with such heavy sorrow and depression that even listening from outside made Aisel feel miserable.
Once the crying grew into outright sobbing, Aisel even held her breath for fear that they might hear her.
“Is there truly no way? No matter what?”
Ellin’s voice was thick and nasal from crying.
Aisel could hear her sniffing and blowing her nose.
For a moment, it sounded almost cute.
Then Aisel screamed inwardly.
‘No matter what?! What does she mean, there is no way?! No way to do what?!’
What truly sent Aisel’s suspicions spiraling was Aiden’s next statement.
“It cannot be helped. As your professor, I also have a duty to compel you, my student, to make the correct choice.”
Professor?
Student?
Could this possibly be……
“That is enough. I do not need empty consolation.”
Ellin sniffed loudly, then rose as though pretending to brush everything aside.
Her voice still sounded young, but it was unmistakably that of a woman.
There was no possibility of Aisel mistaking who it belonged to.
“Understood. I will stop being interested from now on.”
‘She is going to stop being interested?!’
The instant suspicion transformed into certainty, Aisel clapped both hands over her mouth.
At the same time, she desperately tried to calm her pounding heart.
Ellin had been visiting frequently lately.
And because she was not merely the top-ranked student in her department but the overall top-ranked first-year student, every move she made had become a subject of gossip.
Enough gossip that even Aisel, the second-ranked student in the Department of Knighthood, had heard about it.
The fact that Ellin had attended Aiden’s Aura Cultivation Method class despite having nothing to do with magic had already become famous.
That was how much Ellin…
had obsessed over Aiden.
Enough to attend a lecture that offered her little practical benefit.
Enough to insist on remaining even after he told her to leave.
‘Ellin really did……’
And now Aisel was witnessing that affection being shattered mercilessly.
She pressed a hand against her solemnly aching chest and closed her eyes.
At this point, perhaps this was not something she should simply be jealous about.
Maybe she should comfort Ellin instead.
After all, one day, she herself might be the one standing there.
Aisel let out a quiet sigh and looked mournfully toward the ceiling.
‘Haah……’
As Ellin prepared to leave, Aiden added one more question.
“When is your practicum?”
“My Field Practicum?”
“Yes.”
Ellin hesitated before answering through a faint sob.
“The day after tomorrow.”
“Will it be held outdoors?”
“…Yes.”
Aiden spoke calmly, almost indifferently.
“Be careful.”
“…Thank you for worrying about me. It would have been nicer if you cared about other things too.”
She let the sharp, resentful remark slip out, then hurriedly shook her head as though wondering what she was even doing.
For someone who had just shown such resentment, she looked remarkably dejected afterward.
“Still… thank you.”
Aiden said nothing further, as though telling her she could leave.
Yet judging from the atmosphere, he seemed less angry than concerned.
Before turning away, Ellin glanced at him once more.
Then she finally left the office.
“Ah, wait.”
“Aisel? How long have you been standing there?”
“Ah, Professor, I apologize. Just a moment. I already bought this, so I might as well give it to her.”
Aisel stepped into the corridor and approached Ellin, who was trudging away.
She held out a small box.
“What is this?”
“A slice of cake. I bought one for you too, but you were leaving already.”
“No, thank you.”
“No. When you are feeling miserable, eating something sweet helps. It will cheer you up.”
Aisel forcibly pressed the box into her hands, then stumbled over her words before swallowing hard.
Finally, she added an encouraging remark.
“Love is never easy. Do not let yourself get too depressed. Cheer up.”
“What?”
Ellin made a bewildered sound, plainly asking what in the world Aisel was talking about.
Aisel, however, interpreted it as embarrassment at having her feelings completely exposed.
“Eat it and cheer up.”
“No, wait. I think there has been some misunderstanding. There is nothing like that between the professor and me. No, wait.”
Wait, I said wai—
Having never comforted someone over their love life before, Aisel said everything she had prepared to say and immediately fled.
Only Ellin remained behind, staring blankly after her.
Her small mouth hung open and refused to close.
“I-I told her to wait……”
A fresh wave of humiliation surged up inside her, and tears threatened to spill over again.
Should she go back and explain that Aisel had misunderstood?
‘But Professor Aiden is in there.’
She did not want to see Professor Aiden right now.
But still.
But……
After stewing in humiliation for a while, Ellin reluctantly looked down at the slice of cake in her hands.
Surely it had been given out of kindness.
She could hardly hate Aisel for that.
The entire situation felt so strange.
So strange that she had no idea how to express it.
And so Ellin could only laugh as though she had lost her mind.
“Hahaha……”
Her misery had doubled.
Literally doubled!
***
I glanced at Aisel when she returned.
She looked strangely refreshed, but I was reluctant to ask exactly what had put her in such a good mood.
‘Why?’
For some reason, I felt that hearing the answer would make my stomach hurt.
Was this Aiden’s intuition?
…the intuition of Aiden, one of fewer than ten beings in all humanity to have reached the realm of Master.
I trusted it.
Therefore, I did not ask.
‘It certainly is not because her satisfied expression makes me uneasy.’
If I say it is not, then it is not.
Accept it……
“Aisel, what do you want? Why have you been staring at me like that?”
She had been looking at my face increasingly often for some time now.
If she had merely looked and moved on, I would not have cared.
But she kept giving me these strangely meaningful looks.
It was making me deeply uneasy, which was why I finally had no choice but to ask.
“No reason. You just seem very experienced, Professor.”
Experienced?
I narrowed my brows while sipping my now-cold coffee.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing in particular.”
What?
What is it?
What are you trying to say?
But Aisel refused to tell me until the very end……