Lucien stood in front of the closed door, with Melissa waiting patiently beside him.
Knock, knock!
"Come in," a sweet voice replied.
Lucien pushed the door open, and bright rays of sunlight flooded the room, striking his eyes directly from the window across from him.
"You should close the curtains," Lucien said angrily. The window was positioned directly opposite the door, so anyone who entered would be hit by the sun's direct rays during the day.
"Should I?" Vice Headmistress Charlotte Belmore replied as she lifted her head from her desk, where she had been writing something on a piece of paper.
Her dark purple hair was tied up in a bun, and her piercing black eyes fixed on him. Her porcelain-white face suggested she was in her mid-thirties, though Lucien did not know her exact age and had never desired to ask. She had a mature figure and wore a white robe dress.
"Yes," Lucien replied, matching her gaze.
"Tsk, I wanted to see you fizzle around in pain, but your face is as rigid as stone. No expression whatsoever," Charlotte said. She flicked her fingers, and the curtains dropped, shutting out the piercing light that Lucien disliked.
The room had other windows and ventilators, allowing enough light to filter in, but it still became slightly darker—or perhaps it only seemed that way because his pupils had shrunk. It was only a matter of time before his eyes adjusted and everything would be fine.
Lucien reached for the chair in front of the desk and sat down, crossing his right leg over his left. Melissa stood beside him, even though another seat was available and sofas were lined up in the corner of the room. There was plenty of space to sit, yet she remained standing.
Charlotte turned her eyes toward Melissa, and for a moment her gaze lingered, seemingly trying to gauge who she was and how she might be related to Lucien. She then turned to Lucien, her face full of unspoken questions, brows raised.
"Who is she? I don't sense much mana from her. She is likely around Elite rank." Charlotte placed her hand on the desk and leaned forward, intertwining her fingers and resting her chin on them.
Lucien did not answer Charlotte and instead turned his head toward Melissa. "You can sit, you know. Why are you standing so placidly?" he asked, noticing that Melissa seemed a little tense for reasons he could easily guess. She was probably worried about whether they would admit her or not. No matter how much confidence he had tried to give her, promising he would get her into the academy, the reality was uncertain, and she might not be accepted. That was likely the cause of her worry.
This girl is too much of a worrier. She is literally the saintess of the goddess of light, yet she is anxious about being denied entry into the academy.
Lucien sighed internally as Melissa shifted her weight from one foot to the other. With visible effort, she finally sat beside him in the empty chair. Her hands were clasped together and rested in her lap, her back slightly arched forward and her head bowed low. She was trying to hide her anxious expression from him—or perhaps she was simply afraid to meet the vice headmistress's eyes.
Lucien heard the sharp sound of tapping and looked up to see Charlotte rapping her knuckles hard against the desk's surface.
Lines creased her forehead, and her eyes burned with intensity, but her lips had formed a smile—a smile that signalled she was extremely angry at Lucien for not answering her question.
Now, I know why Melissa had lowered her head.
"May I ask why you have brought a girl into my office?" Charlotte asked, her voice syrupy sweet in that particular way she only used when truly angry. Beneath her sweetness was barely restrained fury.
Lucien leaned back in his chair, smoothed his black coat, and met Charlotte's gaze without any sign of fear. "I want her to be admitted into the academy," he said.
"What? Are you out of your mind? The academy's entrance period is already over. She will have to wait until next year," Charlotte shouted, her frustration thick in the air. She turned to Melissa and added, "I don't see anything special. She is elite rank—maybe elite upper—but most of the kids passing the entrance are already elite, while some might be apprentice rank."
Charlotte leaned back in her chair and picked up a sheet of paper from her desk, pretending to examine its contents. It was a clear signal that the conversation was over and a polite cue for them to leave the room.
Lucien glanced at Melissa, who had slumped in her chair, her fingers anxiously fidgeting in her lap.
"She is the saintess of the goddess of light," Lucien said, and just as he expected, the paper Charlotte was reading slipped from her grip.
"Are you kidding me? What is she doing here?" Charlotte shouted, her voice full of shock and exaggeration. She stood abruptly, hands gripping the desk, her eyes glued to Melissa, who in turn looked at Lucien with bewilderment.
"To answer your question, I am not kidding. She is the chosen one of the goddess of light. No one else in the entire empire knows about it except us, besides...," Lucien replied coldly. The woman before him had dared to question him.
How dare she think I am kidding?
He had not finished his sentence, and from the way Charlotte's face was twisted with shock, it was clear she would not have heard the rest even if he had explained everything.
Without warning, Charlotte sprang from her chair, hurried over to Melissa, and reached into the dimensional pouch she kept hidden within her robes, retrieving a black miasma mana core, which was most likely extracted from one of the corrupted beasts.
"Can you try to purify it?" Charlotte asked, handing her the core. Melissa took it reluctantly, looking as if she wanted to throw it away that very moment, but Charlotte's expectant gaze held her back.
"..U-Um, I have never done anything like this before," Melissa replied in a low voice.
Before Charlotte could say anything, Lucien added, "Try to heal it the way you healed my mother. You should be able to purify the corrupted core."
Melissa bit her lower lip and nodded. She closed her eyes, and golden light poured from her fingers, engulfing the core completely. When the light faded, the core was gleaming a brilliant blue instead of its previous rocky, black-like surface.
Melissa opened her eyes and handed the mana core back to Charlotte, who received it with a shocked expression and returned to her seat.
Charlotte examined the core, flipping it left and right. After a moment, she sighed and set the core on the table. "You win. I can let her join the academy, but that doesn't prove she is the saintess of the goddess of light. Her affinity to light is strong, extremely strong and light affinity itself is very rare, so I will allow her to join the academy," she said, leaning back in her chair. Her face had returned to normal, but she seemed to have aged a little since Lucien had entered the office.
"Yes, I know it doesn't prove she is a saintess. So, does that mean she can start attending classes from today?" Lucien nodded and asked in turn.
"Yes, but you will have to take responsibility if anyone questions her admission, since it happened through the back door. She is a commoner, isn’t she?" Charlotte replied, shaking her head slightly.
Melissa shifted in her seat at the mention of her status as a commoner. It did not take someone as experienced as Charlotte to notice Melissa's background from the way she spoke, sat, or walked. Nobles were trained in etiquette, and Melissa, being a commoner, had never learned such things.
"You are correct. She is a commoner, and her name is Melissa Waters," Lucien answered. "I will take full responsibility. List me as her sponsor, and if anyone dares to question her admission, tell them Lucien recommended her."
"Haah, where do you get such boldness from?" Charlotte sighed, placing her fingers over her eyes and rubbing them slightly.
"I... I don't think I can join today’s classes," Melissa said. For the first time since entering the room, she spoke of her own accord; before, she had only spoken when Charlotte asked her to purify the black miasma core. She added, "I don't have an academy uniform to wear to classes."
"Then you should start classes tomorrow," Lucien said matter-of-factly. In truth, he wanted her to begin today, since he was starting his own classes, and he felt she would miss something important by not attending his first session.
"Ahem. I have one spare uniform in my pouch. It should fit you, though it may be a bit loose," Charlotte said, breaking Lucien's concentration. Her cheeks were flushed as she held a girl's uniform in her right hand.
Lucien had never seen this side of her. Her cheeks were bright red, as vivid as a tomato, and she avoided his gaze, looking only at Melissa.
***
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