Page 115

In front was Vinesha.

Behind was Sharin Sazaris.

A desperate crisis.

What can I do in this situation?

I’ve overcome countless dangers until now, but at this moment, my mind was a blank slate.

Beyond the window, a dark entity began to move.

The being Vinesha had summoned from the Otherworld was approaching this place.

A split-second moment.

Sharin was on the verge of being attacked.

“Vinesha!”

I immediately grabbed Vinesha’s shoulder.

Startled by the sudden physical contact, she flinched and looked up at me.

Her wide eyes stared directly into mine.

“I came to Zerion Academy with an important mission. If a commotion breaks out here, everything will be ruined.”

Vinesha rolled her eyes as she listened to my serious tone.

Then, she raised her hands and gently cupped her cheeks.

“Ah, if you approach me so boldly like that, a maiden’s heart might just flutter.”

She kept stealing glances at my face.

I could sense the entity beyond the window retreating into silence.

We were safe.

“So please, Vinesha, hold back for my sake. I have my reasons. You can understand that, right?”

Vinesha looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

Then, her gaze shifted past my shoulder, suddenly becoming emotionless.

“Is that also one of your reasons?”

Sharin stood there, looking clueless.

Then, she casually opened her mouth and let out a long yawn.

She didn’t seem to care about the situation at all.

Causing chaos and remaining unbothered—that was just like her.

“…Yes.”

As soon as I answered, Vinesha sighed lightly, then suddenly pulled me into a tight hug.

At that moment, Sharin’s hair stood on end as she whipped around to face me.

But there was no time to pay attention to her reaction.

“Alright. If it’s your words, this maiden will believe anything. After all, my lord is destined to save the world!”

Well, I was doing something similar.

“My lord, I must leave now to retrieve some supplies.”

Vinesha gave me a sweet smile before pulling away.

As she passed by Sharin, she clicked her tongue in an aggressively unfriendly way and left.

Somehow, I had survived the crisis.

A deep sigh of relief escaped my lips.

“Hey, hey, heeey.”

Suddenly, Sharin had closed the distance between us.

She began pounding my back with her tiny fists.

Her punches didn't hurt at all thanks to my body, now reinforced like steel.

Even knowing this, she continued to hit me with determination.

“Who was that?”

“She’s a new assistant professor in the Magic Department.”

“But why does an assistant professor hug my husband?”

…Was she seriously planning to keep calling me her husband?

I caught her wrist, stopping her incessant tapping.

“There’s a complicated story behind it. I stole the Veil Bandages from her.”

Since Sharin already knew I was in disguise, she immediately grasped the significance of what I said.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly upon realizing the bandages came from Vinesha.

“Then,”

Sharin looked at me with her brows slightly raised in curiosity.

“Does she know what you really look like?”

Of course, she did.

But I hesitated to answer immediately.

I could sense Sharin’s displeasure.

I blinked.

Sharin was staring at me with an unmistakably sulky expression.

I had never seen her display her emotions so openly before.

And I knew exactly what she was feeling.

‘…Jealousy?’

Of course, jealousy exists even between friends.

Just as someone might feel envious when their friend grows closer to someone else, jealousy is a complex emotion.

It can arise between both men and women alike.

But the jealousy I saw in Sharin’s eyes felt… different.

“…Yes, she knows.”

As soon as I answered, Sharin let her arm drop from my grasp.

She looked utterly deflated.

“…I see.”

She didn’t say another word.

She just turned and walked away.

I watched her retreating figure for a moment before hurrying to follow her.

“Sharin.”

“I’m your fiancée, yet I don’t even know. But she does.”

“Sharin, wait a moment.”

“I helped with your magic inscription and everything. So that’s how it is, huh?”

Sharin showed no intention of listening to me.

How did it come to this?

I followed her into the training grounds with my troubled expression still in place.

There, a group of students was practicing.

She glanced at my face once before turning abruptly and heading toward the Magic Department.

She was really upset.

I could not afford to have my relationship with Sharin fall apart.

But at the same time, my mind was tangled up with the emotions she had just revealed.

“Ah, Prince Sweet Potato!”

Just then, Seron spotted me and began jumping up and down, waving enthusiastically.

Like a puppy wagging its tail as its owner returned home.

If only people were as straightforward as Seron.

I shook off my complicated thoughts.

I could think about the situation with Vinesha and Sharin later.

For now, I approached Seron.

“Have you been well?”

“What, did you think I’d be miserable and lifeless without you?”

Seron puffed up proudly, but the excitement in her tone was obvious.

“You were looking miserable and lifeless for a while, though.”

“Ugh!”

At that moment, Hania suddenly appeared beside Seron, bluntly pointing out the truth.

It seemed like Hania had been taking care of Seron while I was away.

“She was like a lost puppy. I couldn’t just stand by and watch.”

“T-That’s not true.”

Seron turned her head away, whistling.

But her darting eyes gave her away.

“I’m glad you made it back safely.”

Hania greeted me, ignoring Seron’s antics.

Then, lowering her voice so Seron wouldn’t hear, she whispered to me.

“I heard about you and Sharin Sazaris.”

She had sharp ears.

Well, considering she worked closely with Iris, she would naturally be well-informed.

‘It’s only a matter of time before the engagement is publicly announced.’

The Blue Tower Master wanted to secure Zerion’s magic.

To keep me alive, they would undoubtedly rush the engagement announcement.

“…Sorry. That’s just how things turned out.”

“I understood as soon as I heard. I know this was a necessary choice for Hannon.”

Hania was understanding.

“More than anything, you stayed with me all this time for my sake, right? I was actually grateful for that.”

She was not just generous—she was an angel.

Hania was a god.

“I feel like I might cry all of a sudden.”

“Why would you cry over this?”

“Hania, you’re the best girlfriend ever.”

“Hmph, good thing you finally realized it.”

Hania lifted her nose slightly and looked a little proud.

“Anyway, I think it’s about time we end our relationship. The people who had feelings for me have mostly sorted themselves out. Most importantly…”

She curled her lips into a smirk, looking quite pleased.

“That dog—no, Professor Barkov—has lost interest in me.”

That was truly unexpected.

Barkov, the assistant professor who had launched a strategic confession attack.

That he no longer had any interest in Hania?

“More surprising is that he wasn’t fired after that boycott incident.”

“His family is influential. It seems he has no interest in corruption.”

“Just in women, then.”

At least he was consistent.

But that made it even more shocking that he had given up on Hania.

“Professor Barkov has found a new woman.”

“That’s surprising. Who’s the unfortunate soul?”

“The new assistant professor of the Department of Magic, Professor Vinesha.”

And just like that, my face froze.

Barkov.

So you’ve decided to commit suicide.

“Thanks to that, I’m at ease now. Since they’re both assistant professors, they’ll sort things out themselves.”

Hania didn’t care about things that didn’t directly affect her.

But my expression grew more serious.

Knowing Vinesha’s personality, if Barkov tried another confession attack, he might actually get himself killed.

“…Why do you look like that? Are you that sad that we’re no longer a couple?”

Hania looked at my face and asked.

“I am sad that my first relationship is ending like this.”

“We’re in the same boat, so let’s just accept it. Anyway, go meet with Lady Iris later.”

“Got it, ex-girlfriend.”

“Take care, ex-boyfriend.”

With that, Hania coolly walked away.

A very clean breakup.

“What’s going on?”

Seron, who had been listening quietly, suddenly poked his head in and asked.

“A terrifying story about how Professor Barkov is going to get himself killed.”

“Well, good riddance.”

That’s true.

“By the way, Prince Sweet Potato, I made it to the top 32 in the preliminaries. Pretty impressive, right?”

Seron puffed out her chest and proudly boasted.

Seron in the top 32?

That was a remarkable achievement, considering it was among academies worldwide.

All the encouragement had paid off.

I raised my hand and ruffled her hair roughly.

“You really did well.”

“Uh, um.”

She hadn’t expected me to sincerely praise her, and she flinched while pressing her legs together.

Then, after darting her eyes around, she quietly turned away.

“I-I need to train more.”

And with that, Seron ran off in embarrassment.

As I lowered my now-empty hand, another figure walked toward me.

Golden honey-blond hair fluttered.

Her hair had grown a bit longer since the first semester.

She stopped in front of me.

Isabel Luna.

The main heroine of The Flame Butterfly.

“You’re back.”

After my one-on-one match with Isabel, I had been immediately taken away.

But she must have sensed from my eyes that I would be fine.

So she hadn’t worried too much.

“The celebrity has arrived.”

After showing Goddess Wings in her match, Isabel had become incredibly famous.

Though my sudden arrest had momentarily overshadowed it, her fame was only going to grow.

After all, she had awakened Goddess Wings, something only mentioned in legends.

It would be stranger if she didn’t become famous.

“You’re exaggerating. You and I aren’t that different.”

Unfortunately, my fame was mostly infamy.

Using Ancient Dragon Magic and getting arrested by the Imperial Knights?

It was inevitable.

“You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“I had a rough idea.”

I would have run for my life if I had thought it was truly dangerous.

“You really are…”

Isabel looked like she had a lot to say but just let it go.

She knew I had gone all out against her to encourage her.

“…You and I haven’t settled things yet.”

She was right.

We still hadn’t had our decisive match.

“Even if we did, I can already guess the outcome.”

“I wonder how long you’ll stay that arrogant.”

Isabel smirked.

“But somehow, it doesn’t bother me as much anymore.”

Maybe her feelings had changed.

Her face looked much brighter than before.

“Oh, right. There was another commotion during the one-on-one matches.”

“A commotion?”

Even after Goddess Wings and Dragon Transformation, there was still something else that caused an uproar?

“Azure Flame.”

Isabel mentioned the Unyielding Azure Flame.

“The second-place winner in the individual matches announced she’s transferring to Zerion Academy.”

A big fish had been caught.