Because I Can't Give Up Being Single

Chapter 11

The creak of the antique carriage wheels rolling over the capital's paved roads rang out in a steady rhythm.

The glow of the streetlamps flashing past outside the window flickered across the carriage interior.

In that light, Iris von Evergarden was laughing out loud for what felt like the first time in ages.

"Pffft."

She'd spent her whole life cooped up in the lab wrestling with mana circuits, so she'd thought her sense of humor had long since dried up.

But today, the corners of her lips kept dancing on their own.

A disciple, huh.

Even she thought it was an absurd turn of events.

Suddenly, something her old master had said ages ago echoed in her ears.

'Ho ho, one day fate will come to you like a lie. Just as you once came to me like a gift.'

'If I’m a gift, then play formula-building games with me.'

'…Oh dear.'

When she heard those words back then, she'd actually had a terribly arrogant thought about her master's remark.

Master isn't a genius, so he doesn't understand the depth of my loneliness.

The whole world is full of idiots, and I'm the only one on a lonely island.

So she'd presumptuously concluded that and shut her heart tight.

"A gift, huh……"

Iris murmured, looking at her reflection in the carriage window.

Her master's words hadn't been wrong.

Like a lie, like a gift.

Because that 'gift' had rolled into her lecture hall on its own.

But he's still not my 'real' disciple yet.

The conversation she had just had with Count Corinth in the reception room had been nothing but carefully calculated theater.

'Being formally registered as a disciple is something I can force if I want. But I can't guarantee that my son will remain your actual disciple.'

When Iris asked whether she could simply obtain Cassian's consent rather than forcing him, the count had replied,

'Then you absolutely won't be able to take him in.'

The count's answer was a brutally firm no.

'My son has no desire for power or ambition. An offer like "become a Great Mage and live in luxury and glory" won't even register.'

'He doesn't have the slightest ordinary drive for success that people his age naturally possess. Right now he's only pretending to go along because he loves his family, because he's worried about me, his father. He may grumble on the outside, but he's deeply soft-hearted.'

Iris propped her chin on her hand and snorted a laugh.

Count Corinth.

Family love from that man?

Not a single noble in the capital would have believed it.

"No desire for power? No ambition either?"

Iris shook her head.

As a genius herself, she could understand Cassian's boredom all too well.

1. The Farne estate is in the countryside. In other words, there would have been no high-level teachers there.

2. Cassian is a born genius. (Just look at that formula decomposition ability!)

3. How boring must the low-level classes taught by third-rate country mages have been for him?

4. He must have realized, "Ah, the whole world is nothing but boring things."

5. Conclusion: He's shut his heart, chewing on his loneliness while pretending to be ordinary among fools!

"Interesting."

Count Corinth's warning only served as the catalyst that strengthened her conviction.

It's not that he has no greed.

It's just that this dull world failed to satisfy him.

Academic hunger?

Of course it hadn't been satisfied.

If all they give you is rotten food, how could your appetite possibly return?

Iris was certain.

She alone was the one key that could pry open that closed door.

When she had declared back in the reception room, "Please give me your son,"

she remembered Cassian's shocked face as he spat out the black tea he'd had in his mouth.

Surprise, fear.

"How adorable."

She was already looking forward to it.

The day she'd smash that tightly sealed shell, drag out the talent hidden inside, and explore the truth of mana with him all through the night.

My toy to fill my loneliness.

The only being who could understand my language.

The carriage lurched as it turned the corner.

She whispered toward her smiling face reflected in the window.

"I should contact my master after so long."

Because the disciple of my disciple is practically my grandchild.

* * *

The air in the reception room was heavy.

……In truth, I was the only one feeling heavy.

I was sunk deep into the sofa, protesting with an expression of utter grievance.

I mean, come on.

Sell your only son to a professor?

What about my human rights?

Father leisurely took a sip of tea.

Clink.

The sound of the teacup being set down sounded like a judge's gavel.

"Seems you don't fully understand the situation. Your image had already sunk so low it had punched through the basement and into the mantle. Barbarian, starving wretch, even illiterate."

"……."

"And yet, the moment fortune came walking up on its own to package all your antics as the eccentricity of a genius, you're going to refuse it?"

Father raised an eyebrow.

He wasn't wrong.

If a genius professor declared, 'He's my disciple,' then even if I scooped my rice up with my hands or fell asleep in the lecture hall, everyone would just go, 'Ah, geniuses are like that.'

"That's why I didn't even say, 'I'd never do it even if I died,' and I kept quiet without complaining!"

But a graduate student?

A slave?

Of course I didn't say slave, but graduate student and slave are synonyms, aren't they?

That concept clashes head-on with my life as a future farming heir.

As I let out a shriek, Father snorted.

"You don't want to do it?"

"Of course I don't! Do you think I'm insane? If I go under a professor, there's no way I'll get to play or rest; it's obvious the professor will just squeeze me dry every chance he gets!"

"Sounds like you're being sold off as a slave."

"Exactly! Graduate student! The professor's personal slave!"

"You grew up in the countryside and never even smelled the academy. On what basis are you making such a judgment?"

"Does it matter how I found out? The fact that you don't deny it proves it's true!"

Other people grit their teeth and endure because, in Korea, that gets them a PhD and a professorship, or a job, and here it gets them a priority ticket to stand before a Great Mage or something.

I wouldn't take it even if they gave me a race-change voucher to turn me into a dragon instead of a Great Mage.

What would I even do with that? It's not like I'm going to start a war.

"Hmm. Then there's another way."

Corinth stroked his chin and threw out a baited line.

Oh?

I brightened, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"What is it? Let's hear it. My ears are open, after all."

Ding-ding!

Then, instead of answering, Father pressed the bell to summon Alfred from outside the room.

What?

Why's he calling for old man Alfred all of a sudden?

Bang!

"You called for me, my lord."

"Mm. Alfred."

"Yes, my lord."

"Bring Madame Argio here first thing tomorrow."

Madame Argio?

Where have I heard that name before?

"Before that, send a letter by messenger tonight as well."

"What should I write?"

"Since we'll need a matchmaker, tell her to look into the quickest marriage match she can find and report back."

My jaw dropped.

I remembered.

Madame Argio.

The empire's greatest matchmaker, who had also appeared in the original novel.

That snake of an old lady who wouldn't let go once she latched on, not until you were walking into the wedding hall?

This is an ironclad forced political marriage route.

Two futures collided in my head.

[Option A: Married-man ending]

Marry a noble young lady whose face I don't even know -> "Honey, go earn money." -> nagging -> freedom revoked -> potato field confiscated -> life over.

[Option B: Slave disciple ending]

Professor Iris's slave -> "Cassian, write the thesis." -> gets worked to the bone -> still gets off work, though -> no marriage -> potatoes can be saved.

The result came in 0.1 seconds.

Because I can't give up being single.

Marriage is the grave of life. Of course, I haven't actually tried it.

I'd rather leap into the hellfire of graduate school!

I shot up from the sofa.

"Disciple! I'll do my best! I'll pledge my loyalty, Father! My passion for academics is suddenly surging like crazy!"

"……."

At my thunderous change of heart, Father blandly lifted his teacup.

"Do whatever you want, then."

"Ah, yes! Learning under someone like Professor Iris has been my lifelong dream! Hahaha!"

I wiped away cold sweat and forced a laugh.

In the middle of all that.

The old man Alfred standing nearby clicked his tongue.

Tsk.

His expression was full of unmistakable disappointment.

'……What. Old man, what exactly were you hoping for? Don't tell me you were really planning to marry me off?'

That old man was definitely excited at the thought of collecting wedding gifts.

This is seriously creepy.

* * *

The next morning.

In front of the Academy's main gate, the street was bustling with carriages bringing in students.

I greeted Mr. Thomas and got out of the carriage.

Thud.

The moment my feet touched the ground, familiar gazes came pouring in.

"Oh my, look over there. It's that barbarian."

"Ah, that illiterate one? The one with no manners?"

"I heard he even talked back to a professor, and he still comes to school? What a thick face."

The gossip coming from all sides hit my ears like surround sound.

But my mental fortitude is already titanium alloy.

Compared to school bullying and army-style hazing in Hell Joseon, and the nagging of relatives at holiday gatherings, this level of "oh my, oh my" gossip is just cute ASMR.

'Bark all you want. I'm doing my own thing. This isn't some Japanese-imported ijime either, and I don't feel a damn thing.'

I pretended to have earbuds in and picked at my ear as I walked toward the main building.

Then it happened.

"……Huh?"

Far ahead, at the main building entrance.

In the very center where the students had parted like the parting of the Red Sea, someone was standing.

At first I thought the imperial princess was stirring up trouble again, but it was nothing like that.

A woman with black hair and red eyes, waving at me.

It was Professor Iris.

But the outfit……

'No way, is she going to a ball or something?'

She was wearing a seductive red dress that accentuated her figure, and her black hair was elegantly styled, shimmering as it fell.

Her makeup was heavy too.

Even if she's going to a ball, she'd change into it in the evening—why is she standing there all dressed up like that first thing in the morning?

Look at the female students not daring to come anywhere near her.

Even though our school's female uniforms are dresses with gorgeous, pretty designs, they still can't get close.

She's basically in full 'I alone am the idol' mode.

But.

'No way…… she's not waiting for me, is she?'

The students around me also started murmuring.

"Professor? Is today some kind of special day?"

"She wouldn't be greeting that illiterate guy, would she?"

"No way, come on."

Amid the students practicing denial of reality, I sensed an instinctive foreboding.

Our eyes met.

She smiled softly.

'……Run.'

I naturally turned my head away and tried to slip down another path as if I hadn't seen her.

But the instant my foot changed direction.

Click, click!

The sound of heels approached rapidly.

Before I knew it, she had blocked my path.

Seeing her up close, she was even more menacingly beautiful.

Crimson lips contrasted with her pure white skin, and eyes even redder than that.

Maybe because she had black hair.

Something deep inside my Korean DNA reacted.

'Wow, she's ridiculously beautiful.'

There was none of that faint sense of distance I got when looking at blondes or silver-haired girls.

For a moment, just as I was blankly admiring her face.

Iris swept her alluring smile over me and opened her mouth.

"I came personally to welcome you on your first day as my disciple."

Her hand gave my necktie a little tap.

"So why are you ignoring my greeting and walking past me, Cassian?"

For an instant.

The surrounding noise cut off as if someone had hit the mute button.

Silence.

The students' eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.

"A-a disciple?"

"That barbarian…… Professor Iris's disciple?"

"No way! That illiterate guy?!"

Every time this happens, could everyone please just settle on one nickname already?

Shock, fear, disbelief.

I was pinned by looks filled with all kinds of negative emotions.

I pressed a hand to my forehead internally.

'……This woman really is way too weird.'

Normally, when you take in a disciple, don't you just quietly have them sign a pledge in the lab and call it a day?

Why are you carrying out a public execution in front of the entire student body!

"From now on, don't even think about running away. My eyes are everywhere."

Iris whispered into my ear.

Goosebumps shot up all over me.

I gave an awkward smile and stepped back.

"Haha, running away? No way. I respect you, Master."

"Good enough. Follow me. I'll show you my research lab."

She turned around without even waiting for my answer.

Watching her receding back in those click-clacking heels, I let out a sigh.

Then it happened.

I spotted familiar faces in the crowd.

Over there in the corner, Lily stood there with a dazed expression.

There was no focus in her eyes.

'Eh?' 'Eh?' 'Eh?'

It was like text was floating across her face.

And on the opposite side, on the second-floor terrace.

Elisia was looking down this way, covering her mouth with a fan.

Her violet eyes curved into crescent moons as if she found this all rather interesting.

Like some noblewoman who'd stumbled upon a fascinating spectacle.

...Right.

"What are you waiting for?"

Iris urged me on as she turned back.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

I trudged after her.

Day 1 of slave life.

A morning when I desperately missed potato farming.