I Don't Know Why the Women in This Neighborhood Are All So Scary

Chapter 124

Drip, drip.

As I walked down the hallway of the Department of Magic building, droplets fell from my hair and pant legs, soaking the floor.

In front of Professor Iris's private research lab.

Standing before the tightly shut door, the inexplicable awkward atmosphere between us tightened around my chest.

"……."

Professor Iris, with my oversized jacket draped over her shoulders, hesitated for a moment with her hand on the doorknob.

I, too, had folded my hands neatly like a sinner and kept my gaze lowered to the floor.

Creak.

Without a word, she opened the door and went inside, and I carefully followed after her.

Inside the cool research lab.

As soon as Professor Iris came in, the first thing she did was switch on the magical heater in the corner to its maximum setting.

Click.

Vwoooom─!

A warm breeze swept over me.

But apparently that still wasn't enough, because she quickly snatched up the staff sitting on her desk.

Swish.

She lightly waved the staff through the air.

Then an unbelievable phenomenon unfolded before my eyes.

On the surface of the empty glass in front of me, moisture in the air began condensing like crazy, forming droplets.

In an instant, the room's muggy humidity vanished, and crisp, dry air began to circulate.

Practical dehumidifying magic worthy of a great mage.

"If you stay warm for a bit, you'll dry off in no time."

With her back still to me, Professor Iris set down the staff and said in a dry voice.

"Make yourself comfortable. Would you like some tea?"

It was a tearful effort to keep her usual strict-teacher tone and act like nothing was wrong.

Especially with the back of her neck still flushed red.

I'm not some clueless idiot.

If I actually plopped down on the sofa and said, "Ah, yes, could I get some black tea?" I'd be more than clueless—I'd be a psychopath.

My teacher is clutching my jacket up to her neck because of her wet shirt, and in that state she's going to make tea for me?

"Teacher."

I quickly waved my hands and stepped in.

"I'll make the tea. I know where the tea leaves are."

"……No. I'll make it. You're a guest."

"Where does a guest fit in between a teacher and a student?"

I pointed with my chin toward the side table set against the wall for refreshments.

"Or how about this: while I turn around and prepare the tea, you change out of my jacket and into some other outerwear or spare clothes?"

"……."

At my words, Professor Iris's shoulders gave a tiny flinch.

She must have known in her head that my consideration was exactly what this situation needed most.

"……All right."

She answered in a tiny, breathy voice.

Without delay, I turned around and stood facing the wall.

I opened the drawer of the side table and took out the tin of black tea leaves.

Then, just as I picked up the kettle to boil water, I realized there was no heat source like a gas stove or brazier in sight.

How am I supposed to heat the water?

While I was standing there with the kettle in hand, looking around,

Professor Iris's calm voice came from behind me.

"The lab is small, so the water is heated with magic."

The moment she finished speaking,

Whoosh—

I heard the faint scrape of a staff being lightly swung, and the water inside the kettle in my hand began to boil at once, sending up a rush of steam.

"Oh."

Nice. That was the textbook click, all right.

I silently brewed the tea, pouring the boiling water into two teacups.

And then.

Rustle. Swish.

The faint sound of fabric brushing against skin began to crawl into my ears from behind me.

'Damn.'

I gripped the teacup in my hand tight.

She was probably just taking off her school jacket and changing into spare clothes from the lab wardrobe.

I don't know why the rustling of fabric is so nerve-racking and stimulating.

Is my hearing getting sharper because my sight is blocked?

The sound of a wet shirt peeling away from skin, the sound of dry cloth touching skin.

I mentally belted out the fourth verse of the national anthem and fixed my eyes only on the red hue of the black tea steeping in the cup.

'I'm a block of wood. I'm a stone.'

A little while later.

"……Done."

Professor Iris's voice came.

"Yes. I just finished steeping mine too."

I turned around and headed for the sitting table with the two steaming cups of tea.

She was already sitting on the sofa, her thick black mage's robe neatly fastened up to her neck.

Her hair was still a little damp, but her flustered, at-a-loss look from before seemed to have calmed down quite a bit.

Clink.

As I set the teacups down on the table,

Swish.

She gently slid my wet school jacket, neatly folded on one side of the sofa, toward me.

"Your jacket."

"Yes."

"……Thank you."

Professor Iris wrapped both hands around her teacup and added, keeping her gaze lowered,

"It's nothing. I'm the one who should apologize."

I sat down and scratched the back of my head.

"For failing to control my power properly and soaking you."

"Indeed."

As she brought the teacup to her lips, she said in a voice that tried hard to recover her usual fussy scholar tone.

"It seems your control over magic is horrendously clumsy, far more than I expected."

"……You just said thank you a moment ago."

"That only applies if today's accident wasn't something you did on purpose."

A sudden stab of suspicion.

I let out a dry laugh in disbelief.

"There's no way I would have meant to do that."

Seriously, what kind of lightning-struck nonsense is this person talking about?

Does she think I'm some crazy bastard pulling some underwater secret-room stunt just to seduce my teacher?

"I know. I'm joking."

Professor Iris took a sip of tea and let out a small sigh.

"Anyway, good work. By the time you've finished your tea, the clothes Cassian is wearing now will have dried sufficiently from the heater's warmth."

In other words, finish your tea and get out once your clothes are dry.

If this were a normal day, she'd be the type to make her disappointment obvious with her eyes whenever I tried to get up first, as if asking, "Why are you in such a rush to leave?"

If she's subtly nudging me to go first now, that means she's probably feeling pretty tangled up and awkward after today's embarrassment.

Let's gulp this down and get the hell out.

I nodded.

"Yes. Understood."

I immediately lifted the cup and brought the black tea to my lips as if I were about to down it in one shot.

But.

"Ow, shit, that's hot."

It had literally just been brought to a rolling boil with magic.

It was so damn hot I nearly scorched my tongue clean off.

Holding back the tears welling up in my eyes, I started blowing on the teacup.

No mercy, huh.

Even running away isn't easy.

* * *

After leaving Professor Iris's research lab,

I headed to my private lab, brushing at the damp hems of my pants as I walked.

My head was a mess the whole way down the corridor.

What excuse should I give Lily?

My hair was still sticking up in every direction, and although my clothes had dried, they were wrinkled and crumpled from having soaked up water.

If a guy who went out looking perfectly fine comes back soaked, that worrywart is definitely going to pry into everything.

Creak.

"I'm back."

The moment I opened the lab door and walked in,

Bam!

Lily, who had been sitting on the sofa, immediately sprang to her feet.

"You're back?!"

She flashed a bright smile and came running over to greet me.

In a room this small, what difference did it make whether she welcomed me from her seat or after taking a few steps forward?

She's so cute.

At this point, it's really time for the tail-copter to start spinning.

"Uh... yes."

Even so, receiving that cheerful greeting made my heavy, tangled mood feel much lighter.

This is why people keep dogs.

Other households keep dogs with their wallets, paying for pet insurance, expensive food, and even saving up in case their kneecaps start acting up someday.

But our dog is a universe-class lucky charm, bringing in a whopping thirty billion hwan in cash, so she looks even cuter.

Just as I snickered and was about to take off my outerwear,

"Huh?"

Lily, who had been looking me over from head to toe, suddenly tilted her head and asked,

"Lord Cassian, did you... get caught in the rain?"

"Ah."

I scratched my head.

"It wasn't rain. I just got splashed with water while using magic at the training grounds."

"You got splashed with water?"

Lily's clear eyes widened, then quickly filled with worry and concern.

She hurried over in small steps and carefully examined the ends of my wet hair.

"Oh no. You must be about to catch a cold. Are you okay? Your clothes are all wrinkled too...."

"That's fine."

I answered casually.

"The other side was the bigger problem."

Honestly, I'm a guy, so if I get splashed with some water I can just shake it off—but the real issue was our teacher, whose shirt had gone completely sheer and whose mind had been shattered to pieces.

At that careless, offhand remark of mine,

"The other side...?"

Lily clasped her hands tightly and asked in a cautious voice.

"Did Professor Iris get caught in the rain too?"

For a split second,

I froze halfway through unbuttoning my outerwear.

'...Huh?'

What?

The words Lily had just said could have been nothing more than a perfectly ordinary, everyday question.

But for some reason, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Slowly, I lowered my head and looked at Lily's face.

That round, innocent gaze that had been worrying about me just a moment ago.

And yet, in that gaze, for just an instant, I had the strange illusion that something cold and knowing had flashed past.

'Was that just my imagination?'

While I was sweating coldly and trying to decide how to answer,

"Ah, there's no towel."

Lily had already returned perfectly to her usual innocent, worrywart puppy expression.

She hurriedly rummaged through her tote bag, then took out a clean white handkerchief and handed it to me.

"Please use this at least. Your hair is still a little damp."

"Ah...."

I took the handkerchief from her in a daze.

"Thank you."

As I started to roughly dry my hair with the handkerchief, Lily rose onto her tiptoes a little and gently took it from my hand.

"I'll dry it for you."

She carefully moved her hands over the handkerchief covering my hair.

Rustle, rustle.

The touch wiping away the moisture was incredibly gentle and soft.

"Lord Cassian."

"Yes."

"You mustn't catch a cold. You still have to eat with me tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, too."

A strange possessiveness mixed into that soft, gentle voice.

I swallowed a dry laugh to myself.

I don't know why the women in this neighborhood are all so scary.