Chapter 144
Chapter 144
"I have plans to go to Professor Iris's lab right now."
I made it clear that I didn't have time for that.
"Hmm. I see."
Lucius seemed to ponder for a moment, then casually crossed the line.
"Then would it be all right if I went to your private lab and quietly rested while I waited?"
"What the hell, man? No, you can't."
I could practically hear my brow furrowing at that.
If people kept coming and going in a place meant for rest, mixing in the gazes of others,
the body naturally refused to relax on instinct.
It would completely lose its meaning as a place to rest.
"Don't do that. Go kill some time somewhere. Let's eat dinner like you said. How about it?"
"I'd be delighted. But what about your appointment with Professor Iris?"
"Enough. Anyway, let's do that."
At my suggestion, Lucius's narrowed eyes widened slightly, then curved into a satisfied smile.
"Hmm. Very well. That's enough for me to wait."
"Anyone looking in would think you were the one with a prior appointment."
I shook my head and rose from my seat.
Lucius's eye level dropped below mine again.
"I'm off. Don't do anything stupid. Wait quietly."
"Yes. Have a safe trip."
Leaving Lucius's irritating farewell behind, I exited the lecture hall and headed to the Department of Magic building.
* * *
The red eyes behind the glasses trembled.
"This is……"
Iris noona's trembling gaze meticulously and persistently scanned me from the tips of my hair to the tips of my toes.
Good grief.
She must have already examined every nook and cranny inside me through her hands.
Was there really any need to inspect the outside this thoroughly, too?
It was somehow embarrassing.
But I kept my mouth shut.
As the person whose entire body had been replaced, I understood better than anyone why the young professor in front of me was shocked.
Her lips trembled, and a dazed voice escaped.
'What on earth…… how…….'
'She's really shocked.'
Amazing.
It must be amazing.
I find it amazing too.
Tsk.
"The concentration of mana that ordinary mages can barely reach even after honing themselves to the bone for their entire lives…… this body, perfectly reconstructed for mana affinity…… how could it happen overnight……."
In times like this, you have to bluff your way through.
"It is kind of amazing, isn't it?"
At my shameless attitude, Professor Iris drew in a sharp breath.
"Right now."
Still gripping the desk, she squeezed out a trembling voice.
"Are you talking about someone else? Cassian, what on earth happened to your body……."
"But what can I do?"
I shoved both hands into my pockets and answered nonchalantly.
"I don't know either. I woke up this morning and suddenly my body felt light as a feather."
When you need to deny everything flatly, it's all about the force of your delivery.
Force is the alpha and omega.
When I put on an innocent expression as though I knew nothing, Master pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a deep sigh.
"Haa……."
She walked around the desk and approached me.
Stopping close enough that I could feel her breath, she slowly raised a hand as if to touch my shoulder.
But she stopped her hand in midair and looked up at me, asking plaintively,
"It didn't hurt…… did it?"
"……Huh?"
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
'Something.'
Her gaze was so warm, filled with nothing but pure concern for me,
that I had the odd feeling that if I acted spoiled here and said, 'It was a little scary. Hug me,'
she would wrap her small frame tightly around me without hesitation and pat my back, giving me that sort of soft, comforting feeling.
"It didn't hurt."
"Liar. You couldn't have obtained a body like this without any pain."
"I'm serious."
"Then how on earth?"
"Hmm. That?"
I scratched the back of my head and answered awkwardly.
"I'm really not lying—it just happened after I went to sleep and woke up, so I honestly don't know either."
It wasn't a lie.
There were just things I hadn't said.
At my consistent insistence, only then did Master breathe a sigh of relief.
"……I see. That's a relief."
Phew.
She rubbed her chest and took another step toward me.
'……Something.'
I didn't step back; I simply looked down at her.
This noona.
She had become awfully affectionate toward me all of a sudden.
No, she'd always been subtly obsessed with me and acted affectionate,
but today's feeling was completely different in kind.
Even if a master cherished her disciple, this was excessive enough for affection to spill over, or something.
Unless I was suffering from delusions of grandeur, even the way Professor Iris looked up at me had a completely different quality.
Before, she had looked at me as though I were a precious experimental specimen, but now honey was practically dripping from that gaze, too.
Iris noona asked me in a gentle tone she would never normally use.
"Unlike before, you can now clearly perceive the mana inside your body and the changes in your body…… is that right?"
"Yes. I can feel it intensely. Which reminds me."
Just as I was about to seize the moment and quickly say it,
"Yes. Let's stop today's lesson for now."
Huh.
Normally, she would have shown her disappointment with a barrage of 'I knew it. Did you think I was conducting this lesson for nothing?'
"And I'll research and think over exactly what happened to your body, then explain it to you in a way you can understand. So you won't have to worry on your own."
Ah.
Hmm.
I'm glad things are going ridiculously smoothly, but
now that she's accommodating me this much, my conscience is starting to prick me.
This older woman's pure goodwill kept poking at my filthy, materialistic nature.
"But I'm not a coward, and it really wasn't that painful or frightening."
When I cautiously tried to make a confession to my conscience,
"I know."
Professor Iris took a step back and held me in her bright-red eyes beyond the glasses.
"I know you're an honest person who doesn't lie to me. You don't need to make excuses."
Shit, that hit a nerve.
It felt like a hole had been punched straight through my heart.
As far as I remembered, I didn't think I'd ever openly deceived this noona.
But it was still stabbing the hell out of me for some reason.
Maybe because I'd just played that semantic game of 'I didn't lie. I just didn't.'
It was hard to meet Iris noona's gaze.
"……Yes. Well, then."
I lowered my gaze slightly to the floor and backed away.
"I'll be going now."
"All right."
Professor Iris waved her hand lightly, still seeing me off with that honey-dripping smile.
"Get home safely, Cassian. And don't overdo it."
"……Yeees."
* * *
A quiet path in front of the Academy's main building.
Standing to one side of the tree-lined path where the sunset stretched long, Lucius quietly looked down at the tips of his shoes.
'What am I doing right now?'
The question of himself flashed through Lucius's mind.
Why was he standing in this secluded corner of the Academy waiting for someone,
when it was time for him to return to the estate, take care of Sophia, and look over the stack of documents that had arrived at the family's trading company?
Cassian's earlier remark had hit the nail on the head.
Acting 'just because' for no reason was absolutely unlike him.
Acting impulsively, simply following his emotions without any benefit at all, was the foolish attitude he had hated and despised most throughout his entire life.
And yet, strangely, today his footsteps had led him here 'just because.'
The vulgar, filth-like words his uncle Baron Hamel had spewed out before leaving.
That voice treating Sophia like a product riddled with defects clung to his ears and simply would not go away.
His chest felt stifling, as though filled with black mud.
'Even so.'
Lucius smiled bitterly and muttered inwardly.
'I can't exactly grab Sophia and complain to her about that sort of thing.'
If he showed even the slightest hardened expression in front of Sophia, she would notice all his negative emotions.
Then the terrible disaster of doubling the number of upset people for no reason was bound to happen.
Even though what he was feeling right now was nothing but anger and hurt directed at his uncle, Sophia would burden herself with the damned guilt of thinking Lucius was suffering because of her.
In the end, they would merely become two pitiful people forcing smiles while crushing down both their hurt and guilt.
'Just because.'
Lucius neatly straightened the disordered end of his sleeve.
'Let's at least make sure I know what kind of weekend I'm going to spend with Sophia.'
That was just as Lucius was slowly sorting through his thoughts.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"……!"
Lucius reflexively whipped around at the voice that suddenly struck from right behind him.
He saw Cassian, who had come right up to his face between his brown bangs.
"Uh."
Lucius swallowed a short, empty breath.
Lucius, who maintained a poker face under almost any circumstances,
couldn't return his wide-open eyes to their normal size this time.
'……What?'
Lucius's heart thudded erratically.
He hadn't felt the slightest sign of presence, including footsteps.
No matter how lost in thought he had been, there was no way he could fail to notice someone approaching all the way to his back.
Just as his head became tangled in confusion,
Cassian casually tapped Lucius on the shoulder.
"What, did you see a ghost? A grown man standing embarrassed in the middle of the street."
"……No."
At the gruff rebuke, Lucius finally freed his stiff tongue.
"You appeared without making a sound, so I was just a little surprised."
"……Huh?"
"……."
For a moment.
Lucius saw it clearly.
He saw that upon hearing his answer, Cassian had made a fleeting, pricked reaction that said, 'Oops.'
Cassian's gaze trembled minutely as he unconsciously glanced down at the tips of his feet.
Catching that subtle change, Lucius felt the bewilderment pressing down on his chest vanish completely.
'Ah.'
Apparently, this embarrassing situation too had been caused not by Lucius letting his guard down, but by the man in front of him.
This inscrutable man had demonstrated presence concealment beyond the bounds of humanity, just as he had during the Legion tour.
"Um. Hmm. I don't know. Let's go eat."
Cassian scratched the back of his head and tossed it out casually, as though to smooth over his embarrassment.
"Shall we? But you are a little late."
"Oh, did it take that long? Sorry. It took me a while to escape without Professor seeing me."
"That is understandable. As someone a little kinder than Cassian, I will understand."
"???"
Lucius smiled, his narrowed eyes curving.
He had regained his composure.
"So, where shall we go?"
"Huh? Didn't you say you'd arranged the place?"
"That is correct. Then I shall escort you to the place I reserved."
"What kind of conversation is this, seriously?"
"Hehe. Let us go to my carriage first. After the meal, I will also escort you to the Farne estate when you go home."
Lucius pointed toward the carriage waiting near the main gate.
Unlike the one Sophia rode in, it was an ordinary carriage that gave no indication whatsoever that it belonged to Rohanna.
"Let's do that, then."
Cassian nodded without complaint, then
"Wait a second. I'll send my family's carriage away first, so wait here."
Saying that, he began trudging away to tell his coachman he could go home.
Lucius's gaze followed him.
He couldn't take his eyes off Cassian's gait as he walked away with the sunset at his back.
Lucius silently watched him recede and repeated to himself,
'Thank goodness.'
It was a relief that he hadn't recklessly trusted someone and foolishly lowered his guard, and that it was simply because the man was an existence beyond common sense.