Ch.35The Last Memory (4)

“I’ll be stepping out for a bit.”

Olivia said abruptly.

Kiel’s face seemed to ask why she had to come all the way to his quarters to tell him that.

It was 11 PM. The perfect time for others to misunderstand.

“You have good intuition. Even though we’re in different quarters, you’d notice if I left. So I’m telling you in advance. I’m worried you might follow me if I leave without saying anything.”

“Hmm…”

Kiel couldn’t deny Olivia’s words.

“Can you tell me where you’re going?”

“I’ll be back soon. An hour? Two at most? I know someone at the academy, and I want to catch up with them.”

“A student? Or a teacher…”

“Hey, am I a child? Do I need to tell you everything?”

Kiel closed his mouth. If Olivia had other intentions, she wouldn’t have bothered telling him and would have left quietly.

“Anyway, I’ll be back.”

“O-okay… I understand.”

Olivia stepped outside. Despite being the middle of the night, the academy was filled with light. Everyone seemed focused on their studies.

[You have used the skill ‘Blink’.]

Olivia’s form disappeared. When she opened her eyes again, she was in the corridor of the fourth-year dormitory building.

Like all educational institutions, the academy was a place that operated strictly on merit. Although the Empire was a class-based society, at least the current Emperor was implementing policies that favored commoners.

‘More precisely, it’s not favoring commoners, but favoring talent.’

The Emperor knew that geniuses were created through education, not birth.

That didn’t mean students were discriminated against based on ability. There were just slight distinctions.

Students with lower grades were placed on lower floors, while those with excellent grades were placed on upper floors.

Olivia climbed the stairs. Second floor, third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor. She went straight to the top floor without stopping.

There were five rooms in front of her.

This meant the top five students of the fourth-year graduating class were on this floor.

‘Let’s see… which room was it?’

Olivia had come here for one reason only.

To postpone the date of Belphegor’s summoning.

Olivia stopped in front of a room marked [Room 1]. Just as she reached for the doorknob.

“You there.”

A voice called out to Olivia from behind. A sharp-featured female student was glaring at her with arms crossed.

“Seems like you’ve got the wrong room.”

The female student took two steps forward.

“Who are you? I don’t recognize your face.”

“…”

Olivia removed her hand from the doorknob. This was the daughter of Viscount Kainel. She was known for being rude at the academy, but at least she wasn’t a demon worshipper.

“Don’t just stand there, explain yourself. How dare someone without any background stand in front of Lady Yekaterina’s room…”

The female student couldn’t continue. The clouds parted, and moonlight scattered through the open window, illuminating Olivia’s face.

The female student’s eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. She stood there for a while, forgetting what she was about to say.

“Uh, uhhhh… Huh? Uhhhh?”

“Do you know me?”

“O-of course I do! Of course! There isn’t a single student from the magic department who doesn’t know Lady Olivia. J-just now when I spoke informally, that was…”

Olivia approached the female student. She raised her index finger and placed it in front of the student’s mouth.

“Quiet.”

“…!”

“Can you do that?”

The female student nodded frantically, forgetting even how to breathe.

Olivia withdrew her finger and stepped back only after the female student had regained her breath.

‘Who was she again? I can’t remember her name.’

Being in the top five of the graduating class meant she had some skill, but she was probably a character who appeared briefly in the middle or later part of the story, so her role was minor.

The female student’s lips trembled.

“M-may I ask w-what brings you here?”

“…”

Olivia thought for a moment. She wanted to subdue this noisy student, put her aside, and then enter Yekaterina’s room, but unfortunately, Olivia didn’t know how to use mental magic.

‘I can’t freeze her and stuff her in the room either.’

She couldn’t be remembered by Kiel as “the woman who went to catch up with friends but ended up freezing and intimidating poor students.”

“I’m here to see the owner of this room.”

“Y-you mean L-Lady Yekaterina? I mean, Yekaterina?”

Even using honorifics meticulously.

She was actually quite well-mannered.

If only she could be quiet, she’d be quite nice.

“A-are you perhaps going to take Yekaterina as your disciple? S-surely to become your disciple, one would need to be at least the top of their year. No, even that might not be enough… at least a Master Magician level would be…”

“Quiet.”

“I-I’m sorry!”

The female student bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“Student.”

“E-Elma Kainel, ma’am!”

“Right, Elma. Would you please go back to your room now?”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Elma backed away to her room while keeping an eye on Olivia, then gently closed the door.

Thud.

Olivia gave a bitter smile.

‘That must have woken everyone up.’

The evidence was the presence she now felt from beyond Yekaterina’s room that wasn’t there before.

It would be more surprising if someone didn’t wake up with all that noise in the corridor at night.

Olivia grabbed the doorknob. She dispersed her magical power through the keyhole. With a soft sound, the door opened.

Olivia entered. The room was so dark and quiet it was hard to believe it belonged to a princess.

Click, click.

The magical device that provided light wasn’t working. Looking closely, someone had deliberately tampered with the circuit.

Of course, she already knew who the culprit was. Olivia removed her hand from the device and slowly moved toward the living room.

The room assigned to the top student of the year was spacious. It was almost as big as a classroom.

There was nothing special about it. No magic circles drawn in blood, no human corpses to be sacrificed.

Olivia looked unimpressed. Who would be crazy enough to keep such things in the middle of the academy, especially on the top floor?

Unless they were completely insane.

“Come out.”

Olivia said to the wall. It was an ordinary white wall with nothing special about it.

“There won’t be a third time. Come out.”

Slither.

A viscous darkness flowed from the pure white wall.

It stank.

The darkness gradually took human form. Starting from the legs, it slowly, bit by bit, formed a detailed shape. Finally, when even the hair was revealed.

“Hmm.”

It, no, Princess Yekaterina, raised the corner of her mouth.

“Nice to see you, Senior Olivia.”

“Not nice, and I’ve never had a witch like you as my junior.”

“How cruel.”

Olivia clicked her tongue.

A terrible magical power that she didn’t want to associate with flickered around Yekaterina.

A magician who had made a contract with a demon.

A witch’s mana was far more disgusting than she had imagined.

‘No wonder magicians go crazy over witches.’

Snap.

When Yekaterina snapped her fingers, the candles in the room glowed red. Beyond the flickering light, darkness could be seen climbing the walls.

“By the way, how did you know my secret?”

Olivia snorted.

A secret is only a secret if the person concerned wants to hide it. If Yekaterina had wanted to hide the fact that she was a demon worshipper, she should have pretended to be sleeping in bed instead of popping out of the wall like this.

But Yekaterina didn’t do that.

She was confident. She even seemed relaxed.

“If you don’t answer… I’ll have to force that mouth open.”

“…”

“So why did you come alone? Why not come with Duke Kiel?”

The entrance was blocked by darkness.

It was now impossible to tell whether this was a dormitory or an abyss.

“You know what, senior? No one outside can hear what happens in here.”

“Why is that?”

“Why? It means you can’t call for help.”

Yekaterina gave a seductive smile.

“Even though you’re a Grandmaster, you’ve only been one for a few years, right?”

“So, you think I’m easy prey. Is that it?”

“Well, something like that.”

She was now grinning as if she knew everything.

That means she has something she’s relying on. If you mess with someone like that, you might not even get your investment back.

But…

‘This insignificant girl is acting like she knows everything in front of me.’

She had chosen the wrong opponent.

“Hey.”

Yekaterina blinked at the sudden informal speech.

“Shut up and hand over the artifact with Belphegor’s summoning circle.”

“…How do you know about that, senior?”

Instead of answering, Olivia made the exact same expression Yekaterina had made just before. Reading the mockery in her expression, Yekaterina’s face turned fierce.

“I don’t think you understand your position…”

“I understand perfectly, so hand it over.”

“Hah… I was trying to end this nicely.”

Yekaterina immediately lunged forward. Viscous darkness rushed toward Olivia from all directions.

It was like a huge wave. One that would sweep away and annihilate everything in its path.

But.

Crack.

It didn’t reach her.

Thud. The frozen darkness fell to the floor and shattered.

Thud.

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of darkness shattering could be heard from all around. Then, at some point, the room was enveloped in silence.

There was no more darkness to fall.

‘What is this…’

Yekaterina couldn’t immediately grasp the situation. But as she tried to lower her head to follow the source of the sound, her eyes bulged.

Her body wouldn’t move.

‘…!’

From her toes to her mouth. She was completely frozen.

Olivia’s blue eyes looked down coldly at Yekaterina.

“Hey.”

Olivia clenched her fist.

“Do you think a Grandmaster is something to be fucked with?”

Crack.

The more tightly she clenched her fist, the colder the air became. Crack! The temperature dropped until it could fall no further. The cold, unable to find anything else to freeze, was now freezing the air itself.

“…!”

Yekaterina’s eyeballs struggled.

Her breath, lungs, and blood were freezing. But screaming was not allowed. Struggling to alleviate the pain was also not allowed.

“Speak.”

“Huaak! Hu, hu, haaak! Huhaaak!”

Her distant consciousness returned. Olivia had melted only the ice around her mouth so she could speak.

“Huuu… Huuuuu…”

Saliva flowed from Yekaterina’s mouth. But it didn’t get far before freezing solid.

Barely regaining her senses, Yekaterina said:

“I-if you kill me, you’ll regret…”

“What if I kill you? Will the students you’ve hypnotized commit suicide bombings?”

“H-how did you…!”

Olivia made the same contemptuous face as before. But Yekaterina’s reaction was different this time.

“H-how… How did you… B-betrayal? N-no. That’s impossible. It couldn’t be possible…”

“Hey.”

She flinched.

“I just told you.”

“W-what…”

“There won’t be a third time.”

Olivia clenched her fist again.

“When someone asks you something.”

“W-wait…”

“You answer.”

The world froze once more.