Chapter 5: Life is so cruel.

[Living with Sir Ain! That’s impossible!]

Sylvia slammed the desk and stood up, shouting.

She seemed agitated, huffing.

Ever since witnessing the kissing scene earlier, her blue eyes had been continuously glinting with a cold light.

Sylvia sent me a resentful look, as if asking how I could do that to her.

I felt sorry for Sylvia, but I couldn’t resist. It was so sudden that I couldn’t even cast a spell.

Ariina became triumphant. She spoke with a chilling, sneering smile.

“Who are you to meddle between Ain and me? Didn’t you see us kissing just now? We’re dating. Ha, as expected, big-breasted women are always slow-witted, aren’t they?”

[You, have you finished……!]

As Sylvia raged, I felt the surrounding area tremble.

Even in the original story, Sylvia’s magical proficiency was low, but her immense raw mana allowed her to become an Archmage. The surrounding mana, reacting to her emotions, trembled as if terrified.

Unstable mana crackled and sparked.

A premonition of a mana rampage.

Numerous curse magic circles were summoned around her. She had cast dozens of high-level spells with her overflowing mana.

[I’ll kill you-!]

Sylvia gritted her teeth and spoke in a voice fractured by rage.

It was a curse that inflicted shock just by looking at it, or rather, a curse that could even be cast through the crystal ball.

I quickly shouted.

“Sylvia!”

At my reprimand, Sylvia stared at me blankly, a look of disbelief on her face.

[Sir Ain……]

Sylvia snapped her fingers. The turbulent mana around her instantly calmed.

Ariina maintained a relaxed smile, unfazed by the volatile situation.

My head throbbed, so I pressed my temples. Sighs kept escaping me.

At my expression, Sylvia looked at me with anxious eyes, as if wondering if it was true. Her fervent hope that it wasn’t true reached me.

[D-did you really decide to date that woman?]

But life is truly cruel.

I let out a deep sigh and opened my mouth.

“……Yes.”

[S-Sir Ain…… no, Master.]

Her eyes trembled with shock. She looked at me with pleading eyes, as if denying it couldn’t be true.

‘It’s a lie, isn’t it? Right?’ I could almost hear her words.

I knew Sylvia implicitly liked me. After all, I had taught and nurtured her since her apprentice mage days.

However, I had only thought of it as a child’s charm. I thought she was just trying to impress me.

Seeing me silent, Sylvia despaired. She bowed her head deeply and muttered softly.

[I see. So you’re dating……]

“……”

I couldn’t say anything.

Sylvia lifted her head and smiled bitterly. Her eyes were filled with resignation.

[Please come to the Magic Tower.]

“Alright.”

[Sylvia will be waiting for Sir Ain and Lady Ariina.]

The crystal ball turned black again, then changed to purple.

****

The top floor of the Blue Magic Tower.

There was the Archmage’s room. It was more ordinary than special, as Ain disliked extravagance.

Sylvia lay on Ain’s bed.

She stared blankly at the ceiling with lost eyes. Countless thoughts crossed her mind.

Ain, who had looked after her since her days as an apprentice mage.

Ain. A truly wonderful man with a beautiful smile.

Ain. A man whose gentle demeanor was more beautiful than anyone else’s.

Ain……

“……Sir Ain.”

As Sylvia used this Archmage’s room in his stead, she had hardly changed any of Ain’s belongings.

Secretly, she would try to catch his faint lingering scent or recall Ain’s image teaching her in this very place.

Tears flowed. Hot droplets streamed down her face and fell onto the pillow, leaving tear stains.

Sylvia’s face contorted with sorrow.

Until now, she had tried hard to smile and show a good front, but there was no need for that anymore.

Ah, uh, ah…… muffled sobs echoed in her ears. Sylvia gritted her teeth, trying to suppress her cries, but the sobs didn’t stop.

“H-h-huk, h-huk…… k-k-kuk, h-huk……”

She had thought it was a prank, a dream.

But there was no way to escape reality with such thoughts. Even ‘when she was young,’ she always escaped; if her master hadn’t been there……

It was a meaningless delusion. There were so many things she wanted to give Ain and tell him when he returned, so much she wanted to make his smiling face hers for the rest of her life.

But life is truly cruel.

She had always run away from reality. It was like that before she came to the Blue Magic Tower, and it was like that before she met Ain.

****

That day was terribly cold. From a young age, she possessed immense talent, but she always disappointed everyone by failing to meet expectations.

Consequently, she was even abandoned by her parents.

At 10 years old, before committing suicide, she headed to the nearby Blue Magic Tower to see the mage she had always dreamed of.

However, she couldn’t see any mages. They were all holed up in the tower, conducting research.

‘Even if I had seen them, I wouldn’t have changed anyway.’

Sylvia gazed blankly up at the Magic Tower with lifeless eyes. Her dull gaze, devoid of any emotion, was hollow and desolate.

A cold wind brushed past her cheek.

Could she just stand there and freeze to death? Sylvia gave a self-deprecating smile, a laugh that seemed to mock herself.

‘As if I’d suddenly find the courage to die now, you fool.’

Just then. The Magic Tower’s door opened, and a mage stepped out. It was a man, dressed in loose-fitting clothes despite the cold winter. He spotted Sylvia and strode towards her.

– ……Who are you?

Sylvia asked, gazing at the man with hollow eyes.

Her voice was flat and emotionless, lacking any intonation. To an outsider, it might have sounded irritable, as if telling him to go away.

However, he smiled gently, as if unconcerned, and bent his knees to meet her eye level.

– I am, well, what should I say? Hmm, I’m Ain, the Archmage of the Blue Magic Tower. Now that I see you, your mana is circulating greatly within your body. You’re a talent that appears perhaps once in a hundred years.

Sylvia couldn’t help but be surprised. The Archmage of the Blue Magic Tower – there could only be five such people in the world. He was someone she would be lucky to see once in a lifetime.

However, Sylvia soon lowered her eyes and bit her lip. This person would be the same. He was merely a moth drawn to her talent. Her expression darkened.

Sylvia spoke, suppressing her emotions as much as possible.

– Archmage? Why someone like me…… I only have a lot of mana, but I don’t know how to use it. Everyone has been disappointed in me. You’ll be disappointed too, Archmage.

The man, Ain, who heard my words, continued to speak with a smile.

– I don’t know why you think I’d be disappointed. I see the qualities of an Archmage in you.

Ain stroked Sylvia’s light sky-blue hair. A warm and soft sensation was felt.

It felt unpleasant. Sylvia bit her lip even harder.

Someone who didn’t know her well was judging her based on a single aspect. The Archmage was human after all.

‘He’ll be disappointed anyway.’ Repeating such words inwardly, Sylvia spoke in a resigned voice.

– An Archmage? Someone like me, that’s impossible.

She had met countless people. And all of them had left her. They were disappointed.

She worked hard, but always caused disappointment. And in the end, it was always her who was abandoned. How ‘cruel’ was this.

She would be abandoned anyway. Left as an unsatisfactory result, she would become a defective product, thrown into the trash.

– It’s okay. Even if you fail, I won’t be disappointed. And……

Ain gave Sylvia a warm smile.

Sylvia stared blankly at Ain.

From her parents, and from everyone else, she had only received gazes of greed.

But in his eyes, only warmth remained.

After a pause, Ain opened his mouth.

What you desire, you must seize yourself.

“Seize……”

Sylvia stopped crying and muttered blankly. Her expression was one of being lost in thought.

The day she first met Ain, and in the years that followed, the day she truly became an Archmage after more arduous effort than anyone else. Ain was there through all her happy days.

Ariina. That person must have been drawn to Ain’s qualities as well. But, but…… but still.

Thump-! Her heart pounded. Mana circulated dynamically throughout her body. The surrounding mana also resonated, gathering into her.

Her magic power began to rampage. Sparks flew with crackling sounds. Within the Magic Tower, endless mana lingered, allowing her to use as much magic as she desired.

Sylvia was a genius at mana manipulation.

Enough to cause miracles if she wished…… Countless amounts of magic power circulated, forming a gigantic magic circle.

A strange light flickered in her blue eyes.

Sylvia grinned. A smile so chillingly cruel.

Life…… is something to be seized.