episode_0049

“To Ras and Irha’s successful re-examinations, cheers!”

“Cheers!”

With Rosalie’s bubbly and cute toast, Ras and his companions raised their celebratory glasses.

Ras, Rosalie, Irha, Pisces, and Isera had gathered for a celebratory party at ‘Bald Man’s Delight’, which had now become their regular haunt.

Today’s main dish and meal was a traditional Western Sephirothian food called sea god stew.

The bald owner of the restaurant was from the West, and he claimed it was his masterpiece.

It was a type of stew made primarily with chicken, octopus, and abalone, boiled with plenty of vegetables like carrots, potatoes, onions, and bell peppers, along with rich, spicy seasonings.

“This… this is really delicious, Jjuin-nim…!!!!”

“Eat plenty. If you want more, just order it.”

Pisces, who had been poor, was recently awakening to the joys of gourmet food as she tried delicious dishes one by one, and today’s sea god stew seemed to be immensely successful for her.

Her pretty face had been gaunt from always being cooped up like a slave, making strange medicines and barely eating, but recently, with good food and sleep, her face had truly blossomed.

“Hmm… Jjuin-nim… So that’s what it is. Do children these days exchange such words? A peculiar culture.”

“C-caw… scary… Jjuin-nim, that person is scary…”

Isera observed Pisces, whom she was seeing for the first time, with great interest, and our cowardly crow, who was afraid of strong-willed women, cowered immediately.

Yet, she was surprisingly quick to pitifully ask her master for help.

Ras sighed deeply at the pathetic sight, then redirected Isera’s attention to himself.

“Don’t pick on the child while she’s eating. Anyway, it’s nice to have Professor Isera-nim with us this time.”

“Indeed. So, from now on, never leave me out when you gather, Ras.”

Isera spoke with a solemn and dignified expression and voice, but when picked apart, it was essentially, “Don’t leave me out,” making for a rather amusing sight.

“I won’t. It’s more fun when we all gather.”

For the first time in a long while, Ras felt lighthearted and gulped down a mouthful of beer.

“Ah!! Ras~ No drinking alone at the table. Your punishment is to have a drink with Teacher-nim, right?”

However, Rosalie, seeing this, curved her eyes like crescent moons and clinked her glass against Ras’s.

“Ah…! Don’t leave me out. And Rosalie, from now on, no more seductive smiles for my little Ras. You’re old and ugly!”

“Hmph…! You and I are the same age! If you feel it’s unfair, you can clink glasses too! You can do it with Pisces-ssi or Irha! *You* are the one forbidden from approaching our Ras!”

With the bickering of the two professors, and the smiles and laughter of the other companions watching, the noisy dinner time passed peacefully.

One corner of the city was this serene, without a single shadow.

*

At the same time.

Another corner of Delphy, the city known as the cradle of the imperial family, was shrouded in deep shadows and coldness.

This cafe, which Lizley and Emma often frequented, was the very cafe Leon had renovated for his clandestine meetings with Lizley.

Normally, this place was quite amicable, with conversations and smiles exchanged between them.

But today, the cafe was a space completely different from its usual self.

The lighting, temperature, scent, drinks… everything else was the same, but the atmosphere of the ‘people’ inside was different.

“……”

Lizley de Gracia had Emma sitting before her and hadn’t said a word for thirty minutes.

She didn’t even look at Emma, despite having called her here.

She treated Emma as if she weren’t there, while never letting go of her cold and stern expression.

“U-um… Lizley…”

“Who told you you could open your mouth?”

Emma, unable to bear it, tried to call Lizley, but Lizley cut Emma off sharply with a voice colder than ice.

“Ugh… I-I’m sorry… please…”

“Shut your mouth… *Haaah*… Just keep it shut for a bit longer. Seeing your face makes me unbearably irritated. I’m afraid I won’t be able to control my anger if I talk to you.”

Emma stammered out apologies, but Lizley had no intention of accepting them.

Why?

Because Emma was not a friend to Lizley.

To Lizley, who believed that apologies were exchanged between equals, this was not the time to accept Emma’s apology.

Lizley took a slight breath, then opened her mouth, her voice forcibly suppressing her boiling rage.

“Alright… go on, then. Try to make an excuse. Let’s hear how pathetic it is.”

As she spoke, Lizley clenched her fists so tightly that the fine bones in her knuckles turned white.

Numerous nightmarish scenes from earlier were crossing her mind, so clenching her fists was the only way to suppress her anger.

“T-that… the black magic from someone named Lergo didn’t fully take effect. He had boasted with such certainty…”

Emma quickly spouted excuses.

In truth, Emma herself didn’t fully understand how the situation had unfolded, so she had nothing to say beyond pathetic and generic excuses.

Lizley frowned her delicate brow as she listened to Emma’s pathetic excuses.

It was a sight that people like Ras or Leon, who looked down on Lizley, would scoff at, but for Emma, it was an act of living terror.

“I got it verified by Lizley and the Imperial Prince-nim… so I thought there wouldn’t be any problems. In fact, there really weren’t any problems until before today’s test…”

Emma stammered, her voice barely a whisper as if she wanted to crawl into a mouse hole, continuing her excuses, but this only infuriated Lizley further.

“Ah… So you’re saying Leon and I were at fault? That we verified the black magic incorrectly, and you, Emma, simply trusted that and didn’t bother to doubt or verify anything?”

“No…! That’s not what I mean, Lizley…!”

“Your voice. Don’t raise it. That’s a warning, Emma.”

Emma, feeling wronged, protested loudly, but Lizley cut her off sharply, instead threatening Emma.

“From my perspective… the black magic ‘materials’ you brought seemed worthless, didn’t they?”

“But… what more could I do besides stealing personal belongings…? *Gasp*!!”

Emma was still making excuses, but as Lizley emitted cold mana from her entire body, Emma writhed in pain.

Lizley was a fairly competent mage by Leon Academy’s first-year standards, and there was a considerable skill gap between her and Emma, but not to the extent of punishing someone without lifting a finger like this.

It can be concluded that Emma’s pathetic state was due to the immense panic she was feeling about the current situation.

“Emma. Don’t talk back to me. If you were going to confidently, daringly call yourself my blade, you should have meticulously and tenaciously brought the proper materials. Whether by employing people or spending money.”

“Ugh… sob… I-I’m sorry… I was wrong…”

As Lizley withdrew her mana, Emma’s eyes welled up with tears and she fell to her knees.

Still kneeling, Emma crawled towards Lizley, bowed her head, and begged for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you somehow, please forgive me. Please don’t cast me aside, and don’t hate me…”

Emma pleaded and implored like someone out of her mind, her eyes spinning wildly.

Lizley let out a cold sigh and looked at Emma as if she were a worm.

“*Haaah*… Make it up… You, of all people? Last time, with the succubus’s tear incident… yes… even Leon wouldn’t have known Irha would do such a foolish thing, so that can be considered an accident. But this time? It’s simply because you’re incompetent.”

While this opinion was close to the truth, Lizley’s way of speaking was akin to slander, which she herself didn’t consider as she spoke.

Because even if Lizley had handled the matter herself instead of Emma, the outcome wouldn’t have been much different.

In other words, objectively, neither of them was particularly capable of dealing with Ras.

“Keep to yourself. Don’t go around acting rashly for a while. Instead, recover the penalty fee and bring it to me. I’ve also incurred significant financial losses due to the money I invested this time.”

“T-that… actually, I was short on funds… so I borrowed money, Lizley…”

Emma squeezed her eyes shut and confessed a truth she hadn’t dared to tell Lizley yet.

“What…? You borrowed money? Why didn’t you tell me that… No, who did you borrow from?”

“*Sob*… From a loan shark at Lergo’s workshop… Lergo said he wouldn’t deal with me unless I paid in a lump sum immediately. He even threatened to cut ties with you… so I took out a private loan…”

“You idiot! Do you even know where that money came from, using a loan shark? Do you not know how malicious those who deal in black money are? Why would you do something like that without consulting me…!”

At the mention of private loans, Lizley exclaimed in shock.

“Well… anyway, there’ll be compensation… so it would be compensated for…”

“Emma. You truly don’t seem to think. Honestly, I don’t even know what difference there is between you and that idiot Irha.”

Lizley cut off Emma’s stammering excuses, then, as if disgusted, gave up on getting angry and turned her head.

“If, by any chance… your messy debt situation reaches your family, and then our family, whom you serve as masters… you’d best abandon any thoughts of keeping your life.”

Lizley had a rough understanding of how loan sharks operated.

Her family had borrowed money from underworld loan sharks and suffered greatly for it, and it was Etgard who had repaid that debt, thereby seizing the Gracia family’s leash.

Loan sharks were the filthy lot who, knowing all sorts of dark secrets about a family’s flaws, would cling to them relentlessly.

They were the kind of people who, in the process of collecting money, would subtly cross between legal and illegal boundaries, tampering with every aspect of a debtor’s life, including their family, household, relatives, and more.

It was not uncommon for Emma’s small personal debt to flow to the Agnelli family, and then for the debt taken on by the Agnelli family to reach the Gracia family, whom they served as masters.

“D-don’t worry about that. Anyway… if I get the penalty fee from Lergo, it’ll be enough to cover it… Lizley, I’ll somehow repay the losses you’ve incurred… please don’t cast me aside, saying I’m useless…”

Emma was still pleading with Lizley in this situation, but her brain wasn’t sharp enough to calmly assess the situation.

Emma couldn’t grasp that Lizley was holding a material and emotional debt over Emma, and intended to continue using her as a shield and a dog in the future.

Until now, Lizley had treated her as a somewhat equal friend, but from now on, she would be exploited like a maid, literally, using this as an excuse…

Lizley was thoroughly and viciously brainwashing Emma to completely forget that Emma’s involvement with black magic was due to Lizley’s ‘command’.

“This is your last chance. From now on, I won’t forgive even small mistakes or failures. If I tell you to throw away your life, throw it. If I tell you to abandon your pride, abandon it. Understand?”

“Yes… I’ll definitely do that. Please forgive me just this once…”

“Then leave. I need to clear my thoughts, and my head hurts right now.”

As Lizley waved her hand, as if exasperated, ordering her to leave, Emma walked out weakly, sniffling.

“*Haaah*… Are you satisfied?”

A moment later, a dark corner of the cafe flickered, and a figure emerged.

“Your skill at training people is quite good. I thought you were too soft to properly harm or handle anyone, whether it was Ras or Emma… I underestimated you.”

Leon, having released his concealment magic, hovered around Lizley with an expression as if immensely entertained.

“Yes… this is how it should be. Marisa is no fun at all. Well, she’s the kind of woman who puts up thorns so sharp you can’t even touch her fingertips, but…”

“Please don’t talk about other women in front of me.”

When Lizley retorted harshly with a voice full of inferiority, Leon chuckled and stroked Lizley’s head.

“Right, that was my mistake. Anyway… now you can even complain appropriately to me… you’ve become much cuter, our Lizley.”

“Gasp…”

“Well… Lergo is quite a difficult person, so I wonder if Emma didn’t upset him somehow… Anyway, your subordinate feels a bit incompetent, Lizley.”

“That’s… true. It seems it’s time to cut ties… *Haaah*…”

At Leon’s continued advice, Lizley simply agreed obediently with Leon, without a single thought of retort.

In this way, Lizley sometimes had to display jealousy and spite, and at other times had to obey without resistance and keep her mouth shut.

The standard was Leon’s mood at any given time, and it was entirely Lizley’s responsibility to discern it.

Naturally, adapting to Leon was an extremely exhausting task, and so, Lizley too was feeling an increasing emotional fatigue these days.

In this situation, what sustained and maintained her was the hollow desire to climb higher now that she had started, and her inferiority complex regarding Marisa.

And most recently added, the goal of ‘making Ras regret [his actions]’…

Because these were not proper motivations, Lizley was dancing an uneasy dance atop such sandcastle-like driving forces, which could collapse at any moment.

‘Ras… if I had simply met you, would I have been happy?’

Of course, Lizley herself didn’t know, but in truth, she was not a proper human being, so even if she had met a pure-hearted Ras, she would not have been happy.

Love was too heavy for someone unqualified like her to possess.

After a brief moment of doubt, Lizley simply reached a conclusion truly characteristic of her.

‘No… rather than such thoughts, someday I’ll just make you regret [your actions]… become obsessed with me again… and suffer, unable to ever reach me… that’s what I’ll do.’

She etched this resolve into her heart, unheard by anyone, but because it was a wish that could never be fulfilled, the resolve felt particularly hollow.

Just like the hollow cafe in a corner of the city.