Magic Academy's Bastard Instructor Chapter 273: Lasting Happiness to You [1]

Vanitas Astrea was dead.

This was not speculation, but a fact.

From what Karina had gathered, he had been found hanging in his cell. The reports labeled it a suicide. Karina scoffed at that notion. Vanitas Astrea was not the kind of man who would end his life so simply.

No, from how the situation unraveled, it was clear that Desmond had struck first.

"...."

A chain of events that should never have happened followed. An accident that led to Charlotte Astrea’s death at the hands of Desmond Wyndale, and in response, Vanitas took matters into his own hands.

None of it made sense.

This was not how things were supposed to happen.

Most importantly, Karina had never once made contact with Vanitas Astrea in this tiline. She had deliberately stayed away, believing it would be safer.

That by removing herself from his life entirely, she could observe what would happen if she had never been by his side to begin with.

And yet, everything still led here.

Premature deaths. People dying in ways they were never ant to. And far earlier than they ever should have.

Karina felt that it was already ti to turn back the clock.

But she hesitated.

If she did it now, she would return with nothing. She needed more information. She needed to understand what had changed. Otherwise, she would only repeat the sa mistake.

"Should I have... stayed by his side?"

Was that the missing piece?

Even so, Karina was no narcissist. She refused to believe that her absence alone could have caused sothing so drastic. That simply not being there would lead to his death.

"But how do I..."

From what she knew, the only reason she had ever entered the Silver University Tower and worked alongside Vanitas in the first place was because of her mother. Without her mother, that path would never have opened.

And in this tiline, it never did.

So what was the missing variable?

If she acted, things went wrong.

If she did nothing, things still went wrong.

"Should I interfere?"

Karina waited.

And then, events began to cascade one after another.

Just like in the present she rembered, the Empress, Olivia Heinrich Aetherion, was dragged before the masses and made an example of, executed not by the hands of the people themselves.

That was the spark.

What followed was inevitable.

A full-scale rebellion ignited across the continent. Streets were drowned in blood. Cities were torn apart as brother turned against brother. In response, Emperor Franz Barielle Aetherion declared martial law, and the Empire of Aetherion descended into a prolonged civil war.

Karina watched it all happen.

And the more she watched, the clearer it beca.

This future was no better.

Perhaps even worse.

The nas changed, so did the timing. The players moved slightly out of place. But the outco remained the sa.

A world tearing itself apart under the consequences of its own contradictions.

A world without Vanitas Astrea.

So what was she ant to do?

Interfere, and risk accelerating the collapse.

Do nothing, and allow it to happen anyway.

Standing at the center of ti, Karina realized the cruel truth.

There was no choice that led to a clean ending.

With that, Karina finally returned to the past.

Because she had remained in the previous tiline for so long, her frequencies had been able to anchor themselves. The transition had no side effects whatsoever, unlike the first ti.

But now, she was back to zero.

Once again, her frequencies were off.

But that was fine.

If the threshold was five years, then she understood the rule now. As long as she stayed alive and remained within a single tiline for two full years, her existence would stabilize.

After that, she could return as many tis as she wished, just as long as her frequencies had anchored themselves.

"Let’s experint..."

First, a key variable had to be restored.

Vanitas Astrea needed to et her mother. Only then could Karina remain by his side.

But day after day, she turned the problem over in her mind, searching for a way to make it happen without destroying the flow of events entirely.

In the end, there was no avoiding interference.

But at least, she would not do it in person.

She chose sothing indirect. Sothing that would not imdiately destroy the sequences.

[Dear, Count Astrea...

A letter.

[I apologize for the suddenness of this letter. I understand that this request may seem strange, and you are under no obligation to honor it.

However, if it is possible, I ask that you visit Beatrice Maeril, currently hospitalized at...

.

.

Please forgive my impertinence. I would not ask this if it were not necessary.

Sincerely,

Karina Maeril]

Karina folded the letter carefully.

That should do it.

This was the smallest push she could manage without a direct confrontation.

Now, all that remained was to see whether fate would accept it.

And to her surprise, it did. Because a day later, Vanitas Astrea did, in fact, visit her mother.

But once more, there was a certain variable that did not add up.

Her stepfather had remained alive, and the Empress had died quietly in her deathbed with no murder involved.

It was odd, and Karina wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do to prevent that. But nevertheless, perhaps this really was a blessing that needed to occur. Karina didn’t pay much attention to it and waited for another four years.

This ti, Karina Maeril was now by Vanitas Astrea’s side, working under him as an assistant Professor at the Silver University Tower. Hopefully, this should solve things.

And to her surprise, it worked.

A day later, Vanitas Astrea did, in fact, visit her mother.

Yet once again, there was a variable that did not align.

Her stepfather remained alive. And the Empress died quietly in her bed, without any murder involved.

It was strange. Karina did not know what she was ant to do to prevent that, or even if it was sothing that needed preventing at all. Perhaps this, too, was a necessary outco.

One of the few corrections she could make that had no consequences.

So she chose not to interfere further.

She waited.

This ti, Karina Maeril was now by Vanitas Astrea’s side, working under him as an assistant professor at the Silver University Tower.

Surely, this would fix things.

"Why..."

But it didn’t.

The sa ripple of events happened. Vanitas Astrea murdered Desmond Wyndale in retaliation for the accidental death of his little sister, Charlotte.

And, inevitably, Vanitas Astrea was found hanging in his cell.

"...."

This ti, Karina returned to the past imdiately without wasting any ti. Surprisingly, despite having remained in that tiline for only four years, her frequencies had aligned cleanly.

There were no side effects to turning back ti.

But there was another problem.

"Damn it..."

Karina was already at least thirty-five years old.

A human lifespan could stretch to one hundred and fifty years, provided one remained healthy and cultivated mana properly.

Even so, each leap through ti cost her dearly at least five years per jump to ensure events would unfold. The ten years she had already burned through was enough to make her feel sick just thinking about it.

...That her ti was limited.

Even if she avoided tearing herself apart by forcing jumps without proper anchoring, there was a very real chance she would simply die of old age if she continued like this.

And yet...

For a better future.

For the eternal happiness of the world.

No, who was she kidding?

For Vanitas Astrea’s eternal happiness.

To atone for her sins.

This was sothing she had to do.

And so, once again, Karina took matters into her own hands.

She repeated the sa sequence of events. The careful positioning of pieces she already knew by heart. But this ti, she did not stop there.

This ti, she interfered directly.

"Who are you?"

"You are a problem that must be erased."

"...?"

Desmond Wyndale was killed by her bloodstained hands with no remorse.

As his body fell still, Karina lowered her trembling arm.

"This will save you... Professor..."

Surely, this ti, it would be enough.

"Why?!"

But it wasn’t.

Once again, Vanitas Astrea died prematurely.

"Why?! Why?! Why?!"

This ti, it was Claude Rosamund.

Through his scheming, he went feral and took the entire university hostage. And in the chaos that followed, Vanitas Astrea was killed in the aftermath.

"I don’t understand..."

Why was it always different?

What was changing?

What was she missing?

Was Desmond Wyndale never ant to die so early?

...Or was Vanitas Astrea always fated to die?

"Why? Just why?! Why?!"

Karina was losing her mind.

So much so that she went on a rampage of her own, killing Claude Rosamund with her own hands.

"What am I doing wrong..."

There was no answer.

Standing before Claude Rosamund’s corpse, Karina slowly lifted her gaze. Blood sared across her face. Moonlight poured down through the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the wreckage around her.

And then, like an epiphany, sothing struck.

There was nothing wrong with her.

Everything was wrong with the Professor.

The Vanitas Astrea she knew was not this stupid. He was not soone who would die so easily. Vanitas Astrea had always been calculating. A man who used every tool at his disposal to survive and win.

And yet, this Vanitas Astrea was weak.

A fool who kept dying again and again and again.

Perhaps that was it.

Perhaps the missing variable was the Empress.

Perhaps Vanitas Astrea needed to experience a specific sequence of events. Perhaps the death of her stepfather and the murder of the Empress, were not mistakes at all, but necessities.

Trials he had to endure to beco who he was ant to be.

"Hahahaha..."

Karina laughed hysterically, the sound echoing through the ruined hall.

With that, she returned to the past.

This ti, not to the usual starting point.

But at least twenty more years further back than before.

That was all she could manage.

But it was enough.

As always, the first step was observation.

This ti, she needed to weave her way into the Empress’s circle. The problem was that she was no noble. She couldn’t just enter the aristocratic salons or political gatherings so simply.

To them, she would be nothing more than a naless ant. Soone who would never be allowed to even glimpse the Empress, much less et her.

So Karina chose another path.

She would enter through service.

If she beca a servant within the Empress’s household, she would not need to fabricate an elaborate background, only to be exposed later on.

But she needed a na.

A na that was not Karina Maeril.

Anything but Karina Maeril.

"I’m... Van..."

For so reason, Vanitas ca to mind.

"...Vanessa."

And just like that, Karina Maeril had beco a newly hired maid nad Vanessa.