Chapter 77: I Saw Sothing I Shouldn't Have Seen
At dawn, a faint ray of light spilled across the Royal Capital as the red sun slowly crested the horizon.
Auréliane had arrived early, waiting before the main gate of the Clavena Family Manor, a small army of guards standing behind her. Clad in cold iron armor, gripping heavy blades, each of them braced an oddly shaped shield before them—shields whose sheer length made them look cumberso to carry.
Having received the Emperor's orders early that morning, they had been dispatched to protect Auréliane at the break of day.
With royalty arriving, the Maidservant dared not delay. She hurried toward the Manor.
"Your Highness, I'll go inform the Master of the house at once."
"No need."
"What student makes their teacher wait for them? I'll go find my teacher myself."
Auréliane spoke up suddenly, and the Maidservant, who had already turned to leave, stopped in her tracks at those words.
Though sowhat conflicted, the weight of the royal na was simply too great. The Maidservant yielded inwardly and slowly pushed open the Manor gate.
Auréliane glanced sideways at the guard beside her.
"Cilia."
"Here."
"If you want to co in with , then upon eting my teacher, you must absolutely not be as discourteous as last ti."
Cilia gave a nod and answered with a quiet "Yes."
The 2 of them entered the Clavena Manor one after the other, passing through the gate.
"Your Highness the Princess, at this hour, Mr. Viktor should be in his Study reading."
Auréliane nodded and followed the Maidservant's lead to Viktor's Study.
She had just reached the second floor, her heart full of anticipation, already turning over in her mind how to greet her teacher when she saw him—
Then the scene in front of the Study door stopped her cold.
Standing before Viktor was a girl.
Though the oversized robe draped over her fra concealed part of her appeal, it was still plain to see that she was beautiful—carrying with her a natural air that stirred an instinctive tenderness in those who looked at her.
Who was that?
The next second, Auréliane's eyes went wide.
The girl looked as though she were anticipating sothing, watching as Viktor reached out a hand and patted—patted—the top of her head.
She looked utterly satisfied, grinning with a foolish, blissful smile. Then, as if catching herself, her face flushed red and she hastily bowed to Viktor.
"Thank you, Professor! I'm off to work!"
Then she ca rushing toward the staircase in a flustered scurry.
As she passed Auréliane, she nearly stumbled and lost her footing. Noticing Auréliane, she politely gave a small bow before continuing on.
Auréliane stood there, faintly rigid, having even forgotten to return the courtesy.
By the ti she turned to look again, the girl had already trotted down the stairs and gone.
"Auréliane."
Viktor's cool, emotionless voice reached her from further down the hall. Auréliane snapped back to her senses and instinctively looked toward him.
"Tea—teacher."
Viktor stood at the Study doorway and cast her an indifferent glance before turning and walking back inside.
He left the door open. Auréliane understood that was his way of inviting her in.
She stepped forward, just a little timid.
Once inside, Cilia closed the door behind Auréliane.
Viktor sat in his chair. The Crow atop the desk drowsed at its leisure.
Auréliane stood before Viktor, her heart faintly unsettled.
She had half-expected her unannounced arrival to have irritated him—but that didn't seem to be it.
After she entered, Viktor made almost no motion whatsoever.
He held a book in hand, turning a page now and then, appearing quite absorbed.
As though sothing occurred to him, Viktor didn't even raise his head—he simply extended one hand.
A chair materialized behind Auréliane.
"Sit."
A single, clipped word, yet it carried an authority that brooked no refusal.
Auréliane clasped her hands behind her back, her ice-pale fingers gliding forward along the long hem of her skirt as she lowered herself with grace—like a noble white swan folding its feathers—and settled into the chair.
Auréliane had actually been wanting to ask sothing all along—about the girl she had just seen, for one—but before she could even open her mouth, a book dropped from thin air above her.
She caught it quickly. The cover had no title, not even an author's na.
But it was thick. Curiosity stirring within her, she opened it.
Inside were records on all manner of Magical Creatures—their classifications, habits, weaknesses, and more.
What struck Auréliane most was that the Magical Creatures she had already encountered were docunted here in far greater detail than anything she had found in printed books—right down to the creatures' attack patterns and the intervals between them.
Auréliane took Viktor's lessons very seriously. The battle two days ago had made her want to learn more about wild Magical Creatures—so that she could die a little less in future lessons and spare her teacher the trouble.
So she had deliberately spent a long stretch of ti in the library the day before, doing nothing but reading up on those Magical Creatures.
As the royal family's library, it naturally housed an enormous collection of Magical Creature illustrations and references.
But now, looking at the record Viktor had handed her, Auréliane understood—those resources weren't half as complete as what was written in this Field Journal.
This Field Journal deserved to be called an encyclopedia.
Auréliane was baffled.
Had… her teacher prepared this specifically for her?
"Make sure to read it thoroughly. morize it. It'll serve you well."
Viktor's voice fell quietly, and after that, not another word ca from him.
He returned in silence to his reading.
Seeing this, Auréliane settled quietly into her own seat as well.
She opened the Field Journal and had only glanced through 2 pages when she found herself already absorbed.
Even the passage of ti around her slipped from her awareness.
She didn't know how much ti had passed before a voice broke through her imrsion.
"Ti to go."
Auréliane looked up to see Viktor closing his book and rising from his chair.
The drowsing Crow spread its wings and took its perch on his shoulder.
Only then did Auréliane co back to herself. She quickly set the book aside and stood as well.
She had assud today's lesson was about to begin—but then she heard Viktor say:
"Today I'm taking you sowhere good."
Sowhere good?
Auréliane was a little muddled. Before she could think on it further, the Teleportation Formation on the floor had already begun to glow faintly.
Cilia caught sight of the teleportation magic appearing on the ground and imdiately grew anxious.
"I have to go with the Princess!"
As the Princess's personal bodyguard, how could she keep being left behind by Viktor? If the Princess were to spend ti alone with Viktor again and sothing went wrong—
She might well lose her head over it.
But Viktor's cold voice had already spoken.
"My apologies."
"Only 1 person."
Hmmm—
The resonant hum of the Formation rang out sharply. In an instant, both figures turned to 2 streaks of blue light, shooting out through the Study window and vanishing into the distant sky.
Cilia was left alone in the empty Study, staring blankly out the window as a naless surge of fury blazed up inside her.
Damn you, Viktor!
You've gone and spirited the Princess away again!
***
The light gradually faded. Auréliane and Viktor reappeared atop a towering, sheer cliff.
The sky was blanketed in dark clouds, jagged bolts of lightning splitting the heavens at intervals.
A bitter wind cut between the mountain faces, its chill raising the fine hairs all over Auréliane's body.
She gazed down at the yawning, bottomless abyss below, where cold gusts howled up from the valley floor like a chorus of countless wailing wraiths.
Ahead lay a vast, ink-black ocean of surging, churning waves.
Auréliane found her breathing going strange, as if sothing peculiar had taken hold of her legs—turning them weak and leaden beneath her, barely enough to hold her upright.
This was the good place Teacher Viktor had ntioned?
She wasn't really expected to have her lesson here today, was she?
But Viktor's expression was entirely calm, letting the cold wind billow through his Coat.
"This place is… the Talin Abyss."
"A frontier land of the Empire."
Auréliane's voice had gone slightly small, her breathing still labored.
"Teacher… why have we co here?"
Viktor produced the Invitation, pinched it lightly, and tossed it skyward.
The envelope, as though guided by so invisible force, rose steadily into the air on the wind.
Then—a flash of brilliance tore through the sky. That clear rift in the heavens grew wider and wider, and from within that radiant gap, the silhouette of a floating island slowly erged.
That was Endymion.
The City of Mages appeared in a different location every day, but it never entered the borders of any nation.
So Viktor had needed to wait for Endymion's coordinates to align with the Empire's frontier—then use a Teleportation Formation to reach this spot.
The Teleportation Formation prepared through the night had been readied for exactly this mont.
A beam of white light descended gradually, wrapping itself around Viktor.
"Your Highness the Princess, please take my hand."
Auréliane blinked, then reached out and took Viktor's hand.
A flash of light—and Auréliane closed her eyes.
Their bodies began to rise slowly from the ground. The sensation was extraordinary to Auréliane, as though her soul had been suddenly freed to soar unbounded through the sky, weightless and effortless.
She felt herself gliding through the open heavens.
Gradually, she lost herself in that feeling of freedom.
When the bright light faded, she heard a familiar voice:
"You can open your eyes now."
She slowly lifted her eyelids—and the scene before her made the world feel utterly unreal.
Rings of Formation patterns etched with Runes floated above the island. The structures built upon the suspended rocks appeared to be in a constant state of fracturing, only to reassemble themselves chaotically the very next second.
As if caught in so strange condition teetering on the boundary between order and chaos.
They collided with one another from ti to ti, and the great boulders beneath would go hurtling off in the opposite direction from the impact.
The entirety of the castle was also draped in all manner of bizarre flora.
There were blossoms with lion-shaped heads, and Leopard-Head Grass beside them drooling over the flowers.
They were probably dood never to bear fruit.
There were also small winged pigs gliding through the sky, nudging at the multicolored bubbles drifting through the air.
Oddly, the rocks would drift into the bubbles as well—yet rather than popping them, the bubbles seed to give like sponge, gently bouncing the rocks away.
As for the pigs—the instant they burst a bubble, they simply vanished without a trace.
Auréliane had never seen a place like this before. She was imdiately drawn to the iridescent bubbles floating everywhere, and her curious hand nearly reached out to poke one.
"Pop one, and no one knows where you'd end up."
Hearing Viktor's warning, Auréliane pulled her restless hand back.
She silently prayed that the flying piglets were safe and sound.
Before long, a Mage ca out to receive them.
A pristine white cloud drifted slowly toward them. A long-eared Elf rubbed her drowsy eyes, ran her fingers through her long teal hair, and looked up at the 2 of them.
Pink flower petals swirled around the cloud. The Elf Mage extended 2 pale, slender, gracefully shaped legs from the cloud.
She was just about to speak, then caught herself and swallowed the words. She smoothed down the white cloud around her, and only then opened her mouth again:
"You must be Viktor."
"I've been waiting for you ages."
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