Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Blue Pine Festival (11)
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In life, there are times when you inevitably face a massive sense of betrayal and shock from the most unexpected places.
It's a situation that can arise no matter the issue...
"......"
At the very least, in this moment, for the grand archmage known by the moniker Ice Empress, Seol Ha-yeon, it was quite simply...
A matter between man and woman.
Mysterious silver hair and clear blue eyes that evoked a sense of purity. Unlike moments before, she now appeared as a 'twenty-five-year-old' and stood by the riverbank of Blue Pine Academy.
The gently flowing river was little more than a stream. Yet it was enough to hold her blank gaze as she stared down at it vacantly.
She recalled the memory.
From when?
It wasn't from long ago. Perhaps just an hour earlier? Maybe two hours had passed, but that wasn't important.
The key was that, just a few hours prior, the match between two second-year students at the academy had delivered an enormous shock to Seol Ha-yeon.
Because her disciple, Lee Hyun-jin, had nearly lost to Cheon So-yul? Because he had almost shown a humiliating display to her rival, the Myriad Thunders, Cheon Se-hee...?
Of course not. In truth, such penalties held little meaning for Seol Ha-yeon.
Sure, if her beloved disciple, whom she'd brought home and taught every single day for the past five years, were to 'of all people' lose to a lightning mage, it would pain her heart.
But at the very least, the reason for her current mental breakdown wasn't that.
"Hic."
Seol Ha-yeon suddenly felt her eyes growing moist. Tears? She brushed her cheek in surprise, and sure enough, it came away wet.
Thanks to the trait of her 'Frozen Core,' even her tears were chillingly cold.
Normally, she wouldn't have paid such a minor issue any mind. But to the emotional Seol Ha-yeon right now, even that felt overwhelmingly sorrowful.
So, she pulled her knees up to her chest, buried her face, and sobbed quietly.
The tiny 'hueeng' sounds escaping her lips felt truly heartbreaking. Even a passerby would have turned their head with a pitying glance.
"Hmeueng......"
Rubbing her eyes with her sleeves while letting out those odd, sputtering sounds, she thought.
What had gone wrong? Had it been a mistake to send her disciple to this Blue Pine Academy under the pretext of new experiences and faster growth?
Because she'd let him go to a place beyond her sight and reach, had something horrific happened without her knowing...?
"......My, my disciple, sniff."
Unable to hold back, she wailed her disciple's name, Lee Hyun-jin, and tilted her head back.
The sunset of early evening filled her view as she gazed at the sky.
Now, one thing to clarify here: Seol Ha-yeon, the grand archmage and Ice Empress, known as Korea's greatest talent.
She was one of the few who knew Lee Hyun-jin's most secretive truth, one even his parents were unaware of.
"......"
No, she 'had been' one of them... Seol Ha-yeon corrected herself inwardly, forcing down the excruciating pain in her chest.
She clutched at her heart, swallowing sobs, but the sky mercilessly continued to swallow the sun.
The sky had darkened before she knew it.
Night had fallen.
Yet Seol Ha-yeon's reverie showed no sign of ending. How could it?
The one-sided love she'd harbored for five long years—what she'd inwardly believed was mutual—had come crashing down.
This was heartbreak. Seol Ha-yeon even foolishly wondered if this was how Ryu Jin-seong had felt when she'd coldly rejected his proposal.
Not that she should compare herself to someone like Ryu Jin-seong, who had lost his emotions(?).
'......Disciple, I think I'm going crazy. It's because of you, so come quickly and comfort me.'
Seol Ha-yeon wiped away the last of her nearly spilled tears, stifling a groan.
Even as people passed by her side and behind her, their conversation topics remained the same.
"Did you hear? The relationship between Cheon-sunbaenim's youngest daughter and the Ice Empress's disciple is actually..."
"Oh, yeah. Pretty bold, huh? To think of leaking a unique magic to an outsider."
"......"
To put it bluntly, this was the cause stirring inner demons in Seol Ha-yeon right now. And not just her—the incident from today's match had spread quite widely.
Seol Ha-yeon curled her toes tightly, unable to utter a word.
All the other spectators, including Cheon Se-hee, seemed to have concluded the series of events as 'Cheon So-yul leaking her unique magic.'
But that wasn't the case for Seol Ha-yeon.
She knew the true cause and effect. She hadn't heard it directly from the parties involved, but there were circumstances she couldn't help but know.
Until just half a year ago, she alone knew about her disciple Lee Hyun-jin's trait...
Seol Ha-yeon, who had perhaps felt a strange mix of pride and smugness about that fact.
Now, even that pride had crumbled pathetically—utterly pathetically.
The man she'd loved for five years had secretly grown intimate with another woman. What could hurt more than that?
It wasn't as if he'd confessed his feelings to her, or as if Seol Ha-yeon had explicitly forbidden her disciple from any man-woman relations.
Still, emotions were emotions. An overwhelmingly complex mood swept through Seol Ha-yeon's heart.
A sorrow so deep she couldn't even praise her disciple for completing that brilliant fusion magic.
"......Ahaha......"
Feeling a deep self-loathing, she rose from her spot. She'd always prided herself on being the closest to her disciple, yet now this felt like the most ridiculous thing ever.
With staggering steps, she headed toward the academy's convenience store.
She craved alcohol. Craved the haze of intoxication. She wasn't one to enjoy drinking much, but today she wanted to make an exception...
*Ding-*
With that, she bought a can of beer.
She trudged back to her original spot.
Seol Ha-yeon plopped down haphazardly on the grassy riverbank with glazed eyes, rummaged through the black plastic bag, and pulled out the canned beer.
To reiterate, she wanted booze! Today, of all days, she wanted to get thoroughly wasted and lose her mind.
"Hey, over there!"
But to others, it must have looked entirely different.
Seol Ha-yeon turned at the sudden flippant voice.
Three men, all with flushed faces, shaking their drinks as they stared at her. Their intentions were so obvious it was pathetic.
Seol Ha-yeon's expression naturally darkened.
"We were just about to have a drink ourselves. Wanna join us? Oh, and we'll cover the snacks, of course..."
"No thanks."
She brushed off the spokesman effortlessly and stood up.
Right now, she had no desire to waste emotions on such nonsense.
Adjusting her apparent age to 'twenty-five' must have invited this. Well, her Ice Empress form was 'eighteen'...
She sighed inwardly, figuring it was inevitable, and tried to leave.
"Come on, haha, don't be like that."
But the men were more persistent than she'd thought. Their lust-filled eyes were locked on Seol Ha-yeon's ample chest.
One man approached and grabbed her wrist without a word. Utterly rude.
"Drinking canned beer alone looks so cheap. Just come with us already?"
"......"
Seol Ha-yeon's gaze had turned chillingly cold, beyond which it couldn't sink further.
The constant chill swirling around her evoked absolute zero...
It was the moment the men, still failing to recognize her and crossing the line.
Instead, a hand appeared that twisted the arm of the man gripping her wrist.
*Crack!*
"Ack...?!"
The man's eyes widened hugely. The sharp pain invading his body must have instantly sobered him from his drunken haze.
He instinctively staggered back, clutching his wrist frantically.
"I didn't even break it, and you're making such a fuss."
The young man's voice who swatted his arm away was utterly nonchalant, as if he'd done nothing wrong.
Lee Hyun-jin brushed the ground with his foot. *Crackle!* An ice wall formed naturally.
And with a glare laced with cold hostility at the three men before him, he said,
"Do you have any business with my master?"
It was polite speech, but hardly respectful.
And even if they hadn't recognized the disguised Seol Ha-yeon, they instantly knew the face of today's academy star.
They glanced back at Seol Ha-yeon belatedly, jaws dropping, then paled and fled in haste.
"......"
Seol Ha-yeon stared blankly.
She looked up at Lee Hyun-jin.
Lee Hyun-jin sneered at the three men, then turned to her.
His gaze was markedly warmer than the expression he'd worn moments ago.
"Master."
He parted his lips.
"Y-Yes? Oh, y-yes, uh...?"
Seol Ha-yeon stammered in reply, her voice tense and far from her usual composure, overwhelmed by panic.
*Thump, thump.* The source of the pounding heartbeat needed no explanation—it was her.
Even a mage whose everything was frozen had a living heart. It was Seol Ha-yeon's personal creed, but she'd never expected it to shine in a moment like this.
Her face flushing deeply, she gazed up intently at her disciple.
And then.
*Splash!*
Lee Hyun-jin splashed her with water he'd warmly heated.
"...?!"
Seol Ha-yeon's eyes bulged wide, but it was already too late.
"Ah, hot...?!"
She hopped in place, tears welling as she raised her guard.
Far too late, though.
*Fizzle......*
Her not-insubstantial height, superior figure, mature and lovely appearance—all of it melted away before the warm water.
Her height shrank, her chest flattened, her mature look turned youthful. Only her loveliness remained.
"Aaaah...?!"
Her innate trait of 'adjusting appearance age,' now fused with the Frozen Core from the dungeon, unraveled pathetically from just a dousing of warm water.
Regardless of her owner's shocked cry, Seol Ha-yeon's body began shrinking steadily...