Chapter 91
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: The Relayed Recording
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“From the professor?”
When Radia asked, Elin shrugged and cracked a light joke.
It was a sign she couldn’t make heads or tails of it, while also hinting at the story behind acquiring this magic stone.
Before long, Radia found herself rolling the recording magic stone around in her palm, lost in thought.
Lowering her gaze slightly, she spotted the gem clearly embedded with vivid starlight.
Considering this mineral had been an exquisite jewel before becoming a magic stone, starlight of this caliber wasn’t so surprising.
That said, the gem itself was rare, and one this size—fitting neatly in the hand—with such deep asterism could only be handled by a select few.
‘To be precise, only a select few would buy it.’
The Pisvolt family sprang to mind, for one.
A grand ducal house second to none in the empire.
You could cram two ducal families together and they still might not measure up to a single Pisvolt.
For Aiden, heir to such a house, procuring a magic stone this size would be child’s play.
“But Professor Aiden wouldn’t do anything so flashy.”
Radia cautiously replayed their earlier conversation.
“Professor Aiden’s riding high in popularity. He quelled that whole mess, after all.”
“Then it’s safe to assume everyone’s got eyes on me. Even my annex out front—reporters camped out, keeping quiet.”
“R…ight?”
“So for the ones behind the attack, isn’t now the perfect time? They don’t even have to shadow me themselves—the press does it for them, reporting my every move.”
‘The man who said the current situation makes it hard to act. The one who finds all this fame a nuisance…….’
For such a Professor Aiden to requisition a family magic stone?
Whether good or ill, word could spread.
‘If it’s not from Professor Aiden…….’
Her thoughts inevitably turned to other houses of equal stature.
Marquis or duke… or perhaps the imperial family.
Radia rolled the feather quill’s shaft that Elin had set aside.
‘The strongest bet is that Her Highness Princess Lilian brought it from the palace.’
Catching Radia’s mutter, Elin laid out the full story of how she’d gotten the magic stone.
“It’s not Professor Aiden’s voice on it. And he didn’t hand it over himself.”
“Then why are you so sure it’s from Professor Aiden?”
“I could smell his scent in the recording.”
Radia nodded.
Fair enough, then.
No—temporary fame aside, he was the only one who’d pass them something this pricey.
“Lianel sunbae gave it to me. The voice inside? Total stranger. Sounds like she’s reading from a script, but Professor Aiden’s turn of phrase bleeds through.”
“Relayed through several hands, then.”
There was good reason to pass it on secretly, dodging prying eyes.
Putting it together, Radia mulled over the name Lianel—then shot her a sharp, suspicious look.
“No way that Lianel’s Lady Lianel Roosevelt, daughter of the count?”
“Ah, yeah. You know her?”
“The professor called her something like the elevator gatekeeper.”
Elin faltered for a split second.
“El…evator gatekeeper. Lianel sunbae’d probably take that personally.”
They’d met in front of the elevator every time Elin dropped by the Magic Department, so that was Professor Aiden’s standing take.
“Lianel sunbae’s gorgeous, and such a sweet personality…….”
“W-well, Professor Aiden’s takes run that way! B-but how’d you two get close?”
Radia coughed to smooth over her hasty cover and reset the mood.
“Ah, that’s… call it a happy accident.”
“You can’t say?”
“No, it’s not that. Just—don’t judge it weird.”
Don’t judge it weird?
Radia cocked her head, and Elin let out a groan.
“I was kinda drifting on the edges until that attack blew up. Blame my personality.”
“I’d heard.”
“So you know Lianel sunbae confessed to Professor Aiden?”
Radia and Lianel weren’t tight, but Lianel’s rep in the Magic Department meant Radia had caught wind of it a few times.
Even without that, up until Elin arrived, calling Lianel the department’s top dog wouldn’t have been a stretch.
‘Even now, strip away spirits and pure magic skill? Lianel’s got the edge.’
Growth trajectory said Elin might overtake her in months, but right now, no ignoring it.
‘A confession, though?’
“Guess not. Happened early semester.”
“Ah… early semester.”
Radia recalled the chaos: magic wolves bursting out during field training.
Too slammed for stray gossip to register.
“So what of it?”
“She got turned down flat. Lianel sunbae.”
“Yeah, picturing that professor dating? Can’t wrap my head around it.”
Put kindly, he was oblivious as a rock with women; put harshly, he treated them like actual rocks—something off there.
“So, uh, I was fine floating along, but Lianel sunbae wouldn’t quit. Kept pushing to get close to Professor Aiden.”
“And you went along with it?”
“More like she beat me to it—dashed over before I answered. Then… academy half-wrecked, Lianel sunbae sees Professor Prezel in that state, feels sorry for her or whatever.”
Radia listened closely to Elin.
“So she started looking out for me, yeah? That’s the gist of how we bonded—and on the magic stone…….”
Elin eyed the stone in Radia’s hand again.
“Her Highness the Princess slipped it to Lianel sunbae—subtly asking for a peek at Magic Department reconstruction. Lianel held onto it, then passed it my way.”
“Anything she said when she gave it to you?”
“Deliver it to Radia sunbae.”
Meaning the princess and Professor Aiden—somehow—knew of Lianel’s tie to her, and routed it through.
“That’s the read.”
Radia got it, then channeled mana into the recording magic stone.
─Contact Count Roosevelt. In Princess Lilian’s name, request internal palace intelligence.
The recording was blunt, shorter than expected.
A middle-aged woman’s voice, tough to pin down.
But the signature clipped diction, the ironclad resolve baked into the script—it evoked someone specific.
Radia bought Elin’s hunch.
“Definitely from Professor Aiden. Telling me to reach out to Court Count Roosevelt.”
“But contacting her own father—why route through Lianel sunbae…….”
“She figures she’s under watch.”
That invited deeper rumination.
Why? By whom? To what end?
“Her Highness the Princess.”
She sat at the relay’s heart.
Meaning Princess Lilian was tangled in this.
Lianel skipping a direct line to her father? To keep surveillance on the princess from shifting.
‘Someone’s watching Her Highness.’
Hence, Princess Lilian hands the stone to Lianel—aiming for Elin.
Elin to Radia.
“Looping it this indirectly screams top secrecy. Urgent need for palace intel.”
String it all together, and one conclusion emerged.
“Princess Lilian’s academy stint might not have been planned.”
“Huh?”
“More like fleeing some plot to oust her.”
“Wait, how do you…….”
“After you ducked into the room, Professor Aiden said: princess enrolling’s prime time for enemies to scheme.”
Aiden’s words alone let Radia reach this far.
Elin, though—who’d been inside—looked baffled.
“He did?”
Brushing off Elin’s fluster, Radia narrowed her eyes.
“Thought the ‘dig around’ bit was just talk… He dangled a monster hook.”
“This ties to the heretical mages?”
Radia shook her head—then her eyes sharpened.
“No clue. But if they’re gunning for us, we dig back.”
Right—no option but to probe.
Radia gazed out the foggy window.
Drizzle pattering against layer upon layer of thick, sun-choking storm clouds—the capital wore a matching pall.
Imperial family clamping down on public opinion to smother unrest; with opinion muzzled, eyes and ears shuttered tight. People hunkered down.
Before long, that unease metastasized into rumors.
The capital’s cursed.
Murk from gods-know-where origin, to gods-know-where end.
Back-alley chatter everywhere—yet so ubiquitous, pinning the source? Needle in a haystack……
Mere rumor.
Radia’s long brows twitched.
‘Something snags.’
Fleeting instinct, but the unknown foe sparked it—and that faceless rumor ghosted through her mind.
Absurd link for two nonsense threads, yet it tugged hard at her gut.
“…I’ll reach out to Court Count Roosevelt first. My station might not snag a private sit-down, but Lianel probably tipped him off right—he’ll bite.”
Separate from her status as the Drake family’s eldest daughter, he was a court count rivaling dukes.
Emperor-backed Count Roosevelt might stiff even a duke’s daughter.
Doubly so over magic stone comms.
“Politics is a beast.”
“Yeah. Beast you can’t dodge.”
For all her words, Radia weighed hers carefully.
The vibe felt wrong.
Aiden roping in a court count? That snagged too.
‘What’s brewing, exactly.’
Ri Sete Academy—the capital’s pride—had just crumbled days ago.
Now, subsurface, some foul conspiracy she couldn’t see.
No more writing this off as someone else’s mess.
“Elin, stick tight to Lianel. Looks like she’s Aiden’s go-between.”
Bonus: keep tabs on Her Highness’s moves.
Elin nodded assent, then fired back.
“What’ll you do, Radia sunbae?”
“Eh, ah… Me? Just…….”
Radia flashed a grin.
“Gonna flip the board a little.”
No more leaning solely on Professor Aiden.