Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A Passionate Reunion
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Allen and Rachel, savoring their passionate reunion, finally moved when Rachel's cheeks, under the stare of a passing maid, flushed so red they looked ready to burst.
They relocated to an outdoor table in the flower garden.
“You… ahem, you’ve changed a little, haven’t you? You weren’t this bold before…”
*Flutter, flutter—*
Fanning her face with her hand as if she were hot, she stole glances at him.
Flushed cheeks and sparkling sky-blue eyes. A sharp nose, pink lips, and the gently softened corners of her eyes. A faint scent of lily of the valley emanated from her.
“Is that so? It’s been a while. I suppose I must have missed you.”
When he replied with a bright smile, she stared at him intently.
“You.”
Her blush had faded, and her eyes narrowed with suspicion. She spoke with a firm tone.
“Tell me the truth. Who is she?”
“What?”
What was she talking about? Who?
She seemed to be convinced of something.
“Which woman is it? I knew it, something felt strange. You’re not the type to act like this.”
She nodded as if she finally understood. It seemed she was under a grave misunderstanding.
“That’s right, you said you hired a new maid, didn’t you? Don’t tell me…”
No, how could she possibly reach that conclusion from this conversation?
“If you tell me now, I’ll kill that… no, no… Just tell me the truth. How far did you go? A peck? No, you wouldn’t be like this over just that. A kiss? No, surely not… you s—!”
*Smooch—*
Her eyes widened into circles.
Her lips parted slightly, her body frozen in surprise. He stole a few more kisses from her lips.
*Rustle, rustle—*
The sound of their clothes brushing in the wind seemed unusually loud.
“No, there’s no other woman. I swear on my mana. Do you believe me now?”
As he declared this, a faint wave of energy spread from his body. As a mage herself, she would know the weight of such a vow.
“Oh, uh… No, it’s not that I, well, suspected you…”
She hid her now pink-again cheeks, unable to meet his gaze. Her lake-like eyes darted back and forth, avoiding his.
“W-well, you know? Suddenly hugging me, crying… whispering sweet nothings… Even in that book, *The 49 Symptoms of a Cheating Man*…”
What in the world had she been reading? Allen hid his bemused expression and let out a small laugh.
Well, it was understandable.
From her perspective, a man who couldn’t even properly express his affection a few months ago was now being incredibly bold. It was natural for her to think that way.
‘Though I should probably stop her from reading such strange books…’
“Still… I quite like you being like this.”
She cast her eyes down shyly and smiled brightly.
As if mesmerized, Allen took her hand, and just as their faces were about to draw closer…
“Sister! *Sob*, Sister… Sister… *Waaah*…”
An uninvited guest barged in.
The person who had interrupted their long-awaited private time was someone they both knew.
If it had been anyone else, they could have sent them away for being rude, but the situation was not ideal.
“How, how could you do this to me? *Sob*…”
The one who tearfully forced her way into their private time was Catherine Noblier, his younger brother's now-former fiancée.
“Broke off the engagement… *sob*… How could this, how…”
Rachel, too, seemed furious at having their time together ruined, but seeing Catherine sobbing and speaking, her anger gradually subsided.
“You broke off the engagement with Julius?”
Rachel listened to her story, her tone laced with disbelief.
“Yes, Sister, *sob*… He was acting like such a scoundrel, *sob*, so I yelled at him to get a grip, *sob*, in a fit of anger, but…”
Catherine’s makeup and hair, which must have taken her since dawn to prepare, were a mess, yet she couldn’t stop crying.
“I even, *sob*, started preparing, *sob*, before I even left… *hic*…”
Indeed, her attire was not something that could have been prepared in a day or two. From the simple accessories to her shoes and dress.
One could only imagine the effort that went into accentuating her charms to the fullest. She must have worked so hard herself.
“H-he even called me Katarina… *hic*.”
The sorrow seemed to overwhelm her mid-sentence. She cried her heart out in Rachel’s arms before fainting into sleep.
After hearing Catherine’s full story, Rachel caressed her cheek with a look of pity.
Her story was simple.
She had wanted to make him, who had recently become infamous as a scoundrel, come to his senses.
Although she had heard rumors that he had changed, she couldn’t be sure, so she had decided on a drastic measure.
And that was to break off the engagement.
They had been close since childhood, so she had intended to use the engagement as leverage to make her fiancé completely reform himself, but…
“A broken engagement…”
Though he had known this was coming, he couldn't help but feel a sense of bitterness.
“A sudden broken engagement. Do you have any idea what this is about?”
Rachel was clearly flustered.
How could she return with a broken engagement so soon after going to reform her fiancé?
She didn't seem to understand the current series of events.
“No… not at all.”
He felt sorry for her, but he couldn't tell her everything just yet.
To make accusations without any proof or preparation would be nothing more than a useless scheme, just like before.
‘I need a way to prove it, and evidence. That bastard is no ordinary human.’
It wasn't that he was different from ordinary people; he was literally not ordinary. The man was clearly strange.
‘It’s as if… the world itself is helping him.’
If he, who had watched him up close, thought this, what would people who only heard rumors from afar think?
Ordinary preparations would not be enough to bring him down.
Therefore, he had no intention of involving those around him until he had at least a small clue.
‘Still… I can't afford not to use what's available to me.’
His eyes briefly fell on Catherine.
A woman spurned by the one she loved. She was in a close position, loved his brother, and had more than enough motive. For now, she was filled with only sorrow, but…
If he could forge her well.
‘She could become a dagger.’
“Really, I shouldn’t be saying this to you, but even if Julius has become a scoundrel, isn’t this too much? He was at least cute when he was little, but now… Hah.”
Rachel let out a bitter laugh, as if she found the situation absurd herself.
“I feel like I should apologize on his behalf.”
When Allen replied with a wry smile, she shook her head as if to say that wasn't it.
“Catherine prepared so much to meet that gu— Julius. Do you know why I suddenly showed up here?”
“That is…”
He realized that in the excitement of meeting her, he hadn’t even thought about the basics.
“…I have no idea.”
After all, at this time, she should have been at the academy located in the Great Desert. That was why he hadn't even thought to look for her.
“It was at Catherine’s request.”
“Hers?”
She nodded in confirmation.
“There are usually two ways to enroll in Galshdin Academy, where I study. The first is to cross the Great Desert yourself and take the entrance exam. Most regular students use this method, but… it's different for those with power.”
Allen, who hadn’t attended the academy even before his regression, could only nod.
“With recommendations from eight top-ranking students and the permission of one faculty member, you can get in without an entrance exam.”
Of course, if you can't prove your talent, you won't last a single semester.
She added briefly, looking at Catherine’s pale face.
“Most children of powerful families also have the talent to back it up, so ‘She,’ the master of the academy, allows it. But the Noblier family…”
“Can’t be said to have great power.”
Within the Western Kingdom, they could be considered powerful, but on a continental scale, they were hardly known.
“Exactly. So she persuaded even the family elders and mobilized every connection she had. She offered rewards to top-ranking students from the Western Kingdom and even bribed a professor to bring us here.”
Allen was beginning to grasp the full context of the story.
“To get Julius admitted?”
“Exactly!”
Rachel’s eyes blazed. She seemed genuinely furious at Julius’s actions.
“That girl worked so hard to get permission for this! She kept saying that if he just came to his senses, he'd be his old self again, and that if he succeeded, it would benefit her family! She worked so, so hard! And that bastard…!”
“Wait, wait. Why don’t you calm down, Rachel?”
Allen took Rachel’s hand and intertwined their fingers.
“*Phew*… I just got so angry. She tried so hard, and prepared so diligently for today’s meeting. And the result is a broken engagement…”
She let out a hollow sigh, squeezing their intertwined hands.
“The only reason I’m here is because I came along to see you. The other students are staying in the Noblier territory.”
Galshdin Academy…
Since he currently had no way to save his brother from that man, going there could be an option.
It was said to be full of forbidden books and forgotten knowledge.
“So, what will you do now?”
“Well… I suppose things have progressed this far, so we can’t just stop…”
Her voice trailed off, then she asked him abruptly.
“Would you like to try?”
“Me?”
He was interested.
But not now.
He had things to take care of in his domain, and the timing wasn't right for him to make a move yet.
“I’m interested, but not right now.”
“In that case… I suppose it can’t be helped. Then maybe Catherine will enroll instead? To recoup at least some of the investment, that seems the most likely possibility.”
She pouted as if disappointed, then, imagining something, she broke into a grin.
“So you do want to go, right?”
Her eyes sparkled like stars.
“…I do.”
“Then that’s settled. The couples at the academy were a real eyesore, hee… This is great. I want to tease the others, too, so come as soon as you can.”
She spoke as if Allen’s admission to the academy was already a done deal.
“No, I…”
“Alright?”
“But…”
Her expression was smiling, but her eyes were pressuring him to answer.
“…Alright.”
Allen could only nod meekly.
“Well, I’ll get going first. I want to stay with you longer, but Catherine isn’t in a good state.”
Catherine was drenched in a cold sweat, letting out small groans as if having a terrible nightmare.
As Rachel stood up, she looked at their intertwined hands with lingering eyes before finally rising from her seat.
“Ugh… It’s a shame to part like this.”
She glanced at Catherine, then leaned her face in close. He could feel her sweet breath and the rich scent of lily of the valley.
“Th-this is so embarrassing. See, you’re the one who’s gotten strange.”
She tried to act nonchalant, fiddling with her fingers as she watched his reaction.
“It wasn’t… weird, was it?”
“Who knows?”
A smile escaped him. If he had his way, he would want to go further, but… not now, probably.
As his gaze shifted to Catherine, Rachel exclaimed.
“We can’t do what’s next! We’re… outdoors, Catherine is here, and there’s no time…”
Her voice grew smaller, eventually becoming a whisper.
“If you want what’s next… come to the academy. I-I’m… interested too.”
A wide smile spread across Allen’s lips.
“I’ll definitely be there.”
And so, their meeting for the day came to an end.
Apparently aware of the bold words she had spoken, she quickly took Catherine and left the garden.
Allen remained where they had left, quietly gazing at the stone cairn before getting up.
The day of the first incident was now drawing near.
‘The academy… maybe I should seriously consider it.’
The smile did not leave his lips the entire way back to the mansion.