“How is it? Can you still drink it?”
“It's fine...”
Erylin was currently sitting in Perseline's office, chugging a light green potion from a vial in her hand.
She certainly tasted the bitterness, but compared to her heavy heart, it didn't matter at all.
“Instructor, why didn't you just tell me about all that earlier?”
Perseline rubbed her temples, feeling a bit vexed herself.
If only I had stayed by Erylin's side, she thought.
“When we found you, you had already collapsed on the ground, and Lillian was nowhere to be found.”
“You... she placed a forbidden curse on you, which is why you were unconscious for so long.”
“A forbidden curse?”
“Probably some kind of hallucinatory forbidden curse. It makes you feel excruciating pain you've never experienced before, or plunges you into strange emotions. But don't worry, the potion you're drinking right now is meant to dispel the effects of the curse.”
“So that's what it was...”
Erylin looked down at her chest, the doubts in her heart instantly resolving. No wonder she was sitting here completely unharmed, even though she remembered Lillian piercing her heart.
“Instructor, what about Lillian... What's going to happen to her?”
The girl's eyes were filled with uncertainty.
“Is she really going to be...”
Erylin's voice trembled. Recalling the scene in the hall just now, she couldn't bring herself to say the word “subjugated.”
“There are quite a few who think that way, but at least they aren't the majority.”
Perseline naturally understood what she meant.
“Erylin, not everyone wants...”
Erylin suddenly cried out, “But there are people who think that way!”
“You said it yourself—those who think that way aren't a small number...”
The girl hung her head in pain, her shoulders trembling slightly. It was the first time she had ever vented her emotions so wildly; her usual image as the perfect school beauty seemed to have vanished completely.
“I'm sorry, Instructor. I'm probably a bit...”
“I know. It's the effect of the forbidden curse, right?”
Perseline smiled and leaned in, gently pulling the girl's head into her embrace.
“I don't know...”
“I don't know, I really don't know...”
Gently patting the girl's back, Perseline comforted her. “The instructions from above are to first root out the hostile forces hiding within the academy and contain the monster invasion. The witch will be put aside for now.”
“Besides, there are many frenzied monsters in the Echo Forest right now, and they don't attack the witch. Ordinary people can't even get close to her. Don't worry, Erylin. She isn't in any danger for the time being.”
“What about the Dean? After everything that's happened, why hasn't she—”
“She probably... has her own considerations?”
Perseline gave a wry smile. She had never expected such a sudden turn of events today either.
“Instructor, what should I do?”
“That's something you have to ask yourself.”
Perseline raised her hand, her fingertips gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind the girl's ear. She leaned forward slightly, a soft, warm smile blooming in her eyes as she quietly gazed at Erylin.
“Though you are a member of the Typhon Chain and bear that order on your shoulders, at least...”
“A chain is just a chain in the end. It's merely a shackle, isn't it?”
“Perseline!”
A middle-aged woman wearing a Persephone medical uniform pushed the door open roughly, holding several documents in her right hand.
“Lady Margaret? Are you looking for me...”
“Come and help.”
“Alright, I'll be right there.”
As soon as she spoke, Margaret shut the door.
“Who was that?”
Seeing Erylin's confusion, Perseline explained, “She's a professor at Persephone and one of the leaders of the joint effort with Hermetica to solve this crisis.”
“When Sevis and Ain were on the combat platform last time, she was also sitting in the audience.”
“Let's head over first.”
...
“Grimm! The ratio of the neutralizing agent your Hermetica prepared this time is off by a full six percent compared to last time! What, do you think our purification team isn't tired enough? Are you trying to activate all the active ingredients for us in advance?”
“We adjusted the solvent ratio because you complained last time that the penetration speed was too slow! Now that we've improved the efficiency, you complain it's activated too early? You people from Persephone are just as difficult to please as ever!”
“Perseline! Shove those data sheets in this old geezer's face! Scold him for me, give him a piece of your mind!”
“Huh???”
Perseline looked at the two in the laboratory, feeling utterly helpless.
So this is the kind of 'help' they wanted?
But I don't even know how to scold people...
“Instructor, is that Professor Grimm from Hermetica?”
In response to Erylin's quiet whisper, Perseline nodded and replied, “Yes, there are only two leaders for this project, and he's the other one.”
“Oh, I see.”
Erylin nodded.
“Instructors, Professors, please take a break.”
The heavy door of the laboratory was gently pushed open, and a splash of soft pink spilled into the room.
It was a young girl with a cascade of pink hair reaching down to her waist, swaying gently with her steps. She was carrying two cups of tea, which she handed to Grimm and Margaret respectively.
After finishing this, the girl's pink eyes curiously sized up Erylin, who was standing nearby.
“Apologies, I didn't know there were others here. I'll go prepare two more cups of tea right away.”
“Wait, you're the one from before...”
“No, I'm not.”
“Violet?”
Just as Violet was about to step out the door, Erylin immediately called out to her.
She had seen her yesterday on the combat platform when Ain collapsed into her arms.
What was more, she remembered that the girl had said some rather strange things back then.
As if recalling something, Erylin spoke up, “Didn't you say back then that Ain was your...”
“No, wait! You must have misremembered! I absolutely never said he was my boyfriend!”
“Oh? So he is your boyfriend?”
Erylin blinked curiously.
Violet pressed a hand to her forehead, covering her blushing cheek as she cursed Grimm to high heaven in her heart.
What was all that about telling me to come along too...
Ahhh! Damn that old man Grimm!
There was absolutely no need for me to do this!
Violet, oh Violet! Why did you have to say those things back then? This is Erylin! How could you ever compete with her!
“My, it seems my student is the more sensible one. She brought the tea without me even having to ask.”
Grimm teased with a chuckle, then gently blew the steam off his cup and took a leisurely sip.
“For some people, perhaps they simply never bothered to cultivate that kind of etiquette?”
Margaret clapped her hands dismissively.
“Silas!”
A cold-faced youth opened the laboratory door, looking somewhat submissively at the lady before him.
“Instructor, what is it this time?”
“I'm hungry.”
“Oh.”
“...”
“Hurry up and go! One portion for everyone here! Ha! Bring two for a certain old man, lest he says we didn't host him properly!”
“What a pain...”
Rate on N.U.
