Cæ felt his stomach churn with the tingling sensation of nervousness as he froze, simply staring at the trainer's message.

The trainer simply tilted his head, throwing a glance between him and Serulia with a raised eyebrow. "You can be with her later. For now, you need to speak with Headmistress Lenolia. She specifically told me to tell you to go to her office right away."

His words only made Cæ's heart pound harder as they evoked his fight or flight response.

What could Headmistress Lenolia possibly want from him so urgently that she wanted him to go to his office right away?

He didn't know, but he feared the worst.

'Is this it?' He stared at the trainer, frozen. 'Is this how it gets out?'

"Cæ?" The man raised an eyebrow. "You look a little pale there? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah…" Cæ managed to squeeze out, gulping subconsciously. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm coming."

He turned to Serulia slowly. "Farewell."

She giggled at his words. "Why do you sound so dramatic? I am certain that she just wants to get your statement. Once you're done…"

Her expression grew bashful.

"…Can you come back?"

Cæ nodded seriously.

Internally, he wanted to come back so that he could probe what she remembered, an intention that was quite different from what she had in mind. Of course, he wasn't sure if he was going to even return, from the looks of it.

His gaze returned to the trainer with severity as he tried schooling his expression to one that was more composed and calm, like he had nothing to be afraid of.

"I'll head to her office right away."

He bade Serulia farewell as he walked back with the trainer towards the administrative wing where her office was, immersed in thought.

He briefly considered running away before crushing the foolish thought.

Running away would be the same as confirming any suspicions that the Headmistress had regarding him being a pure mage. On top of that, what would he even do, running away? It's not like he was free of commitments and attachments.

He was a goddamn CEO.

He had the Selvigs.

He couldn't run away and abandon them.

There was no running away from what he was about to face; he needed to find a way to confront it and come away with his life at least somewhat intact. If he could maintain his day-to-day life, he would take that as a win.

If he could get her to keep whatever she suspected as a win in exchange for something, then that would be an even greater win.

'I need to put on an act that is convincingly sincere and compels her to believe that her suspicions are nonsense.' Cæ's eyes sharpened. 'Which shouldn't be hard to do, given how rare pure mages are.'

There weren't many out there, only three aside from himself in different parts of the world. It would be easy to treat it as absurd as it was on paper. The only issue was that he was dealing with a master mage.

That, too, a master mage diviner.

He didn't know what hope he had of hiding any secrets from her.

His mood darkened despite the bright morning Sun that illuminated him with its warmth and light. His nerves only tingled more intensely with each passing moment as he felt his heart beating harder and harder.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The trainer walking beside him raised an eyebrow.

Cæ heaved a shaky breath, playing into it rather than trying to deny it a second time. "It's just Serulia…"

He clenched his fists.

"She came so close to death today that it has left me disturbed."

The trainer smiled knowingly. "You did well protecting your girl like that. That's some superhero stuff. The kind of man that all men fantasize about being."

THWACK

He slapped Cæ on the back in a friendly manner. "Good going, lad, you're going to make that young lady very happy. And you get to marry into money, hehehe…"

Cæ wasn't even listening to him, merely nodding absentmindedly as he felt more nervous with each step they took to her office. A part of him wished that their path would stretch forever, making it impossible to reach her office.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But they reached soon enough.

STEP

The magetant guards outside her office opened the door to her office, unveiling her familiar office to the two of them.

It looked busier than Cæ had remembered. Her study at the other end of the spacious office was cluttered with more documents and files than Cæ had remembered, while the shelves on much of the four walls were as filled with all manner of books as always.

The wall behind her study was decorated with certificates pertaining to both the Colohen Branch of the Elendir Institute of Magic as well as her own personal achievements, including the certificate of recognition that declared her a master mage.

Before the Headmistress's table was the training team, standing in a straightened position, with Mr. Sorwel standing before all of them. They turned slightly to take a glance at him with gazes of approval and appreciation.

Yet, Cæ's attention remained fixed on the Headmistress.

Headmistress Lenolia had changed little in the twenty days that he hadn't seen her, although it certainly hadn't felt like merely twenty days. She donned dark magical robes that were checkered with magic circles and runes, enchanted with all manner of magic, undoubtedly.

Her purple hair was tied up in a bun rather than let loose, as it normally was. A witch's hat sat on her head comfortably, equally charged with powerful magic. Her staff, another powerful magical artifact, floated by her side, always at arm's length.

She had as powerful and heavy a presence as always.

It was quiet in that she didn't feel the need to flex it.

But it was implicit.

Like the calm before a storm.

"Mr. Cæ."

Her tone was formal, yet familiar.

Her aged eyes of wisdom bore deep into his troubled gray eyes knowingly.

"Much has happened since the last time we spoke," she mused with an elderly drawl. "I called you here to… well, I'm sure you know exactly why I have called you here, don't you?"

Those words sent chills across his skin.

Any hope he might have had for her not knowing about his secret was dashed. His mind had already entered a damage control state of thought as his fight or flight response was only heightened by her words.

"Yes, madam…" His tone was one of grim resignation.

He was delusional for thinking that he could have pulled a fast one on a master mage diviner. She was two ranks above him and had more mana than he could even dream of at his current stage of wealth.

She gazed at him deeply for several moments in silence before closing her eyes.

"Leave us alone. I wish to speak to him privately."

"Yes, Headmistress."

The trainers immediately heeded her words, walking out her door as they directed varying positive and appreciative glances towards them.

CLACK

The door closed behind them.

It was just the two of them.

The air tingled with tension.

The atmosphere darkened with Cæ's grim severity despite the unusually bright winter day illuminating the room through the many windows to their side. The silence brooded for several moments before finally being broken.

"You are an intelligent man, Mr. Cæ."

Her gaze bore deep into his.

"I'm sure that you understand the consequences of your actions quite well."

Her tone reflected her intimate awareness of the matter at hand.

Cæ's expression crumpled with a hint of despair. "…Is there no hope for me, Headmistress? If I had known that this would be the consequence, then I wouldn't have—"

"You did the right thing, young man."

Her firm, certain voice cut through his.

She smiled at him with a hint of pride. "You saved a life. From the accounts I have, you were nothing short of heroic."

A small, bittersweet smile cracked at the edge of his mouth. "And yet, those actions may destroy my life as I know it."

Headmistress frowned at those words. "I did not know you were capable of such pessimism, Mr. Cæ. You've always struck me as overwhelmingly determined and perseverant. Why do you have such a gloomy outlook on your fate? You have overcome worse odds, have you not?"

Cæ frowned at her words.

That didn't sound right.

What had he overcome that compared to becoming a slave of the powers that she would surrender him to? Once the government found out that he was a pure mage who could wield magic that was said to belong to gods, it was over for him.

He would become shackled to some organization that would find a way to either directly or indirectly control him, using the carrot or the stick, probably both.

Nothing he had faced compared to such an inescapable reality, not even getting out of the slums, was so insurmountable.

Her words made him confused.

Almost as if they were talking about different things.

'Could it be…?' His eyes widened with shock. "When you say 'consequences of my actions,' you're referring to…"

"To the criminal charges that the Vritra Family will be filing against Miranda Walyn, of course," Headmistress Lenolia remarked with a perplexed expression. "You are the strongest witness to confirm the extent of Miranda's crime since you defended against her magic and felt how much lethal force she put into it. You are the most powerful witness the Vritra Family has to prove that Miranda committed attempted murder. Your testimony will likely be the key to deciding whether or not Miranda gets off with counselling or gets thrown into prison with mandatory magical slave labor. You have become unavoidably involved in the conflict between the Vritra Family and the Walyn Family."

"…"

The air grew silent.

Cæ simply stared at her with a frozen expression.

"Mr. Cæ…?" Headmistress Lenolia frowned. "I thought it was rather obvious what I was referring to, given that there's only one possibility in this case. What else could I have been possibly referring to?"

"…"

"…Mr. Cæ, are you sure you didn't sustain any injuries to the head from the incident earlier?"

Her pointed question broke him out of his reverie.

"Of course, Headmistress." He heaved a deep, shaky breath as he tried to hide the enormous surge of relief that emerged within his heart.

To think that he had completely misunderstood what she was talking about and had almost said incriminating things about the truth that would have divulged it then and there. His shoulders relaxed while his muscles loosened.

His heart rate returned to normal.

"I'm sorry, Headmistress Lenolia," Cæ remarked. "Yes, about the conflict between the Vritra Family and the Walyn Family that I have undoubtedly gotten into. It's very concerning indeed, I don't know how to handle it."

Headmistress Lenolia gazed at him with a raised eyebrow. "…Were you merely confused earlier, Mr. Cæ?"

"Yes, but moving on, I did want to discuss how I'm going to handle being intricately woven into this new clash that is undoubtedly going to be a pain in the ass," Cæ hurriedly moved on from the topic, unwilling to linger on it for even half a second longer.

In comparison to having his secret of pure magic come out, this little spat between the Vritra Family and the Walyn Family was downright pleasant and enjoyable. He hadn't even considered the fact that Serulia's family was not going to let a murder attempt on their daughter and heir simply be forgotten.

And naturally, the Walyn Family was not just going to sit back and watch their daughter go to prison for a decade for premeditated attempted murder.

Both families were going to fight fiercely for their daughters, and Cæ was undoubtedly going to play a role in the conflict, given how central he was to Serulia's survival and foiling Miranda's attack.

He didn't care. He was just happy his secret was still a secret.

For now.

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