Translator: Nox

Ch#64

Ibi washed up and changed clothes even faster than usual before looking back at the bed.

“One, two, three, four……”

Ibi counted the cute accessories and toys on top.

“Seventeen……”

She couldn't close her mouth at the unbelievable number.

‘What do I do?’

Yesterday had been fun all day long.

She had briefly been scared after losing Professor Sian midway, but there were still more good memories.

She had watched the event from his arms, eaten lots of delicious food, and even won a prize from her first paid draw!

That alone was enough to make her happy—enough that even if tough times came later, she could endure by thinking of yesterday.

‘Should I give them back?’

But no matter how she looked at them, these weren't things Professor Sian could use.

If someone with shiny, fine-textured golden hair like him—not like hers—put one of these ribboned pins in it.

“Pfft.”

Ibi ended up laughing without realizing it.

Sure enough, no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't imagine Professor Sian using them even if she gave them back.

‘I should at least say thank you first.’

That was all she could do.

Ibi neatly placed the items from the blanket next to the Mana Stone.

When she first arrived at Yeongjae Academy, this nightstand had nothing on it.

But now it was full of things, from the Mana Stone to hairpins. She was still thrilled that they were all hers.

“Hehe……”

Grinning happily, Ibi carefully touched the gifts before heading outside.

Though receiving so much felt burdensome, it still made her feel good.

* * *

As she went downstairs, employees who had arrived early were standing there.

When she approached to greet them, she saw someone she hadn't met in a while.

‘It's Dean Seraphina.’

She had been talking with the employees and turned at Ibi's footsteps.

“Hello……”

“Ah, you're awake!”

Dean Seraphina greeted her as if she'd been waiting and came closer.

Then she bent down and said in a small voice,

“Did you sleep well? Professor Sian brought you back yesterday. He couldn't enter the girls' dorm, so I happened to be in the lobby and took you to your room.”

So that's what happened.

“Thank you.”

Ibi bowed to Dean Seraphina as well.

“Oh, and…… Professor Sian will be away on a long trip for a while, so he won't come to the professor's office. If you have a letter to send him, give it to me.”

At that moment, Ibi, who had been quietly listening to Dean Seraphina, asked her with a puzzled expression.

“Is Professor Sian higher up than you, Dean?”

“Huh? Why do you think that all of a sudden?”

“Well…… You kept calling him ‘Professor’ and ‘sir’……”

“Ah.”

At Ibi's words, Dean Seraphina realized her mistake.

She usually just called other professors ‘professor,’ but since the other person was the emperor, she had unconsciously elevated her speech.

“Oh dear, I guess I slipped into old habits from our past acquaintance. My mistake. I'll be careful next time. Thanks for pointing it out.”

Dean Seraphina glossed over it appropriately and reached to pat Ibi's head. At that moment.

“……?”

She pulled her hand back in surprise and stared at Ibi for a bit.

Then Dean Seraphina's gaze shifted to the back of Ibi's hand.

“Dean?”

As Ibi tilted her head wondering what was wrong, Dean Seraphina gave an awkward smile and took a step back.

“It's nothing. By the way, when you were little……”

“Ibi-i-i-i-i!”

At that moment, a girl with fluttering silver hair burst into the dorm with a loud voice.

“I'm back!”

“Airin!”

It had only been two and a half days apart, but they hugged as if reuniting after a long time.

While the other employees warmly watched, Dean Seraphina quietly slipped away.

* * *

“Haa……”

Returning to her office, Dean Seraphina flopped onto the large bed she had placed there despite everyone's objections.

“Ugh, good thing I put the bed here.”

Otherwise, she'd have to lie on the uncomfortable sofa.

Suddenly, she felt sorry for her situation. What good was being praised as Yeongjae Academy's dean?

She was pulling all-nighters, sleeping and eating at work.

With Yeongjae Academy reopening after so long, the work was insanely piled up.

‘I have to prepare for the library reopening, sort out the professors' faction issues…….’

And there was the attack over Professor Males giving up his classroom.

Of course, she had made him sign a slave contract as department head in exchange.

‘Of course, the hardest part is something else.’

She raised her hand.

The faint mana in the air sprinkled pale light around her hand, stirring the wind.

“My teacher aside, don't I have to raise my own successor too?”

Seraphina sighed as she clenched and unclenched her hand a few times.

It wasn't an illusion. Ever since returning to Yeongjae Academy, she had been continuously sensing someone else's mana.

“I almost mistook it again earlier because it's clinging all day.”

A moment ago, when she placed her hand on Ibi's head, she felt a very faint mana.

But she soon realized where it came from.

“That damn Mana Stone……”

She recalled the Mana Stone she had seen in Ibi's room last night.

It had a wavelength almost identical to Lilian's power. And it was a gift from the emperor to the child.

Because it was there, the room had mana so vivid that even she almost mistook it.

“Of course it feels stronger if she sleeps with it beside her every day.”

As she muttered that, she remembered how she had unconsciously tried to look at the back of Ibi's hand.

It was because, strangely, she sensed imperial family power amid the mana.

“What am I even doing?”

Was it because of her previous conversation with Clois?

The moment she sensed power similar to Lilian's, she was even looking for imperial traits in the child.

‘Now I understand why His Majesty kept delaying the reopening of Yeongjae Academy.’

She herself kept searching for traces of Princess Evebien in the children—what about the emperor?

“Hoo……”

Recalling the emperor carrying Ibi back yesterday, Seraphina let out another long sigh.

He had looked so careful, like he was holding the world's most fragile thing.

She could guess who his actions were reminiscent of, so she couldn't even scold him for taking the child out and returning so late.

‘Thank goodness Ibi Alden isn't like the other kids trying to catch His Majesty's eye.’

Based on yesterday, it seemed like he might adopt Ibi as his daughter instead of Arcel or Ruska.

“Huh, but it does seem plausible?”

Maybe because they both had blonde hair. Yesterday, the emperor carrying the child in looked like a father no matter who saw it.

“No. No idle thoughts.”

Seraphina smacked her face into the pillow and got up.

This wasn't the time for such nonsense.

She spread her mana throughout Yeongjae Academy again.

If any other mage used power somewhere, she'd know immediately.

‘I've felt mana energy a few times.’

And the frequency was getting shorter.

“Someone's mana is about to awaken soon.”

It was a natural flow.

Once power appears, the manifestation cycle gradually shortens.

There was a way to shorten that cycle even more and quickly turn them into a mage.

By putting them in a life-threatening situation.

“But doing that to kids would get me recorded as the worst child abuser.”

She might even get stoned to death in the capital square. No thanks to that future.

Pondering if there was a better way, she flopped back onto the bed.

“Well…… no need to rush.”

The kids were safe inside Yeongjae Academy anyway.

And manifestation was only a matter of time.

So she'd soon know who owned that power.

Seraphina closed her eyes and recalled the powers she had felt.

If mana fully manifests and the imperial crest appears at the same time…….

“Huh?”

Seraphina jolted up in surprise at her own thought.

She knew no one possessed both powers, so why did she keep thinking it was natural for it to happen?

And why on earth did Ibi Alden's face come to mind at the same time?