Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Isolation (5)

The underground of the Frost Palace.

In this secret, hidden dark space where only direct royal family members of Adolevit could enter, the sound of footsteps echoed widely.

Tap!

Flames suddenly flared up at both ends of the endless corridor.

Between them appeared Hong Seriu, the Queen of Adolevit. With each step she took down the corridor, fires lit up on both sides.

She was trying her best to walk with composure, but there was impatience in her steps.

…Finally reaching the end of the corridor, there was a massive altar.

Women in pure white nun’s habits bowed their heads to the queen but said nothing.

Rustle-

A priestess quietly approached the queen and said:

“Your Majesty. The flames of the Fire Spirit Flower are growing more intense.”

“…So it seems.”

At the top of the altar steps was a large jade cup, in which a single flower was growing.

‘Fire Spirit Flower.’

A legendary treasure said to contain the sleeping ‘Fire Spirit’, passed down through generations of the Adolevit family.

Only royalty was qualified to handle it… but until now, no king had been able to properly control its power.

T h is w as c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m tl . or g
As soon as one accepted the Fire Spirit Flower, they would lose all magic and sense of self, becoming controlled by the flames and going berserk.

The only being who had properly handled the Fire Spirit Flower so far was… ‘Adolevit’, one of the twelve disciples of the Progenitor Mage who first inherited it.

‘Perhaps it cannot be handled by mixed bloodlines.’

Hong Seriu snapped her fingers.

A silver staff materialized in the air and landed in her hand.

Whoosh!

T h i s w as c o p i e d f r om ki ng mtl .o r g
As Hong Seriu approached, the Fire Spirit Flower flared up fiercely as if resisting. She struggled to suppress its flames while breaking out in a cold sweat.

Ever since Adolevit first passed down the Fire Spirit Flower to the family, its flames had grown increasingly violent.

Successive kings inherited both the throne and the duty to suppress the Fire Spirit Flower, but…

‘Has it reached its limit in my generation?’

It had reached a level where the Fire Spirit Flower’s flames could no longer be controlled. Unless a 9th class mage specializing in fire came, her level was not enough to handle it.

But there was one possibility.

Perhaps there was a way.

‘Leviang’s Coast.’

A place where the Ice Spirit slept, trapping the season of winter eternally.

Past kings had warned never to touch Leviang’s Coast, and no one had ever violated that… but now they had reached the limit.

If the Fire Spirit Flower’s power could not be suppressed any further… perhaps an unprecedented catastrophe that had never occurred in history could happen.

Hong Seriu wiped away her cold sweat and removed her hand from the Fire Spirit Flower.

‘It’s impossible with my power alone.’

Finding an answer from the Ice Spirit was absolutely necessary.

‘I have not made the wrong choice.’

Since this was the only way, she decided to firmly believe in her own judgment.

Baek Yu-seol had been working part-time at the Adolevit Royal Library for ten days now.

Nothing much had changed during that time, except for one thing:

“Hey, there’s the real princess!”

“Yeah…”

“Wow, she’s so beautiful.”

“Shh! Keep your voice down!”

If Princess Hong Bi-yeon, who came to the Royal Library where Baek Yu-seol worked every day, suddenly started visiting, the citizens who had access would naturally start gossiping.

The Royal Library had a Level 3 access restriction, meaning anyone with Adolevit citizenship could enter.

So when the beautiful Princess Hong Bi-yeon started visiting such a place daily, how could the citizens not talk?

People often say they feel healed when seeing cute animals like hamsters or cats, or beautiful people.

T h i s w a s c op i ed f rom k i ngm t l . o r g
In that sense, Hong Bi-yeon could be considered a kind of ‘healing totem’.

Thanks to her quietly sitting in a corner of the Royal Library every day, reading with an fairy-like appearance, the citizens could purify their eyes as they came and went.

“But why does the princess keep coming to the library suddenly?”

“Who knows…”

“I heard she has a really difficult personality, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“I know, right? She just quietly reads books and leaves.”

“The other day, someone accidentally bumped into her but she didn’t say anything and even handed them a handkerchief.”

“Really?”

Baek Yu-seol could hear people whispering. They might not know, but he had some idea why Hong Bi-yeon kept visiting this place.

‘She must be lonely.’

He didn’t know her well, but there were probably no allies for Hong Bi-yeon in the Frost Palace.

Queen Hong Seriu would have deliberately isolated her socially.

In the midst of that, how relieved and glad must she have felt to meet a familiar face? He thought there was probably no deeper meaning beyond that.

Baek Yu-seol still remembered that night.

The library late at night with the lights off.

That girl who sat crying between the moonlight streaming through the windows.

However, as if nothing had happened, from the next day Hong Bi-yeon showed the same appearance as usual. She wore her usual cold, icy expression and spoke bluntly as always, but…

Something.

He felt like something had subtly changed.

But no matter how much he stared at Hong Bi-yeon with his Red Spring March ability fully activated, he couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. It seemed that ability still had its limits.

‘By the way, why does she dress up so much just to come to the library…’

Her outfits always stood out.

She liked to wear what could be called ‘princess dresses’ adorned with expensive, sparkling jewels.

Considering the plain formal attire of ordinary citizens, her outfits were quite flashy, but other people didn’t seem to mind since she looked pretty in them.

“Phew… Today was exhausting too.”

After finishing the day’s work as the sun was setting.

Hong Bi-yeon, who had been reading books until then, finally got up from her seat. It was around the time Baek Yu-seol usually got off work.

After all the visitors to the library had left and silence filled the place, Hong Bi-yeon suddenly spoke to Baek Yu-seol, who was doing the final cleanup.

“Commoner.”

“Hm? What’s up?”

“…Did you really just come here to work part-time?”

“Well, that’s how it turned out.”

Then what’s the point?

Hong Bi-yeon impulsively thought that, but blurted out:

“Baek Yu-seol.”

She called his name.

Perhaps for the first time.

“Now, go back.”

“Huh?”

A foolish expression.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. And I won’t… be returning to Stella again.”

“So if your purpose in coming here was to see my face… there’s no point in staying here any longer.”

Hong Bi-yeon was speaking as if she had chosen this herself.

Perhaps she didn’t want to show weakness until the very end. But Baek Yu-seol had no intention of going along with her act.

“I don’t plan on doing that.”

“…What?”

“I know where you’re going. Leviang’s Coast, right? And I also know well… what will happen to you after you go there.”

“…I see. Of course you would know everything.”

She didn’t ask how he knew.

Hong Bi-yeon just smiled faintly and nodded. Well, trying to hide anything from Baek Yu-seol was probably foolish in the first place. Did anything remain unknown to someone who had lived through countless repetitions of time?

“And I think you’re misunderstanding something.”

He took one step closer to Hong Bi-yeon, narrowing the distance.

“You think I came all this way just to see your face because I had time to spare?”

“Uh, um…?”

Wasn’t that the case? I thought so…

For a moment, she felt her heart sink, but managed to hold on.
T h i s w a s c o pie d f rom ki n g m tl . o rg

“I came to get you out of here.”

Because of his next words.

‘Ah…’

This time, all the emotions that had built up in her heart truly sank.

“W-Wait…”

She tried to say something but the words got caught in her throat and wouldn’t come out properly.

‘Do you know what that means?’

‘Even for you, that’s impossible.’

‘Don’t say such foolish things, you commoner.’

T h i s w a s c op i ed f ro m k i n g m t l . o r g
Many sentences brushed past her lips but in the end, all Hong Bi-yeon managed to utter was:

“…Why?”

T h i s w a s co p ie d f ro m k i n gm tl . o r g
Just one word.

Why?

Why indeed.

“Who knows.”

Baek Yu-seol smiled mischievously and didn’t answer. In truth, even he didn’t know how to respond.

“So, do you trust your big bro?”

It was the playful phrase Baek Yu-seol always used. A tone so frivolous and unserious that even if she wanted to believe it, she couldn’t.

But his words held a mysterious power. Truly, it felt like anything he said would come true.

She had thought it was impossible.

She had accepted her fate, thinking she would live like this forever.

She had steeled herself to endure and persevere no matter how difficult it got, and resolved not to cry no matter how sad and painful things became.

Because there was no hope.

Because the future looked so bleak.

Because if she didn’t do that, she wouldn’t be able to endure.

So why was he able to give her hope so easily?

“…I trust you.”

As if entranced, Hong Bi-yeon answered without even understanding what she was doing.

But he immediately shook his head.

“No. Actually… I’m not the one you should trust.”

“What…?”

“I can’t get you out of here with my power alone.”
T h i s was c op i e d fr om k i n g m t l .or g

“Then…”

“So you need to save yourself directly. You may even have to risk your life.”

She couldn’t understand what Baek Yu-seol was saying at all. What kind of plan did he have that would require risking her life?

“Do you still want to return to Stella?”

However, she could easily answer that question.

If she didn’t risk her life, she could live comfortably in the palace for the rest of her days. But if she had to risk her life to return to Stella, then.

This was too… obvious a choice.

“I want to go back.”

“Really?”

“…Really.”

“Then you’ll need to prepare yourself.”

T h i s w a s c opi e d f r o m k i ngm tl . o r g
Nod.

She bit her lip hard and gripped her skirt tightly as she lowered her head.

Seeing Hong Bi-yeon like that, Baek Yu-seol burst out laughing again.

T h i s wa s c o p i e d f r om k ing m t l . o r g
“Are you crying again?”

“…No, I’m not.”

“It looks like you are though?”

“…I said I’m not.”

“O-Okay, if you say you’re not then you’re not, why are you glaring at me so scarily…”

As Hong Bi-yeon raised her head again and spoke in a cold, threatening voice, Baek Yu-seol flinched and took a step back. She looked like a ghost filled with resentment, which honestly scared him a little.

“…I’m going back now.”

She walked towards the palace across the bridge without looking back.

Baek Yu-seol didn’t follow her, and Hong Bi-yeon didn’t turn around either.
T h i s w a s co p i e d f ro m k i n g m t l.o r g

There was no need to exchange goodbyes.

Because they would see each other again today, tomorrow, and the day after.

End of Chapter