Act 68

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“It’s still not responding. Why not?”

In a laboratory piled high with documents, Aileen clutched her head, frowning at the bright red gemstone inside a test tube. The content within the tube was the Soul Stone the Dawn Society desperately sought, but for Aileen, it was nothing more than a nuisance.

She looked at it resentfully.

“I’m sure I administered the magic fluid equivalent to the threshold, so why isn’t it reacting!?”

With an irritable tone, she began to sift through the stack of papers nearby again.

Then, she muttered in a voice laden with sighs, “The theory is supposed to be correct!”

“Ugh… Is my hypothesis wrong? If so, where do I need to make corrections… Ahhhhh!”

Thump!

Stepping on a document and falling, Aileen groaned.

After days and nights cooped up in the laboratory, visibly exhausted, she barely mustered the strength to get up.

“Wasn’t this my responsibility… When the body is tired, the mind also tires.”

She muttered weakly as she raised her right arm to her face.

Exhaustion surged like a tide, and her body felt as heavy as a sponge soaking up water.

Just as her heavy eyelids began to cover her eyes,

“I must find a way! There was no other option!”

She motivated herself with a petulant soliloquy and slowly got to her feet.

The association already disfavored her, viewing her as an ‘impure descendant’ of a noble lineage, eagerly trying to belittle her and strip her of her Fifth Rank, ‘Barungo.’

“Yeah, it’s humiliating to just let the old men of the association have their way. You can do it, Aileen! You’re a member of the Donassien family!”

Aileen clenched her fist and slowly stood up.

“Aileen, you can do this~”

Startled by a voice from behind, Aileen screamed louder than when she fell.

Turning her head hastily, she saw Diana, her colleague.

“Di, Diana…?”

“I thought it might be weird, so I came to check. Aileen, you always do strange things when you’re holed up in the lab for too long, don’t you?”

“When have I ever?”

“Well…, now?”

Hearing that, Aileen coughed awkwardly.

With a sheepish posture, Diana chuckled as she watched Aileen pick up a paper from the floor.

“Research is fine, but how about getting some fresh air? You haven’t come out for days.”

“If there had been any progress, maybe, but all that time holed up was wasted.”

“Wasted?”

Aileen nodded at the question.

In truth, this was something that should have brought oversight from other magicians, but Aileen decided to confide only in her colleague, Diana.

“Yeah, according to my hypothesis, the Soul Stone reacts not only to mana but also significantly to water… Huh?”

Just then, Aileen caught a faintly glowing Soul Stone in her sight.

“It reacted!”

“Huh?”

“It reacted!”

Watching Aileen dash towards the reaction chamber, Diana let out a dry laugh.

***

Having successfully documented the results of her experiment, Aileen left the laboratory with a much improved expression and headed to the Magic Tower to report her findings.

“Does this mean we have some free time until the seminar?”

“Yes, it’s really a relief.”

The somber air that had filled the lab just minutes before was nowhere to be found. Watching her, Diana couldn’t help but smile.

“It turned out well. I was planning to visit the White Cloth Store this weekend to look at some clothes. How about joining me, Aileen?”

“The White Cloth Store?”

At that name, Aileen paused to think. She remembered an incident involving Julian when she last visited the White Cloth Store to arrange for formal wear.

-Actually, Miss Aileen, you’re right. I quite like these clothes.

-Of course, Miss Aileen is also a member of the Donassien family.

When Julian appeared wearing the outfit she had recommended, Aileen couldn’t help but be taken aback.

A man so stubborn and convinced of his own aesthetic superiority, accepting her recommendation was unexpected.

‘And yet, initially, he tried desperately not to acknowledge it.’

Though his pride was easier to break than she thought, just the fact that Julian had acknowledged it made her smile involuntarily.

“Huh? Why are you smiling all of a sudden?”

Caught smiling to herself, Diana looked at her curiously.

Realizing it might look odd, Aileen managed her expression.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“So, what will you do?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I asked you earlier. I want to pick some clothes, let’s go to the White Cloth Store this weekend.”

“Sure, I don’t mind……………”

As Aileen was about to respond to Diana, her words trailed off when she caught sight of a familiar face.

It was Julian, emerging from the elevator at the center of the Magic Tower.

“Miss Aileen, you are here.”

“Sir Julian.”

With his bowler hat tipped politely, Julian greeted her. Aileen glanced at him briefly before cautiously speaking.

“What brings you here?”

“I’ve come to receive the report on the Soul Stone research. Didn’t the secretary’s office send you a document?”

“Oh!”

“Surely, you haven’t forgotten?”

Caught by Julian’s question, Aileen inwardly flinched.

“That’s troubling. People of the Donassien family are known for their meticulousness, but it seems that’s not the case with you, Miss Aileen.”

‘Ugh’

Aileen stiffened as Julian smiled subtly.

His narrow eyes made it difficult to read his emotions, but his tone was clearly mocking.

That made Aileen bristle slightly.

That man always had a way of adding unnecessary comments that grated on people, she thought to herself with a silent cluck of her tongue.

‘Huh?’

Aileen’s gaze then shifted to the coat Julian was wearing. It was the one she had picked out for him at the White Cloth Store.

The irritation that had been bubbling up inside her gradually subsided.

He was still wearing the outfit she had recommended. That meant, the man filled with ego had recognized her sense of art.

“The research on the Soul Stone has borne its fruits. I have already prepared the documents detailing the results.”

Buoyed by her newfound confidence, Aileen began to challenge Julian.

“Is that so? I thought you might have fled since I hadn’t seen you, and there were no results from the research as you had so confidently promised.”

“Not everyone likes to show off as you do!”

Aileen bristled at the mention of fleeing. She felt her voice rise, but it seemed she had opened her mouth intent on scoring a point against Julian.

“It seems you lack humility, Sir Julian. Maybe you could learn from the person who delivered the Soul Stone research to the secretary’s office?”

“Ah, Aileen.”

Diana, who was by her side, tried to calm her with a tone that suggested she should cool down, but Aileen, unable to hold back this time, continued to speak.

“I heard that person recognized the importance of the ‘Soul Stone’ immediately, despite its significance to the royal palace, and asked for no reward.”

“Oh?”

“Sir Julian, perhaps you need that kind of humility?”

Julian let out a short sigh, and Aileen believed she had flustered the usually composed strategist.

“Um, Aileen?”

“What? Diana.”

“The person who brought the Soul Stone you mentioned…”

“Yes?”

“That’s Sir Julian.”

At Diana’s words, Aileen flinched.

A moment of silence.

As the brief pause ended, Aileen, pretending nothing was amiss, spoke up.

“I’ll go fetch the report for the secretary’s office now, please wait.”

She spoke politely and turned to Diana, asking her to wait a moment, then turned and walked back to the lab.

Though she acted nonchalant, her ears were bright red.

As Aileen’s back disappeared completely from view, Diana let out an awkward laugh.

“Ha, haha… It’s been a long time, Sir Julian. Is this the first time since graduating from the Bayer Academy?”

“Yes, Diana.”

As his inscrutable gaze fixed on her, Diana began to feel nervous unwittingly.

“Are you still researching dark magic, as before?”

“Uh? Oh, well, it’s the magic I’ve been honing since before…”

“Indeed, the accumulation of experience is crucial for dark magic that interferes with the psyche.”

Although Diana was familiar with the name ‘Julian’ thanks to Aileen, facing him in person made her realize that there are things one cannot know without seeing with their own eyes.

A distinctly different image from his academy days. In the midst of trying to recall if she had ever committed any disrespectful acts towards Julian back then,

“Actually, one reason I came to the Magic Tower today was at the secretary’s office’s request, but also to see you, Diana.”

Diana was quite taken aback by the unexpected remark.

“Me?”

“Yes. Diana, the accessory used by Razlot was crafted by you.”

A mysterious name popped out of his mouth.

“…Yes? The accessory…?”

“The one containing magic that makes the wearer cringe.”

Watching Diana, Julian let out a short chuckle. Unable to read his emotions through his eyes, she felt as though Julian was thoroughly seeing through her.

“Thanks to that, Razlot was able to blend seamlessly into the secretary’s office. Seen as a harmless figure by the palace, like a small animal shrinking away,” Julian explained.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir Julian. I’m not even sure who Razlot is…”

“Are you still planning to deny it?” Julian’s voice carried a firm resolve.

Diana, taken aback, jolted slightly but soon composed herself, exhaling sharply. Her previously flustered eyes focused sharply as she ran a finger under her own eye, revealing a hidden charm point.

“Since when?”

The atmosphere had sharpened dramatically, a stark contrast to the ‘Diana’ of before.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m asking since when you knew my true identity.”

“Well, I’m not quite sure myself.” Julian let out another short chuckle as Diana, or rather Elenoa, squinted as if pained by a headache.

However, the fact that Julian had come all the way here to discuss a sensitive ‘subject’ was somewhat relieving to Elenoa.

‘He must have come here with a request.’

If so, even if her secret was out, she could steer the conversation.

With that thought, she internally smiled.

“Alright, let’s change the subject. What really brings you here if not just for the Soul Stone report?”

“Didn’t I mention it was to pick up the report on the Soul Stone?”

“Nonsense.” Diana bit her lip slightly at Julian’s attempt to maintain a facade.

“It’s unlikely you’d come all the way to the Magic Tower just for some clerical work from the secretary’s office.”

“True, I actually came here on a more pressing personal request.”

As expected.

The realization that her suspicions were correct made Elenoa’s lips curl into a loose smile.

‘A pressing personal request, huh.’

Though she hadn’t heard what it was yet, the fact that he was making a request meant the control of the conversation could be hers.

Thinking this, Elenoa found Julian before her to be particularly odious.

To bring up the name ‘Elenoa’ so openly when he needed a favor was bold.

“For someone with a request, you don’t seem to know much about manners. I wouldn’t have thought Sir Julian to be such an unprincipled person.”

A desire to somehow get back at this odious man began to rise within her.

“Ah, it seems there’s some misunderstanding.”

As these tumultuous emotions began to settle like rust in her heart,

“It’s not that I’m asking you for a favor; rather, you’re the one who will be asking me.”

Julian once again dropped a cryptic line.

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