After evading the pursuit of the disciplinary committee, mother and daughter exchanged smiles in a secluded corner of the academy.
“Mom, I love you!”
Celia hugged Dorothy tightly, expressing her affection without reservation. Dorothy’s lips curved into a warm smile.
“I love you too.”
Their day of wild abandon drew to a close with this simple confession. The rain had finally ceased, and golden sunlight pierced through the clouds, bathing the pathways.
Puddles on the ground shimmered gold under the light. As Celia’s small, round-toed leather shoes inadvertently stepped into one, ripples spread, blurring the reflection of the two girls holding hands.
Upon returning home, after a brief rest, Dorothy prepared dinner for Celia, followed by a bath and bedtime.
Their bath was, as always, shared. Celia was noticeably more uninhibited than before, even bravely facing Dorothy for about a minute before shyly turning away.
Once in bed, she no longer suffered from insomnia. Within moments, the girl’s eyelids drooped, lulled by her mother’s kiss.
Dorothy, however, found sleep elusive. She worried about the academy’s punishment Celia would face tomorrow. Their antics today had been quite conspicuous; a strict assessment could very well lead to expulsion.
“Tomorrow…”
“Let’s worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
As Dorothy began to speak, the girl in her arms placed a finger against her lips. There wasn’t a trace of worry on Celia’s charming face. “You don’t seem worried at all?” Dorothy asked softly.
“Because I have you, Mom! Is there anything safer than being by my mother’s side?” Nuzzling into Dorothy’s embrace, Celia mumbled, “If I get expelled, I get expelled. Having you is enough.”
“What if you really had to leave the academy? Where would you want to go?”
“Hmm, I haven’t thought about it yet.” With a slight pout, she closed her eyes and murmured, “But, Mom, I’m very greedy, you know…”
Having said this, she drifted off to sleep, leaving Dorothy to ponder the meaning of her ‘greed’.
What else could she possibly give Celia?
She couldn’t fathom it.
Whispering goodnight, Dorothy closed her eyes as well, enjoying a dreamless night.
In the morning, while Celia was still fast asleep, Dorothy rose to prepare breakfast. Since it was the weekend, Celia could sleep in, so Dorothy didn’t wake her.
Pulling out her communicator, Dorothy’s eyes narrowed as she read the message signed by Winnie.
This message wasn’t addressed to Lena, Starshimmer’s assistant, but to Mentor Winnie, asking her to come to Starshimmer’s office in the library. This likely concealed some ulterior motive.
After a moment of careful thought, Dorothy left a note reminding Celia to eat breakfast when she woke. Then, transforming back into Lena, she headed to the library.
Their target was the Silverbloom Sword Princess. Using Lena’s identity would naturally mitigate some risks.
Perhaps it was the early hour, but the academy was far quieter than yesterday. Few students were visible on the paths, and those who were hurried along, as if late for class.
Lena shook her head. As she entered the library, she was surprised to find even the student on duty absent. The ground floor hall was deserted.
Some books had fallen from the shelves, seemingly due to vibrations, casting an ominous aura over the usually neat library. Lena carefully stepped over the scattered books and ascended the stairs to the second floor.
Reaching Starshimmer’s office, she knocked. Receiving no response, she opened the door and entered.
The room was a complete mess. The sofa had been savagely torn apart, its cotton stuffing strewn everywhere. The desk was overturned, its computer smashed to smithereens by a heavy object, components scattered across the floor.
White stuffing lay everywhere, and the tables and chairs were utterly disfigured, their original shapes unrecognizable.
In the corner, the mirror’s surface was covered in dense, intricate cracks. A bookshelf had also toppled, and a tattered wooden box that once rested upon it had crashed onto the ruined sofa. For some unknown reason, the magic lock on the box was gone.
With a hint of confusion, she approached the old wooden box. Bending down to right it, a pile of yellowed magical letters tumbled out.
Anything kept inside here must surely be Starshimmer’s most treasured possessions.
Curiosity compelled her to pick up a torn letter. After a quick glance, she realized the sender was Starshimmer, but the recipient was none other than the Silverbloom Sword Princess.
Yet, she had no memory of receiving these letters, which meant Starshimmer had never sent them.
Taking out the letter and reading it carefully, she discovered it contained Starshimmer’s gratitude and longing for her mentor, the Silverbloom Sword Princess.
Silently, she tucked the letter back in. She then took out another letter. Opening it, she found it, too, expressed gratitude to Silverbloom, though the date was different, and the grown-up Starshimmer now harbored new thoughts.
She had written down all her experiences, wanting to tell her everything she had gone through, just as she had long ago, nestled in her arms. Yet, for some reason, she never mailed the letters, choosing instead to keep them by her side.
The remaining letters, in all likelihood, were similar to these two, documenting Starshimmer’s growth and changes over the years.
Seeing that she had preserved these letters so carefully, Lena couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that Starshimmer hadn’t completely strayed.
****
*Thump—*
“What are you doing here?”
The office door burst open. Starshimmer, disheveled and clutching her arm, stumbled in.
Catching a whiff of blood, Lena turned to see Starshimmer’s bleeding arm. “Are you hurt?” she asked with genuine concern.
“You saw everything?” Not answering, Starshimmer’s gaze fell blankly on the letters in Lena’s hand. She sighed helplessly, then walked past Lena, gathering the scattered letters into the wooden box.
“Yes.”
“I advise you to leave the academy soon. Otherwise, those without magic will quickly die here,” Starshimmer warned as she tidied up.
But Lena made no move. Instead, she handed the letters to Starshimmer and asked, “What exactly are you doing?”
“No comment. And I warn you, sometimes knowing too much isn’t a good thing.”
“But I can see you’re struggling. Aren’t these letters the best proof? I don’t want you to be forced down the wrong path, so tell me everything. I’ll help you.”
Starshimmer, having finished tidying, was about to leave, but Lena grabbed her wrist.
She refused to believe that Starshimmer, who yearned for the past, could become the person she was so disappointed in.
Just as someone who longs for light would never willingly wallow in filth.
If Starshimmer truly had done so, there must be an unspoken reason.
Starshimmer fell silent for a few seconds, then turned and coldly slapped Lena’s hand away, her voice filled with distance. “You’re not my mentor. How can you help me?”
Taking a deep breath, Lena closed her eyes. Her magical disguise vanished in an instant. When she opened them again, silvery-white petals shimmered faintly around her.
Tilting her head, she smiled and asked, “Can you tell me now?”
Starshimmer seemed to doubt her own eyes. Upon seeing Dorothy, she stared blankly for a long time before finally snapping out of it.
Then, she blinked, rubbed her eyes twice, and finally asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice, “You, you’re Mentor?!
Dorothy’s answer forced Starshimmer to drop what she was holding. She scrutinized the Silverbloom Sword Princess before her, her face filled with disbelief.
“So you disguised yourself as Lena and have been by my side all this time?”
“Yes, because I wanted to know everything about you.”
Dorothy nodded, admitting it.
However, these words, falling into Starshimmer’s ears, caused a strange blush to creep onto her pale cheeks. She lowered her head, covering the burn marks on her face, and took a step back, seemingly reluctant to face Dorothy.
“It must be the current me that disappoints you, Mentor. Even though you tried so hard to save me back then, I still ended up like this today.”
She seemed to detest her current self immensely, yet she was powerless to change it.
“There’s still a chance to fix everything, isn’t there? Tell me your unspoken difficulties, and I will help you.”
Dorothy extended her hand towards Starshimmer, taking a step forward. A faint floral scent drifted on the breeze towards Starshimmer, evoking memories and longing in her brilliant eyes.
“R-really?”
Before Dorothy, she seemed to revert to her old self, becoming that naive, insecure little girl who hid alone in a lonely corner, yearning for love.
Dorothy’s warm palm caressed Starshimmer’s cold cheek, channeling magic into her body to heal her wounds.
“Of course it’s true. It’s my responsibility as your mentor.”
Her voice was soft and gentle. Starshimmer always found herself believing everything Dorothy said. So, she bit her lip, and after pushing Dorothy away, she uncovered the burn marks on her face.
“I’m actually… not human at all. I’m a demon. The marks on my face that I can’t hide aren’t burns, but demon紋 [TL Note: magical tattoos unique to demons].”
As she spoke, the burn marks on her face began to twist and deform. An exquisite demon纹 soon appeared, and the aura of a demon permeated the small office.
She dared not look at her mentor. The fondness she held for Silverbloom was forcibly suppressed, so that if her mentor moved to kill her, she would have magic to resist and escape.
Heroes hated demons; even if her mentor was gentle, this would be no exception.
But after a few seconds of silence in the room, she heard an unexpected reply.
“Hmm, go on.”
Astonishment flashed across her face. She looked up at Dorothy, finding her smile still bright, with no intention of attacking.
“Aren’t you surprised? Demons are humanity’s sworn enemies. In the past, people would always hunt them down and kill them all.”
She recalled her painful past, her emotions becoming extremely agitated. The hero she had once trusted and considered a friend, to whom she had revealed her identity, had betrayed her.
They wouldn’t care about their feelings for each other; as long as they were demons, they would eradicate them all.
But why did her mentor…
“You are my student, and I am not them.”
Dorothy stated the fact calmly, but Starshimmer’s eyes instantly reddened, as if a dam had burst. She stepped forward and hugged Dorothy tightly, continuously murmuring, “Mentor, I’ve been so miserable all these years…”
Stroking Starshimmer’s back, Dorothy understood her pain. Starshimmer had been raised by humans since childhood, always believing herself to be human. But then she must have met an elder demon, accidentally learning her true identity, and since then lived every day in torment.
She harbored feelings for humans, but under pressure from her demon elders, she was forced to carry out demon tasks, disguising her identity in the academy and acting against humans. Meanwhile, friends and family betrayed her after discovering her demon identity…
Such continuous suffering would only lead to her complete breakdown.
In the past, the Silverbloom Sword Princess might not have been able to rescue her from such an abyss, but the current Silverbloom…
Just then, a syringe filled with multi-colored liquid suddenly lunged towards Dorothy’s neck. Dorothy, swift-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed Starshimmer’s wrist and twisted it outwards. With a *snap*, the syringe clattered to the ground, its dream-inducing contents scattering.
‘Starshimmer, don’t be so deluded.’
Starshimmer had seized the moment of Dorothy’s supposed relaxation to inject the dream-inducing agent into her, intending for her to fall into a deep sleep. However, Dorothy, who had been prepared all along, naturally did not fall for it.
She simply cast a small spell, utterly destroying the dream-inducing agent.
“I’m saving you, Mentor!”
“For so many years, the Curator made me carry out demon tasks, and I did them all. But this time, she actually wants me to disregard your life or death—”
Starshimmer stumbled back two steps, staring blankly at the spot where the agent was destroyed, seemingly unable to accept this outcome.
“Why did you come to the academy at this time again? If you had been a little later, everything would have been over, and you wouldn’t have to face danger…”
She murmured distractedly, her expression full of regret. If she had just injected the dream-inducing agent into her mentor, her mentor wouldn’t have woken up for a while. Then she could have secretly hidden her away, and no one would use her as a pawn.
When her mentor woke up, the academy’s crisis would have passed, and she would still be alive. As for what would happen to the academy after the crisis, Starshimmer simply didn’t care.
“What exactly happened?”
Dorothy frowned, sensing something ominous in Starshimmer’s words. But before Starshimmer could answer, the mirror in the room shattered with a whoosh. A small, golden figure burst forth from the mirror, grabbing Starshimmer by the throat and lifting her from the ground. The girl’s face was cold, biting out through gritted teeth as she suppressed her fury, ‘You bastard! How dare you betray me?!’
Her dress was somewhat disheveled, clearly indicating she had just been through a battle.
Starshimmer was choked into silence. Seeing this, the girl seemed far from appeased, tightening her grip. ‘Now Edith has been forced to advance her plan, and everything is ruined!’
Dorothy had intended to help Starshimmer, but the girl’s face struck her as familiar. After a brief memory flashed in her mind, she shouted, “Meli, stop!”
This was one of the Curator’s most trusted confidantes from back then. Dorothy had seen her many times during those five years, though the girl had never seen Dorothy’s face.
“How do you know my name?” Meli first glanced at Dorothy in surprise, then looked at Starshimmer even more ferociously. ‘Did she tell you?’
“I order you to stop!”
Just then, a familiar magical aura emanated from behind Dorothy. Meli’s movements stiffened, and Starshimmer fell to the ground, gasping for air, her face flushed.
Meli stared at Dorothy, momentarily stunned, then several drops of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. Her mind struggled to comprehend the identity of the woman before her.
“Meli, the Library Curator?”
Dorothy hadn’t realized the demon invasion of the human realm ran so deep. Yet, these words, upon reaching Meli’s ears, caused her immense tension. She quickly lifted the sides of her skirt and curtsied.
‘…Vice-Commander Meli of the Fifth Demon King’s Army greets… Your Royal Highness.’