HCV 16

Chapter 16

The moment I raised my hand and shouted, countless eyes turned toward me.

“I’d like to volunteer for the night shift! May I?”

An even heavier silence fell over the room.

“Miss Violet?”

Aaron looked at me in utter bewilderment — so surprised he even adjusted his glasses.

“Did you just… volunteer?”

I straightened my back, tightened my core, and declared firmly,

“Yes. I really want to take the night shift!”

“……”

Aaron’s mouth dropped open. It seemed this was his first time dealing with such a pushy employee.

I was just wondering how to further highlight my “qualifications” when he said,

“Well… sure, if you insist.”

Oh?

That was easier than I thought!

“Then, the night shift worker will be Miss Violet… This isn’t workplace harassment, right? She did volunteer on her own?”

Aaron, busily jotting down notes, looked to me for confirmation.

I nodded quickly.

“Yes, that’s right!”

“Good, good. Then since we have a volunteer, no need for a drawing.”

Heavy sighs could be heard all around.

I sat down, trying to calm my pounding heart.

Nice. Night shift secured…!

The contract clearly stated that the night shift pay was five times the normal rate, didn’t it?

I was one step closer to being able to afford a fake temporary husband!

Feeling smug, I finished my morning tasks in high spirits.

Just as I arrived at the second-floor cafeteria for lunch—

“Um, excuse me.”

Hmm?

A woman I didn’t recognize had approached me.

Her hair was a soft light brown that brushed her shoulders, and her amber eyes were framed by light freckles, giving her a friendly look.

Now that I saw her up close, she was the same magician who had looked so desperate earlier, muttering please, please… during the night-shift assignment.

“Yes?”

“Hello. Um, so…”

Gasp — is this about that earlier incident?

Was she here to accuse me of unfairly snatching the job?

But what came out of her mouth was completely unexpected.

“There’s a cafeteria on the third floor too.”

“…Pardon?”

“Well, um, maybe you could try eating there today? I heard the food’s better.”

“Oh, I don’t mind anyth—”

That’s when I heard it.

“Don’t you think the newbie’s being a bit full of herself?”

A voice carried from inside the cafeteria.

I turned reflexively toward it and saw four magicians sitting around a round table — each with a different brightly colored head of hair: red, orange, yellow, and green, like a walking rainbow.

“Right? She can’t even use magic properly, yet she got into the Tower and suddenly thinks she’s all that. Should’ve just stayed quiet and collected her paycheck.”

“How’s someone like her going to assist His Grace the Duke? At best, she’ll just be fetching him coffee.”

They snickered nastily. Clearly, they were talking about me.

The woman who’d stopped me looked flustered, her eyes darting nervously.

Ah… she was trying to protect me.

A warm feeling of gratitude spread in my chest — though honestly, I was fine.

It wasn’t like this was the first time I’d been called “pushy.”

Back in the Academy, people gossiped nonstop about how I was always tagging along with the golden boy Felix and the campus beauty Lorena.

“My little brother was friends with this year’s top graduate,” one magician said. “He said that newbie used to beg him every night for tutoring so she could raise her grades.”

“Wow, pathetic. No talent, and apparently has a nasty temper, too.”

Felix… so you even spread that rumor, huh…

Sure, I had often visited Felix’s dorm late into the night — but only to help him study, since he was a bit slow on the uptake.

To keep people from finding out I was tutoring him, he must have spread those rumors instead.

“I heard the newbie cleaned up that mess those dumb apprentices caused the other day.”

“Once, by luck. You think someone like her will actually keep up in this elite circle with her second-rate brain? She’ll fizzle out soon enough.”

They laughed among themselves and walked out through the opposite door.

The woman beside me — still flustered — said softly,

“P-please don’t let it bother you. They’ve all been called ‘geniuses’ since childhood, so they’re well-schooled but terribly ill-mannered. What good is being a magician if you’re a rotten human being?”

Her tone was quiet and hesitant — but her words were surprisingly sharp.

Still, she was clearly trying to comfort me. I blinked in mild surprise.

It’s okay, Frisia. Don’t take their words to heart. Sure, you can be a bit clueless sometimes, but you’re so kind. They’re just being awful.

When Lorena used to comfort me like that, even though she was on my side, I always ended up feeling oddly guilty.

But this time, I didn’t feel that way at all.

It felt… unfamiliar, but not bad.

I smiled awkwardly and nodded.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Um, I’m Luna Oren, by the way.”

“Oh, I’m Frisia Violet.”

Luna repeated my name softly as if to memorize it, then looked up with shining eyes.

“I was so impressed earlier…! Even veteran magicians avoid night duty with His Grace — they’re too scared — but you actually volunteered! I had a feeling I’d get picked this time, but thanks to you, I was spared…!”

Her eyes sparkled like stars, and I was honestly a little overwhelmed.

So that awkward silence earlier wasn’t from people competing — they were all just hoping not to be picked!

So that was it — no one wanted to do it!

Still, it struck me as odd. The Duke of Kreutz was the greatest magician on the continent.

Every time he appeared, people looked at him not just with awe but with genuine fear.

“I thought everyone would want the chance to work alongside him,” I said.

Luna hesitated, glanced around, then whispered,

“It’s just… His Grace really intimidates people. His standards are impossibly high, and, um… there’s this rumor that he can read your thoughts just by looking at you.”

Huh?

I’d heard that people with extremely heightened magical sensitivity could sense emotions through the magic flowing in others’ bodies — in theory.

But reading thoughts with eye contact? That was impossible.

Even the most sensitive magician would need physical contact to detect emotions. That rumor sounded more like a ghost story.

“Is that really the reason?” I asked.

“Well, that, and… the old incident. It’s been, what, thirteen years now?”

Luna lowered her voice further.

Thirteen years ago — when I was seven.

My mood sank immediately. That wasn’t a time I liked to remember.

“They say His Grace lost control of his magic and caused a massive explosion that wiped out the whole area. The impact was so terrifying that people still subconsciously fear him.”

So they treat him like a ticking time bomb, huh…

A strange feeling welled up inside me.

Since Duke Cayenne became the head of the Tower, magic research had advanced dramatically — and these very magicians benefited the most from it.

Yet they still feared approaching him?

They don’t see him as a respected leader… but as a monster.

Maybe I was overstepping my place, but still—

That evening, I stood nervously before a massive door.

Even if I’d volunteered, now that I was about to face the Duke alone, my nerves kicked in.

Knock, knock.

I took a deep breath and tapped the door. Without a reply, it swung open silently.

Yikes— huh?

When I peeked inside, my jaw dropped.

Four full-grown magicians were doing squats while holding their ears.

And those garishly colored heads of hair were unmistakable.

The red, orange, yellow, and green magicians from earlier!