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Chapter 18
“Shu, Shua!”
— Do you want to end up like your mother too?
“Shua!”
— Stop annoying me and get out of my way!
Crash!
As Lucy shook me, urging me to come to my senses, my father’s voice overlapped with hers. My hands flew to my throat, choking on invisible air. I almost couldn’t breathe—until the sound of the ink bottle falling from the desk and shattering snapped me back to reality. I gasped, finally exhaling the breath I’d been holding.
That bastard. If he was going to disappear from my life, he could’ve done it cleanly. Why did he have to leave me with trauma too…?
I rushed to the window and threw it open, gulping in the cool outside air.
Only then did my pounding heart begin to settle. Lucy looked at me with wide, worried eyes.
“Shua! Are you okay? What was that all of a sudden?”
“Cough—hah… I-I’m fine. Something must’ve gotten caught in my throat for a second.”
In truth, I’d only been lost in my thoughts about my previous life for a moment. My body was fine.
But Lucy kept fussing, so I exaggeratedly brushed it off, pretending to be completely fine while tying the letter to the carrier pigeon’s leg.
“Haha, make sure this letter gets to Diel safely!”
“Shua…”
“I said I’m fine. Really. Now come on, let’s get some sleep, okay?”
Lucy still seemed suspicious that I wasn’t feeling well, but I had no intention of explaining my trauma—not when it was so hard to even put into words. So I just climbed into bed and closed my eyes, pretending nothing happened.
And I regretted that the moment I woke up.
“Lucy, can’t we eat a little farther apart?”
“No. What if something like yesterday happens again?”
“Aagh! Fine! Okay! Just—don’t talk about it!”
Apparently, yesterday had scared her so much that Lucy stuck to me the entire day—right by my side during every class, even sitting beside me at lunch to make sure I ate properly.
And if I even suggested she give me some space, she’d threaten to tell Bella or Lala—especially those two, who were overly nosy about my personal life—about what happened yesterday. So I had no choice but to let her cling all day.
“What happened between you two yesterday? Lucy’s being way more clingy than Lala today,” Bella said, raising a brow.
“What do you mean? Nothing happened,” I replied quickly.
“You’re totally acting like someone who had something happen, though.”
Bella stabbed her fork into her meat with an intimidating look, pressing me for an answer.
“If you tell me honestly, maybe I’ll understand.”
Who could possibly confess with a face like that glaring at them…
Even a passing dog would think it best not to mess with her right now.
I shook my head, refusing to answer. Just then, noise erupted from the dining hall entrance.
“What happened, Serenia?”
“There was an incident at the Magic Tower, wasn’t there?”
“Even Lady Rivera got involved—there must’ve been trouble!”
“So what happened? Is it over now?”
Bella frowned at the interruption, but once she caught that it was about the Magic Tower, she perked up and leaned in to listen.
“One of the Tower’s mages got kidnapped—right from the central research lab,” the mint-haired girl called Serenia said grimly.
The moment she was addressed, she began explaining everything she knew.
“There’s this commoner girl around our age named Seril. For some reason, only traces of her defensive magic were found before she disappeared. The case was upgraded from missing to kidnapped. Even though Senior Dierden completely reset the Tower’s security spells after becoming Tower Master, the kidnapper still managed to break through.”
“What…?”
“So yeah. We’re not dealing with just anyone here.”
“Then what happens now? Is that Seril girl gonna die?”
“There’s another reason everyone’s especially worried about Seril,” Serenia said, dragging out her words like she was enjoying the suspense.
“This morning, Senior Dierden and Lady Rivera improved the old tracking spell and re-investigated the central lab, and guess what…”
“What?”
“They found faint traces of dark magic on the window and desk. And you know what that means—dark magic’s forbidden across all continents, even the Empire.”
“What?! Dark magic?!”
“Yeah. Whoever the kidnapper is, if they used dark magic, it’s an automatic death sentence.”
Even Serenia, who’d been teasing a moment ago, spoke in a low, serious tone now. This wasn’t just gossip—it was grave.
“This is going to blow up big,” someone muttered.
“Yeah. I came to inform the headmaster of the results. Since things could get dangerous, Senior Dierden ordered all Tower-affiliated students to return for now.”
“You’re not under investigation?”
“No. The academy’s mages all have solid alibis—they were with Senior Dierden the whole time.”
Serenia tied back her hair and added, “Melissa and Philip should be back from the Tower soon too. I doubt we’ll need to go out anymore. With Lady Rivera there, things should wrap up quickly—”
Oh no… that’s a flag if I’ve ever heard one.
Before I could even finish the thought, the dining hall doors burst open with a loud bang.
“Celine!”
“M-Melissa? Why are you shouting—”
“Philip’s been kidnapped!”
“…What?”
No way. I hadn’t expected things to escalate that fast.
The whole dining hall froze in stunned silence until Serenia’s trembling voice broke through.
“What do you mean, Philip? Lady Rivera gave him a magic tool yesterday—one with both defensive and offensive spells.”
“I went to the Boas family estate because I couldn’t reach him. His room still had the magic tool Lady Rivera gave him—but Philip’s gone.”
Philip Boas… never heard that name before.
“Philip was always so proud. Maybe he thought he didn’t need it,” Melissa said, her hands shaking visibly even from a distance.
“H-ha…”
“Philip’s officially been named the second kidnapping victim. Lady Rivera ordered me to deliver a recall message to Senior Dierden, so I just came from the headmaster’s office.”
Serenia muttered under her breath, voice unsteady.
“…Move.”
“We’ve been completely removed from the investigation. We’re not allowed to leave the academy until graduation—”
“Move, I said!”
Serenia cut her off, trying to storm out of the dining hall—only to bump into someone entering.
“Serenia.”
It was Diel, wearing the dark robes of a Tower mage instead of his academy uniform. He stared at her firmly.
“…Senior, please move.”
“I understand you’re upset about Philip, but as of now, you’re forbidden from leaving the academy.”
“Move!” she screamed, her eyes unfocused, on the edge of breaking down.
“Philip might be dying right now, and that’s all you can say?! Would you just sit there if someone you loved was kidnapped?!”
“Serenia…”
Melissa tried to stop her, worried she was being disrespectful, but Diel silently raised a hand to stop her.
“I have the power to protect dozens—hundreds—of people if I must. But you… you barely have enough to protect yourself.”
“…”
“Philip was stronger than you, but even he was taken because he got careless. And Seril, who was even stronger, was also kidnapped. If you rush out there now, you won’t help—you’ll just be another burden.”
He didn’t sugarcoat his words, but there wasn’t a single lie in them.
“I’ll handle the investigation—thoroughly, even for your sake.”
“…”
“Melissa. Take Serenia back to her room.”
For once, Diel—usually so cold and detached—actually sounded human.
He’s even trying to comfort her in his own way, huh? That’s new.
Once the whirlwind of Diel, Serenia, and Melissa passed, noise filled the dining hall again.
“Could it really be a dark mage?”
“All the grimoires on dark magic are kept in the Tower. Could one of the Tower mages have done it?”
“But the most important books on dark magic circles are stored in royal palaces across different countries.”
“Then the culprit can’t even be identified! This is a total disaster!”
The black-haired boy at the next table summed it up perfectly.
A total f**ing disaster, yeah.*
In the original story, there was no kidnapping case—let alone anything about dark magic.
I’d only learned dark magic was real after transmigrating here and researching the real Shuaner’s past. There was no way I could help in a case like this.
“By the way,” I said suddenly, “I’ve been curious—why didn’t you join the Tower, Bella?”
She clicked her tongue but answered anyway. “Because I didn’t want to work with him.”
“With your talent, Diel probably wanted you there.”
“He can handle the workload of two people by himself. What difference does it make?”
From the look on her face, it was clear that old inferiority toward Diel was surfacing again, so I quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, that Serenia girl mentioned something about love earlier.”
“Oh, right,” Lala chimed in. “Serenia and Philip were actually engaged.”
“Wait—really?” I blinked in surprise.
I thought she just had a crush, but they were engaged?
Well, that explained her emotional outburst. If someone I loved had been kidnapped like that, I’d probably lose my mind too.
“When you put it that way, I can understand why she reacted like that,” I said. “If they were engaged, it makes sense.”
“They weren’t just engaged,” Lala corrected. “They grew up together. First loves, childhood friends—the whole thing.”
“Hmm… Diel’s lucky she didn’t punch him.”
My half-joking comment made Bella snort.
“Pfft. He’d probably take one punch from you without complaining.”
She laughed, stacking her dishes—but I wasn’t laughing.
If someone that close to me were taken, and all I could do was sit and watch because I was too weak…
If it were me…
I stood up but froze when Diel’s face flashed in my mind. My cheeks grew warm for no reason, so I quickly shook it off and focused back on the case.
First victim: commoner girl. Second victim: noble boy.
The time gap—about 18 hours.
At first glance, they had nothing in common. But anyone paying attention could connect the dots.
“Both from the Magic Tower…” I murmured.
You didn’t need to be a kid detective to figure it out.
Both kidnapping victims were Tower mages—and not weak ones either.
And yet they’d been taken.
By someone who wielded dark magic—the most forbidden power on the continent, punishable by death upon discovery.
