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Chapter 23
It was strangely, almost eerily quiet all around.
With the sensation of her whole body floating, Jaelin slowly opened her eyes. Morning sunlight poured through the window, piercing down across her face.
‘Why am I like this?’
She had been lying blankly for a while before realizing the situation. With a sharp intake of breath, Jaelin jerked up from the desk.
“Ah!”
The wall clock’s hour hand was cruelly pointing right before nine. Today was a day with major lectures starting early in the morning. She was perfectly, utterly late.
Her whole body was stiff and aching from sleeping on the desk, but there was no time to worry about that.
She shoved her notes and papers into her bag, barely washed her face, and rushed out of the boarding house.
Just as she arrived at the entrance of the Department of Magical Engineering, the bracelet on her wrist vibrated and flashed. A private message request.
Jaelin hurried into the building while pulling up the community window.
[Stefan] Puppy!! Where are you? Aren’t you coming to class today? Why aren’t you in the lecture hall? You’re not sick, right? ( o_o )
[Jaelin] I’m on the first floor of the Engineering Building right now!
[Stefan] Okay okay. Hurry up. Roll call hasn’t started yet.
[Jaelin] Got it!
Closing the window, Jaelin ran straight up the stairs. She had barely stepped into the lecture room when the professor called her name for attendance.
Fortunately, she managed to make it in time and slip into her seat.
But she hardly absorbed anything from the lecture. She nodded off like a sick hen the whole time.
Stefan worried since it wasn’t like her, but having stayed up all night, Jaelin simply couldn’t stay awake.
As soon as class ended, she headed straight for the library. Stefan tried to drag her along to hang out, but Jaelin had unfinished work.
She still hadn’t resolved part of the formulas she’d been researching overnight.
Sleep-deprived, she kept yawning nonstop, but rubbing her eyes, she walked toward the section with books on Ancient Runes.
The shelves of old tomes were tucked away in the deepest part of the library.
The farther she went, the fewer people there were, as if students rarely came this way. Only Jaelin’s footsteps echoed faintly.
She thought maybe she could come here often to study—even if not for the ancient texts themselves—since it was so quiet.
Turning a corner around a tall bookshelf, she stopped.
There, slouched in disarray on a hidden sofa, was Lionel.
Though the sofa was large, his legs stretched across the armrest, feet dangling past the edge. His deep black hair shimmered like a fragment of the night sky.
Even though his arm covered his eyes, Jaelin recognized him immediately.
“Who’s there?”
The voice was cold and sharp as ice, rippling through the air.
Lionel hadn’t moved, only spoken from where he lay.
“I-It’s J-Jaelin.”
Startled by his frosty tone, she answered in a whisper.
Lowering his arm, Lionel slowly sat up from the sofa.
His tie—always neatly fastened when seen at the academy—was half undone, several buttons open to reveal his collarbone and throat.
The slight curl of his lips looked almost pleasant at first glance, but the faint furrow between his brows betrayed a subtle irritation, so slight no one else would notice.
Then, as if flipping a switch, Lionel’s expression smoothed, and his low, gentle voice filled the air.
“Sorry. I must look a mess from resting like this. Hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
It wasn’t something he needed to apologize for, but still, he did.
That apology only made Jaelin feel even more like she had intruded somewhere she didn’t belong, as if she’d stepped into his private refuge.
“N-no, it’s fine! Really, I should apologize.”
Ignoring her flustered words, Lionel smoothly shifted the subject.
“So what brings you here?”
“I—I came to look for materials for research.”
At her answer, Lionel tilted his head slightly and smiled.
“Here? But this section only has books on Ancient Runes. Not much use for research, is it?”
“The parts I need… aren’t really covered in modern rune texts. I thought maybe… they’d still be preserved in older ones…”
“I see. I’m not in your way, am I?”
“Eh? N-not at all! You were here first, after all.”
His eyes dimmed with a fleeting sadness that startled her so much she waved her hands quickly in denial.
“That’s good. Then could I ask you for a favor? Please keep it a secret that I come here. I don’t want to be disturbed. Can I trust you with that?”
“Y-yes! I won’t tell anyone, I swear!”
Her vow came out solemn, almost heroic. Even if he hadn’t asked, she wouldn’t have told anyone—but since Lionel himself had made the request, she resolved not to slip up even by accident.
“Thank you.”
With that, he leaned back against the sofa, eyes closing once again.
Her presence bothered him, but there was no helping it.
This hidden corner, shielded by cleverly arranged bookshelves, was the only place in the academy where Lionel could rest undisturbed.
But now that it had been discovered, today might be his last chance to use it.
Even though Jaelin had promised silence, he didn’t believe her. The excuse about research was clearly just a pretext to see him.
Soon enough, he was sure, rumors of someone spotting him here would spread across the community—and then this place would be lost to him too.
He’d need to find another hiding spot.
Her eyes darted toward him now and then, but soon she turned away, footsteps leading to the shelves as if to prove she truly was here for books.
At least she wasn’t talking to him, and that was some relief.
Arms full of texts and notes, Jaelin finally sat across from him at the opposite sofa.
Pages fluttering, pen scratching—small sounds, yet to Lionel’s sharpened nerves they felt grating. Inevitably, he opened his eyes again.
And saw her bent over, completely absorbed in her books.
So much time had passed, yet nothing about her had changed—her small frame, her frightening focus whenever she was lost in study.
His gaze drifted to the papers spread across her table.
The writing caught his eye, sinking sharply into his thoughts. Suddenly curious, Lionel pushed himself up, resting his chin on his hand.
The sheets were filled edge to edge with intricate rune formulas.
“‘Solution to the Position-Fixing Problem of Serial Magic Circles’…?”
Startled at hearing her research title aloud, Jaelin’s head snapped up.
“Y-yes. It’s f-for the monster simulation class.”
Magical design, while powerful and sophisticated, carried a fatal flaw when applied in practice.
Rune arrays fixed themselves to the spot the moment they absorbed mana and activated. That meant serial formulas, which needed sustained effect, couldn’t be applied to moving, irregular targets.
But the theory written across Jaelin’s notes proposed overturning that principle completely.
“Wait—so you’re saying it’s possible to move an already-activated serial magic circle?”
Lionel frowned faintly. He had never even heard of such a thing.
Though not a specialist, his general education allowed him to follow the flow of rune formulas, and he quickly skimmed her notes.
“‘Virtual space’?”
“Yes, I—I got the idea from the community…”
“The community? You mean this?”
He raised his hand. On his long middle finger gleamed a ring set with mana stone—the same as Jaelin’s bracelet, both serving as access points to the community network.
“Yes. The community operates in an invisible virtual space. So I thought… what if we used the same principle? If there’s a virtual space, then maybe the problem could be solved…”
At her explanation, Lionel rubbed his chin, thoughtful.
“So how would you use a virtual space to move a serial magic circle?”
At the question, Jaelin’s green eyes lit up with sudden brilliance.
“You c-create a designated virtual space and fix the magic array at its center. Then, if you move the whole virtual space along with the target using a tracking spell, the problem disappears!”
“So the array itself isn’t moving—only the virtual space is. That way the circle stays ‘fixed,’ but effectively it moves. That’s what you’re saying.”
“Y-yes! Exactly!”
“But there’s still a problem. You’d need at least a triple-layered design: one for the virtual space, one for the serial array, and one for the tracking spell. How do you plan to manage that?”
“That can be handled in p-parallel, so it’s not a big issue.”
