The crowd gradually dispersed under the guidance of the Security Bureau personnel, receding like the tide from the area beside the railway tracks that had just witnessed a life-and-death struggle.
Only the Security Bureau mages responsible for security and cleanup remained on the scene, along with Versie and Flovi, who stood where they were.
Sefina had already instructed them that in front of the students, they must avoid any communication to prevent unnecessary suspicion and trouble.
Moreover, Versie had specifically asked Flovi to stay behind, clearly intending to relay a message through her.
Versie now spoke in a soft tone, as if making casual conversation.
“Miss Flovi, thank you for sending the warning so promptly this time. Teacher Holmes… how has she been lately?”
Flovi blinked her pale golden eyes, which held a naturally vacant expression, and answered truthfully.
“Mas… Miss Holmes is doing well.”
She almost habitually said “master” but managed to correct herself in time.
“Doing well?”
Versie repeated the phrase, her tone slightly rising with a subtle fluctuation that carried a hint of something almost sarcastic.
She snorted inwardly: Hmph… So she thinks it’s ‘well’ without me by her side, is that it?
Without me pestering her with questions all day, without me finding all sorts of ways to keep her a little longer, without me… she feels so relaxed and comfortable?
The simple-minded Flovi naturally didn’t pick up on Versie’s subtle emotional shift or the subtext in her words. She just nodded blankly, confirming.
“Mhm, doing well.”
Seeing her like this, Versie knew she wouldn’t get anything more out of her. She stopped beating around the bush and dropped a direct statement.
“Well then, please convey a message to the teacher. Ask her to meet me tomorrow night. The usual place, she’ll know where.”
With that, Versie didn’t linger. She turned gracefully, her ice-blue hair tracing a cold arc in the night breeze, and left directly.
She left Flovi standing alone on the spot, tilting her head as she processed the information.
“A meeting? I should tell the master then.”
Arriving at the temporary hotel arranged by the Security Bureau for the Oselenka teachers and students within the capital city of Sarkax.
The environment was quiet and secluded, a decent place to rest after surviving a catastrophe.
Flovi gently knocked on the door to Sefina’s room, then pushed it open naturally. Sefina had just finished bathing and was wearing comfortable sleepwear.
Her damp, blue hair was draped over her shoulders, emitting a faint mist and a clean scent.
She was leaning against the headboard, resting with her eyes closed, a trace of fatigue still on her face.
“Master.”
Flovi called softly.
Sefina opened her eyes, her wine-red gaze turning to Flovi.
“All settled?”
Flovi nodded, then faithfully relayed the entire matter of Versie’s request for a meeting.
After listening, Sefina fell silent. The brow that had just relaxed slightly furrowed again as she sank into contemplation.
Should she go see her?
Sefina’s mind conjured the image of that young woman with ice-blue hair—Versie, her former student, the sole daughter of the Duke’s Family.
In everyone’s eyes, she was exceptionally talented, elegant and proper, gentle and polite—the star of the Legdolo magic academy, a paragon of noble society, a perfect “good girl.”
Well, that was fake.
She was no good girl.
Sefina sighed inwardly with resignation. That flawless “good girl” facade was nothing but a carefully crafted mask.
Her true nature was that of a meticulous, somewhat scheming little witch.
Very few people knew this, and “Holmes” was one of them.
Perhaps Versie had once truly been a naive and innocent young noblewoman.
But growing up in an environment where her mother passed away early, her father was busy with official duties, and her surroundings were filled with hypocrisy and flattery—coupled with her own excessive intelligence and precociousness—certain things had inevitably changed without her realizing it.
It was under extremely accidental circumstances that Sefina had glimpsed a diary Versie had left behind in the study, catching a peek at the real cracks beneath that perfect surface.
Those fragments of the diary were branded into Sefina’s memory, clearly recording Versie’s transformation, and…
And her gradually changing feelings toward “Holmes.”
Excerpts from Versie’s diary—
“Today, a very beautiful woman came to the house. Her aura was icy. I thought Father had finally grown impatient with loneliness and found me a stepmother. I was furious at the time, feeling he had betrayed Mother. I slammed the study door hard and refused to see her.”
“I found out later that she was actually the private magic teacher Father had hired at great expense to instruct me… Her name is Holmes? What a strange name. It seems I wrongly accused Father…”
“Teacher Holmes seems a bit strict, doesn’t talk much, but her eyes are so sharp, as if they can see through everything. I made a small mistake during the magic demonstration today, and she pointed it out without mercy. I’m a little scared of her…”
“Today, I finally succeeded in independently casting that Third-tier magic that had been troubling me for so long!”
“Teacher Holmes actually, for once, praised me with ‘well done,’ though her face still showed no expression… But it felt so rare. I was inexplicably happy all day!”
“I was too stubborn today. I secretly tried a Fourth Tier Magic I’m not yet proficient in, and ended up fainting from mana backlash.”
“When I woke up, I found it was already dark outside, and Teacher Holmes was actually sitting by my bed the whole time, keeping watch…”
“When she saw I was awake, she didn’t say anything, just handed me a glass of warm water. Under the lamplight, the lines of her profile didn’t seem so cold. Today, she… seemed especially gentle.”
“Today, the family chef was sick and took leave. I was worrying about what to eat when Teacher Holmes actually put on an apron and went into the kitchen! I never imagined she could cook!”
“And… it was super delicious! Even the desserts were amazing! How many more surprises does she have that I don’t know about?”
“I feel like I’m quite familiar with Teacher Holmes now. Although she still doesn’t talk much, I think I can read some of her subtle expressions. The thing I look forward to most every day now is the time in the afternoon when she comes for lessons~~”
“I accidentally caught a chill today. I was lying in bed with a fever and forgot to notify Teacher Holmes not to come.”
“When she saw me like this, she didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she felt my forehead, then went to the kitchen to cook hot porridge for me, and even brewed some medicine with a very strange taste…”
“Hmm, I don’t know why, but watching her busy back, I suddenly felt like crying. It’s the first time since Mother passed away from illness that someone has genuinely taken care of me like this… I feel like the teacher has a kind of… motherly feeling? No, that doesn’t seem quite right either…”
The diary seemed quite normal up to this point. When Sefina read this part, she even felt a bit gratified, thinking she had indeed provided a lot of help to this student.
But later… later, somehow, the proper teacher-student relationship seemed to have started to change.