“I thought the young lady of the Duke’s family would be a bit smarter. I didn’t expect her to give in after just one attempt.”
After Aurelia left, the Princess revealed a look of disdain.
“Honestly, she goes on about, ‘What price must I pay,’ but in the end, she’s still dreaming of having it all. Did she think I would ever do something if I wasn’t certain of the outcome?”
What happened after that was clear: with the information she had gained in the game, Cielsa helped Aurelia awaken her Witch Talent.
But El knew nothing of their deal. All he knew was that his beloved suddenly asked to break up, giving the reason, “I’m a little tired. Let’s take some time apart.”
“Lia, did I do something wrong? Why would you say such a thing out of nowhere? This isn’t funny at all…”
An unprecedented anxiety showed on El’s face, his heart gripped so tightly it was hard to breathe.
“I… Anyway, our relationship ends here.”
She spoke coldly and turned away.
“Wait, Lia…”
El reached out, wanting to hold her back, but as his hand was about to touch her dress, he was bounced away.
He lost his balance and fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Aurelia’s eyes stung, but she couldn’t say anything and left in silence… At this moment, she finally realized that everything in the dark had already been priced.
Pino, together with his Ruffian Lions gang members, burst out laughing at the sight of the disheveled El: “Look at him! The way he got dumped is just hilarious. Like he got slapped right across the face, ha ha…”
“Wait, Lia…” Someone mimicked El’s words, making the others laugh even harder.
El said nothing, quietly getting up from the ground like a walking corpse. His thoughts were no longer in reality, and he didn’t care what those around him were doing.
He couldn’t even remember how he got home that day, nor how he poured his heart out to Ivena, nor how he ended up crying quietly in bed.
All his life, El’s upbringing told him that men shouldn’t shed tears easily, but today, he simply couldn’t hold it back.
Being stabbed with a knife hadn’t felt this bad. But Aurelia’s merciless words tormented him a hundred, a thousand times more.
The next day, he bought a bouquet of white roses from a florist in Yosse District and went to find Aurelia.
As expected, Aurelia didn’t accept them. She rejected him firmly and told El not to bother her again.
On the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day… El didn’t give up. Tirelessly, he picked up fresh white roses from the florist every day and put them in the vase in Aurelia’s office.
At first, the students just thought the couple had quarreled. But as time passed, everyone realized this incident wasn’t that simple. Most people sincerely wished they would get back together.
Aurelia’s talent for alchemy began to shine, soon shaking the whole Royal Academy. It took her only five days to rise to first place in the Academy’s Alchemy Department.
Of course, that was because she was extremely familiar with theoretical knowledge—this was the talent that should have belonged to her all along.
Unpleasant rumors began to spread, their source traced back to the Ruffian Lions.
El Regis was simply not worthy of the eldest daughter of the Godefiel family.
Beside the Academy buildings, one could occasionally see slogans like “Toads shouldn’t dream of eating swan meat”—provocations directed at El.
There was even gossip that Aurelia started refusing El because she had decided to marry into the Stuart family. As the offspring of the Finance Minister, he could bring the Godefiel family greater benefits.
This rumor was absurd on its face, but it seemed as if some outside force was behind it, subtly affecting how others saw Aurelia.
Except for El. He believed firmly that Aurelia still loved him. There must be some unspeakable reason forcing his beloved to treat him with such coldness.
Every day, El sent her white roses, hoping to show Aurelia that, no matter what happened, he would always support her until she was willing to tell him the truth.
He wanted Aurelia to know she had always been steadfastly chosen. No matter how much humiliation he suffered in the meantime, El accepted it, never complaining to anyone else.
No one knew how he spent that month.
One day, Ivena looked at El’s slightly swollen eyes and said, “Young master, I really don’t think she’s worthy of your devotion.
No matter what, if someone could watch their beloved suffer like this and feel nothing, she must be cold-blooded.”
“Thank you for your advice, Ivena. I’ll think about it.” The past month had put El under immense mental strain.
At night, he often woke from nightmares, his mind full of the image of Aurelia shaking off his hand.
His love had been denied, again and again.
El made up his mind: today, no matter what, he had to get the answer from Aurelia’s own lips. He was on the verge of losing his mind.
He could feel his confidence shrinking day by day. Word had it that Aurelia’s alchemy had recently reached Master Alchemist level—he could no longer keep up with his beloved.
While he was happy for her, at the same time, he felt inferior.
She no longer seemed to be the person he loved.
El was startled by his own thoughts.
But that morning, he finally got the answer he had longed for.
Aurelia held him in her soft arms, starlit blue eyes overflowing with pain for him.
At least at that moment, El felt all his devotion had been worth it.
“Why did you say those things to me before? Can you tell me, Lia?”
“El, actually, the moment I saw you, I already regretted it. I couldn’t bear to say those things to you. But because of the contract, I had no choice…”
She couldn’t say more, because everything about the contract was confidential.
“It’s a ritual recorded in an ancient tome, one that allows me to regain my rightful alchemy talent…”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” El asked.
“Because… the requirements of the ritual are…”
“Enough, Aurelia.” El suddenly pushed her away. “Your lying face disgusts me. You make me feel like I don’t know you anymore.”
“It’s not what you think, I had to—”
“You don’t understand at all what kind of suffering I’ve endured these days. Ivena was right—no matter what, if it were me, I’d never let you bear this kind of pain.”
“Everything I’ve done has been for you!”
Seeing the disappointment in El’s eyes, Aurelia anxiously said,
“For me?” El decided to listen to her explanation.
“Yes, I’ve already ascended to the throne of Master Alchemist. Very soon, I’ll be able to solve the issue with the magic in your body.”
“You’ve let me down, Aurelia. In fact, I don’t hate you. More than anyone, I hope you can reclaim your talent. I was just making trouble, hoping you would come coax me.”
That line completely struck a nerve for El.
“But you said you did it for me? After all this time together, do you still not understand what I really want? Or do you… really think that, in my eyes, magic is more important than you?”
“In your eyes, am I really so pitiful? That I need your charity just to use magic like a normal person?”
El’s barrage of questions left her breathless.
“I hate you, Miss Godefiel.”
***
With that, he turned and left, as heartlessly as Aurelia had done to him a month before.
“Oh my, so that’s what happened!” Cielsa received word from her spy at the Academy.
“No, I can’t laugh yet…”
“Do you finally understand now, daughter of the Grand Duke? My things have never been free.” The Princess spoke.