Ezra had made sure there was no one around. He was certain no one had followed him.
He glanced at his bike, then at Professor Vanitas.
“Professor, why did you—”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Vanitas interrupted.
“….”
Ezra frowned. What was this professor talking about?
“I don’t have time for this. I need to—”
Before Ezra could pull his bike upright, Vanitas grabbed his wrist. Ezra glared at him. Time was slipping away, and if he didn’t hurry, he’d lose Franz’s car.
“Long-game. Play the long game,” Vanitas said.
“….”
Whether Vanitas liked it or not, Franz was now keeping an eye on him. This meant Franz would likely show up around him more often.
If that was the case,, he needed to present himself as someone Franz couldn’t easily control or handle.
To completely monopolize the situation.
That was why Vanitas had never directly mentioned the incident that night. He wanted to keep Franz on edge.
“If you do whatever you’re planning now, you’ll regret it,” Vanitas added.
“What are you even talking about?” Ezra growled. “Damn it. You even scratched my bike.”
Vanitas watched silently as Ezra adjusted his bike.
“Long game, Ezra. You won’t be able to kill him. All you’ll do is expose yourself.”
Ezra froze, his gaze narrowing on Vanitas. “How do you kn—”
“I know what you know. I’ve known it before you. And I even know what you don’t know.”
“….”
Ezra couldn’t respond. What the hell was this professor talking about?
Still, the fact that Professor Vanitas knew he was planning to ‘kill’ someone was enough to make Ezra hesitate.
Ezra sat back on the bike, his hand resting on the grip.
“Don’t do it,” Vanitas said. “You’re not the only one.”
“Ah?” Ezra blinked, confused. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Take it as is.”
With that, Vanitas waved him off and walked away, leaving Ezra alone in the parking lot.
Ezra frowned, watching him go before sighing and shaking his head. He mulled over Vanitas’s words. Maybe the professor was implying he still wasn’t strong enough to face Franz. Perhaps even his dark magic couldn’t match the Imperial Prince’s power.
In other words, Vanitas was looking out for him.
Even though he was planning to commit a treasonous crime….
He turned the key, and the engine roared to life. But when he twisted the throttle…..
Nothing.
The bike didn’t move.
“Eh?”
Confused, Ezra crouched down to inspect the engine. His eyes widened in disbelief moments later.
“….”
The circuit structure had been completely dismantled.
“Ah, no…. no! This is really expensive!”
The professor had sabotaged his bike.
* * *
By midnight, Silas groggily woke up, feeling his head pounding. Charlotte had really put a lot of force behind her spell to knock him out cold.
“Ugh….”
He rubbed his temple and glanced around, realizing he was in the nurse’s office. The room was quiet. Turning to the side, his eyes widened slightly.
“….”
Vanitas Astrea sat in a chair beside his bed, arms crossed, head tilted slightly downward, asleep. It was as if he had waited there all night.
Silas narrowed his eyes, quietly observing the man who had become both his greatest obstacle and the person he hated the most.
“Of all people…. why are you here?” Silas muttered under his breath.
“….”
At that moment, Vanitas stirred. Slowly, he lifted his head and opened his eyes, meeting Silas’s gaze with calm indifference.
Thinking about what Silas had done to Charlotte made Vanitas’s brows furrow. Still, he couldn’t ignore the truth. The original Vanitas had done far worse to Silas’s sister. It was frustrating, but he couldn’t completely blame Silas for his actions.
“I’ll give you a chance,” Vanitas began. “Stop your actions, and I won’t press charges. I won’t have you expelled. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Just do it already—”
Vanitas slammed a stack of papers onto Silas’s chest.
“Before you make a rash decision, read these first.”
“Like hell I would—”
“Arwen’s will,” Vanitas interrupted. “You’re curious, aren’t you?”
Silas froze, his brows raising. He swallowed hard, hesitating for a moment before glancing down at the papers on his lap.
“….”
With a clenched fist, he finally began reading the contents.
“This….”
His eyes widened, clearly taken aback by the words before him.
Slowly, his gaze softened, and moisture began to gather at the corners of his eyes. Vanitas watched him for a moment, noticing the trembling in Silas’s hands, as if he were on the verge of breaking down.
Without a word, Vanitas stood and turned to leave, intending to give Silas some space.
“Wait.”
Silas’s voice cracked, his eyes never leaving the papers.
“Don’t go.”
Vanitas paused, remaining silent for a moment before turning back.
“….Why?”
“I…. I need answers,” Silas whispered, clutching the will tighter. “She…. she really thought this? She blamed herself?”
The penmanship was unmistakably Arwen’s diary. It didn’t take a genius to realize that this was likely the missing page he had never been able to read.
“Everything is in that will,” Vanitas said. “You’ll find the answers there.”
Silas shook his head. “It doesn’t explain why you… why any of this had to happen. Why she….”
Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “Are you pretending to be an idiot? Or are you just that clueless?”
“….What?”
“Don’t delude yourself,” Vanitas continued. “Think hard. Why did she cling to me? Why was she so dependent on me?”
Silas froze as memories of Arwen flooded his mind. Her forced smiles, the hidden struggles she never spoke of, the way she pretended everything was fine.
“….”
He clenched his fists.
“She…. she needed someone,” Silas muttered.
“She was desperate. Desperate to hold onto anything that gave her hope. Do you know why?”
“Because of my family….”
“Then can you really blame a professor who had to look out for his students?” Vanitas asked.
Silas flinched at the question, unable to meet his gaze.
At this point, Vanitas was improvising.
He wasn’t sure if the original Vanitas had truly cared for Arwen before her grand revelation.
Maybe he had, maybe he hadn’t. The truth was buried with the past, and Vanitas had no way of knowing for certain.
He may have seen the memories. He may have known Vanitas had come to love Arwen later on.
But if it had all been an elaborate ploy for her to cling to him in the first place, he truly couldn’t tell.
But now, sweet words or half-truths were necessary. This was survival. The game of snakes.
Most of the time, it was far more beneficial to use someone than to threaten them with a blade.
“Do you get what I’m saying?” Vanitas asked. “The more you try to reopen this, the more you’ll drag Arwen’s name through the mud.”
Silas swallowed hard.
“You’ll be the one responsible for destroying what little respect Arwen has left,” Vanitas added.
“….”
If the case were reopened, it would only bring about another investigation. Vanitas had all the evidence that pointed to the truth. Arwen had been practicing dark magic, not him.
In the end, Arwen and the Ainsley Family would bear the brunt of the consequences.
“But was it really necessary?!” Silas lashed out. “Getting her opportunities stripped away! That’s why she tried to end her life in the first place—”
“And what would you have preferred? Let her disappear and become a dark mage?”
“….”
Silas froze, unable to respond.
“Use your brain for once. It’s only good for half-marks on all my tests anyway. Now read the rest of the papers.”
“….”
Silas clenched his jaw but did as Vanitas instructed. His eyes widened moments later as he turned to Vanitas, disbelief etched on his face.
“This is….”
“Rescinding,” Vanitas said. “With my influence, her thesis will finally be published. Along with my official statement.”
“What’s the point—?”
“Because I love her,” Vanitas interrupted. “I’ve tried to forget her all these years. Tried to move on, to leave it all behind. But I can’t.”
“….”
“Now, be a good boy. Take your punishment. Stop making things harder for me, and most of all, shut the fuck up.”
“….”
Silas blinked, stunned into silence by the sudden vulgarity.
Vanitas walked toward the door, taking the papers with him.
“One month suspension for the attempted murder of my sister,” Vanitas added casually. “Tsk, that’s all I could get out of the Headmaster.”
Before this, Vanitas had already spoken to Elsa, who returned after getting called over. Though he had shifted the narrative quite differently.
If he had reported that Silas had actually tried to kill Charlotte, the case would have escalated to Silas’s parents.
That would have triggered complicated investigations, which was something Vanitas wanted to avoid.
It was too troublesome and unnecessary.
And most of all, they might discover the truth.
“….”
….That the original Vanitas Astrea really had practiced dark magic.
* * *
“She’s inside,” Silas said. “But she’s not the Arwen you used to know.”
Vanitas nodded silently. He didn’t know the old Arwen personally anyway, but Silas didn’t need to know that.
Stepping inside, leaving Silas outside, his eyes landed on her. A frail woman with long, white, unkempt hair and hollow silver eyes.
She looked tired, both mentally and physically broken.
There was a hint of madness in her gaze, but beneath all the wear and tear, she was undeniably beautiful.
“….”
His heart trembled for a moment, but he quickly pushed those emotions aside. It wasn’t his heart that ached for her.
Vanitas Astrea had loved her.
Not him.
They were not the same person.
Taking a slow breath, he stepped closer. Arwen didn’t react immediately, as if lost in a world far from the present.
He stopped just a few feet away.
“Arwen….”
Her eyes twitched slightly. “Who….?”
“It’s me.”
“….P–Professor?” She tilted her head. “Why are you here? Do we have a lecture? No, no…. I don’t want to. I’m tired….”
“No, Arwen. There’s no lecture. You don’t have to do anything right now.”
“No lecture…? Good. I’m always tired…. They keep asking so much of me…. I’m not good enough. Not like they think. Maybe… maybe if I disappear, it’ll be easier for everyone…”
“….”
Vanitas said nothing, watching her carefully.
Arwen’s gaze drifted toward him, and without warning, a single tear slipped from her right eye.
“Ah… what’s this?” she murmured, wiping it away. “Haha~ What’s this? Why am I sweating?”
She chuckled softly, but it was hollow. Another tear followed, and her hand froze mid-motion as she stared at her trembling fingers.
“Professor…. I don’t understand,” she whispered. “It’s strange. I feel… lighter… but everything still hurts. How can that be?”
Vanitas approached, gently taking out a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
“It’s alright,” he whispered softly. But the tears didn’t stop.
“Haha… Why? What is this? Why am I…?”
“It’s alright, Arwen.”
“Haha? Why…? Why… why….” Her voice began to crack as she struggled to understand her emotions.
In that moment, Vanitas froze as Arwen’s next words reached his ears.
“Why do you smell?”
* * *
The final day of the festival.
Astrid stood beneath the shade of the trees with her arms crossed. Before her, Lucas Quill of the Quill Marquess Household extended a hand in an exaggeratedly formal manner.
“Princess Astrid,” he began. “I would like the honor of escorting you around the festival today.”
Behind him, a few of his friends stood nervously, as if supporting him for his cause.
Astrid sighed. ‘So this is what it’s about… again.’
Was this the fourth confession today? Did these people seriously believe in that silly rumor about “festival magic,” where love was supposed to magically bloom during the festival?
She found it exhausting. It wasn’t as though she hated romance, but the idea that some fleeting rumor would drive so many people to confess was both ridiculous and irritating.
“Lucas,” she started, her lips pressing into a thin line. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m more than capable of enjoying the festival on my own.”
——Pftt….
His friends stifled a chuckle and whispered among themselves.
“Ah, of course,” Lucas stammered. “B–But surely it would be more enjoyable with company?”
“No, I prefer to walk around alone,” Astrid replied flatly. “I have matters to attend to.”
A flat-out rejection.
Astrid brushed her hair back with elegance, then turned and walked away, leaving Lucas and his group stunned.
——Man that was rough.
——Shut up!
As Astrid walked, someone suddenly stepped in front of her.
“Princess.”
It was Ezra.
Astrid frowned, crossing her arms. “Don’t tell me you’re here to confess too?”
Ezra blinked in confusion before scowling. “The hell are you talking about?”
“Never mind. What do you want?”
“Didn’t you hear the announcement?”
“Announcement? The secret exam? What about it?”
Ezra grinned. “The bulletin’s out. Looks like we’re partners again.”
“….”
Astrid’s face contorted in pure horror, resembling The Scream painting so perfectly that Ezra almost expected someone to frame her on the spot.
…..
Secret exam.
It was announced on the first day of the festival to make up for the lack of practical exams for this mid-term.
“I’m so nervous standing next to you, Charlotte,” Cassandra said with a nervous chuckle. “It’s like being next to a celebrity.”
“Come on….” Charlotte mumbled, feeling her cheeks warm in embarrassment.
Ever since she had arrived on campus, eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went. She was the center of attention.
The incident from the previous night had been brushed off as “stage mismanagement” by the university administration. Vanitas told her to put up with it and he would handle the rest.
“Don’t be modest,” Cassandra added. “Everyone saw you in that play. You were brilliant.”
Charlotte sighed, scratching the back of her neck. “I’d rather they just forget about it, honestly.”
“Too late for that,” Cassandra said, grinning. “You’re the talk of the campus. Might as well get used to it.”
“Let’s just focus on the exam,” Charlotte muttered, trying to steer the conversation away from herself.
It had to be said, they were partners.
The incentive? Every student who passed would receive a festival allowance to spend freely.
Naturally, excitement was through the roof.
Everyone was pumped, eager to ace the exam and enjoy the extra spending money.
“Come on, Charlotte!”
“Yeah.”