“Oh my, are you still so tense? Look how stiff your body is. You’ll get sick like this, Rukna.”

“It’s just… I haven’t been held by anyone in a long time. It feels like I’ve been given permission to be here.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to hug you more often. So Rukna can put down roots.”

“Haha, I’m not a child anymore.”

“That’s true. Seeing your achievements in the summoning, you’ve really grown up.”

“Matian suffered more than I did.”

“It was you. The one who saved Lord Kuran.”

“Pardon?”

“I was so focused on my husband’s work that I heard about your achievements belatedly. Thank you so much for saving Lord Kuran.”

Teacher Gail gently patted Rukna’s back before pulling away.

Then, saying she had left the infirmary for too long, she hurriedly adjusted her grip on her cane.

“Well then, see you again, Rukna!”

Stepping back a couple of paces, the teacher lowered her black glasses slightly below her nose and waved her arm in a big greeting.

Although her sightless red eyes didn’t precisely face Rukna, the sincerity in her greeting came across clearly.

Teacher Gail walked towards Closet College where the infirmary was located, tapping her cane.

On the way, she uncannily recognized several students and gave them some nagging words, every bit the teacher she was.

Rukna chuckled while mulling over the teacher’s words of gratitude.

‘So she did know the Great Sage after all.’

And belatedly, Rukna checked Teacher Gail’s cane. The head of the cane where the Philosopher’s Stone had been embedded was now empty.

‘Bisbi. Was Teacher Gail as great an alchemist as the Great Sage?’

“Are you asking while already knowing, master?”

‘Answer me straight.’

“I cannot disclose that information.”

‘All of a sudden?’

Rukna grumbled while walking to the dormitory.

With each step, the two medicine bottles given by Teacher Gail rolled around in her pocket, making clinking sounds.

“Sometimes information that someone wants to keep hidden is concealed.”

‘Concealed? Is there a separate database where you fetch information from?’

“I don’t understand the term ‘database’, master.”

‘You understand King Sejong humor but not this? What’s the standard for the information you know? Do you know Matian’s room number?’

Entering the dormitory, Rukna put her hands on her hips and scanned the mailboxes in the first-floor lobby.

“Yes, master. Matian Wiegratz’s room is 514.”

‘Eh? My room is 414, so… it’s right above mine!’

It was true. Checking the mailbox, Matian Wiegratz’s name was indeed written there.

Rukna immediately went up to the 5th floor.

Judging by the passing students chattering without mentioning Matian, that thorough guy must have pretended to be fine and walked all the way to his room.

“Matian!”

Arriving in front of room 514, Rukna knocked on the door hard. It was just quiet inside. Was no one there?

“Matian, are you in there?”

Rukna put her mouth to the door crack and called for Matian in a not-too-loud voice.

Then there was a thud from inside as if something had fallen. And along with heavy footsteps approaching the door, it slowly opened.

Matian’s face appeared in the door crack opened about a hand span.

Although his entire face was drenched in sweat, Matian wore a gentle smile.

If it weren’t for the sweat, she wouldn’t have known he was sick.

“What brings you all the way here, Rukna?”

The implication that he would be quite displeased if she had come without good reason was blatantly felt.

Meanwhile, his deep blue eyes moved from Rukna’s face down to her fingers.

There was no ring. Instead, on that wrist was the sacred bracelet he had given her.

The corners of Matian’s mouth lifted even higher, as if very satisfied.

“Are, are you alright?”

Rukna asked after his well-being, but Matian was too distracted by the ring or bracelet to answer.

“Matian?”

Only when Rukna called again did Matian raise his gaze to take her in.

His throat was parched. His body, having already tasted Rukna’s sacred power once, craved Rukna terribly in this painful situation.

‘Damn fragment.’

Matian gripped the doorknob with all his might.

Otherwise, this hand felt like it would grab Rukna’s wrist like a hungry crocodile and drag her into the room right away.

“I saw you passing by at the cafe earlier. You didn’t look well…”

“That’s impossible.”

The answer that came out too early cut off Rukna’s words.

Matian, who hadn’t intended that, frowned as he ran his hand through his hair and continued his explanation.

“You must have seen wrong. I’m fine.”

His voice was only slightly lower than usual but still gentle.

He probably didn’t want to be caught being sick. In that case, I should just deliver the message quickly and leave.

Rukna took out the glass vial she had received from Teacher Gail from her pocket and held it out.

“This, Teacher Gail asked me to give it to you.”

“What’s this?”

Matian took the glass vial Rukna handed him and tilted it left and right.

The viscous liquid sloshed slowly in the direction he tilted it. His brow furrowed at the sight of the unidentified substance.

‘It’s not like he’s seeing it for the first time, why is he staring at it so intently?’

Wait a minute. That’s my gender juice!

“Haha, I must have gotten confused. Can I have that back? That’s not yours, it’s something else.”

Of all things, they were both similar in color and even in the bottles they were in, leading to a big mistake.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have put them in different pockets!’

If there was any consolation, it was the fact that he didn’t know about gender juice. Rukna hurriedly rummaged through her jacket pocket again and pulled out the red medicine.

“This, this is yours, haha.”

Rukna quickly reached out to exchange the gender juice Matian was holding for the red medicine.

Sensing something suspicious, Matian raised his hand, not wanting to give up the vial, and Rukna pulled down Matian’s arm while reaching up high with her other hand, demanding he hand it over.

Normally, Matian wouldn’t have been shaken, but perhaps because he wasn’t in good condition, he quickly lost his balance.

Seizing the opportunity, Rukna grabbed Matian’s shoulder, climbed up his body, and snatched the medicine bottle.

Damn. Startled by the close contact, Matian staggered and eventually fell backward.

“Uh, uh?”

Under normal circumstances, the athletic Matian would have skillfully regained his balance.

But right now, he could barely stand, so he fell with Rukna’s body entangled with his.

Bang!

The impact was less than the loud noise suggested.

‘A firm yet strangely pleasant sensation…’

Rukna, who had her eyes tightly shut, raised her upper body while feeling something under her palms.

“…!”

She had fallen on top of Matian’s body.

And it took Rukna about 2 seconds to realize that her two hands were touching Matian’s chest.

“S-Sorry!”

Rukna quickly tried to get up by putting strength in her legs.

But since her legs were tangled with his long ones, she fell back onto Matian’s body.

“…Ha.”

Matian sighed as he caught and supported Rukna’s body falling into his arms once again.

‘This is dangerous.’

He wanted to swallow Rukna’s sacred power right away to relieve the pain, but he exercised as much patience as possible.

Although he was the one who was sick, this uninvited guest with the slender body was trembling as if she was having a harder time.

“As if I’m not struggling enough already, damn it.”

Matian’s lips, which usually only uttered proper words, surprisingly contained a curse.

Today, the pain was so severe he could faint, making it difficult to maintain even a fake smile.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

Matian closed his eyes.

And the inexplicable sense of stability he felt when falling into Rukna’s arms led him into a deep sleep.

Huff. Matian took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide. The familiar ceiling confirmed it was indeed his dormitory room.

So, he had been barely enduring as the pain intensified when Rukna Golden came to visit, and then…

He remembered falling to the floor, but had no recollection after that.

‘Surely I didn’t do anything, did I?’

Matian turned pale as he glanced at the side of the bed.

Fortunately, the bed and room were neat. It seemed Rukna Golden had moved him to the bed and then left.

‘I guess nothing happened.’

For a split second, Matian had imagined Rukna crying after having all her sacred power drained by him in a moment of lost control, or Rukna collapsed and in tatters.

As someone said, he might have gone mad for failing to obtain the holy sword.

Unlike his head doused in cold water, his healthy body was burning with fever just like before.

‘This is all because of that book.’

Matian glanced at the green hardcover book on the desk before rubbing his face dry.