After huffing for a while, Candias, as if having exhausted his anger, now approached Cordelia closely. He asked with a sinister laugh.

“Right. Did you show him that bracelet? What did he say? Did he threaten to cut off your wrist? To kill you?”

“No. My master just told me to use it.”

“Really? That’s surprising. Well, what else could he do? It’s a bracelet that can never be removed once put on. Hahaha. I really like you. You smell good too.”

“Smell? Sniff. Do I smell?”

Cordelia, a bit flustered, buried her nose in her arm and sniffed. Candias then spoke as if he found her a bit pathetic.

“Do you think I smelled you because I have a nose? I just mean the feeling is good. How should I put it? A devilish smell? The scent of home?”

“M-me?”

A devilish smell, what could that mean?

She would be frequenting this laboratory from now on, and while it wasn’t bad to be on good terms with Candias, the goodwill shown by a demon, not even human, felt a bit awkward.

“If you ever need to make a contract with a demon, let me know. I’ll introduce you to a decent one.”

“Stop saying strange things to the child and move aside.”

“Strange things! Do you know how special an opportunity this is?”

“What’s so good about making a contract with a demon?”

“Don’t you know what a contract is?”

“She doesn’t need to know. Such things.”

Leonard frowned, pushing Candias away with his hand. Candias, with his eyes full of strength, tried to move towards where Cordelia was.

“Why doesn’t she need to know? As a magician, she should know! You made a contract with me too.”

“Contracting with you is the thing I regret the most. You’re just a gatekeeper, but you talk too much and you’re so noisy.”

“I didn’t come to the human world to be a mere gatekeeper! You seem to keep forgetting, but I’m the 132nd demon! Do you know how much other demons would laugh if they knew I was rotting away here as a gatekeeper?”

Seeming to have a lot of pent-up frustration about this, Candias shouted angrily. Of course, Leonard didn’t even bat an eye.

“How is that my problem? You should have made a better contract. Why are you blaming me for your own stupidity in becoming a gatekeeper?”

“Argh! I’ll kill you!”

Candias, seemingly provoked, shouted and spewed all kinds of profanities. Regardless, Leonard neatly ignored Candias and introduced the laboratory to Cordelia.

“This is the library and where most of the research materials are. If I ask you to find something, you can look for it here.”

When she first came, she didn’t know because she only sat on the sofa, but as she went deeper inside, there were bookshelves packed tightly. Other than that, there was a small room with a bed where one could sleep, and a small furnace for making tea.

It was smaller compared to Maximilian’s laboratory, but it was just the right size for two people to use.

“I used it alone, so I removed all the walls, but I’ll call someone tomorrow to build walls and make some space for you.”

“But is this all for the kitchen? I saw Maximilian grilling steaks in his lab before.”

“Who do you think grilled that steak?”

“Well, the cook…”

Come to think of it, there were no servants in the Magic Association, so it was unlikely there would be a cook. The lamb steak was brought by Caron himself, and after eating it…

Cordelia’s face darkened as she remembered Caron’s terrible end that she had forgotten. Leonard sensitively noticed this change.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just thought it’s better not to have a kitchen. At least there won’t be any steak grilling.”

“Oh right. For meals, you can go to the common dining hall on the first floor. Just mention the name of your school there, and you can eat for free.”

“Who does the cooking?”

“The apprentice magicians take turns, and since they’re paid daily wages, it’s mostly commoners who need money.”

“Ah, I see.”

Indeed, even if magic is said to be equal for all, nobles who can devote themselves to magic without worrying about their livelihood and commoners who struggle with daily earnings cannot compete on equal terms.

Cordelia ran her hand over Leonard’s desk and asked,

“What do you usually do here?”

“What else would you do in a laboratory but magic research? You have to publish at least two papers a year, and there’s a regular academic conference once a month. Besides that, you also have to participate in irregular events.”

“Wow, there’s more to do than I thought. Then what should I do?”

“Don’t think about doing anything, just try not to cause trouble.”

“Tch. I’m not a seven-year-old kid.”

Cordelia pouted and grumbled. Her master clearly still saw her as a reckless child.

“Really, is there nothing for me to do? Everyone outside looked so busy. They were gathering in groups and doing research…”

“Once you adapt, even if you beg me in tears to reduce your workload, I absolutely won’t, so don’t worry.”

“Well, I’m not hoping to be that busy…”

She closed her mouth, feeling awkward. Leonard guided her to a small side room behind the library.

“For now, sleep here tonight. I’ll let you know soon about the room you’ll be staying in within the Magic Association.”

“Am I going to live here for the rest of my life?”

Cordelia asked, looking around the narrow room that could barely fit one bed.

“Why? Suddenly scared because I said ‘for the rest of your life’?”

He was about to say that if she felt suffocated in the Magic Association, she could occasionally go out to the capital or anywhere else to get some fresh air. Cordelia sat down on the bed with a thud and looked up at Leonard.

“No. I’m really excited. It feels like I’ve really become a magician. It’s like I’m pulling an all-nighter in the lab and taking a quick nap here.”

“Oh, please.”

Leonard made a deflating sound. She still seemed full of romantic notions about magicians from books. Soon enough, she’d be crying that she was dying, but for now, he decided to preserve that romantic idea.

The small room was lit only by a small oil lamp. The flickering shadows illuminated half of Cordelia’s face.

“Master.”

“…What?”

Leonard asked in a low voice. He had only lost focus for a moment, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her face, or more precisely, her green eyes engulfed in darkness.

“How do you think of me?”

“What?”

Leonard was greatly flustered, not expecting such a question from Cordelia.

What should I answer? Should I say, ‘You’re my only disciple’? No, that sounds too insincere.

Then, ‘You’re the disciple I cherish and love the most’? Wait, isn’t it too early to say ‘love’ now?

Rather, should I first say that I see you not as a disciple but as a romantic interest?

“Why are you silent?”

“Wait. I’m thinking.”

If I confess abruptly, won’t she be surprised? It seems better to set some kind of plausible atmosphere first. What should I do in this situation? Should I give her a bouquet of flowers? Is it too much to propose right away?

“What’s this, why is your thinking taking so long? You do think of me as your disciple, right?”

“Be quiet. I said I’m thinking right now.”

“What are you thinking about, yawn.”

Cordelia yawned widely, seeming sleepy. Regardless, Leonard continued his intense mental deliberation.

What flowers should I give? Come to think of it, I don’t even know what kind of flowers Cordelia likes. Should I just give roses as a safe choice?

But white flowers suit Cordelia better than roses. When I saw her during the ceremony earlier, white seemed to suit her well. What white flowers are there?

Having never felt this kind of emotion for someone in his twenty-six years of life, and never having to organize and express these feelings before, Leonard was at a loss.

His imagination expanded endlessly. Leonard finally finished his long deliberation and was ready to answer her question.

He wanted to add some nice rhetoric, but having never done this before, he couldn’t think of anything appropriate no matter how much he racked his brain.

Leonard took a deep breath and spoke slowly. It was just a few sentences, but he didn’t know why he was so nervous.

“How do I think of you? Cordelia, I…”

“…”

“Not just as a disciple, but much more… precious, no, important, someone I want to be with for life, um… I mean… Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

“…”

“I’ll do it again. I’ll start from the beginning, so wait. Hey, don’t tell me you’re sleeping?”

Surprisingly, Cordelia’s head nodded slightly up and down, but it was clearly the movement of someone dozing off. Leonard, who had been extremely tense, suddenly felt deflated.

“And I call this a disciple. Your master is, hey? I’m saying something precious and you’re nodding off?”

“…Huh? No, I wasn’t? I wasn’t dozing off?”

Belatedly, Cordelia raised her head at Leonard’s irritated voice.

“What do you mean you weren’t? What did I just say?”

“That you were saying something precious?”

“…Ha. Forget it. Just go to sleep.”

He roughly ran his hand through the back of his hair, then closed the door and left. Cordelia waited until the door was completely closed and no sound could be heard from outside.

And after confirming that everything was quiet, she buried her face in the bed and screamed silently.

‘What on earth was that supposed to mean?’

She was right in front of him, so there’s no way she couldn’t have heard.

For the first few seconds, she hadn’t been paying attention, but the overly serious words coming from Leonard’s mouth had made her freeze up. She thought it was a thousand blessings that she had her head down.

‘What does he mean by precious? Does he think of me like family? If not, then…’

The meaning was so ambiguous that she couldn’t figure out exactly what his intention was.

She rolled around on the bed, wracking her brain.

‘Important? Together for life? What on earth does that mean?’

It’s too meaningful to be just a conventional phrase to an only disciple. But it’s not a direct expression of anything either, so she was confused whether this was just the occasional kindness Leonard showed or if it held some other meaning.

“I’m all slept out…”

Cordelia muttered, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. And true to that prediction, Cordelia greeted the next day without having slept a wink.