You Can't Catch the Wind - Chapter 68

At that moment, the bell rang announcing 11 o’clock. Startled by the sound, Ael quickly rose from her seat.

The viscount couple and Elize did wake up late, but sometimes they even got up at lunchtime.

“Ah, I need to go back. I have to hurry…”

“You’re going to return the book to the Academy library, right? Then I’ll have one of our carriages prepared for you. Take that.”

“Thank you.”

Normally she would have declined, but today there was no time for that.

“And… take this.”

Ino hesitated for a moment before taking an envelope from his chest and handing it to Ael.

“What is this?”

“An invitation to the Oltbea event.”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Why, you ask? You’ve worked hard, it wouldn’t make sense for you not to receive one.”

Ino smiled as he gently pushed Ael towards the carriage, as if telling her to go now.

“Now that you’ve received it, make sure to come! Understood?”

“Ino sir!”

Ael called out, but Ino just waved his hand with a smile, as if he had done his part, and went back into the company.

“Where shall we go, miss?”

“…To the Academy library, please.”

At Ael’s words, the company’s carriage immediately picked up speed.

Sitting in a carriage for the first time in a while, Ael hugged her bundle of books and looked at the invitation Ino had given her.

To think she would receive so easily an invitation that everyone was clamoring to get. Ael opened the envelope to look at the invitation.

“Aelfrida Rue nim Aradis…”

She thought it was an invitation without a name, given to just anyone, but her name was written on the invitation. A place had been prepared for her from the start.

Something warm welled up in her throat. Ael pressed the back of her hand against her reddening eyes and looked at the date written on the invitation.

The event date was a week later.

‘I want to go.’

With money, it wouldn’t be difficult to hire a carriage. Or she could go together with the people from Ash Company.

Since it wasn’t a noble’s party, she could wear a formal uniform instead of a fancy dress without being caught by the viscount couple.

And if she went there…

“…”

Ael quietly put the invitation back in the envelope. Then she put it in her bag and didn’t take it out again until she arrived at the Academy.

“How is this possible…?”

Rasis muttered, sprawled on his desk.

“Is the dean of the Imperial Academy going to die from overwork?”

If the emperor had heard, he would have told him to stop talking nonsense and get up to work. But Rasis was truly exhausted.

“The sensor is broken, the communication network is broken… Why do all the problems come at once?”

The manifestation of power that the sensor failed to locate recently.

He thought they would be able to find the location soon, but contrary to expectations, there was no progress at all. Moreover, as time passed, it became even harder to find traces of it.

In the midst of this, word came from Denertum where Kalon had gone.

They said a sudden gust of wind had overturned the entire port there. That it seemed to be related to the Golden Rule.

‘But it seems too powerful to be considered that…’

If the communication network had been connected, he would have been able to check more closely, but it was still taking time to restore. Not just in Denertum, but across the entire continent.

‘If this is related to the gust of wind at Denertum port…’

Just how powerful a force could it be?

As Rasis was lost in thought, there was a knock at the door.

“Yes yes, Rasis is dead. Don’t look for him.”

“Yes yes, I’ve come to remove the corpse.”

Like dean, like secretary, one might say.

His secretary, who paid no attention to whatever nonsense Rasis spouted, flung the door open and entered.

“I said I was dead!”

“But you’re alive, sir!”

“I’m about to die!”

A conversation so low-level ensued that one might doubt if this was really the continent’s greatest intellect.

“So why did you come? If it’s for something trivial, I really won’t let it slide.”

“I thought you might say that, so I prepared something quite remarkable.”

“What is it?”

“The Golden Rule book has disappeared. The one you put a special power on, Dean.”

“What? That one disappeared?”

Rasis, who had been sprawled on the desk like a limp octopus, suddenly sat up.

“‘The Heir of the Golden Rule’, that book?”

“Yes. There was another employee nearby, and it vanished right before their eyes.”

Listening to his secretary’s words, Rasis’s mouth fell open. The book ‘The Heir of the Golden Rule’ appeared to be an ordinary book with explanations about the Golden Rule written in it.

It was indeed an ordinary book. That is, if Rasis hadn’t written a spell to detect the Golden Rule in it.

Rasis had dedicated his life to finding the heir of the Golden Rule.

He didn’t just rely on the sensor. So he put a spell on the book ‘The Heir of the Golden Rule’ printed by the empire, that would react to someone with the Golden Rule.

More precisely, he made it so that it would react if there was a strong Golden Rule power nearby.

The fact that this book disappeared means that it detected the Golden Rule and moved itself towards it.

‘Those who don’t know about the power of the Golden Rule would say it’s nonsense, that how could such a thing be possible…’

But the Golden Rule is that kind of power to begin with. People have simply forgotten how to use it over time, but its essence of being able to achieve what one desires hasn’t changed.

Of course, there are restrictions for each person and the form of power differs, but the primordial power is that incomplete, irregular, and limitless.

“So where did you find it?”

“We didn’t find it.”

“What?”

“We couldn’t find it. We searched everywhere nearby, but it wasn’t there.”

“That can’t be. It shouldn’t have gone far…”

“But it seems it went far.”

Rasis grabbed his hair and buried his face in the desk. The power he put on the book was weak, so even if it moved, it should have been limited to within the same building. But it had moved beyond that range.

‘Then the only explanation is that it was drawn by the power on that side.’

Just where could it have been called to?

“Really, what is this…”

Just who could it be, creating these impossible situations one after another?

“I hope whoever it is shows up soon.”

He said with conviction.

“They will be the most powerful being in the history of the Golden Rule.”

Rasis tried to imagine what kind of person he was looking for might be living as, and where.

How old would they be? A woman or a man? Which country would they be living in?

Whoever they are, that being will be everyone’s pride.

Elize sat in the rocking chair near the window, looking outside.

Her hair, which was always well-maintained and glossy, was now disheveled and messy, and her eyes were bloodshot.

‘How dare those commoners reject me?’

After returning to the capital, Elize contacted the common suitors who had been pursuing her, not knowing their place.

Of course, her purpose was to get an invitation to enter the Oltbea mansion. She thought at least one of them would take her along. But the replies that came back were all polite rejections.

‘Those ignorant imperial fools. Shouldn’t they have sent invitations for partners too?’

Unlike Denertum where one invitation allowed bringing a partner, the Ash Company’s invitations only allowed entry for the person named on the invitation.

Instead, they said even women received invitations in their own names.

Perhaps because of this? Those who were likely to have invitations all sent replies saying that while they regretted it, it was impossible to go together.

‘Then they should have at least given up their own!’

There was no way anyone would do that. There were rumors that Kalon Ash might attend the event. Even if he didn’t come, all the executives of Ash Company like Nisha and Ino would surely attend, so people needed to make their presence known for future dealings.

It was fortunate that rejection replies came back at all.

While looking for invitations, she had also contacted noble friends she had been close with, just in case, but from that side, not even replies came back.

As if they had never received any contact from someone called Elize in the first place.

Now at a loss for what to do, Elize had trouble sleeping.

Thinking of calling Maya to bring some food, Elize narrowed her eyes as she saw someone quickly entering the viscount’s house.

‘That’s…’

It was Ael.

She disappeared quickly into the house as if afraid someone might see. Elize got up from her seat and slightly opened the door to look outside.

She heard the sound of someone hurriedly climbing the stairs. And a moment later, she saw Ael, having changed her clothes, going down to the basement kitchen.

‘Where could she have been?’

From the looks of it, she had definitely gone out without telling her parents.

‘Does she have a secret man?’

She might have lived recklessly while she and the viscount couple were away.

Thinking she had caught Ael’s weakness, Elize, after confirming there was no sound coming up from the kitchen, immediately went up to Ael’s room.

She must have been in quite a hurry, as the bag she was carrying was still hanging by the bed. Elize opened the bag.

“What’s this…?”

There was an envelope with the Ash Company’s seal. Without hesitation, Elize opened it and looked at what was inside.

A moment later, Elize’s eyes flashed.