Chapter 265

14. The fish basket was right there

You people… when you get worried, do you all like to just start poking around and checking directly like this?!

This was about magic power consumption. Livra, even if you were worried, lifting her up by the armpits and shaking her wouldn’t let you check anything at all!

What, did you want to shake her and see if she had become lighter?

She wasn’t a bottle, and magic power wasn’t water. Even if it decreased, you couldn’t shake it out!

Under Sheffy’s gradually bristling reaction and her embarrassed, indignant glare after being picked up, Livra could only awkwardly and regretfully put her back onto the chair.

“Uu… I’m sorry, Miss Shaya, I was overly worried.”

“You should apologize. That was quite rude.” Sheffy smoothed the wrinkles on her sleeves, resenting how light her weight actually was. “I already said there’s no need to worry. The amount of magic power I consume isn’t much for me—that’s one thing. The recovery speed of magic power is another. When I said earlier that one night of sleep would restore it, that was a bit exaggerated. Actually, I’ve already mostly recovered by now.”

“So fast?!”

“I don’t know either. I’ve been like this since I was little. After I consume magic power, the surrounding magical essence gathers toward me especially quickly. I once wanted to consume more magic power just to see what it felt like, but I couldn’t even do that. Before I could use up even half of it, the magical essence had already nearly filled my body again. It’s really strange.”

“Th-That’s simply unheard of. Magical essence actively supplying you…? In that case, Miss Shaya, you’re like a darling of magic power!”

“Right? Thanks for using the word ‘darling.’ That’s what my parents meant too—but the word they used was ‘freak.’”

“…This choice of wording—should I say it’s no surprise coming from your family?”

“Isn’t it? A whole family of freaks. Really irritating.”

“……”

She was really ruthless—when annoyed, she even insulted her own family.

Seeing that Miss Shaya showed no signs of discomfort, even if Livra was still worried, she felt there was no need anymore.

If the recovery speed of magic power exceeded the rate of consumption, then there was indeed no need to worry about depletion.

But this was truly something unimaginable…

Livra didn’t know much magic, but she had learned some basic knowledge.

Magical essence existed in every corner of the world. Everyone could be likened to a “container” of magic power; it was just that the quality and capacity of each “container” differed, determining how much magic power one could store at a time and how large-scale magic one could release.

Only when magical essence entered the body and aligned with one’s magical attributes could it be utilized and transformed into usable magic.

After magic power was consumed, magical essence would indeed slowly flow into the body to replenish it, but this process was extremely slow.

Most recovery relied on one’s own ability to adapt to magic power—that is, actively accepting the magical essence in the atmosphere.

Thus, the basic curriculum after becoming a magic apprentice included learning how to perceive and utilize magic power, so that after casting spells, one could recover faster.

But even for a ninth-rank court magician, the speed of actively recovering magic power was far inferior to the rate of consumption. It could even be said that if consumption was like pouring water out of a bottle, recovery was like droplets of water slowly dripping back into it.

Between the first rank and the ninth rank, the difference in recovery speed was merely the speed of dripping—but it was still dripping water, never a waterfall cascading down with overwhelming force.

“In other words, Miss Shaya’s magic power recovery is passive…? Then if… I mean if! the recovery always exceeded consumption, wouldn’t that result in effectively infinite magic power?!”

“In theory, yes. But I still feel tired, you know. Aren’t you considering mental strength? Now that you mention it, I just realized—I’ve never tried releasing all my magic power at once in an instant. Maybe when I get the chance, I’ll try—”

“Please don’t do that!”

“Not allowed?”

“For the sake of the citizens! Please stay calm!”

“What a pity, another opportunity for an experiment is lost. Livra, this is your fault.”

“My fault?!”

She felt wronged, but she had to admit it.

What else could she do if she didn’t?

If Teacher Shaya really released all her magic power at once, who knew what would happen!

Alright, alright, her fault—so she’d better not experiment.

As moonlight filled the courtyard, the two chatted and laughed. It was rare for Sheffy to speak about her own matters with someone else.

Just a couple of soft chuckles, yet that smile left Livra utterly captivated.

If possible, she truly wanted to accompany Miss Shaya, talking about the topics she liked, no matter how long it lasted.

In high spirits, Sheffy shared a doughnut with Livra.

However, the silver-haired girl was extremely dissatisfied with Livra’s way of eating it.

“How are you even eating that—biting from the side? You’re really betraying the strawberry filling inside the doughnut. The soul of it is biting straight from the middle. Eating the outer layer first and then the filling—you really don’t know how to enjoy food.”

“Everyone eats differently! I like this feeling of it getting thinner as I eat~ Hmm? Oh right, Miss Shaya, the magic you used on Father King earlier—what exactly does it do? Do you even know healing?”

“Effect?”

I don’t know healing.

That’s why I need something simple and crude in effect.

As if demonstrating, Sheffy took a bite and ate half the doughnut in one go, licking the strawberry jam from the corner of her lips. Tilting her head with an innocent smile, she said:

“For example, if I chopped you into countless pieces, as long as you hadn’t completely died at the moment you were torn apart—if there was even the slightest trace of life—once this magic is activated, you’d be able to reassemble yourself and jump around full of life again! Got it?”

“So terrifying!”

The magic already looked exaggerated, but its actual effect was even more outrageous!

Wasn’t this practically like a rule itself—so long as one wasn’t dead, it guaranteed survival? A miraculous, godlike ability?!

—Thump

—Thump.

That noisy sound again…

Livra pressed a hand against her chest, trying her best not to let the strong, forceful beating disturb Miss Shaya.

But she should have known—heartbeats were meant to be heard by oneself.

“What’s wrong? Is your chest feeling tight?”

“A-a little. Ha… Teacher Shaya, don’t mind me. I just haven’t recovered from what happened earlier.”

“Is that so… be a bit stronger. Your old man is already fine, so what are you still nervous about?”

“O-Okay… I’ll try.”

That wasn’t it.

She wasn’t nervous—she was certain this feeling wasn’t nervousness.

Rather, there was a sentence, flickering repeatedly in her mind, reminding her—

—That miraculous ability just now.

—That effort just now.

—Miss Shaya did it for her. It was a gift meant for her, like something bestowed by an angel.

Ahh… if she had known, she would have etched that scene deeper and deeper into her mind! She regretted not looking a few more times!

In truth, Livra hadn’t taken her eyes off it for even a moment.

But the human heart was greedy, never satisfied.

And sometimes, that dissatisfaction wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Her heartbeat wouldn’t slow down…

“Livra?”

What should she do…

“Hey? What’s wrong with you? Are you really feeling unwell? Should I use that magic on you too?”

Ah… Miss Shaya, don’t say things like that at a time like this.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re not still feeling guilty, are you? I already said I helped you of my own will. Besides, you helped me first—it was years ago. At this point, you don’t need to keep it in your hea—”

“Miss Shaya…”

“Hmm?”

“Look, there’s a white bird in the sky.”

“How fat is that bird?! Let me see—mmph?!”

A clever person wouldn’t be fooled by clever excuses.

But the most innocent words could make her drop her guard for even a second.

Sweet.

Under the moonlight, strands of ink-black hair fell along both sides of the wooden bench.

Among the flowers, resting butterflies fluttered up again in delight.

In front of Sheffy’s lips was a thin layer of doughnut skin, still carrying a trace of sweet strawberry jam.

It was thin—so thin that it couldn’t block what lay beyond it—on the other side of that layer, lips as warm and smooth as jade.

Sheffy still had her head slightly tilted back, and in shock, she lowered her gaze—

And saw that breathtaking face.

With her eyes gently narrowed, Livra held up the doughnut skin that had been bitten as thin as possible with both hands, and through that almost nonexistent barrier, pressed her lips against Sheffy’s.

The kiss wouldn’t last long, but it was already enough.

“Mm…?! Ah! What are you doing! Just making a move like that?! Th-this… how is this acceptable!”

“Hehe… Miss Shaya really does understand my feelings after all…”

The silver-haired girl shrank back along with the bench, hurriedly retreating as if avoiding danger, pressing herself against the wall in alarm.

Touching her lips, still smeared with strawberry filling, Sheffy, despite her shock, didn’t forget to quickly lick it clean into her mouth.

At the same time, the thin piece of doughnut skin in Livra’s hands was also placed into her mouth by the princess.

She chewed slowly, savoring it carefully, leaving a lingering aftertaste.

“Mmm… Miss Shaya was right. Doughnuts really should be eaten with the outer layer and the filling together. That way, they taste best.”

“Y-you… you set me up?!”

So from the very beginning, the way she had been disrespecting the food was all for this moment?!

Faced with Sheffy’s embarrassed and indignant expression at being “tricked,” Livra simply smiled softly.

Miss Shaya hadn’t said she liked her yet… so she didn’t have the right to take her kiss on her own. She wasn’t worthy of that yet.

But her heartbeat made her try every possible way to steal a kiss in a way that didn’t quite count as one—there was no helping it.

After all, her feelings for her… were already completely impossible to suppress.

That unreasonable thing she said earlier—she would return it word for word.

—It’s your fault.

“This can’t be called setting you up. I’m your student—this principle was taught to me by Teacher Shaya.”

“I never taught you that!”

“No, you did.”

Wasn’t this what Teacher Shaya had said before?

【Whether you can catch a fish isn’t up to the fisherman.】

【It depends on whether the fish will bite the hook.】

She had always thought that, on the path of pursuing Miss Shaya, she was the fisherman, waiting for the day when Miss Shaya would look at a better version of her with different eyes.

But just now, under the vast starlight and fireflies, she realized she was wrong.

She wasn’t the fisherman.

She was the fish drifting at the bottom of the lake.

Once she bit the hook, she could never let go again.

Whether she reeled her in or placed her into the fish basket didn’t matter.

The fish basket was right there.

If she didn’t fish—

Then she would jump in herself.

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