Chapter 37

“You X.”

At Evan’s unexpected appearance, Boreas groaned softly and glared at Iris.

Iris just shrugged lightly and grumbled.

“Even so, he’s an Academy junior. Aren’t your words a bit too harsh?”

Evan, who coolly ignored her words, looked down at Iris.

“It’s not that the evaluation is harsh, but that you’re hearing an accurate judgment of yourself for the first time.”

Phuhat─ At the monotonous assessment, the woman burst into laughter.

Ahahaha! Iris, who was laughing while rolling lightly on the sofa, wiped away the tears that formed in her eyes.

“Ah, this makes me feel like I’ve gone back to my Academy days.”

A time when Iris Viden had nothing. In contrast, Artemia, Evan, and Boreas had countless things back then.

However, Iris was no longer the shabby Academy student of that time. She was the master of Golden, an outstanding alchemist and a magician.

But it was strange. Even when endlessly bored, her craving and thirst would ignite in an instant and would not be easily quenched.

“Won’t you retract some of your killing intent, Evan Lisitoel?”

“How shameless.”

“I’d be a corpse if I had any shame.”

If she had known shame, she would never have been able to climb to this high position.

“I’m sorry about this incident. I apologize! If there’s any compensation the Lisitoel family wants, feel free to say it!”

She exclaimed with a wide smile. She smiled so brightly that one could have mistaken her for an innocent country girl.

“No, I just coveted your son so much, you see? You raised your son well, Evan.”

“I told you to cut the nonsense. It’s starting to get on my last nerve.”

“Oh my, are you trying to hurt my feelings?”

Such things were of no importance. Evan was merely here to achieve his purpose.

“Iris Viden.”

“Oh my, why?”

“Let’s consider this incident as if it never happened.”

Ppaduk, it sounded as if he were grinding his teeth. It wasn’t a mistake; he was actually furious.

As an adult and an educator, he was sincerely trying to dismiss this incident and bury it as if it never happened.

Surprise flickered in Iris’s eyes, as she had never expected Evan to be the one to propose it first.

“I thought you would declare war on Golden right away.”

The Evan that Iris knew would have certainly done so. The Evan from their Academy days.

Heaven’s Favorite Child, a genius sent by God, a magician who would change the world.

Since his Academy days, Evan was already a complete magician.

Now, he was even regarded as the most powerful magician in all of magical history, so there was no way he would fear a war with Golden.

That is, if he were entirely alone.

He was a professor at the Academy, the head of a Count family, and the emperor’s former teacher.

He had too many responsibilities to move as he pleased. Far, far too many.

“As a father… I want to make you pay for the blood my child shed.”

“Then do it, why don’t you?”

At least Iris acted according to her desires.

If he wanted to make her pay, then he should. Evan had the power to do so.

But he wouldn’t. How boring.

“If I do that, a storm my son cannot handle will surely rage.”

That was why Evan was trying to end this matter even amidst a rage that seemed to burn away his reason.

Hmm, this is truly unexpected.

Iris fiddled with her chin.

“So you’re saying the Academy will take custody of my son? This sounds like a losing business for me, doesn't it?”

The master of Golden’s lips drooped.

No matter how ‘slightly’ big the trouble Iris had caused was, handing over her son’s custody felt excessive.

“He’s your sponsored child, not your son. If you wanted to claim ownership, you should have enrolled him as ‘Lerwon Viden’ from the start.”

“Ah, things have really become ambiguous.”

So, because having the name Viden would create various restrictions, she deliberately didn’t give him a surname, and now this is how he plays it?

“Fine, I get it.”

Iris raised both hands and showed her palms as if to signal her surrender.

“Well then, Evan. Please take good care of my son.”

There was no reply.

The negotiation was over.

“Boreas Nevera.”

This time, Evan’s gaze turned to Boreas.

At the call, Boreas flinched.

“Why? Do you have a complaint? I, too, only came here to confront Iris as a father, nothing more?”

He could have been confident, but what came out was a cowardly excuse.

That downward glance, as if looking at something insignificant, was terribly hateful.

Evan, letting out a sigh, turned around and left only one remark.

“Know your limits.”

With those words, Evan Lisitoel disappeared.

It was a departure as sudden as his appearance.

However, that alone was more than enough to turn Boreas’s stomach inside out.

“Damn son of a bitch.”

Boreas spat out a curse as if chewing on it.

* * *

Ah, the familiar ceiling. I’ll skip the same joke.

I was forcibly put to sleep, but thanks to that, I seemed to have recovered completely, and there was no pain.

The sleep performance is top-notch.

As I chuckled, I heard a sigh from beside me.

“Father?”

“Theo Lisitoel.”

At my father’s low call, my body naturally trembled.

Uh, well, that is, I mean…

“I’m sorry.”

An apology immediately came out.

For me, I could just pop out of the Academy and reset if things went south, but from my father’s perspective, how flustered must he have been to hear that his precious son had willingly jumped into the fires of hell.

Yeah, if it were me, I’d be so enraged that I’d breathe fire from my mouth and start by smacking my son on the back.

In that sense, the fact that my father was calling me so calmly meant that he was a man of great character.

“If you are unhappy with me being your father, please tell me honestly.”

“H-huh??”

For a moment, I broke down like a machine that had been given the wrong command.

“W-what in the world are you talking about?”

“I may be an indifferent father and have not been able to express it until now, but I─”

“I know very, very well how much you cherish me, Father!”

I hurriedly got up from the bed and grabbed my father’s hand.

X-bal, in my entire life, would I ever have dared to imagine saying such cheesy words in front of my father.

Even in my past life, I was a taciturn son. I had graduated from saying ‘I love you’ to my parents after elementary school!

However, as a possessor who can't stand frustrating plotlines, clearing up a misunderstanding is its own kind of satisfying resolution. It’s a bit embarrassing, but I have to say it.

“I believe that you would protect me, Father, even if it meant your own death.”

And you actually did.

I swallowed the events of the past that had already disappeared.

My face felt hot. I awkwardly scratched my cheek and continued to speak in fragmented sentences.

“Therefore, I will be Theo Lisitoel until the moment I die.”

My new name is Theo Lisitoel.

I sometimes whine to the system to let me possess a body in an easier world, but even if that chance were truly given to me, I wouldn’t be able to just up and leave for another world.

Because in this world, I already have my friends, and I have my father.

“Then I am glad.”

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“As long as you understand, that’s all that matters.”

My father’s hand rested on top of mine. I felt a gentle affection in the way his hand softly stroked mine a few times.

“I’ve resolved the matter with Lerwon, so do not worry.”

“Is it really alright?”

“Lerwon Viden’s custody now belongs to the Academy.”

My eyes widened at those words.

“In exchange, we’ve agreed to cover up those incidents.”

Then it made sense that woman would accept.

She had committed a whole range of crimes, from kidnapping and confinement to blackmail, assault, and even aggravated assault. In any case, she must have committed them knowing she had a way to clean up the mess in the end.

“I am sorry.”

“Huh??”

I looked at my father in confusion.

“I acted more as Count Lisitoel and a professor of the Academy than as a father. If things had gone as they should have, I would have been a bit more─”

“Wait a minute!”

Could it be that my father, like a protagonist, enjoys frustrating developments? If so, I really want to stop him.

“I really don’t mind.”

“You don’t have to pretend to be okay.”

“No! I’m not pretending to be okay. In any case, I was the one who caused the trouble, right?

This is a disaster I caused by misjudging that woman. And you’re the one who cleaned it up, Father.”

I scratched my cheek

“So, I’m actually grateful. For cleaning up after me. If you hadn’t stepped in, Father, that woman wouldn’t have backed down so easily.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

“Don’t worry. I trust you, Father.”

My trust in my father was firmer than anything else.

Therefore, there would never be a time when I would resent him.

* * *

As I was lightly warming up, the infirmary door opened, and Lucian came in.

“Theo!”

I clamped my hand over the mouth of the guy who came in shouting my name and gestured lightly to the side with my eyes.

Lucian looked at the next bed and slowly nodded.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I wasn’t even hurt in the first place.”

“Well, that’s a relief then.”

No, wait a minute. Why does a fragile fish like me have to worry about the injuries of the protagonist who is much stronger than I am? Me, whose hobby is being indebted to the infirmary?

Do I have to worry because I was the one who took him to the party?

“Where the hell is that Zephyros guy that he hasn't shown his face at all?”

“He said he was going to the library.”

“He could have at least stopped by once.”

I grumbled and flopped down on the bed.

I do have to apologize. If I hadn’t approached Iris in the first place, against Zephyros’s advice, none of this would have happened.

But I had to approach her for Lerwon’s sake. The problem was that Iris was a much crazier person than I had anticipated.

Because Lerwon is like the starting point of the snowball that leads to a grand destruction.

“I need to apologize.”

Still, it was true that I didn’t fully trust his words.

Ugh, as I groaned, I let out a cough, keolleok, at the sight of Lucian peeling an apple with the Holy Sword.

“Is it okay to use the Holy Sword as a paring knife?”

“Professor Artemia said to feed you something and give you your medicine when you wake up.”

“I don’t think she meant for you to peel an apple with the Holy Sword, though?”

“How would I know.”

Lucian stubbornly finished peeling the entire apple with the Holy Sword.

“It doesn’t taste any more special just because it was peeled with the Holy Sword.”

“It’s just a sword, after all.”

Muttering that, Lucian made the Holy Sword disappear.

I finished the single apple and swallowed the bitter medicine.

“This tastes disgustingly bad.”

“You don’t take medicine for the taste.”

“That’s true.”

I briefly glanced at Lucian, then spoke a little cautiously.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Just, for everything. I took you along thinking I was giving you a good experience.”

“I don’t really mind. We’re friends.”

“Hey. If I asked you to give me your liver, you’d do it?”

“Do you need it?”

“When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound like a joke.”

I grumbled and gulped down some water.

“It’s a joke, right?”

“How would I know.”

“Please tell me it’s a joke.”

Lucian remained silent instead of answering.

Let’s just pretend I didn't hear anything, okay?