Chapter 157

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Chapter 157

Sylas vaguely senses Xerath’s expectations for her, her mood becomes excited, but her rationality immediately persuades herself that it is impossible: If that’s the case, why didn’t she force me to read earlier? Why not make these books required reading? Why does she insist on me going to school? Instead of spending so much time developing someone who can chat with her, wouldn’t it be simpler to find a pen pal (just like she learned Gu Gaoboren language)?

So, this should…not be true.

She thought disappointedly.

By now, Xerath has finished eating, the plate flies into the sink by itself, a water ball that appeared out of nowhere swallows the plate, spins for a while, and then spits out the plate before disappearing below the sink.

It’s as if she has forgotten that Sylas is still sitting in front of her, after completing all of this, she gets up and leaves on her own. Sylas hesitates whether to follow her, but she’s afraid of making her angry, not knowing whether to stand or sit, she stares blankly in the direction Xerath left.

Xerath opens the door, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, turns her head to look back into the room. The dim yellow light quickly passes through her grey eyes, and Sylas feels the substantial gaze sweep across her face.

She didn’t look around, her gaze disappeared after Sylas, and she sheathed her sword and left. The door was not closed and it tapped twice on the door frame.

Sylas suddenly stood up and when she took the first step, she tripped over the chair in front and almost fell. She didn’t have time to steady herself and took a second step while leaning forward, which of course caused her to stumble again.

Luckily, she still had her water lord, Leunen, who suddenly appeared and caught its reckless owner.

"The image of the little fairy that you carefully cultivated at school has completely vanished."

"I never wanted to cultivate any fairy image in the first place."

"No no no, it’s just a pronoun, referring to all of your imitations of the archmage’s behavior."

Sylas didn’t answer sadly this time. She opened the door and left, going downstairs to the library.

Xerath was already here. Among the numerous spots of light scattered on the high ground, the library appeared grand and deserted. The archmage was surrounded by a halo and quickly glanced at her when she made a noise.

This glance was even more indifferent than before, through transparent golden-rimmed glasses. She then immersed herself in something unknown in her hands and even softly uttered it.

Sylas confidently sat in the seat in front of her on the right, moving the chair and replacing it with Leunen, who would float and spin, giving her a bigger view of Xerath.

She secretly admired her.

After a while, Leunen turned again, and Xerath disappeared from her sight.

Their relationship was not good at all right now. Xerath hardly spoke to her, maybe as a punishment for not keeping their agreement, even though Sylas almost aced the Gustavian language test (only two points away from a perfect score because she was too tired and fell asleep before finishing the last question, and woke up when it was time to hand in the paper).

But she had said, "I am willing to accept any punishment," so she shouldn’t complain now.

Although Xerath ignored her, she didn’t object to Sylas returning to her role as a little tail, even though the tail was almost taller than her. Sylas followed Xerath, who sometimes allowed her to fetch things, but they didn’t communicate much.

She was happy that she hadn’t been kicked out, returning to the calmness she had before the turbulence. The archmage during the day remained cold and serious, not even looking at Sylas warmly. But in her half-imagined, half-real dreams, the archmage would be firm and tender with her, doing things that made her blush.

All these things… she learned from the books Luna gave her before leaving. She would immerse herself and Xerath in each plot, even when she turned off the lights and put the books down, those scenes would still dance in her mind, and she would modify them to fit Xerath’s character better.

Although she often felt discouraged, thinking: If everything followed the characters’ personalities, none of these things would happen.

But… what if one or two things could happen?

She had tried to write down these things, to write a "story" that belonged only to her and her teacher in her heart. But as soon as she wrote about their interaction, her face would start to flush, her pen would become light and she could hardly hold it, let alone continue writing.

Cannot leave evidence… If Xerath sees these contents that are unbearable to look at… she quickly crumpled the paper into a ball, but that wasn’t safe enough, so she stuffed it into a box.

These contents should be kept in a place where no one will ever see them and they will never be lost, so she had to remember them in her mind.

Because of this, she often fantasized about these things before bed. Of course, her favorite part was when the archmage forced her to open her mouth and kissed her forcefully.

In addition, she had many things that were not in any books. They had experienced many intimate moments when no one noticed, they had once slept on the same bed, embraced without any barriers, Xerath had helped her put on socks and clothes, and even touched her body.

She filled these small details into her fantasy novel.

Ironically, even the experiment about prisms and light was almost completed in silence. The only chance for conversation arose from a small argument.

At that time, Xerath suddenly asked her, "What properties do you think they should be measured for?"

She immediately answered, "Colors, smells, states, melting point, um…"

Wrong, wrong, almost all wrong. She just doesn’t know about smells, and there is no melting point. The state is unclear. She was just staring at Xerath without any thinking.

No, she did think. She didn’t know how many chapters of a novel she wrote in her mind.

The archmage looked at her helplessly and said, "Sylas, focus."

Sylas took a deep breath and said again, "It’s obvious. Colors must be recorded, and then… temperature? I can’t think of anything else at the moment."

"Then measure these two."

Thermometer was neatly placed under the colorful light strip, and Sylas casually placed the control group on the nearby empty space.

This action made the archmage uncomfortable. Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore and placed thermometer outside the red light, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Put it here."

To maintain the sense of order in the line, Sylas helped her out, and then she thought she was even more lovely.

She doesn’t have any objections, theoretically, the control group should be placed on the outside of the light strip in the same place.

But the experimental results were shocking. Literally speaking, Xerath even took off her glasses and threw them aside, squinting to read thermometer. However, the control group still had the highest temperature.

"This doesn’t make sense. Sunlight is warm, that’s for sure. It doesn’t make sense that an area without light is hotter than an area with light."

"Unless there is something in this area that we can’t see." This was Sylas’s point from the very beginning.

Xerath thought for a moment, quickly replaced thermometers with a new batch, this time placing them on both ends and sides of the light strip as measurement group, while the control group was placed where Sylas had just thought.

"Ask me whatever questions you have." Xerath stared at the light strip, saying it nonchalantly.

Sylas couldn’t help but touch her face, wondering if her expression was so obvious, but Xerath clearly wasn’t looking at her just now, right?

"…Why place it on the other side?"

"Intuition, there should be something on the left, and there should also be something on the right."

As expected, just like the upper and lower sides and the control group, the temperatures of the other light strips were different. Sylas recorded them and also made a note of the weather conditions.

It was sunny and cloudless, with a west wind.

The results of the experiment brought endless questions: what causes the different colors of light? Is it the result of a single light passing through different colored films, or is it different substances that create the different colors? Why does it only show when passing through a prism? Does the radiant glow of the ubiquitous Holy Light come from sunlight?

She quickly wrote on the paper, which rustled under the weight of the paperweight. Meanwhile, Xerath leaned against the lab bench and didn’t stop her from scribbling on the recording paper. When inspiration strikes, it is important to write it down immediately, even if it means abandoning neat habits.

No, that was just a side reason. She simply loved seeing Sylas’s mind wander. She was her proud protégé, her contract demon, her…

Suddenly, she remembered Virgil’s question, "Aren’t you afraid that someone might steal this little beast? She’s so popular, the top 7% of students from all over the continent are lined up in front of her waiting for her to choose." Star Song Castle was one of the seven advanced schools.

"What does that have to do with me? I respect every choice she makes, I only have mandatory requirements when it comes to her studies."

Just like their previous conversation, the archmage shrugged indifferently and let out a sigh. Tomorrow, Sylas was going back to school, and according to their usual practice, she would be taken to Star Song Castle a day early.

But this time, she hadn’t forgotten their relationship was still in a "cold" state. Sylas was sent by her to Withered Leaf City and then she disappeared into the teleportation array carrying her suitcase.

Hyectra asked, being nosy, "Are you really not sending her to school?"

"She should be more independent," she slightly furrowed her brow, as if discussing something serious. "Virgil says some old hunters, when they get old, specialize in raising precious demon beasts and release them back into the wild when they become adults."

"Is it the same with the young lady?"

"Basically."

Hyectra shrugged, clearly disagreeing. It changed the topic then, "Where are you planning to sleep tonight?"

Xerath covered her face with her hands, let out a sigh, as if she was very tired.

Sylas was almost pushed into the Portal by the wind, so she didn’t have time to hesitate, only had time to take one last look at Xerath.

Unfortunately, her eyes showed nothing, just like before, pale flames of magic, silver-grey, covering all emotions, and her face had no expression at all.

Even though she promised, she still couldn’t feel at ease. Xerath was so heartless when she pushed her…