Chapter 239

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Chapter 239

It was her first violation, and Xerath didn’t even know what to do.

And when she emphasized the importance of being on time, Sylas gave her an impatient expression for the first time, interrupting her.

"You’ve already said it, I know, I understand, I will catch up."

Xerath understands that this is not the root of their problem, Sylas no longer has the same affection for her, and she wants to maintain the balance of Sylas chasing her a little, but gently refusing.

… She used to enjoy this kind of false love chase, and of course she felt dissatisfied after losing it.

No, the most important thing is, even though she says she gave Sylas a choice, when Sylas makes a choice that she is not satisfied with, she feels so imbalanced inside that she wants to take some desperate measures.

But, it can’t be like this.

After another disappointing separation, they hardly spoke to each other for almost two weeks, avoiding each other’s gaze. Xerath would return to the library after dinner, while Sylas simply went back to her room.

There is no one else here, only the constant wind and her.

And of course, there is a slippery water lord.

"Sometimes I really suspect that you are not made of water, but some kind of oily element."

"There’s no such element."

Sylas shrugged her shoulders and sighed as she lay on the bed, looking very lonely and sad from behind.

"I guess you must have changed your mind."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Suddenly, Sylas lifted her head from the bed and grabbed hold of one of the tentacles that had protruded from the massive body of the water lord, which had features on them.

"Oh, don’t choke me. I was just telling the truth. Is telling the truth also punishable? It seems you have forgotten your original intention. Do you still remember saying that you wanted to be a little pet to amuse the Highness?"

"But she," Sylas couldn’t help but sniffle, "doesn’t want me anymore."

"Since you say it like that, then I think your ultimate goal is not just to amuse the Highness, but for her to love you more. It’s a purposeful exchange."

You’re right," Sylas lowered her head and said gloomily, "Isn’t it obvious?"

"The Seventeen-year-old Elemental King can only grow up to be Forty, and she can’t possibly come out of your imagination. You’ve probably fallen in love with some kind of illusion!"

"I don’t have it."

"First, use rational thinking. You no longer care about the archmage’s feelings."

"It’s all because of you, this big water balloon. Since she rejected my witchcraft research last time, she has been treating me worse and worse. It’s all your fault!"

"How can you blame me! You’re the one who escaped into a fantasy world! You were supposed to discuss the progress with the archmage! But you missed two discussion days!"

Suddenly, Sylas let go and whispered, "But I want to be with her like that…" Just like she imagined, they would go to the school library to study together, discuss questions that couldn’t be discussed with others, and if it was her, she would understand, right? They would go eat delicious food together, and climb the roof of Falcon Fortress.

"But in reality, you’re in a cold war with her?"

"Hmm…"

"So you should find a way to solve such matters, so that things develop in the direction you want, right?"

"Yes…"

"Shall we start by discussing the results we have? You can’t delay any longer. And she is your teacher, you should have taken this opportunity to get closer to her and please her. Why did you choose to ignore her instead?"

"But she is so distant to me, I can feel it, it’s different from before."

"That’s because you made her unhappy, you need to solve it yourself. Hoping for help from others is useless. If there’s no intervention, things will only get worse."

The last sentence was completely correct, Sylas felt disappointed again and slumped down.

She truly cherished the past moments with Xerath, but of course, it was the imaginary Xerath who was more adorable. The seventeen-year-old archmage would not constantly hint about kicking her out of the mage tower, she didn’t have the right to do that. And she wouldn’t randomly dislike Sylas, nor urge her to work every day. It was more likely that she wanted to take her along to explore interesting books and study fascinating phenomena, and some intriguing spells.

Or do some… interesting activities.

If she wasn’t my teacher, would she still avoid me?

Nevertheless, she still followed the Water Lord’s advice and arranged a progress report with Xerath in the afternoon. To pique Xerath’s interest, she specifically divided the various questions written about Xerath in her notes into chapters and answered them.

She anticipated Xerath’s reaction, but Xerath’s lack of response left her greatly disappointed.

She didn’t even smile kindly, but kept looking at her with a critical gaze. She scanned her face harshly, nodding occasionally to show limited agreement.

"I…I finished speaking."

Xerath nodded, her eyes retreated. She looked down at the table, seemingly pondering her words, but her furrowed brow never relaxed.

"Sylas, you repeated the experiment I once did. It’s good, it’s necessary. You shouldn’t blindly trust me, that’s right. And your results are basically the same as mine."

"Yes."

"But what I want you to do goes beyond this. I see that you’ve done a lot, a lot of work. You ‘intend’ to take another small step where my thinking is broken, but that’s far from enough."

She stood up and walked over to Sylas’s seat, picking up that notebook, saying, "This is mine when I was seventeen, not yours."

She raised her head, looked at Sylas standing in front of the table, and earnestly and heavily said, "I see you hesitating and constantly missing in front of each possible breakthrough. Sylas, what have you been doing lately? Where has your…where has your keenness gone?"

"Me? What’s wrong with me?" Sylas asked quietly.

"I can feel that your attention is not fully on your work, and for a long time, you have made little to no progress. You are just repeating the work I have already done. Are you really working on your own research, or just copying my achievements? Be honest with yourself, how much of this work have you completed from last night until today noon?"

Sylas looked at Xerath with confusion and shock, not understanding what she did wrong (even though she stayed up late to finish the work).

The archmage reached out a hand, as if to touch her face, but stopped halfway, tightly squeezed and then released, and finally pointed to his own eyes, seeming to give up on something.

"Dark circles can’t deceive people. Sylas, I don’t want to blame you, and I don’t want to discourage you, but what on earth is occupying your mind? Where is your heart?"

It slipped out. The archmage closed his eyes, shook his head gently, and painfully thought, "What am I saying?"

Faced with these accusations, Sylas felt extremely wronged. She looked at her incredulously, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, as if wanting to explain but also wanting to cry.

"Where is my heart? It is in the things that you wouldn’t want me to do!" She didn’t think her progress was really slow. She worked every day, diligently verifying experimental results and carefully reading relevant research successes. But she couldn’t see the "breakthrough" that Xerath mentioned. She even suspected it didn’t exist and that it was just an excuse for her teacher’s disapproval. Because if there really was a breakthrough, why didn’t Xerath push the work forward by herself?

Yes, that’s the point. Xerath never used to be like this. First, she suddenly forbids Sylas from doing the research she wants to do the most, and then she starts nitpicking at her work. She initially said that these things weren’t urgent, so why is she constantly finding fault now just because the progress is slightly slower?

If she wants to give me the freedom she talks about, she shouldn’t intervene to this extent. If she enjoys interfering with me, she shouldn’t mention freedom at all…

No, there is another possibility between the two of them, and that is about the progress of graduation. Xerath is much more anxious than her.

"…Sylas, we should take a break and calm down."

Because of this, Sylas almost immediately felt like crying. It’s almost the same as saying "get out of my tower!" Her nose tingled, and even though she tried hard, tears still unwillingly fell out.

It’s so embarrassing, but Xerath turned around and walked towards the depths of the library. It seems like when she said "take a break and calm down," she meant she wanted to leave herself.

Sylas took a step forward, grabbed Xerath’s wrist, and was unsurprisingly shaken off. Sylas persistently held onto the archmage and rushed to the front, saying, "You don’t need to leave. If you want me to go so badly, then I’ll go."

"Where are you going?"

"Star Song Castle!" Sylas didn’t dare to look back, afraid that Xerath would see the tears on her face. She ran straight to the Portal and rushed into the illusion within the circle. Tears kept falling, but for the same reason, she didn’t even dare to wipe them away.

Xerath couldn’t help but take a few steps to chase after her, but her rationality told her that they really needed to take a break and calm down. She had originally wanted to go out for a walk, but now that Sylas had left, she had no choice but to replace her. Sighing, she didn’t want to stay in the library either. After closing the library door, she leaned against it and let out a heavy sigh, feeling extremely exhausted.

The argument itself didn’t tire her. As a researcher, she was always faced with questions, debates, and sarcasm from all sides, almost to the point where it had become instinctual. What made her feel tired was the profound sense of powerlessness towards her current relationship with Sylas.

Now, she was the only one in the tower. The constant wind made a loud noise that hardly changed. Just then, she suddenly felt the tower shaking slightly.

Earthquake?

No, it’s not an earthquake. Earthquakes don’t shake just once. She waited for a while and then heard a strange sound coming from above her. Next, a peculiar shadow flew out of the tower and onto the ground.

What is… What is this? She ran to the window, trying to see more clearly. But the strange shape became blurry in the sunlight, and Xerath couldn’t tell what it was at all.

Is it coming towards the tower?

She went downstairs into the living room and, using the Sunstone on the wall, used the Light Mirror Technique she hadn’t used in a long time. This time, she finally saw the strange creature in the air.