I Give Up on the BL Novel's Male Leads - Chapter 104
Illein knew she could let go of Edwin’s hand.
Practicing magic drained a lot of her energy, but as long as she held his hand, Edwin shared his magic power with her.
So, she kept holding his hand on purpose, pretending not to know this.
It was still dark outside, being early dawn. Edwin sighed and spoke to her.
“Oh! And don’t summon anything too large, or someone might report it. Keep it reasonable.”
“By the way… Do you think distortion magic would be difficult?”
Illein wanted to try it to the best of her ability.
This was her first time properly learning offensive magic. She wanted to know her limits clearly, especially since she had never practiced such magic alone before and wanted to try with Edwin, a great teacher.
The problem was the nature of distortion magic. It belonged to the wind element. It was generally difficult to use magic of a different element. Edwin also had his limits.
But knowing how much of a genius Edwin was from the original work, she had some hope.
“Hm… Is this right?”
To her surprise, he easily cast distortion magic around her, as if he had simply decided to do it. There was no sign of difficulty at all.
“Edwin, you’re a genius!”
“…I worked hard for it.”
Edwin, slightly embarrassed by Illein’s unexpected praise, looked shy.
On the other hand, she secretly felt a bit bitter. Despite all her efforts, she felt he could never win. The thought that she could never surpass him filled her mind again.
Fortunately, the academy did not expect such a level of performance for its tests. If it did, she might not have even tried. The difference in talent between Illein and Edwin was significant.
Illein thought she could understand this well enough, but she couldn’t.
The overwhelming sense of helplessness was so unpleasant that her chest ached. Though she wondered if this feeling of loss was just petty jealousy, it felt more like a strong desire to win.
I didn’t want to lose like this!
The release of her pure emotions met the surging currents within her and manifested as a magical anomaly.
– Rumble! Boom! Boom!
A tremendous flash of light filled the sky, and a massive lightning bolt began to descend from the heavens.
“Ah…!”
Illein was startled by the powerful manifestation of the magic she had just cast.
She was so surprised that she could hardly process what had happened. Before she could even fully recover from the shock, a torrent of rain began to pour down in the spot where the lightning had struck.
– Whoosh!
Illein stared blankly at the scene, her mind screaming internally at the chaos unfolding.
“Well, this is pretty impressive.”
While Illein was stunned by the results she had created, Edwin calmly nodded at the outcome of the magic. Despite trying not to show it, he felt a sense of satisfaction. He figured that, at least, they had ensured some level of safety.
“It’s raining…!”
“You summoned it.”
“I didn’t expect it to rain!”
Edwin let out an involuntary chuckle at Illein’s genuine amazement.
“Let’s head inside now.”
“Sure.”
He led her back into the safety of Baron Thierry’s residence.
When Illein emerged from her bath, Edwin had also finished in another room.
“I didn’t realize how time had passed through the night.”
The faint sunlight was now beginning to illuminate the sky outside.
“I see.”
As she entered the room wearing her negligee, Edwin naturally approached her, using magic to evaporate the water from her body and hair.
“Since it’s morning, you should be going.”
“….Indeed.”
Edwin glanced at the sunrise through the window before turning his attention back to her.
“Thanks to you, we were safe through the night, and I learned lightning magic as well.”
“It would be good to teach Illein too when she returns.”
“I’ll do that. Oh!”
She quickly grabbed his hand as if she’d just remembered something.
“What is it?”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be here again today, so I wanted to hold your hand just in case.”
With Illein’s nonsensical excuse and her fingers interlocking with his, Edwin found himself unconsciously relaxing his grip. It was a strange feeling, not fully understanding why his heart softened so easily to her persistent behavior.
Edwin returned to the palace, and Illein, feeling more refreshed than she had after a full night’s sleep, headed to the academy.
At the academy’s roll call time:
“Everyone, it seems that student Rodein will not be here today.”
Illein looked at Professor Sharian with concern because his expression looked troubled.
“As you all know… last night student Rodein was attacked. His condition is quite serious, and it’s uncertain if he will be able to attend classes in the future.”
At that moment, Illein felt a chilling cold spread through her body. She recalled the encounter with Rodein the previous night.
“Given the circumstances, the Police Department may call upon students from our class. It would be best if you could cooperate as much as possible.”
Illein felt a sense of foreboding.
