When Your Secret Crush Wizard Took a Love Potion - Chapter 99
My frustration was so intense that I felt on the verge of tears. The fact that my entire life seemed to be at the mercy of this irresponsible man drove me to the brink of madness.
Once the suspicion began to grow in my mind, it gradually transformed into an unfounded conviction that consumed me.
Edgar’s silence only fueled these doubts. Every time he seemed about to speak, he hesitated and kept his mouth tightly shut, leaving me with no choice but to make assumptions and guesses.
To return to being an ordinary student, stay by his side, and then become independent?
Before administering the antidote, I had resolved that, even if Edgar didn’t love me once he regained his senses, I would make every effort and shamelessly demand responsibility if necessary. I even went so far as to try and seduce him for the first time, doing foolish behavior just to gain his attention.
However, facing Edgar, who now seemed to regard me with aversion, sapped all my strength and courage.
I felt like I could no longer endure this.
I decided to return to my room, take out a large travel bag, and pack it with a sleeping bag, important items, and some money.
“What are you doing?”
It seemed better to leave and stay away than to erase any memory of being loved by Edgar.
I had made up my mind. I would leave. Rather than waiting endlessly for Edgar, I wanted to leave his side and sort out my feelings on my own.
“What are you doing, Chloe? Where are you planning to go in the middle of the night?”
What should I do? Perhaps I could travel alone. After gaining some experience from my previous journey, it seemed like something I could manage, even if it felt daunting.
And after the journey? Well, I could rely on Lady Orzen. Listening to her relentless theories might seem absurd, but it would surely ease my sadness.
And since I’d be heading to the Dragon’s Lair anyway, maybe I should ask about magic for traveling back in time. It might not be entirely impossible.
“Are you really going to leave like this? If you’re just trying to mock me, stop. Even if you said it as a joke, I know you meant it when you said you would take all the master-class magic books and the finest potions before you leave…”
As I stood up with my packed bag, Edgar, who had been nagging and following me, suddenly changed his expression. His fidgeting stopped as he reached out as if trying to grab me.
“Take care.”
The hand that had risen as if to grasp my clothing froze in place like a statue.
I wondered what kind of expression Edgar would have after hearing my farewell. Although I said these words, he might have had a relieved and regretful expression at having to send off an uncomfortable student, or perhaps an emotionless, cold face.
Either way, it was hard to imagine, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him directly.
As I left the cabin, I felt a little hope. But there was no sign of him following me. Despite the darkness of the mountain’s base, the forest where I had lived half my life was familiar to me.
As I stood at the foot of the mountain, lifting my bag, I was about to leave.
“Don’t go.”
I felt the surge of magical energy just as Edgar appeared in front of me. With a face I had never seen before, Edgar stepped forward, closing the distance between us.
“I understand why you want to leave. Given the awful and terrible experiences you’ve had because of me, it’s only natural. I also know… I remember all the disgusting things I did and how I shamelessly clung to you, so it must be even more unpleasant.”
I could feel the pain and the long-standing conflict in his voice, tinged with a faint raspy sound. His pale face, even more so in the dark shadow of the forest, looked at me.
“I’m much older than you, and, ah, with something as grotesquely large and useless as my lower body, it’s understandable if you hate me. I hate it myself too.”
It was just a heated comment during my outburst, but… I wanted to point out the embarrassing parts Edgar remembered, but I was too stunned by his face to say anything.
“I understand everything.”
Tears, finally unable to bear their weight, fell from his watery eyes.
“But can’t you stay with me, Chloe?”
The man confessing in such a disheveled state was almost unrecognizable compared to the composed teacher from the past.
“Don’t abandon me.”
The same childish man who had begged me not to leave him, asking me to stay by his side.
For a moment, I was confused, but as I finally looked closely at Edgar’s face after the journey, I realized something.
I wasn’t the only one afraid of being abandoned. If either of us had been honest from the start, perhaps we wouldn’t have needed the love potion in the first place.
“Are you disappointed? That I’m such an insignificant person? I… Chloe. I’ve actually…”
I set down the bag I was holding and approached the stammering man who was unable to continue his words. As the curtain of admiration and misunderstanding that had made me see him as an ideal teacher was peeled away, I saw how flawed the man before me was.
“You’re such an idiot.”
Edgar, who had knelt and sat down, looked up at me with tear-streaked eyes. His eyes were red and swollen, and his transparent cheeks were wet with tears, sending a desperate gaze that was the most genuine I had ever seen.
