The library was quiet, save for the occasional rustle of pages and the distant creak of bookshelves as scholars wandered the aisles. Katherine sat at a large wooden table, her chin propped up on one hand, flipping through an old to on magical theory.
It was ant to be an insightful read—sothing that could help her understand what Ruel had hinted at. But, as she skimd the dense paragraphs about mana affinities, sigils, and elental connections, her mind started to drift.
The words blurred together.
This is useless.
With a sigh, she dropped her forehead onto the open pages in dramatic defeat. "Ugh. Why is magic so complicated?"
Before she could wallow in her misery for too long, a familiar voice cut through the silence.
"You look like you need help."
Katherine turned her head, forehead still pressed against the book, to find Adolfo standing beside her, arms crossed, smirking. His silver hair glead in the soft library light, and his red eyes held a teasing glint. The pristine uniform he wore contrasted against the scholarly disorder of scattered books and ink-stained parchnt.
Her heart did a little, annoying sorsault.
"My lord?" She blinked, sitting up, looking away from him. "What are you doing here?"
"This is a library, Lady Katherine," he said, pulling out the chair beside her. "People co here to read. To learn." He leaned over slightly, scanning the book in front of her. "And, in your case, to suffer."
Katherine groaned. "I am trying to learn. It’s just—ugh. None of this makes sense." She tapped the open page, where a particularly convoluted diagram of mana flow patterns taunted her.
Adolfo raised an eyebrow. "It’s not that difficult."
She shot him a look. "Oh, forgive , Your Highness, Master of All Things."
Adolfo laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "Well, I am good at magic."
Katherine blinked. "What?"
Adolfo gave her a puzzled look. "You... didn’t know?"
Katherine stared at him, completely dumbfounded. She had assud Adolfo was just good at academics, or maybe strategy. But magic? He was actually skilled at it?
"You—I didn’t know..."
He shrugged, as if his own talents were inconsequential. "You never asked."
Katherine huffed, shaking her head. "Unbelievable."
Adolfo grinned. "I can help if you want."
Katherine narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Really?"
"Of course." He flipped her book closed and replaced it with a blank sheet of parchnt. "First lesson: forget the boring books. Magic should be fun."
Katherine wasn’t sure how much she trusted that logic, but she let him continue.
She was a little relieved that she could talk to him normally—especially since she’d been trying to avoid him recently. It was almost too easy to fall back into their usual banter, and that realization made her both relieved and annoyed.
He grabbed a quill and, instead of writing anything remotely useful, started doodling a ridiculous caricature of a wizard with an oversized hat and a crooked wand.
Katherine snorted. "Is this serious academic work?"
"Obviously."
She grabbed her own quill and started doodling beside his wizard—adding a tiny, screaming student running away from a badly drawn fireball. "There. Now it’s realistic."
Adolfo chuckled. "You know, this is a much more effective way to study." He said while he doodled three more weird-looking wizards.
"Oh, really?"
"Of course," he said, suddenly standing up and striking a dramatic pose. "The key to rembering information is making it entertaining."
Before she could question him, he cleared his throat and adopted the most ridiculous, pompous accent she had ever heard.
"Welco, students, to the most esteed lecture on magical theory!" he announced, loud enough that a few scholars turned their heads disapprovingly. "Today, we shall discuss the intricate and most elegant concept of—mana wiggly lines!"
Katherine nearly choked on her laughter. "Mana wiggly lines?"
Adolfo tapped the book in front of them. "That’s literally what this diagram is showing. Look at this." He pointed at the swirling lines representing energy flow. "See? Wiggly lines."
Katherine started laughing. "You’re ruining magic for ," she tried to suppress her laughter since they were in the library.
"You’re welco."
She threw a crumpled-up piece of paper at him. Adolfo caught it effortlessly and tossed it right back.
Just as she was about to launch another attack, the door creaked open, and Arianne walked in. She took one look at the scene—her mistress half-standing with a handful of crumpled paper, Adolfo grinning like a mischievous child, and her notes covered in doodles instead of actual notes.
Arianne sighed, bowed her head, and gave a small, tired smile.
Then, without a word, she turned on her heel and walked right back out.
Katherine blinked. "Wait—Arianne?"
No response.
"Did she just... leave?"
Adolfo smirked. "Probably saw and ran away."
Katherine frowned and turned to Adolfo. "That can’t be it."
As they stared at each other, a strange, sinking feeling settled in her chest.
Adolfo suddenly tilted his head, his expression shifting—not teasing, not amused, but sothing quieter. Sothing unreadable.
"By the way—how are you?"
Katherine froze.
It was such a simple question, yet it caught her completely off guard.
Her fingers curled against the wooden table, gripping the edge as if steadying herself. She couldn’t et his gaze, so she turned her eyes to the book in front of her instead, though the words on the pages had long since blurred together.
"I’m... doing okay," she mumbled, hating the way her voice ca out softer than intended.
Adolfo didn’t say anything right away, and that silence pressed against her like a weight. His usual smirk was absent, his red eyes searching her face for sothing she wasn’t ready to na.
There was sothing too genuine in his voice, sothing too soft. And she hated that it made her heart race.
"It feels like it’s been a while since I saw you around," he added, his tone casual, but there was sothing underneath it. A quiet note of sothing... concerned?
Or maybe she was imagining it.
Katherine swallowed. She couldn’t tell if it was the warmth of the library or the way his attention was fixed so completely on her, but her face felt unreasonably hot.
This was dangerous. This was—
Oh no.
She could confirm it now. This was a crush. A full-blown, undeniable crush.
Her breath hitched, panic flaring in her chest. She needed to escape. Now. Before she said sothing ridiculous.
Before he noticed.
Before she did sothing utterly mortifying, like stare too long at the way the candlelight caught the silver strands of his hair.
Katherine’s mind scrambled for a lifeline, anything to break the mont—
"Hey, Adolfo, do you think a chicken or a horse would win in a fight?"
Her voice ca out far too loud.
Adolfo blinked, his expression shifting from mild amusent to sheer bewildernt.
Then, instead of calling her out on her nonsense, he actually considered it.
"A horse would obviously win, Lady Katherine," he said, as though this were an indisputable fact of the universe.
She gasped, pressing a hand to her chest as if he’d just committed so great blasphemy. "No, but listen—what if the chicken was smart?"
Adolfo narrowed his eyes, resting his chin against his fist. "Are we talking about a regular chicken or a magic chicken?"
Katherine tilted her head, her lips pursing in thought. "Hmm... A really smart, really angry chicken. Not magic, just... strategic."
Adolfo paused, his gaze growing distant as he tapped his fingers against the wooden table. The way his crimson eyes glead in the dim candlelight made it clear—he was truly, genuinely thinking about this.
"...You know what? We need to test this," he declared solemnly.
Katherine groaned, throwing her head back. "Oh my god."
He chuckled. "You brought this up!"
"I was panicking!"
Adolfo arched an eyebrow. "...Why were you panicking?"
Katherine nearly self-destructed on the spot. Her mouth opened and closed uselessly, her mind whirling at a speed that defied all logic.
"NO REASON."
Adolfo squinted at her, his sharp gaze scanning her face like he could unravel her secrets if he stared hard enough. His lips parted slightly, as if he were about to press the issue—but then, just as quickly, he exhaled through his nose and leaned back in his chair, arms crossing over his chest.
"You know what? We need to test this," he repeated, this ti with the weight of a man who had made up his mind.
Katherine let out a strangled sound and slamd her book shut. "We are NOT putting a chicken and a horse in a battle arena."
"I could probably enchant a chicken," Adolfo mused, rubbing his chin. His expression was eerily serious. "Give it so kind of agility boost—maybe so minor fire magic—"
Her laughter faltered for just a second.
The playfulness of the mont dimd, just slightly, as an intrusive thought crept in.
Her gaze flickered to Adolfo’s red eyes, the mory of Ruel’s words creeping in like a shadow at the edges of her thoughts.
Red eyes... Is he a fire user?
The connection tugged at her mind, a whisper of unease slithering into her chest.
She turned to him again, taking in his casual posture, the way he absentmindedly twirled the quill between his fingers. He wasn’t even aware of the direction her thoughts had taken.
And now, as if she didn’t already have enough to deal with—
She had a crush on him.
The realization hit her like a lightning bolt, shocking, undeniable, and entirely unwelco.
Katherine stood up abruptly, pushing her chair back with a sharp scrape against the floor. "Okay! Studying is over!"
Adolfo blinked at her sudden movent, his lips twitching into an amused smirk. "We didn’t actually study anything."
"Yep. And whose fault is that?" she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest as if that would steady the erratic beating of her heart.
Adolfo stood as well, stretching lazily before following her toward the exit, his grin unfaltering. "Lady Katherine?"
She sighed. "What?"
"...You never answered. Are we testing the chicken fight or not?"
Katherine groaned loudly and smacked a hand against her forehead.
This was going to be a long, long crush.
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