“I asked about the Duplain estate, and it seems Lady Aiselin plans to co to Raspah Cave in person. The servants are already busy preparing for the trip.”
The next morning, Bella, who had gone to the estate to collect supplies, brought back news. It wasn’t good news for Denise.
“…”
“What should we do, Lady Denise?”
“What can we do if Aiselin herself is making a move? Who could stop her?”
Denise’s expression grew complicated. Although she was a girl full of confidence, she couldn’t help but think that the man wouldn’t be able to refuse Aiselin if she ca in person.
In fact, he would probably respond quite positively. Sinking into her luxurious tent, Denise finally let out a long sigh.
“It seems I must admit a slow defeat. That man, as unyielding as a folding screen, will never teach
magic, no matter what I do.”
“That’s right… winning soone’s heart isn’t easy.”
Denise was soone with strong confidence and self-esteem, but she was also the type to honestly admit her shortcomings.
She knew well that forcing sothing not ant to be would only cause greater damage. Pushing harder or belittling herself would only backfire.
“Yes, I put a lot of effort into coming all the way to Raspah Cave when I could’ve just stayed lying comfortably at the estate. Bella, slowly inform the estate. I’ll return soon.”
“Yes, yes… I’ll tell the butler. Should we leave all the supplies here?”
“Moving them would be tiring too, so leave them all for Master Dereck the magician.”
With a deep sigh, Denise seed deeply disappointed. To others, it might have looked like she was being dismissive, but Bella, who had known her for so long, could easily understand.
The stronger soone’s belief in their abilities, the more deflated they seed when shaken.
Bella often found Denise’s sky-high confidence irritating, but inevitably felt a tug at her heart whenever Denise showed rare vulnerability.
After all, they had been together since childhood. Knowing her so well, Bella also felt lancholic whenever Denise was unusually down.
“Let’s say goodbye one last ti before we go. Who knows if our paths will cross again in the future? Let’s think of it as an investnt for later.”
With that, Denise let out a hollow sigh, her eyes reopening from fatigue as she prepared to return to helpless reality.
Bella, resting her chin on her hand, sank into thought before speaking with so skepticism. She often pointed out things Denise hadn’t considered.
“Aiselin is certainly exceptional in many ways, but I wonder about her as a student.”
“Huh?”
“Well, you know. Aiselin has mastered two-star magic at her age, and that’s truly remarkable. But honestly, how many teachers in the world could actually teach soone like that? Or does she even need a teacher?”
Bella tried to offer Denise a new perspective. More than just a personal maid, she was Denise’s companion.
“If I were to teach soone like her, I’d feel pressured right away. Sure, being Aiselin’s teacher isn’t an opportunity anyone can take lightly, but Dereck the magician doesn’t seem like soone swayed by family background.”
“…”
“A true magic teacher seeks those who need guidance—especially if they have principles.”
Dereck was soone with clear convictions.
He would do anything for magical mastery and tended to make decisions uninfluenced by social status. Bella had observed him over the past few days and was starting to understand this about him.
Would Dereck take on Aiselin as a student just because she ca from the wealthy Duplain family?
He wasn’t soone who made such one-dinsional judgnts. In other words, there was still a chance for Denise.
Denise had promised Dereck wealth and exceptional treatnt to persuade him, praising the virtues of the Beltus family and the bright future he’d have as her magic teacher.
But if she truly wanted to persuade Dereck… she needed a different approach.
The extent of the exceptional treatnt he’d receive wasn’t the main point. Denise, though capable of diverse thinking, had never considered this aspect for one simple reason: she had lived her entire life as a noble.
Thus, Bella, a commoner and servant, could think of things that would never occur to Denise. Bella saw Dereck not just as a commoner, but as an honorable magician.
“Dereck must have more important criteria than treatnt or family background when choosing a student.”
Most commoners would wag their tails eagerly for wealth and honor. But Dereck, with his mysterious aura, couldn’t be influenced by such things.
“As you know, he’s not stingy with his teaching. He even said he’d consider the Duplain family’s request positively.”
“Then what are you trying to say, Bella?”
“Perhaps the most important thing more than the treatnt you offer the magician… is your own worth, Lady Denise.”
Bella’s eyes were more serious than ever.
“‘Is she soone worth teaching?’ That’s the question.” No matter how good the instruction, if it ant nothing to the recipient, no one would want to ntor them.
Therefore, what Denise needed to show Dereck wasn’t noble treatnt or family background.
It was how worthwhile she was to teach. That was the question. Denise sat silently on the bed for a mont. Seeing the situation through Bella’s eyes, she felt the pieces in her mind slowly begin to align.
Over the past few days, every ti Denise visited, Dereck paused his training to listen to her.
Though he spoke of inappropriateness and interruption, he observed Denise’s reactions, heard her various proposals, and though he always ended with a similar conclusion, he consistently voiced his rejection.
He was soone trained by a six-star seeker mage. As they said, if he didn’t want to et her, he could’ve avoided her entirely. Yet there was a reason he kept eting her, listening to her proposals, and politely declining each ti.
It wasn’t just out of respect for a noble lady from a prestigious family. Even with tired eyes, he kept watching Denise.
“Testing , asuring my capacity,” Denise realized. Only then did she begin to see a bit of the true intent hidden behind his ritualistic refusals.
He had been waiting for Denise to show her sincerity, to reveal her true self. Finally, Denise understood. She was the one being evaluated.
The magician nad Dereck was not soone who could be persuaded or manipulated. With her thoughts now in order, her perspective seed to broaden. And then she felt confident.
“…Of course, Bella, your words are true, but they don’t an much…”
Denise already knew. Even if she laid all her cards on the table, Dereck wouldn’t be swayed.
She was, in essence, soone who couldn’t convince Dereck.
*
“Hello.”
In the depths of the cave, there was no sunrise or sunset.
Naturally, without being able to distinguish between day and night, Dereck had no clear idea how much ti had passed while feeling the magical flow and training.
However, Denise would occasionally inform him about the passing of ti, so he could roughly guess that another day had passed each ti she visited.
So, when Denise arrived again today without fail, Dereck was about to greet her politely.
After spending so much ti facing Denise, there was no longer any tension. But today, Denise’s deanor was clearly different.
She brought no maids or guards, and didn’t speak with her usual dignified eloquence.
The respectful tone she used to maintain was gone, and she simply arrived and greeted Dereck indifferently. Dereck’s eyebrows twitched for a mont, then, without much reaction, he bowed his head and said:
“You ca again today.”
“Yes. I thought it was ti to give up.”
Denise had already stopped pretending it wasn’t necessary. Again and again, she knew that Dereck had seen through all her fa??ades.
What use was there in talking anymore? She silently approached and sat in front of the rock where Dereck was seated, finally showing her bare, unguarded face.
“You really are sothing. How can you not even flinch even though I’ve been coming here every day?”
“You’ve treated a commoner magician far too generously. When you return to the estate, please find soone more suitable to teach the young lady of House Beltus.”
“That’s enough. You know just as well as I do that I didn’t co here to learn magic. I just figured I’d be the first to get you since you’re the popular magic teacher these days.”
Dereck was quite certain of her blunt attitude. She had indeed dropped her thin mask.
“It’s not like I was overly eager to persuade soone, and it seems you’ll be teaching Lady Aiselin, so I suppose I’ll give up too.”
“Well, I said I’d consider it positively, but that doesn’t an I promised to teach Lady Aiselin.”
“Oh, listen to you—leaving the door open. You rascal.”
“…”
“…”
When Dereck looked at her with an expression that said, “What are you talking about?”, Denise sighed deeply. It seed she could finally catch a glimpse of what Dereck was really like.
No matter what tricks she used, this man would never fall for them. At this mont, Denise was sure of that.
“Lady Aiselin will personally co to Raspah Cave today.”
“…”
“Since we’re here, I might as well say it—you’re right. I don’t really like magic all that much.”
Lady Denise spoke while sighing, her voice tinged with resignation.
“It used to be fun, but over ti, I liked it less and less. So I don’t have much ambition for magical achievent. To soone as imrsed in magic as you, I must look like a burnout.”
“I don’t think that far…”
“You do—in your heart. Well, it’s not surprising that you wouldn’t consider
your student.”
The more Denise watched Dereck engrossed in magic, the more her confidence waned.
Dereck’s passion for magic was genuine. Certainly, soone with a strong desire for achievent like Aiselin would be the perfect apprentice for him.
Denise, at so point, had stopped seeking magical success.
“Why don’t you like magic?”
“…”
Denise, quietly seated on the rock in front of him, stayed silent for a mont.
It was the first ti Dereck had asked her sothing personal. He had ignored her when she chattered, but now that she was unguarded, he finally showed interest. He was truly unpredictable.
“Magic is supposed to be fun, right?”
“Isn’t it always? Back then… it seed fun…”
Denise sighed deeply as she reflected.
Indeed, there was a ti in her youth when she studied magic all day. As the favored lady of House Beltus, who received the attention of the elders, she had imrsed herself in magic from a young age.
Closing her eyes, it felt like the darkness etched a picture of her younger self on her retina.
A liar and lazy, living with a “good enough” mindset, there must’ve been a ti when she actively participated in everything. It was a distant past, from when she was still too young, but she had once been pure.
However, the mont her passion faded and was lost ca unexpectedly.
“It wasn’t exactly that magic was fun—but rather, the reactions from my family praising every achievent I made.”
The girl would hide in a corner of her room, devouring various magic books, constantly refining her power whenever she had ti.
Was the process fun? Not really. It was more exhausting and draining. But each ti she presented her achievents to her family, they clapped and rejoiced.
As a true mage of the Beltus family, everyone bead with joy. And when they smiled, Lady Denise smiled too.
‘Well done.’ ‘Good job.’ ‘You did great.’ ‘Impressive.’ ‘Outstanding.’
Amid such praise, the na??ve girl deluded herself into thinking magic was fun.
Upon realizing this, Denise could only open her eyes.
Seeing Dereck, who remained unmoved, she wondered if her misplaced enthusiasm had stemd from his pure love for magic—envious of his total devotion to it.
She finally understood why she had displayed such inappropriate passion. The bitter aftertaste still lingered on her tongue.
“Just by doing magic exercises every day, one day, in the middle of a pile of books, the thought suddenly popped into my mind—‘Why am I doing this?’”
“…”
“That was it. There was no big catalyst or tearful backstory. Like most people, one day… I changed.”
Both Denise and Dereck knew.
Changes in life values don’t always occur through dramatic, aningful events.
In a silent room, on a table piled with books, a thought crept in behind the darkness, accompanied by the sound of insects outside the window.
And then, looking around, there was only a young girl tirelessly refining her magic every day.
Seeing the scattered books and magic tools, and herself striving hard, even at the cost of sleep, she wondered why she had never questioned it before.
‘Why am I doing this?’
A question so simple.
Denise wasn’t interested in magic. If anything, she preferred debating skills or writing.
Although she had achieved so success, her magical talent wasn’t obvious at first. The repeated training was no more than self-inflicted suffering. Still, she worked hard for praise.
Grand Duke Beltus always seed pleased when Denise reached a higher level, feeling that the Beltus na had risen. The elders felt the sa.
But one night, while the girl was engrossed in her spellbook, a sudden unease crept in.
That was when she realized her focus wasn’t on her own achievents, but on the prestige of the family na—a wave of doubt struck her without warning.
Like tripping on a stone while running, everything stopped. She felt like she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
What would she call this feeling? Too big to call it frustration, too small to call it emptiness. She didn’t try to define the twisted emotion.
It wasn’t sorrow deep enough to grieve, nor a trivial issue to ignore.
She realized her life was like a cart with square wheels. Sohow moving toward a destination, but inevitably, it would collapse from exhaustion soday. If not now, structurally, it would happen eventually.
So the girl abruptly got up from her desk and lay in her bed. As she slowly sank into the soft blanket, she finally felt sothing that had weighed her down—like shackles—had been released.
Thus, the girl’s ti dissolved into her luxurious bed.
Seasons passed, flowers blood and withered, the sun rose and set. As she disliked the sunlight entering her dark room, she would draw the heavy curtains, live just enough, and let it all pass.
On the mandatory days at the Rose Hall, she saw ambitious young ladies like Aiselin and Ellen. From her seat as an observer, resting her chin in her hand with indifferent eyes, she’d occasionally murmur to herself. Everyone was living seriously.
They rejoiced like they were leaping into achievents, clenched their teeth in defeat, tossed between superiority and inferiority, reveling and blaming themselves—joys and sorrows, like alternating hot and cold baths. Thus, the hall was full of people navigating life’s waves in their own way.
The girl, resting her chin and watching indifferently, always had similar thoughts.
Everyone’s struggling.
“I’ve thought a lot, and… I guess I envy you.”
“…”
“Surely, soone like you will beco a great magician.”
With that, the girl who had let go of all her burdens rose from her seat. The accomplishnts of the boy nad Dereck were entirely his own. He received no backing from a wealthy family, no support from anyone, and had no expectations from a family chasing worldly power. He wasn’t ‘of a family’—he was simply Dereck.
But Denise didn’t prattle on with such self-satisfying words. For soone, having an exceptional family background and full support might be their most pressing need.
She wasn’t careless enough to speak sweet nothings in front of a boy from the slums who had grown up in the harshest of environnts.
So she simply acknowledged the boy’s accomplishnts in silence and rose from her seat.
“We’ll et again, if fate allows.”
With a casual wave, Denise walked toward the exit of the cave, her steps as slow and weary as ever.
Seeing Denise’s languid walk, Dereck suddenly spoke.
“Still, let
clarify one thing. Magic is a deeper and more fascinating field of study than Lady Denise imagines.”
“…”
“It’s not like I loved magic from the start and decided to study it. I was just a slum kid, desperate to cling to any magician I saw, gritting my teeth to be taught—just to survive. Like others, I got involved when I learned.”
Dereck spoke without making eye contact with Denise. Denise could easily imagine the young mage’s life. In any case, the path he’d walked was closer to a thorny road than a bed of roses.
“Don’t hate magic too much.”
“You’re always so consistent.”
With a hollow laugh, Denise replied.
*
When Denise erged from the entrance of the cave, the Duplain family’s servants had already arrived in force.
They were guarding a luxurious carriage. It was obvious who was inside.
As Denise composed herself and walked past the carriage, Aiselin stared at her wide-eyed.
When Aiselin hurried to step out of the carriage to show her respect, Denise waved a hand, stopping her.
As always, with a tired expression and only the barest hint of courtesy, she passed Aiselin’s carriage and headed toward the plains.
No one in the world could reject Aiselin’s sincerity, who had co to the cave with such respect. In the end, she was the only one who could possibly persuade the rough magic master.
Seated in the carriage on the way back to the mansion, Denise looked up at the vast sky.
“The sun is too bright. Ugh…”
“Things didn’t go according to plan this ti. I’ll inform the Duke that we tried but it didn’t work.”
“Well, if it wasn’t ant to be, it wasn’t ant to be. Father won’t be too stingy about it. Being beautiful and smart doesn’t solve everything, right?”
”…”
Denise always enjoyed Bella’s changing expression whenever she shalessly boasted with a straight face. She laughed inwardly and then, resting her chin on the window sill, looked up at the sky again.
“Let’s go ho and just call this a failure.”
A strange sense of relief mixed in with the weight pressing down on her. The next day, shocking news swept through the Rose Hall.
Aiselin of the Duplain family had personally brought her maids to the outskirts of Ebelstain, but the magic master nad Dereck had politely declined to teach her.
Those who called themselves magic masters would usually cling to the hem of her skirt and beg to have her as a student.
The noble ladies were already in an uproar that morning, wondering how anyone could refuse Aiselin, such a precious talent that even she had been rejected.
He claid that Aiselin was too vast a vessel to teach. How could one contain a whale ant to roam the ocean in a re stream?
And so, his polite refusal, which honored her and preserved her dignity, circulated throughout the hall for a while.
“Wow… he’s even more obsessed with magic than I imagined…”
Upon hearing the news that morning, Denise blinked in disbelief.
She knew he was unpredictable, an incomprehensible enigma. But to turn down Aiselin, of all people… Even after hearing it clearly, Denise had to doubt her ears.
‘He said he’d wait until my training was done, but he refused… Just how deeply is he buried in his magical pursuit?’
It happened while she was walking down the corridor of the Beltus house for breakfast.
She had finished eating early and was about to return to Ebelstein when she ran into the Duke of Beltus, leading several attendants out of his office.
The two were far from having a warm familial bond.
Still, Denise managed a warm smile and behaved gracefully.
“Father. Good morning. The weather today…”
“Oh, Denise. My dear daughter.”
The Duke of Beltus approached her with a beaming smile, moving closer to pat her shoulder. Though they maintained family formality, they had never been this affectionate. Hiding her growing panic, Denise responded.
“Ah, Father?”
“A letter arrived this morning. The mage from Raspah Cave has sent a letter to the Beltus family, inquiring about several conditions. It seems he rejected Duplain’s offer and is considering ours.”
“You an… Aiselin’s?”
“Yes. It seems you are the most capable when it cos to high society matters, Denise. Unlike superficial nobles, the way you handle things is different. Truly, my dear daughter is the most reliable. Ha ha ha!”
The Duke of Beltus laughed heartily, his voice rising with his good mood. He seed extrely pleased with the news of having secured Dereck over the Duplain and Belmierd families.
“Truly, Denise, you’re the best! How did you persuade such a stoic man…? I wonder what your secret is!”
‘He chose ? Over Aiselin?’
Denise herself was utterly stunned. She was the most curious of all about how this had co to be.
In her heart, she had admitted that Dereck was not soone one could realistically hope to secure. And yet, he had rejected all offers and chosen her.
‘…But why???’
He was soone who never moved according to the world’s expectations. Denise couldn’t comprehend what was happening, her eyes darting around in confusion.
She had to admit it.
Trying to asure a man like Dereck was a futile effort from the start.
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