The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 71

Meanwhile, Leoryna had found a secluded spot near her lodging, burned her cloak to erase all traces, and was now catching her breath in ragged gasps.
“Hah… hah….”
Blood dripped steadily from her nose. Pinching her nostrils shut, Leoryna succumbed to the vertigo and collapsed where she stood.
“Ah, as expected—this takes a toll on the body.”
The backlash from forcibly manipulating another’s magical circuits using her own power had damaged her. Still, Leoryna dismissed it as trivial; a good rest would mend it soon enough.
Unable to walk properly, she half-stumbled into her room. Pongko, who had come to greet her, grew alarmed at her condition.
“Leoryna! Don’t tell me Khalid struck you?!”
“No, that’s not it. But I failed to kill him—what a waste.”
“Good heavens, that’s not what matters now! Your magical circuits are in complete disarray! They’re barely functioning as it is, and if something goes wrong, you could trigger a magical runaway!”
“Damn it.”
Leoryna couldn’t bear the spinning in her vision and collapsed onto the bed. Cold sweat beaded across her forehead.
“Pongko, if I trigger a magical runaway, flee immediately. You only have one functional magical circuit, so you’ll be caught in my runaway.”
As Leoryna spoke through groans, Pongko shook his head.
“How could I abandon you and run? I’m your familiar!”
“That’s precisely why you should run. You’ll suffer more damage than anyone else….”
But Leoryna couldn’t finish her sentence before consciousness slipped away.
“Leoryna? Leoryna!”
Pongko shook her, but she only groaned, her eyes remaining shut. Pongko bounced frantically around her in panic.
“This is bad! She could trigger a magical runaway at any moment!”
Pongko bolted from the room and ran toward the Conference Hall with all his might.
“K-Khalid!”
Pongko only sought out Khalid in dire circumstances, but right now, there was no one else who could resolve this situation.
Catching Khalid’s scent, Pongko easily spotted him on his way back to the lodging. Khalid’s eyes widened when he saw Pongko alone.
Pongko leaped into Khalid’s arms and cried out urgently.
“Leoryna! Leoryna!”
Hearing only those words, Khalid broke into a run. Questions could wait until they were moving.
“What’s happened?”
“Leoryna’s magical circuits are unstable! She’s going to trigger a magical runaway!”
“Even if a magical runaway occurs, I can handle it. Don’t worry.”
It was far from fine, and it absolutely could not happen.
If a magical runaway occurred, Leoryna’s power—seventh circle—would be exposed. Her magical circuits had to be stabilized before any runaway happened, which was why Pongko had come rushing in such desperation.
“But people could get caught in it, so we need to prevent it before that happens.”
Muttering this, Khalid had already reached the lodging.
“Leoryna!”
He burst through the door to find Leoryna groaning on the bed. One look confirmed that if left alone, a magical runaway was imminent.
“How did this happen?”
“It seems she was briefly exposed to a magical runaway earlier.”
Pongko lied without batting an eye, and Khalid seemed to accept it without question.
“Your body is more fragile than I thought!”
To him, Leoryna was a delicate graduate student whose muscles existed only in her heart and diaphragm. It was hardly surprising that such a frail body would deteriorate rapidly after exposure to high concentrations of magical energy.
Khalid placed his hand on Leoryna’s chest and gently infused his own magical power into her.
At that moment, Leoryna’s hand grasped Khalid’s wrist—a reflexive response to another’s magical energy.
“W-what are you doing…?”
Leoryna gasped out in a faint voice.
“Leoryna, it’s all right. It’s me.”
“Kha-lid…?”
When Leoryna called his name, Khalid wiped away the cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
“Just rest for a moment. You’ll feel better then.”
As his magical power flowed through every corner of Leoryna’s body, her own rampant magical energy began to follow its path in harmony. The tension in her expression gradually eased.
‘So warm…’
Leoryna felt as though she were immersed in warm bathwater. Even through her hazy consciousness, she could feel someone brushing across her forehead.
It must be Khalid.
Under normal circumstances, his touch would have been disagreeable, but now his careful, gentle movements felt comforting—even though just moments ago, he had been a target she’d tried to kill.
Without thinking, Leoryna rubbed her face against Khalid’s hand as he wiped away her cold sweat.
As her strained breathing returned to normal, drowsiness overwhelmed her.
“Professor… I’ll just rest for a moment…”
“Yes. I’ll stay right here, so rest easy.”
Leoryna drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Khalid watched Leoryna’s chest rise and fall gently, then exhaled in relief.
“Phew… that was close.”
“Thank goodness!”
As Pongko’s tension dissolved, his legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed beside Leoryna.
Even though they’d weathered the crisis, Khalid remained anxious, continuously wiping Leoryna’s face with a warm cloth. His movements were delicate—those of someone practiced in caregiving.
“That should be enough, Khalid.”
Pongko wrinkled his nose and suggested that Khalid was being overly cautious, but Khalid didn’t stop.
“When someone is ill, my heart races uncontrollably. It’s a trauma of mine.”
Pongko tilted his head in confusion, but Khalid said nothing more and fell silent.

* * *

Leoryna dreamed of being in the Greenhouse. This was a place she had once seen in Khalid’s Dream.
‘Am I having this dream because I’m being influenced by Khalid’s magical power?’
The person who appeared in her dream was facing her in a form she had already seen once before.
“Let’s talk about the papers Leoryna likes!”
“No. I don’t like that sort of thing.”
At her firm response, the young Khalid’s face grew sullen, but Leoryna let out a dismissive snort.
‘Why is such a person appearing in my dream? And on top of that, he’s misunderstanding that I like papers.’
Setting that aside, she was curious about why he appeared as a child. Leoryna sat on the Bench placed at one side of the Greenhouse and asked Khalid.
“Why did you appear?”
“I am Khalid’s magical power that has entered Leoryna’s body. My presence is affecting your dream, so I’m simply appearing like this.”
“That’s… troublesome.”
Leoryna wanted to drive away this small Khalid, but since her own magical power was flowing perfectly along its path, his magical power would naturally remain in her body until it dissipated completely.
“I understand that magical power can influence dreams, but why did you have to take form and appear before me like this? There’s no reason for it, is there?”
As Leoryna waved her hand dismissively, the small Khalid’s face showed a hint of hurt.
“I like Leoryna. I just came because I wanted to see you…”
“What?”
When Leoryna raised one eyebrow, the small Khalid laughed brightly and fidgeted in front of her.
“I like Leoryna! I want to be with Leoryna! Don’t you like me?”
“No.”
At Leoryna’s firm answer, the small Khalid’s face grew sullen and his lips pouted. But looking at the small Khalid, Leoryna felt nothing but turmoil.
She should have killed him when she had the chance earlier, but the assassination had failed again.
Since things had come to this, Leoryna began muttering to relieve her stress.
“Listen to me. I’m in a situation where I have to kill you. But if you like me, it becomes quite awkward, doesn’t it? I don’t want to get that close to you. It’s ultimately my loss to care about an assassination target. I don’t want to do emotional labor. But you…”
Leoryna bit her lower lip as she spoke.
“I don’t understand why you’re even worrying about me!”
“What’s strange about worrying for someone you like?”
Khalid blinked in confusion. In that moment, Leoryna had an epiphany.
“Right, I suppose that’s true. When I think about it, it makes sense that you’d worry about me. A slave can’t work if they’re sick. Wait, you keep treating me like a slave, but I have human rights too! Treating a Graduate School student like a slave is an outdated culture!”
Having vented her frustrations alone, Leoryna huffed and grabbed the small Khalid’s cheeks, stretching them.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“Ugh, you’re so annoying! I have to vent like this even in a dream…!”
“I’m taking care of you! How can you repay kindness with enmity?”
“Kindness, you say! When have you ever shown me kindness, and how much? Compared to what I’ve suffered so far, this is nothing!”
After pulling Khalid’s cheeks back and forth for a while, Leoryna quietly released them when tears began to well up in his eyes.
Khalid rubbed his reddened cheeks with his hands and let out a wail.
“Leoryna is stupid! An idiot!”
“Hey! Then you’re a psycho!”
Leoryna stood up abruptly from her seat. And what was before her eyes was…

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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