The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - 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
Apologies kept threatening to spill from her lips. Sorry for disappointing you. Sorry for letting you dream so boldly, even for a moment.
“…Huh? What?”
Her spirits had sunk to their lowest ebb. She was gathering her thoughts, deciding it was time to give up and return, when—
“Get back! Now!”
The Mage Tower Master, sensing the danger first, cried out.
The moment his words ended, the Chandelier erupted in brilliant light.
“Watch out!”
Lucas stood frozen, staring at the Chandelier. She had to protect him. Rachel stretched her hand toward the ceiling—just as she had once stretched it to shield Theo and Noah.
What power did this gesture hold?
The Mana Stone fragments scattering across the ceiling stopped mid-air.
“This… what is this…?”
The Mage Tower Master murmured in a daze.
“Did you… just now… stop those fragments?”
The Mage Tower Master stared at Rachel in disbelief. Rachel, still holding her hand toward Lucas, only then glanced up at the ceiling.
“Huh?”
How could Mana Stone fragments simply stop in mid-air?
“This is…”
There was no explanation other than that she’d channeled Mana.
‘Is this a dream?’
Did I truly possess such formidable power?
Everything felt far too unreal. Rachel clamped her mouth shut.
“Rachel.”
“…Lucas.”
Lucas, whose eyes had not blinked once as he stared at the suspended fragments, finally spoke.
“I knew my judgment was never wrong.”
He smiled—more beautifully than ever before.
* * *
The fact that Rachel Swan could channel Mana—and powerful Mana at that—spread swiftly. Within hours, everyone in the Imperial Palace had learned the news.
“Teacher!”
“Teacher!”
Theo and Noah rushed toward Rachel, who still seemed dazed.
“Is it really true? Teacher, is it really true?!”
“Wow, I was totally shocked. Those fragments just now—you stopped them by channeling Mana, right?”
Before Rachel could even open her mouth, the two children chattered on relentlessly.
“The Mage Tower Chandelier was smashed to pieces, right?”
“How did you even break it like that? Ordinary Mana wouldn’t come close to doing that!”
“I still can’t believe you’re actually someone that amazing, Teacher.”
“I want to channel Mana that powerfully too. I’m so jealous.”
The two children continued their chatter while Rachel stood there somewhat vacant, unable to string together a response. The timing felt off, and besides, she had no energy left to speak.
“You two.”
“Yes?”
I have something I need to do, so I’m leaving now. Start your lessons.
She finished what she had to say and left hastily. Though the children protested from behind her, Rachel had no mind—and no breath—to spare them.
‘What on earth is happening.’
No matter how many times she thought about it, the situation defied all reason. She had stopped Mana Stone fragments in mid-air.
As that impossible scenario replayed in her mind, the Mage Tower Master’s words naturally returned to her.
‘You do understand this is an extraordinarily exceptional situation, yes?’
The Mage Tower Master, having barely recovered his composure, had asked her this. His voice carried the weight of gravity. She had nodded in reply.
‘I don’t believe this is something we can simply overlook. At least, that is my assessment.’
But if it wasn’t something to overlook, what in the world was she supposed to do about it?
Confusion painted Rachel’s entire face. At that, the Mage Tower Master approached slowly and placed both hands on her shoulders.
‘No one will consent to my bringing you into the Mage Tower. Everyone will oppose it vehemently—I can see it clearly. So it may take time for me to persuade them. Can you wait?’
He posed the question with utmost courtesy. What should she answer?
‘Lucas…’
Rachel looked at Lucas cautiously. He then gently touched her cheek and spoke.
‘As you wish. I simply want to be your strong support.’
Rachel, for a moment retrieving her memories, stared blankly at the ceiling. Then she raised her hand, moving it as though trying to touch something unseen.
‘Unbelievable though it is…’
She now accepted that Mana slumbered somewhere within her. And she would have to learn to wield it properly.
‘Since it’s come to this, there’s no harm in trying.’
She wanted to be Lucas’s strength.
Until now, Lucas had protected her. So this time, she wanted to be his strength in return.
‘I don’t know what I can accomplish.’
And yet, and yet.
Rachel repeated it to herself again and again.
This was unmistakably an opportunity. He was the kind of man who wanted to select capable individuals regardless of birth. To such a man, Rachel herself could serve as a fitting example.
‘If I hold my ground well at the Mage Tower, it will lend weight to Lucas’s argument.’
It wasn’t merely Lucas’s wishes at stake. Born and raised without rank in a world where all are equal—that was the world Rachel understood—this work held profound meaning for her as well.
She closed her eyes slowly, hoping this storm of a day would settle soon.
* * *
They say the eye of a typhoon is peculiarly calm. Rachel Swan, standing at the center of it all, was spending quiet hours.
Meanwhile, Lucas and the Mage Tower Master, who stood at its periphery, were having an extraordinarily busy time.
Lucas set aside all state business and made for the Empress’s Palace. With the Emperor absent for recuperation, the one wielding power most equal to his own was none other than the Empress.
Without her consent, Rachel’s entry into the Mage Tower would not be possible.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince—the Empress is in the Back Garden.”
The head maid, recognizing Lucas, spoke at once. Lucas gave a light nod and followed her guidance toward the Back Garden.
The Empress favored all things magnificent, and the Back Garden reflected her taste beautifully. Countless flowers displayed their individual allure, their fragrances mingling to create an ineffable subtlety that defied words.
“Your Majesty.”
At Lucas’s voice, the Empress turned. Seated in her chair with a teacup in hand, she showed a moment of surprise.
“If it causes no interruption, I have something to say.”
Lucas took a seat across from the Empress. At the same moment, a teacup was placed before him. The Empress watched the scene in silence. Having received her wordless consent, Lucas regarded her quietly.
“You know the affairs of the Imperial Palace more precisely than anyone. Surely that is so, Your Majesty.”
Speaking slowly as he raised his teacup, Lucas opened his mouth. The Empress blinked, as if his meaning was opaque to her.
“I believe you know of Rachel Swan’s circumstances as well.”
Only then did the Empress, understanding what Lucas meant to say, take a sip of black tea. It was plain to see her mind turning, weighing how best to respond.
“She channeled Mana, I heard. Twice, no less.”
Unable to maintain silence any longer, the Empress spoke quietly. Lucas gave a light nod in response.
“Yes. Then do you know where she channeled this Mana?”
The Empress could not help but know. Yet Lucas pressed on, as though he needed to hear the answer from her own lips.
“The Mage Tower, was it not?”
“Yes. She shattered the Chandelier of the Mage Tower and sent every fragment of the broken Mana Stones floating into the air.”
Though she had heard the news in detail, the Empress had doubted it repeatedly, suspecting the account of exaggeration. Still harboring that doubt, she suddenly heard the Crown Prince speak so plainly.
Only three had been present there: the Mage Tower Master, the Crown Prince, and Rachel Swan. The moment the Crown Prince—he whose words carried the greatest weight—mentioned it so, it became fact. Truth, whatever it may be, had become irrelevant.
“You do not misunderstand the Mage Tower Master’s nature.”
At Lucas’s words, the Empress took another sip of black tea.
She could not help but understand. He had held the position of Mage Tower Master for thirty years. Through all that time, she had come to know naturally what thoughts and values guided his management of the Tower.
“He is a man who prizes bloodline nobility above all else. He is one who permits entry to the Mage Tower only to nobility of the highest rank.”
Lucas spoke with quiet firmness, as if pouring weight into the words that would follow.
“And yet that very man wishes to admit Rachel Swan into the Mage Tower.”

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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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