Chapter 121.1

Three days after Betsy went on vacation, Professor Hutson arrived from the Crohn Royal Academy.

Professor Hutson, who had lost his hair a little more than the last time they saw him, now seemed exhausted after a long journey. But as soon as he saw Dave, he smiled widely and rushed to hug him.

“Glad to see you after such a long time. How have you been?”

Dave, who was in the lab and ran out after hearing the news, patted him on the back with a bewildered face.

“You ask how I’m doing? Well, anything is better than your eternal torment with papers and students. Anyway, I was seriously surprised when I heard that you were coming. What happened all of a sudden? I bet you didn’t come to see me.”

“Is it so strange that I came to see my friend after a long time?”

Professor Hutson made a joke, but Dave didn’t seem to believe it. Instead of replying that it was strange, he crossed his arms and stared at Professor Hutson silently.

Professor  Hutson said, wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

“I came here because I was asked to do something in the Empire. In the meantime, see you too. It’s been a long time since I saw your face, because you didn’t come to the Academy after Reynard came back. But how can my visit be called sudden?”

“It was sudden, but I’m glad to see you.”

Professor Hutson, who briefly exchanged regards with Dave, turned to look at Reynard.

“Reynard, you ran away without enduring a whole year. And a couple of months later he became famous throughout the Empire.”

Professor Hutson hugged Reynard with a face that was half happy and half sad. Because Reynard was taller, Professor Hutson hugged him, but the professor gave his beloved student a pat on the back as if he were a 13-year-old student.

As if it didn’t seem enough, he also touched Reynard’s head. Raynard smiled as he straightened his tousled hair.

‘Does Ray need to do something?’

Watching the touching reunion, Yurina became worried that Professor Hutson would ask Reynard to return to the Crohn Kingdom for a while. But luckily, he didn’t talk about the academy anymore and just handed him the package. This envelope was too large to be called a simple letter or postcard.

And the name on the envelope was Aiden Tessie. Like his lively personality, his handwriting was large and refreshing.

But Reynard didn’t show much surprise at the sudden handed letter.

“Thank you professor. How have you been, are you in good health?”

“I didn’t have to sit idle. Aiden and the others got on my nerves.”

“Aiden?”

“Aiden was so depressed after you graduated that he stayed in his room for a while and didn’t come out. So did the other kids. It’s a little better now, though, but I still feel like he’s walking around half-conscious.”

Yurina couldn’t believe Professor Hutson’s words. Although he didn’t have to lie, given Aiden’s lively and open appearance, it’s hard to imagine that he refused to leave the room.

But Reynard didn’t ask back if he had a different idea or if it was real. He simply looked at the letter in his hand with a slightly depressed face.

‘So you really do miss your friends.’

It had only been three or four months since he graduated and returned to the Empire. Considering Yurina and Reynard had been apart for 7 years, it wasn’t long, but considering they had been together every day for 7 years, a gap of three or four months was a big deal. Knowing her longing for being away from her friend better than anyone else, Yurina gently patted Reynard on the back as a consolation.

He smiled faintly as he looked at her.

“It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

“Yeah, that’s right.  After graduating later, let’s ask everyone to come to the Empire together. We’ll treat them as an honored guests more than anyone else.”

Reynard laughed mischievously at her muttering seriously.

“It’s a good idea, but how do we know when they will graduate?”

“Then we can gather in the Crohn Kingdom.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

While the two chatted briefly, Dave said he had something to show him and was about to return to the lab with Professor Hutson. Professor Hutson asked Reynard to go with him, but he shook his head without hesitation.

“I have something to do. See you later at dinner.”

He then grabbed Yurina’s hand and headed towards the office. Betsy was originally supposed to follow her, but another maid followed in her absence.

Arriving at the office, Yurina noticed Reynard’s unusual expression and ordered the maid to serve simple refreshments.

“What’s up?”

Yurina looked at the slightly open door and asked. If it had been a simple greeting letter, he wouldn’t have rushed to her Yurina, so that must have had something to do with her.

‘Is it related to black magic?’

Raynard pushed Yurina into a chair and sat next to her. Then he opened the letter and began to read it aloud.

The letter began with a greeting, nothing special. In the meantime, he wanted to send a letter first, but he didn’t know if he could send a letter to Carthia House.

‘Can I listen to this?’

Yurina couldn’t shake the strange feeling as she watched Raynard read the letter slowly. Even though he read it himself, Yurina somehow felt like she was spying on someone. Perhaps it was because the tone of the letter was so similar to Aiden’s that it looked like Aiden himself, not Reynard, was speaking directly to her.

It was when Yurina opened her mouth to say that she was fine and that he didn’t have to read it any more.

“Anyway, I researched the phenomenon of the Blessed after you left. I thought about writing about the Blessed in my thesis. But your letter arrived just in time. I wrote down everything I learned and sent it to you.”

Blessed? Reynard sent a letter? Hearing this for the first time, Yurina drew closer to Reynard and looked at her letter. The next sentence was muttered by her instead of Reynard.

“Reynard, do you know why people born with red eyes are said to be blessed by the Goddess? Is it because they are good at magic? Of course you’re good at magic. But in that case, why not say that people born with other talents are also blessed by the Goddess? Aren’t you curious?”

Reynard read the answer.

“In the Denik Kingdom, people who used black magic were considered outcasts. Well, even now there are people who still think so. But in the past, warlocks were considered creatures that oppose the goddess. However, as I learned in witchcraft classes, black magic has other magical principles,  so you can’t detect it with normal magic.”

Reynard’s voice, which had been reading the letter calmly, fell silent for a moment. He looked at Yurina’s face once, then opened his mouth again.

“But it is said that people born with red eyes, like you, are the only ones who contain the innate power to recognize black magic. Do I think they were called blessed by the Goddess because they had excellent magic skills and were able to detect black magic.”

Blessed, who can detect black magic. Only then did she understand why Reynard had noticed the black magic alone during the hunting competition.

‘It was all because of this that Marquis De Flon targeted me before Ray’s return.’