In the end, Rosalie got what he came for, a chance to meet Professor Innis in person. Antonio sent him back to his dorm and said he would stay behind to discuss work with Enid.

  Soon, only Antonio and Enid were left in the office.

  Enid stared at Antonio.

  Antonio sipped his tea.

  Enid kept staring.

  Antonio looked away.

  Enid flicked a gust of wind across his cheek, a sharp little smack that forced his attention back to her.

  Antonio turned to face her again, cold sweat starting to bead at his temple.

  The staring contest ended exactly the way it always did, with Antonio losing.

  “Alright, alright, I give. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, so stop looking at me like that. It’s terrifying.”

  “Talk. Why did you arrange for a Holy Son from the Holy Spirit Church to meet me?”

  Antonio waved a hand, trying to play it off.

  “If I said I just couldn’t refuse a friend’s kid… you wouldn’t buy that, would you?”

  The pressure in the room tightened again. Ripples trembled across the surface of tea in Enid’s cup.

  Antonio sighed.

  “Fine. The truth is, I wanted to check the state of your curse. You felt it too, didn’t you, the sheer amount of divine power on Rosalie?”

  Enid eased the pressure and nodded.

  “And the curse in you stirred up, right?”

  Another nod.

  “Exactly. I wanted to test how strongly you react against divine power.”

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  “Then what’s your conclusion?”

  “I think you’re noticeably better than when you first arrived at the academy. You were uncomfortable, sure, but you didn’t do anything else. You used to have a much bigger reaction if you so much as brushed against holy power.”

  Antonio stood, slipped on his suit coat, and continued.

  “And since Rosalie wanted to see you anyway, it was a convenient test. We’ve never really proven the theory that positive emotions can suppress the curse, but… these last two weeks teaching seem to have done you some good.”

  Enid agreed. She had only been a professor in the Nature Faculty for two weeks, but she could not deny she was enjoying it.

  Antonio put on his white bowler hat, picked up his short cane, and headed for the door.

  “Just keep that mindset. It’ll help.”

  With that, he said goodbye and walked out.

  What Antonio had said was not a lie. It also was not the whole truth.

  He had hidden his real reason, and for now no one knew it but him, not Enid, not Rosalie.

  Enid, however, sensed it anyway.

  In her mind, Antonio would never bring her face to face with a divine mage she instinctively disliked for something as simple as a friendly favor, unless he had another angle.

  That was how he operated. He thought everything through. Once he moved, he moved decisively, no hesitation, no second-guessing.

  Ever since Enid stepped into the academy, she had felt like the pieces had been falling into place a little too neatly.

  She knew Antonio had deliberately let people think he had a connection to Professor Innis, just enough to stir resentment. Then, naturally, he pushed for the qualification evaluation lecture, letting Enid build reputation fast and clean.

  He had done it quietly, but Enid still caught the shape of his hand in it.

  They had been teacher and student for over five hundred years. Their understanding of each other was not the kind you could fake or hide.

  Antonio might have even realized Enid had noticed.

  Still, both of them chose not to say it out loud.

  Enid wanted a way to deal with her twisted curse, and she also wanted to help Antonio restore the standing of the Nature Faculty.

  Antonio had goals of his own, goals he worked toward in the shadows.

  Enid knew that when it came to the justice he believed in, and the things he swore to protect, Antonio would pay any price to see his plan through.

  Even Enid could become one of his pieces.

  But Antonio never warned her ahead of time, and he did not use her lightly.

  To him, Enid was his trump card, the one he would only throw onto the table when it was time to flip it.

  And now, Enid had been placed.

  All that remained was when Antonio would decide to set that “winning piece” in motion.

  Even so, Enid did not resent him for keeping secrets.

  She trusted Antonio.

  The same way Antonio trusted her.

  Enid would support him in the open. Antonio would build his plan under the surface.

  Whatever his true objective was, Enid would not doubt him.

  After all, she was still his teacher.

  Not long after, Enid returned to her quarters and went to rest early.

  The curse, stirred up by Rosalie’s presence, left her bone-tired. She needed sleep to shake off the fatigue and settle the twisted curse back down.

  Soon, she drifted off.

  And in her dream, Enid slipped back into her past once again.