Chapter 16
I shot my hand up and shouted, and countless eyes turned toward me.
“I want to do the overtime! Is that alright?”
A silence heavier than before fell over the room.
“Miss Violet?”
Aaron looked at me, utterly flustered.
He was so surprised that he even adjusted his glasses.
“Y-you… volunteered just now?”
I braced my core and called out firmly.
“Yes. I definitely want this overtime position!”
“…….”
Aaron’s jaw dropped. He seemed completely unprepared for an employee to be so bold.
He must have been trying to figure out how to highlight my strengths.
“R-right. Well, then…”
Oh?
It was easier than I expected! He agreed without hesitation!
“Then the night shift will be handled by Miss Violet… Wait, isn’t this workplace harassment? You volunteered, right? That’s correct?”
Aaron scribbled notes quickly on his documents and looked at me for confirmation.
I quickly nodded.
“Yes. That’s correct!”
“Good, good. Since we have a volunteer, the lottery is canceled.”
From around the room came heavy sighs.
I calmed my racing heart and sat down.
‘Yes! Overtime secured…!’
The night allowance was five times the usual rate, right?
I was one step closer to affording a temporary “husband” for my plan!
Feeling proud, I got through the morning work smoothly.
When I arrived at the second-floor cafeteria for lunch, a voice called out.
“Um… excuse me.”
Huh?
A woman I didn’t recognize approached me.
Her light brown hair fell to her shoulders, and her amber eyes gave a friendly impression.
Freckles around her small nose added to her charm.
Looking more closely, she was the same female mage who had desperately whispered, “Please… please…” when the night shift was being assigned.
“Yes?”
“Hello. Um… well…”
‘Oh no. Is this about the work earlier?’
Was she going to complain that I had “cheated” to get the night shift?
But the words that came out of her mouth were completely unexpected.
“There’s also a cafeteria on the third floor.”
“Yes?”
“Um, why not eat there today? I’ve heard the food there is better…!”
“Oh, I can eat anything—”
At that moment.
“That newbie, isn’t she a little too forward?”
A voice echoed from inside the cafeteria.
Reflexively, I turned toward the sound and saw four mages sitting at a round table.
Red, orange, yellow, and green hair. Rainbow-colored.
“I mean, she can’t even use magic properly, but now she’s in the mage tower and thinks she’s better than she is. And she’s being so bold?”
“She’s going to assist the Duke? Ha! Probably just serve coffee or fetch things at most.”
The mages sneered viciously. It was obvious they were talking about me.
The female mage who had approached me looked worried.
‘She was concerned for me.’
My chest warmed with gratitude, but I was fine, really.
Honestly, hearing people call me “bold” wasn’t new.
Back at the Academy, I often stuck around the most popular students, Felix and Lorena, and got plenty of gossip for it.
“My little brother’s friends with this year’s Academy top graduate. Apparently, the newbie begged him every night to help improve her grades all year long.”
“Ha, hilarious. No skills, but a fierce personality, huh?”
‘So Felix even spread rumors like that….’
I had stayed up late at the dorm helping Felix with his lessons, tutoring him because he was a slow learner.
But to avoid revealing I was helping him, he apparently spread these misleading rumors.
“But the newbie fixed the mess those dumb lower-class guys made last time, right?”
“Just once. She probably got lucky! Can someone with barely average brains even survive this elite group? She’ll show off for a bit, then stop, I bet.”
The laughing mages left through the opposite door.
The female mage looked at me nervously and whispered in a small voice.
“Um… don’t pay them any mind. They’ve been trained only academically since childhood, so their home education is poor. Becoming a mage doesn’t fix a bad person…”
She said harsh things, but in a gentle, careful tone.
At least she was trying to comfort me. I looked at her with wide eyes.
‘It’s okay, Frisia. Don’t take their words to heart. You may be a little clueless at times, but you’re genuinely kind. They’re too harsh.’
When Lorena had comforted me before, I always felt lingering guilt even though I had a friend on my side.
Now, that feeling didn’t exist at all.
It was unfamiliar, but not unpleasant. I awkwardly smiled and nodded.
“Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.”
“Um, I’m Luna Olen.”
“Ah. My name is Frisia Violet.”
Luna repeated my name as if taking note, then looked at me intently.
“I really admired you earlier…! Even veteran mages over ten years avoid working overtime alone with the Duke, but you volunteered! I had a feeling I’d get picked for this lottery, and thanks to you, I survived…!”
Her eyes sparkled like stars as they looked at me.
It was the first time I’d ever received such a gaze, and it was overwhelming.
‘So the silence earlier wasn’t about competition…’
Everyone simply didn’t want to do it!
But something was strange. Duke Kreutz was, literally, the greatest mage on the continent.
Whenever he appeared, countless eyes were filled with fear and even greater reverence.
“I thought everyone would want the chance to work beside the Duke?”
Luna hesitated, then whispered after confirming no one else was around.
“Well… everyone is really scared of the Duke… His standards are extremely high, and um… there’s a rumor that he can read your thoughts just by looking into your eyes.”
Huh?
I had heard that someone extremely sensitive to mana could perceive others’ emotions through the flow of magic. In theory.
But reading thoughts just by making eye contact? That’s impossible.
Even someone extremely sensitive to mana would need physical contact at minimum. This was almost an urban legend.
“Is that really why?”
“Well, there was that incident a long time ago. It’s been… about thirteen years now?”
Luna lowered her voice further.
Thirteen years ago… I was seven.
My mood sank reflexively. I didn’t want to remember that time.
“The Duke’s mana went out of control and the whole area was destroyed. The impact was so huge that everyone subconsciously fears him.”
‘So he’s treated like a ticking time bomb…’
It felt strange.
Since Kaien became head of the Mage Tower, it had made incredible progress.
I couldn’t understand why mages benefiting the most from it would be so scared of him for such a reason.
‘They don’t see him as a respected figure… they treat him like a… monster.’
Am I overthinking it?
That evening.
I stood tensely in front of the enormous door.
Meeting the Duke alone made me nervous.
Knock, knock.
After a deep breath, I knocked. The door slid open silently.
‘Ah!?’
I peeked inside and was instantly shocked.
Four grown mages were crouching, holding their ears, standing and sitting repeatedly.
Their brightly colored hair looked familiar.
‘The red-orange-yellow-green mages from before!’
