The winter sun climbed higher, and the light in the courtyard of the lord's manor shifted from angled rays to a steeper descent, bathing the entire room in warm, gentle radiance.
The leisurely murmurs of Zestira and Lanqi conversing mingled with the rustle of turning pages and the melodious whispering of leaves outside the window.
Whenever Lanqi raised a question, Zestira listened intently before sharing her own insights.
Even though Lanqi found learning practical magic exceptionally difficult, Zestira taught with immense patience, never finding him clumsy or slow for it.
However, she had not given much thought to magical affinity.
Since her greatest strength lay in fire magic, she set about explaining the incantation and casting of fire spells to him.
For Lanqi, his affinity among the elements went light over fire over the others; in truth, his affinity for fire magic was not particularly good either.
In the end, after more than two hours had passed, Lanqi's progress in learning the Tier 1 Fireball spell had advanced by roughly a tenth thanks to Zestira's dedicated efforts.
For an ordinary novice at Tier 1 magic, such progress would have been quite impressive.
Yet Zestira had no idea that Lanqi was already at Tier 4.
When the melodious chime of bells tolling across town reached their ears, Zestira finally noticed that the clock in the room had also struck twelve.
Without them realizing it, nearly three hours had slipped by.
"You may leave," Zestira said.
She figured it was about time, and this tutor could now report back to her father.
"Thank you. But with my mana capacity, even if I master a basic Tier 1 Fireball, I'll probably only ever manage to light someone's cigarette with it. I've wasted your precious time for nothing," Lanqi said with a sigh and a smile.
That was the ruthless truth his maid back home had once told him, and now he was thoroughly convinced of it himself.
"Isn't magic that can light someone's cigarette from your fingertips plenty useful?" Zestira glanced at him.
With the fierce wind and waves at sea and Viscount Francis's habit of smoking, having a spell like that to light his cigarettes would actually be quite convenient.
Someone like her, who struggled to control her mana, was entirely incapable of wielding miniature magic with such delicate finesse.
In her childhood, unable to control her mana, she had burned a servant in the household.
From that day on, many of the servants in the manor looked upon her with fearful eyes.
"Is that so?"
Lanqi nodded thoughtfully.
"In that case, Miss Zestira, see you tomorrow."
Lanqi moved the chair back to its original position, walked over to the doorway of Zestira's room, and smiled back at her as he spoke.
Beside the desk, Zestira remained silent for a moment before giving a slight nod.
She didn't know what point there was in wasting her morning on this "tutor."
Yet, before she knew it, she had exchanged so many words with him.
...
Out in the hallway on the manor's second floor, Lanqi had barely taken a few steps from Zestira's room when he unexpectedly caught Viscount Francis's eye.
Viscount Francis was standing in the second-floor hall, looking at him with a complex expression.
"Viscount Francis, not only did I fail to teach the young lady anything today, but I even took up over an hour of her time having her teach me magic." Lanqi bowed to Viscount Francis.
"No, no, not at all!" Viscount Francis waved his hand in relief and hurried over to Lanqi's side. "As long as you can keep communicating with her, that is more than enough. I'm just glad to see her willing to interact with someone. It doesn't matter whether you hold lessons or not—just treat it as being her friend and keeping her company to chat."
The weathered look in Francis's eyes could not conceal the profound relief welling from the depths of his heart.
He had thought Zestira would keep shutting herself away with ever-greater resolve for the rest of her life; he had never imagined someone could finally open her heart, even if only a crack.
This young man who crossed the sea from the Southern Continent was truly a person of pure sincerity and absolute goodness.
Were it not for genuine sincerity, he could never have gained Zestira's acceptance.
"Very well. I will do everything I can to help her pass the Protos Royal Magic Academy preparatory graduation exam and successfully advance to the first year," Lanqi promised the viscount.
"Then I leave it in your capable hands, Mr. Luoqi," Viscount Francis expressed his heartfelt gratitude.
In truth, he asked for nothing more.
Hoping Zestira would accept lessons was simply asking too much; maintaining the current state of affairs was already more than enough to leave him deeply satisfied.
...
Back in Zestira's room, after Lanqi left, she remained seated at her desk, quietly reading her book.
Just like that morning, she was alone once more.
Only now, as midday arrived, the furniture appeared brighter in the light, yet not glaringly so—instead adding a soft sense of depth to the room.
Once a household servant delivered lunch outside her door and set it down, she stood up, preparing to bring it inside.
As she walked across her room, she noticed a Protos Royal Magic Academy textbook on magic genealogy resting atop the low cabinet beside the chair where Lanqi had sat.
"..."
She silently shifted her steps slightly in that direction.
That fellow had forgotten to take his book.
Zestira recalled that he seemed to have been writing something in this book right from the start.
It was bound to be nothing more than tedious knowledge.
Thinking this, she casually flipped through it.
Unremarkable—just annotations, as expected.
Yet what slightly surprised her was that, even with translation magic, this tutor from the Southern Continent rarely used the script of the Protos Empire.
In most places, he had written clear, beautiful Demon Magic Script.
The Protos Empire did not ban the use of Demon Magic Script, as the imperial capital itself made extensive use of demon race heritage.
Zestira's own bookshelves were packed with books related to Demon Magic Script.
"I didn't expect anyone from the Southern Continent to know this... Are there demons there as well?" she murmured.
As far as she knew, demons stranded on the Southern Continent should be exceedingly rare, and humans proficient in Demon Magic Script were rarer still.
Unlike the Demon Magic Script popularized here in Protos—which had undergone extreme adaptations for human convenience—his writing showed far greater reverence for the achievements of ancient demon scholars, harmonized with human intellect in a manner deeply reminiscent of ancient times.
A gentle breeze blew outside the window, carrying faint natural sounds—the distant chirping of birds and the soft rustle of leaves brushing against one another.
Before she knew it, Zestira had followed Lanqi's handwritten notes all the way through the opening pages.
Flipping further, there was no more of his writing.
"..."
Zestira closed the book and looked toward the door.
At first, she had half a mind to take the book outside and return it to Lanqi.
But on second thought, that fellow would probably come again tomorrow.
In the room, now brightened with noontime light, Zestira finally set down the book and pulled open the heavy door.
Chapter 248