At dawn, a faint ray of light fell upon the royal capital, and the red sun gradually revealed its face.
Aurelian had been waiting for Viktor in front of the Clavenna family's mansion since early morning, a small army of guards standing behind her.
They wore cold, gleaming armor and gripped heavy blades, with a strange-looking shield placed in front of each of them. The shields were so long that they seemed rather inconvenient to carry.
They had received the emperor's command at the crack of dawn and were assigned to protect Aurelian.
Since a member of the royal family was visiting, the servants naturally dared not be negligent. One of the maids hurried toward the mansion.
"Your Highness, I'll go inform the master right away."
"No need."
"It's improper for a student to wait while her teacher comes to greet her. I'll go find him myself."
Aurelian suddenly said that, and the maid, who had just turned to leave, stopped in her tracks.
Though she felt a little awkward, the royal title carried too much weight. Reluctantly, she opened the gate to the estate.
Aurelian glanced at the guard beside her and said, "Celia."
"Here."
"If you're coming in with me, then after we meet my teacher, don't be as rude as you were last time."
Celia nodded and replied, "Yes."
The two of them, one leading and one following, entered the Clavenna estate and passed through the main door.
"Your Highness, at this hour, Mr. Viktor should be reading in his study," the maid said.
Aurelian nodded, following the maid to Viktor's study.
As she climbed to the second floor, her heart was full of anticipation. She was still thinking about how she should greet her teacher when she saw him.
But the scene before the study door made her freeze in place.
Standing in front of Viktor was a girl.
Although the wide robe she wore covered part of her figure, it was still easy to tell she was beautiful, with a naturally gentle charm that made others want to protect her.
'Who is that?'
The next second, Aurelian's eyes widened.
The girl, as if waiting for something, looked up at Viktor as he reached out a hand and gently patted her head.
She looked utterly satisfied, giggling foolishly. Then, as if realizing something, her face flushed red, and she quickly bowed to Viktor.
"Thank you, Professor! I'm off to work now!"
Then she hurried toward the stairs in a fluster.
As she passed by Aurelian, she stumbled a little and nearly fell. When she saw Aurelian, she still politely gave a small bow.
Aurelian stood stiffly on the spot, even forgetting to return the courtesy.
When she turned back, the girl was already hurrying down the stairs and gone.
"Aurelian."
A cold, emotionless voice came from Viktor's direction. Aurelian snapped back to her senses and instinctively looked at him.
"T–Teacher."
Viktor stood at the doorway of his study, gave her a brief glance, then turned and walked back inside.
The door wasn't closed, Aurelian knew that meant he was allowing her to come in.
A bit timidly, she walked forward.
Once she entered, Celia closed the door behind her.
Viktor sat in his chair, and the crow on his desk was dozing lazily.
Aurelian stood in front of him, feeling a bit uneasy.
She thought Viktor might be angry because she had come without notice, but that didn't seem to be the case.
After she entered, he barely moved at all.
He was holding a book, occasionally turning a page, completely absorbed in reading.
Then, as if remembering something, Viktor stretched out a hand without even looking up.
A chair appeared behind Aurelian.
"Sit."
That single word was brief but carried an irresistible authority.
Aurelian clasped her hands behind her back, and her delicate fingers slid along the edge of her long dress. She sat down gracefully, like a noble white swan folding its feathers.
She actually wanted to ask him something, like who that girl just now was, but before she could open her mouth, a book suddenly fell from midair.
Aurelian quickly caught it. The book had no title or author on its cover.
But it was thick. Curious, Aurelian opened it.
Inside were records of all kinds of monsters, their types, habits, weaknesses, and more.
What shocked her most was that some of the monsters she had seen before were described here in far greater detail than in any other book she'd read, even down to their attack patterns and timing intervals.
Aurelian had been paying close attention to Viktor's lessons. After that battle the other day, she had started wanting to understand more about wild monsters, hoping to "die" fewer times in future training and make things easier for her teacher.
So, yesterday she had spent a long time in the royal library, studying every monster book she could find.
As the royal library, its bestiaries were naturally extensive.
But now, comparing them to Viktor's notes, she realized those books were nothing in comparison.
This notebook was practically an encyclopedia.
Aurelian couldn't help but wonder, had her teacher prepared this especially for her?
"Read it carefully. Memorize it. It'll be useful later."
Viktor's calm voice fell, and after that, he didn't say another word.
He continued reading quietly.
Seeing that, Aurelian also sat quietly.
She flipped through the notebook, and after only glancing at a few pages, she was completely absorbed.
She even lost track of time.
She didn't know how long had passed before a voice broke her concentration.
"It's time to go."
Aurelian looked up and saw Viktor closing his book and standing.
The crow that had been dozing also spread its wings and perched on his shoulder.
Only then did Aurelian realize what was happening. She hurriedly closed her book and stood up too.
She thought today's lesson was about to begin, but then Viktor said, "Today, I'm taking you to a good place."
'A good place?'
Aurelian blinked in confusion, not quite understanding, when the teleportation circle beneath them began to glow faintly.
Seeing the teleportation magic appear on the ground, Celia grew anxious.
"I have to go with the princess!"
As the princess's personal guard, how could she let Viktor leave her behind again?
If the princess spent too much time alone with him and something went wrong.
The next second, she might very well lose her head.
But Viktor's cold voice sounded again.
"Sorry."
"Only one person."
Buzz!
The low hum of the magic circle suddenly filled the room. In an instant, the two of them turned into streaks of blue light and shot out of the study window toward the distant sky.
Celia was left alone in the empty study, staring blankly out the window as a surge of nameless anger welled up inside her.
'Damn it, Viktor!'
'He actually kidnapped the princess again!'
———
The light slowly faded, and Aurelian and Viktor appeared on the edge of a tall cliff.
Dark clouds covered the sky, and flashes of lightning tore through the heavens.
A cold wind swept between the mountains, and the chill made Aurelian's hair stand on end.
She looked down at the deep abyss beneath her feet, where icy air howled up from the depths like countless wailing spirits.
Before them stretched a vast, pitch-black sea, waves surging violently.
Aurelian felt her breathing grow unsteady, her legs trembling as if something strange had taken hold of them. Her knees weakened; she could barely stand.
This… was the "good place" her teacher mentioned?
Surely he didn't mean to hold class here, right?
But Viktor's expression remained calm, his coat billowing in the cold wind.
"This is… Tarin Abyss."
"The borderland of the Empire."
Aurelian's voice came out faintly as she struggled to breathe.
"Teacher… why did we come here?"
Viktor took out an invitation letter, lightly pinched it between his fingers, and tossed it into the air.
The envelope seemed to be guided by some invisible force, rising slowly into the sky with the wind.
Suddenly, a bright ray of light pierced through the clouds. The clear patch of sky widened, and from that brilliance emerged the silhouette of a floating island.
It was Endymion.
The City of Mages appeared in a different place each day but never within any nation's borders.
So Viktor had been waiting for the moment when Endymion's coordinates appeared near the Empire's edge, using a teleportation circle to reach it.
The circle he had prepared overnight, was all for this moment.
A white beam of light slowly descended, wrapping around Viktor.
"Your Highness, please give me your hand."
Aurelian blinked, then extended her hand to hold his.
A flash of light followed, and Aurelian closed her eyes.
Their bodies began to float. The sensation was strange, Aurelian felt as though her soul had been set free, soaring through the sky, weightless and unbound.
She was flying.
The feeling of gliding freely through the heavens intoxicated her completely.
After a burst of bright light, Viktor's familiar voice reached her ears.
"You can open your eyes now."
Aurelian slowly lifted her eyelids, and the sight before her felt almost unreal.
A floating island covered in rune-carved circles spun above her. Buildings made of stone drifted in midair, constantly breaking apart and reforming again in chaotic, ever-shifting patterns, somewhere between order and disorder.
Occasionally, they would collide, and the rocks beneath would rebound and fly away.
The entire fortress was overgrown with strange plants, flowers with lion heads, and vines with leopard heads drooling as they stared at the blossoms.
Perhaps those would never bear fruit.
Small winged pigs flew through the sky, bumping against floating rainbow-colored bubbles.
Oddly enough, even the rocks would sometimes touch the bubbles, only to rebound softly as if pressing into a sponge.
But when a pig burst a bubble, it vanished instantly.
Aurelian had never seen anything like this. She was instantly mesmerized by the countless colorful bubbles floating in the air and reached out to poke one.
"If you pop one, who knows where you'll end up," Viktor warned calmly.
Aurelian quickly drew back her hand and silently prayed that the little flying pig was safe.
Soon, a mage came to welcome them.
A white cloud drifted closer. From it emerged a long-eared elf who rubbed sleepy eyes, brushed back long teal hair, and looked at them drowsily.
Pink petals floated around the cloud. The elf mage stretched out a pair of slender, fair, graceful legs from within the cloud.
Just as she was about to speak, she held back a sigh, patted the fluffy cloud beneath her, and finally said, "You must be Viktor."
"I've been waiting for you all day."