VCAM 65

Chapter 65

“In the Night Library” [Demon Princess Arc ⑤]

The academy at night was silent.
The courtyard, so full of laughter and clashing blades during the day, was now quiet—only the whisper of the night wind and the chirping of insects filled the air.
From a high window in one of the towers, an orange glow spilled out. The library.

Kai, making his nightly patrol, turned his steps in that direction.
He called it “overtime,” but really, it was because he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night.
Tonight, he’d had too many candies, and the sugar was buzzing in his veins. Sleep wouldn’t come.

(Well, can’t be helped. The library at night’s calm anyway—good place to unwind.)

When he opened the door, there was only one person inside the vast reading room.
A gleam of platinum hair shimmered in the lamplight—it was Liricia.
She sat hugging a thick grimoire, her eyes devouring the pages.

“…You sure are diligent.”
Kai’s voice made her look up.

“Professor…! Don’t scare me like that.”
“Sorry, sorry. You having a late-night study session?”
“Yes. The collection here is magnificent. The formulas seem to rise off the page—as if they transcend words themselves.”

Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.
They were the eyes of a student lost in study, yet behind that brilliance lingered a faint shadow.

Kai walked closer and glanced at the open book on her desk.
It contained explanations of advanced magical formulas—ones he himself had seen in his youth.
But the margins were filled with neat, handwritten notes—dense with numbers and calculations.

“…These annotations—you wrote them?”
“Yes. I thought if I added another auxiliary line between the equations, the formula would stabilize further.”
“Hoh.”

Kai traced his finger through the air as if holding a piece of chalk, sketching her suggested line.
The magical equation shifted, breathing lightly—alive.

“I see. You really do have a gift for logic.”
“Thank you, Professor.”

Liricia smiled, but behind that smile flickered the faintest sorrow.

“…Professor,” she said softly, “if someone had… a power different from others—would you still accept them as a student?”

Kai narrowed his eyes slightly.
The night wind tapped the window, and a page fluttered over.

“…That sort of thing don’t matter none.”
His tone was quiet, sure.
“If someone sits before the blackboard wanting to learn, then they’re a student.
Strong or weak, normal or not—it’s all the same to me.”

Liricia’s eyes trembled, and then—she smiled again, this time more faintly.

“…I thought you would say that, Professor.”

Just then, a voice called out from behind the shelves.
“Professor! We brought snacks!”
“Bread and soup!”
“Come eat with us!”

A handful of first-year students came rushing in, arms full of food.
They were supposed to be on night watch, but now they looked like kids on a school trip.

“I told y’all to stay quiet in the dorms at night!”
“But Professor, we knew you’d be here!”
“How’d you know that… y’all mind readers or somethin’?”

Liricia couldn’t help but laugh, her shoulders shaking.
It was a genuine laugh—free and light.

In the end, that night turned into an impromptu supper party around the library table.
The aroma of warm bread, the steam from the soup, the salty tang of cheese—
Laughter filled the air, melting softly into the stillness of the night.

(Strange, ain’t it? She’s got that power—no doubt about it. But right now, she’s just another student, laughing with the others.)
(Ain’t no need to interrogate her. Better to protect this laughter first.)

Kai placed the last candy from his pocket in the center of the table.
“Alright. Dessert time. Who’s takin’ it?”
“Professor, that’s not fair! Now it’s a battle!”
“Then let’s settle it—rock-paper-scissors!”

The late-night library became the liveliest dining hall in the whole academy.