At House Geno, Yilu had a fairly decent sleep.
In a daze, she heard a knock on the door.
“Miss Yilu, are you awake?” came the voice of the maid outside.
Yilu rolled over. She intended to keep sleeping, but remembered that this wasn’t her dormitory, nor a place that fully belonged to her. Her eyes snapped open.
She had always lived alone in the academy, so being in an environment where someone woke her up was a bit uncomfortable.
“I’m awake.”
Regardless, Yilu answered first.
Throwing a tantrum in front of Lyr was one thing between them, but doing that with others would be improper.
She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and glanced down beside her.
On the bed, besides the original pillow, there was an extra pillow. She had used it as a hug pillow all night.
It wasn’t taken from anywhere else—she had stolen it from beside Lyr after pushing him off last night.
He probably still didn’t realize his pillow had vanished into thin air.
After a quick tidy-up, Yilu limped to the door and opened it, finding the maid standing there.
“Good morning, Miss Yilu.” The maid bowed slightly.
“Good morning.” Yilu forced a smile.
It felt like being back home, a feeling she didn’t like.
“Miss Tif has arranged a doctor for you. He’s already here, waiting downstairs.”
For some reason, if it were Lyr, Yilu wouldn’t have felt this way. But with Tif, she always felt embarrassed, as if she were causing trouble.
Since she was already here, resisting wasn’t the answer. Going along with their kindness would minimize the burden.
A while later, in the living room, the doctor finished his examination and said, “It’s fine. Just a cut from something sharp. No debris inside, and it was bandaged in time, so there’s no infection.”
“Good to hear it’s nothing serious.” Tif nodded beside him.
“But avoid strenuous activity for a short while.” The doctor added as a final reminder.
“I’ll try.” Yilu gave an awkward smile.
That advice would be hard for her.
At least she couldn’t go outside for a while, let alone use anything like Magic Cores.
After the doctor left, before Tif could say anything, Yilu stood up. “Thank you again for your help.”
Tif understood her intention and didn’t accept it. “I’m guessing you’re about to go back?”
Last time was the same—after saying those words, Yilu had prepared to part ways.
This time, she probably meant to return to the academy.
“Yes.” Yilu looked around. She didn’t see Lyr anywhere, which made her both disappointed and more reserved.
In her mind, Tif and the others were merely acquaintances, not people she was close with.
Besides, she had indeed caused them a lot of trouble.
“Stay here for now, at least for a while.”
Tif caught the way Yilu had glanced around just now, searching for someone.
“If you’re looking for Lyr, he left not long ago to go to the academy.” Tif continued. “He’s the one who brought you here. If you really want to leave, you should talk to him, not to us.”
Each person was responsible for their own affairs—Tif’s words were clear.
If Yilu had been brought back by her, and she insisted on leaving despite Tif’s invitation, Tif wouldn’t have said more.
But she wasn’t the one who brought her, so she shouldn’t make the decision.
“What is he going to the academy for?” Yilu calculated the time—it was still the weekend; even if he needed to go, it would be tomorrow.
“To see the Academy Director, I think. Probably to talk about the witch.”
Hearing that, Yilu blinked.
From her perspective, she had no idea how much Tif already knew.
“Don’t worry. I won’t blab about your affairs. And I’m only investigating these things because of Lyr. You don’t need to take it to heart.”
Tif glanced at Teanya, who was sitting there dozing off, clearly not well-rested.
That girl liked to say strange things sometimes, but in matters like this, she knew her limits.
Having said that, Tif’s expression turned serious. “Actually, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you, Miss Yilu. About my brother.”
***
After Tif’s reminder yesterday, Lyr went straight to the place where he had met Lulong before.
He also had a maid go to Yilu’s dormitory to pick up some things she might need.
But when he entered Lulong’s office, Lulong was nowhere to be seen.
“Strange. Didn’t he say I could come directly and see him?”
Lyr looked at the empty room, puzzled.
Even the windows were shut tight, proving Lulong hadn’t been back for a while.
“Academy Director, are you here?” Lyr tried calling out.
Soon, he realized he looked like an idiot.
Talking to an empty room—no matter what he said, it would be odd.
“Maybe spending too much time with Yilu has made me weird too.”
Shrugging, Lyr turned to leave.
But as he closed the door behind him, the Magic Stone on the desk shimmered with light and projected a figure onto Lulong’s usual seat.
“Is that you, Lyr?”
Lyr stopped and turned to see Lulong’s projection sitting there.
It wasn’t a pre-recorded image in the stone; it seemed to be a real-time projection.
Lulong was sitting in a similar chair, flipping through something.
“Academy Director, what is this?”
If he hadn’t seen all sorts of strange things on the frontier, Lyr might have been fooled.
“This is a Magic Projection.” Lulong glanced at the Magic Stone beside him. “I’m sometimes away from the academy, but most of the paperwork here needs my approval. So I use this method most of the time.”
The projection couldn’t interact with the room, but simple conversation and observation were possible.
“You must be really busy.” Lyr found it terrifying.
‘Doesn’t that mean Lulong has to work for two people?’
While handling affairs elsewhere, he also had to keep an eye on this place.
“Not too bad.” Lulong took it as a joke, accustomed to it. “But don’t mention it. Not many people know.”
Even the Academy Councilors only knew to leave documents here. The next day, Lulong would send word to inform them whether they were approved.