Chapter 241: Teacher, Are You Afraid?
In the restaurant, with her sudden departure, a new and a different kind of a tension had settled over the table.
Serie finished the last of her steak and looked at him, at his own, now helpless, expression. "What's wrong with her?" she asked, her own voice a flat and a level sound, as if she were just curious. But he knew her better than that.
"She's... just got a lot on her mind, I think," he said with a sigh. He could not tell her the truth. The girl's own, secret, feelings... it was not his place to reveal them.
She frowned, as if she wanted to say more, but in the end, she just said, "Then it is in your hands," and with a final, cool and a detached glance, she stood and left, leaving him alone.
He sat there, the image of her own, now distraught, face now a burning and a searing thing in his own mind. He was not a fool. He had seen it, the new and a different kind of a fervor in her own, now adoring, eyes. But he had not wanted to believe it. And now... it was all out in the open.
When... when did it start? And what did I do wrong?
But in the end... he could not just let it be. He paid the bill and went to find her.
She was not in her room. And so he, like the other, had to resort to a wide-area detection spell, and he soon found her, in a small and a quiet restaurant on the other side of the city. He paused at the door, and then he went in.
She was there, with the other girl, Frieren, and at the sound of the bell, she looked up, and their eyes met.
"It seems you really are feeding Frieren," he said, and walked over.
Her own heart was now a pounding drum in her own chest, and she quickly looked away. But it was no use. He was here now, and he was sitting down beside her. "Teacher," she said, her own voice a small and a quiet sound, "what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you."
"I... I am fine," she said, and her own gaze was now fixed on her own hands. "You must have misunderstood."
He saw it, her own, now downcast and a furtive, gaze. He knew.
"Flamme," he said, his own voice now a serious and a grave sound, "we need to talk."
Her own heart sank. He knew. Of course he knew. She had been so obvious. And he... he was not an elf.
A new and a different kind of a fear now washed over her, but she still nodded and followed him out of the restaurant, to a quiet and a secluded corner of a street.
"Flamme," he began, and his own voice was a gentle and a careful sound, a sound that was a world away from the turmoil in his own heart, "you are a very talented mage. You will achieve great things one day. And as your teacher... I am looking forward to that day. You have a long and a wonderful road ahead of you, and you will encounter many new and an exciting things. And you should not... you should not waste your own, precious feelings on someone who cannot return them."
His own words, they were a gentle and a kind thing, but their meaning... it was a cruel and a sharp thing.
"Waste?" she said, and her own voice was now a trembling, broken sound, and her own, now red-rimmed, eyes were now a burning and a defiant thing. "To love you... you think it is a waste?"
Now that it was out in the open, she would not back down.
"That is not what I meant..." he began, but she cut him off.
"Is it... because you are afraid?" she said, her own voice now a new and a different sound, a sound of a pure and an unadulterated resolve. "Are you afraid of my feelings? Afraid that I will come between you and her? Are you afraid... that this... this small and an insignificant thing... that it could shake the very foundations of your own, thousand-year-old, relationship!?"
Her words were a series of a sharp and a piercing arrows, and they had found their mark, a deep and a hidden part of his own heart that he himself had not even known was there. He had thought of it, of course. Of what would happen if her own feelings were to become... more. It could be a thing that would finally push him and the other closer together. Or... it could tear them apart. And so he had... hesitated.
And his own, now silent and a hesitant, self... to her, it was a clear and an undeniable admission. A new and a different kind of a fire now burned in her own eyes, a fire of a pure and an unadulterated defiance, a fire that had consumed all of her own, now fleeting and an insignificant, sadness. "I see," she said, and a strange and a new kind of a smile now came to her own face. "So you are not completely unmoved. So I still have a chance. And if you are afraid..." She took a deep breath. "...then I, Flamme, I swear, I will make you love me. Not as a student, but as a woman."
He was stunned. This... this was not the outcome he had intended. "Flamme," he began, a new and a different kind of a helplessness now in his own voice, "even if... I can never return your feelings..."
"I don't care!" she cut him off, her own voice now a strong and an unyielding thing. "All I want is to convey these feelings to you, with all of my heart. That is enough. And as for the rest..." she said with a brilliant and a dazzling smile, "...that is not something I need to worry about now. All I know is that I love you. And that is enough."
And with that, she gave him one last, long and a meaningful, look and turned and walked away, leaving him alone in the quiet of the street. He just stood there and, with a helpless and a resigned sigh, he raised a hand to his own temple.
This... was a mess.
(End of chapter)
~~~
Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter