Hair like it was melted from the pitch-black night sky, and a sharply chiseled nose bridge.
Elegant hand movements setting down the teacup.
An overwhelming presence that filled the entire room just by sitting there.
"Gerard...!"
"Hey, you! Is the Tower Master your buddy? Lower your gaze!"
Eloise, who had been staring at Gerard as if entranced, hurriedly bowed her head.
She hadn't expected to run into Gerard this soon.
By the timeline of her previous life, it would be a full year before they met.
She had planned to dig into his situation once she got a bit more settled into her second chance at life.
But a week had slipped by while she drowned under an avalanche of work.
On top of that, she hadn't figured out what to say to him or how to behave upon reuniting.
'Tell him, "I'll awaken as your dedicated S-Rank Healer in the future, so just wait"?'
He'd treat her like a lunatic.
More than anything, Gerard had little fondness for healers.
Too many approached him with shady motives, wielding their healing powers like weapons.
Plus, Gerard had something like an allergic reaction to healing energy.
There had even been that fiasco where they forced him into a room with a healer, only for him to come staggering out pale as a ghost.
'It was chaos keeping that under wraps. And Gerard was so livid he swore to hunt down whoever set it up, flipping the entire Magic Management Bureau upside down.'
Eloise shuddered.
But she couldn't just curse out the culprit who orchestrated it.
The order had come straight from the imperial palace, after all.
Gerard was the continent's greatest living mage.
Without him, who would shield them from the Rainbow Holes?
His absence meant the end of the world.
So everyone desperately hoped he'd accept a healer's warm care and attention.
And they clung to the belief that the perfect healer for him would surely appear.
As Eloise sifted through old memories, she stole a glance at Gerard.
'Is his body holding up okay?'
In her past life, Gerard had rejected all healers right up until he met her, even with the constant threat of rampage looming.
No doubt it was the same now—his condition had to be rough.
She wanted to help him, but Eloise still hadn't awakened as a healer.
"Eloise, what are you waiting for? Go handle that complaint!"
Collin suddenly raised his voice.
Eloise snapped back to reality and responded.
"Right, I should. But the complainant specifically asked for you, Team Leader."
"Tell him I'm not here!"
"I already said you were."
Collin's jaw dropped in disbelief.
Eloise didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking.
'Has she lost it?'
Or maybe, 'Did she eat something bad?'
It was understandable.
The old Eloise had been the epitome of a bureaucrat.
Strict chain of command, by-the-book, passively shuffling papers—the works.
But things were different now.
The woman who had died and come back had a goal.
Escape the drudgery of low-level civil service and coast into a comfy retirement.
'I'll put in my resignation soon.'
But not before tying up some loose ends.
There were tragedies from her past life that she hadn't managed to prevent due to half-hearted responses.
Faces flickered through her mind: Merlin, fellow healers, innocent kids... and Gerard.
This time around, she'd save every last one of them.
Her own neck included, naturally.
'I'll make a clean exit, no regrets.'
For a humble civil servant's pipe dream, it was pretty ambitious.
But from the vantage of an S-Rank Healer who knew the future? Totally doable.
To chase that dream without regrets, Eloise first ditched her bootlicking deference to authority.
She resolved to milk the one big perk of a low-pay, zero-autonomy civil servant gig.
Iron rice bowl!
Once the Magic Management Bureau hired you, firing was next to impossible.
Fluency in Continental was premium talent, but the pay? Adorably pitiful.
'My tiny, precious salary.'
The flip side? Brutal workload.
And the Support Team took the crown for intensity.
'We get roped into Rainbow Hole cleanup too.'
Anyway, Eloise was done putting up with it.
Especially not the team leader's crap—dumping unfair workloads and pilfering pay like healers and underlings were his personal slaves.
"Get back to your desk right now!"
"Got it. I'll tell the mage the team leader's right here but instructed me to say he's not."
"You little psycho?"
Collin raised his hand, fury boiling over.
Now that she thought about it, the guy had a nasty habit of getting handsy too.
Eloise flinched, shoulders hunching instinctively.
That was when it happened.
"What's going on here?"
A rich baritone sounded from close by.
Eloise peeked up, her neck tucked in like a startled turtle.
"Nothing at all."
"Doesn't look like nothing. The vibe's downright hostile."
Gerard, now right up close, fixed his gaze on Eloise.
In that instant, she scanned him head to toe.
Gerard was spotless—no injuries, perfectly fine.
His white robe, the Tower Master's mark, was immaculate, not a speck of dust.
No traces of magic poisoning on his exposed skin either.
It overlapped with the last image of him before she died.
Robe soaked in blood, black magic creeping into his sclera.
Even then, charging in to save her.
'Gerard's safe.'
Obvious, since she'd revived and looped back.
But confirming it with her own eyes hit different—relief washed over her, tears welling up.
A single tear traced down Eloise's cheek.
Gerard's golden eyes quaked fiercely at the sight.
But just for a moment.
"What's the deal here? I show up to cheer on the Support Team and catch you harassing the staff?"
His glare at the team leader was frigid.
"Huh? Gerard, no—it's a misunderstanding! Harassing? Hey, you crying? What'd I even say? You putting on a show?"
Collin yelled, flustered.
Gerard scowled and shoved him aside.
"Don't cry."
Even his gentle tone couldn't stem the flow.
Eloise panicked. She wasn't the crying type.
After meeting Gerard, she'd worked hard not to shed tears, forgetting how altogether.
He hated seeing her cry.
"It makes me angry when you cry."
She never wanted to upset him.
So why wouldn't these tears stop?
And why did Gerard look mad?
Eloise peered up at him.
Tears blurred her vision, his face indistinct.
She blinked furiously to clear it.
Tears splashed down, sight sharpening.
Their eyes locked.
His deep golden irises, laced with his signature mana, swirled.
Not anger—pain.
Gerard blinked hard, like swallowing something down.
"Stop crying. Who messed with you? Tell me, Eloise."
Eloise's eyes went wide.
Had she ever given him her name?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Eloise, feeling calmer now?"
Eloise jolted, clutching her steaming teacup.
Ripples danced across the surface.
She lifted her head to look at the man before her again.
Gerard Norvark.
She was seated across from him in the Magic Management Bureau's consultation room.
Just the two of them!
It left her utterly flustered.
'This never happened in my past life!'
Thanks to his rampage, they'd only cross paths a year from now.
Until then, Gerard had no clue Eloise even existed.
'Weird if the Tower Master knew some bottom-rung clerk.'
Yet here they were, alone, and he'd called her by name, clear as day.
"Do you... know me?"
Gerard shook his head as he raised his teacup.
"No."
"Then have we met before?"
Eloise bit back a wince.
What a sleazy pickup line that sounded like!
"First time."
Thankfully, Gerard didn't take it wrong. He answered flatly.
"Mind if I flip that? Have we met?"
"No way! Total strangers. Pristine first meeting. First time seeing you in my life."
"Ah..."
Only when Gerard cracked an awkward smile did Eloise realize she'd overreacted.
But one thing she had to ask.
"Then how do you know my name?"
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