Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

“Hello, noona.”

“Ho-ho, how are you, Daniel?” Margaret beamed.

“I really enjoyed the apple pie you gave me the other day. I shared it with some of my friends and they all said it was heavenly.”

“Well, I’ve got some today too, do you want me to wrap some up for you when you go?”

“Sure, that would be great. I’d really appreciate it.”

Margaret was drowning in a flood of praise, accompanied by a bright smile.

She leaned in and whispered to me, “You know, I like him better than that dark-haired one.”

“Unni.”

“Ho-ho. Just saying.”

God why was she so desperate to get me into a relationship with Daniel?

“What else were you talking about? It sounded like an interesting story.”

Daniel casually steered the conversation back to the story we were sharing.

As Darlene placed a plate of brownies in front of Daniel, she said, “We were talking about the story of the Tower of Truth.”

“Oh, the legend of the tower?”

“Yeah. I take it you’re familiar with it, Daniel?”

“Yes, because the story of the great Archmage’s unrequited love is famous.”

Daniel smiled from the corner of his eye.

What, everyone knows the story except me?

With a question mark hovering over my head, Darlene laughed and resumed her story.

“Where did I leave off…, yeah. There’s a room at the top of the tower, the Archmage’s room, and in it is the Mirror of Truth.”

“The Mirror of Truth?”

“Yes. The Archmage wanted to know the answer, whether Angela had truly meant it when she had rejected him.”

He wondered if her husband had blackmailed her if he had held her child hostage and suppressed her will.

“That’s why he invented the mirror, so that when anyone looked in it, they would see their true destiny.”

“Ahhhh….”

After hearing all that, I was slightly speechless. I thought it was a cool story, but it was just a legend that was all.

I mean, there’s a lot of stuff like that, like if you look in a mirror at twelve o’clock at night with a knife in your mouth, you will see the reflection of your future husband.

Man, you got my hopes up.

“So did Angela’s face appear in the mirror?”

“If Angela had appeared, it wouldn’t be called an unrequited love story,” Daniel answered on behalf of Darlene and laughed.

“You know, the Archmage’s mirror was broken in half.”

“Why?”

“Because when the Archmage looked at himself in the mirror, it wasn’t Angela he saw. All he could see was himself.”

Of course, he did, because it’s a mirror…?

Doesn’t this smell like a scam to anyone?

But regardless of my reaction, Daniel continued the story.

“So, the angry Archmage ended up smashing the mirror.”

“Yeah, you certainly know your stuff, Daniel.”

“And indeed, Helinoa the Archmage died a bachelor.”

But here’s the twist. The mirror may be broken and no longer serve its purpose, but the magic still works, at least for one night: the night Helinoa confessed to Angela.

And that night was the last night of the annual Academy Festival.

“So, every year, on the last night of the festival, there were a lot of students trying to sneak into the tower, although I think they got into a fight a few years ago and it’s now blocked off. Didn’t Vivian ever see it until now?”

“Mmm, no. But isn’t that just superstition?”

That sounds like a lie to me.

I looked at Margaret with suspicion, and she denied it.

“No, it’s real. Cornell married the man she saw in the mirror!”

What? Really…?

I looked back at Aunty Cornell, who had been drinking her tea in silence. She opened her mouth to speak.

“I saw it.”

“You’ve only seen it? You’re married to him.”

Margaret exclaimed excitedly, “The mirror of Helinoa is real!”

“Then are you sure your husband is the man you saw in the mirror?” I asked dubiously.

“It’s the same man.”

Oh my God, really? It’s not just superstition? Suddenly, my confidence in Helinoa’s mirror was skyrocketing.

Seeing my expression, Aunty Cornell gave a sarcastic snort.

“Vivian, don’t be fooled. We may be married, but we’re not meant to be.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s no way he’s the one. How is he the man I’m meant to be with when he’s always cheating on me?”

“No way. You know, you guys were always on good terms.”

“What’s with him? He did something wrong again?”

“Ugh! I’m so sick and tired of him!”

Before I knew it, the conversation had moved on to the atrocities that Cornell’s husband had committed the previous weekend.

But my mind was still on the Mirror of Truth story.

Did it really tell me who my future mate would be?

“Want to go?” Daniel, who was sitting next to me, whispered.

“I’m from the Faculty of Magic. If you come with me, it will be easy to get in.”

“Really? Great!”

I immediately said yes. I couldn’t let Viviane Rosiere miss out on a fun thing like this.

“So, what time should we meet? Eight o’clock since I have to see it at night?”

“No, why don’t we meet earlier and have dinner together? Around six.”

“Okay, that sounds good!”

I excitedly exclaimed. I was already looking forward to the last day of the festival.

“Where are you going?”

That is, until Kyle appeared like a ghost behind my back.

***

About an hour ago.

Kyle was in the training grounds, dueling with Lionel, who was now an assistant in the swordsmanship department.

“….”

The tension between them was palpable. The slightest distraction would be an invitation to attack.

Sharp eyes searched each other. The atmosphere was thick between them.

It was Lionel who made the first move.

Klang-!

Kyle raised his sword to block Lionel’s attack. The sound of metal clashing rang out.

He twisted his wrist to disperse the force and parried Lionel’s sword. Seeing that his opponent’s chest was bare, Kyle leaned over, and dashed forward.

“Ugh.”

Lionel, who had narrowly avoided Kyle’s sword, stepped back. Straightening his stance, he grumbled.

“Kyle, aren’t you getting a little too serious?”

“Like a real duel. Isn’t that what you always say?”

“I can’t even argue with you because you’re right,” Lionel laughed a little, but soon his face hardened, and he charged again.

After quite a long fight, the match was finally won.

Bang!

Lionel’s sword flew to the back of the training ground. Kyle’s sword caught him at the nape of his neck.

Exhaling heavily, Lionel raised his hands.

“Surrender. I surrender.”

Kyle lowered his sword.

“Well done.”

“I really can’t beat Kyle.”

“I got lucky.”

“Then I’m unlucky every day?”

Kyle gave a small laugh at Lionel’s joke. He pushed back his hair, which was dripping with sweat.

The cool air emanating from the shading screen installed on the ceiling of the training grounds cooled Kyle’s sweat.

Lionel, coming up beside him, spoke up.

“I swear, I like that screen the most.”

“It’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter.”

“Your benefactor installed it for you. New students should count themselves lucky these days. I used to have to sweat through it.”

Items incorporating magical technology were very expensive. It must have cost a fortune to have them installed all over the ceiling of this spacious training ground.

“Rosiere really is something else, isn’t she?”

Lionel was one of the few people who knew that Kyle’s anonymous benefactor was Vivian.

Kyle smirked and packed up his things. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a purple letter envelope in his bag.

Lionel tilted his head and asked, “Mother?”

“Yes.”

It was a letter from Titania that had arrived on his doorstep this morning.

Usually, nobles had their own color scheme for sending letters. The golden ones were from the emperor, the purple ones from Titania. Rosiere wrote in blue to match the color of their eyes.

Kyle had received two golden letters so far.

The first was when he succeeded in imbuing his sword with energy as a Sword Expert.

[Do not be reckless, but steadily improve yourself to prove that you are useful.]

The second letter contained a plain, unremarkable line.

[Happy birthday, Kyle.]

The second letter, for his birthday last year, contained a bizarre greeting.

In a normal father-son relationship, one might object that the latter would be normal, but what was normal about Kyles’s relationship with the emperor?

Receiving a handwritten letter from the emperor in the first place would not have happened had it not been for his achievements.

It was a recognition of the great things Kyle had accomplished since entering the Arene Academy.

Titania, on the other hand, wrote to him quite frequently.

Her letters always said something similar.

[Return to the imperial palace, prince.]

Titania was unhappy that Kyle had not returned to the palace, even though he had completed the requirements to graduate.

If he wanted to beat out the other contender, Prince Logan, and become the emperor, he’d need to make connections with the nobility, so he shouldn’t be stuck in the academy.

Titania was not making an empty argument. She was right, if he wanted to become emperor, he should return to the palace rather than stay at the academy.

That is, if he wanted to be emperor in the end.

However, there was nothing he wanted in the imperial palace.

As a child, his mother had been everything to him. He studied to please her and endured her corporal punishment.

He thought that because she wanted him to be emperor, he had to study and improve himself to do her bidding.

But now that he was free from Titania and enjoying the freedom of the Academy, Kyle’s thoughts were very different.

When he wielded a sword, Kyle was happy. When he discovered certain things, he enjoyed it.

And most of all, having Vivian by his side made it all worthwhile. So, he would not return to the palace without her.

It was a little disheartening to imagine Logan becoming emperor. After all, Logan and Kyle’s other half-siblings didn’t like him.

But if the price of becoming Emperor was giving up Vivian, Kyle would never walk that path.

[There is still work to be done at the Academy, Mother.]

Whenever Titania wrote, Kyle would stall with the excuse that there was work that needed to be done.

[There are many brilliant minds at the Academy who will shape the future of the Empire.]

‘Wouldn’t it be beneficial to the Empire, and to Kyle himself, to make connections with them?’ He insisted.