Lilliana Roseblood POV
"-iana…"
"Hmm…"
"Lilliana!"
"Fweh-! Y-yes?! Sorry!"
Lilliana sprang up upon noticing the person standing next to her.
"Is something wrong, Lilliana? You're never usually lost in thought."
"Ah… No, it's okay, I was just tired. Did you need something?"
"I see. Well, I was wondering if you could have this report about the midterm done by the end of the week."
"Yes, of course."
After finishing her business, the lady turned and left, leaving Lilliana alone once again with her thoughts.
'I guess I should get started on this now.'
She pulled the report she had been handed in front of her and started scanning through the information when she spotted a familiar name.
"Soren…"
In fact, this was the reason she had been so lost in thought earlier.
Just yesterday, Soren had suddenly asked her to teach him blood magic.
It was a question that evoked painful memories for Lilliana.
It also left her confused.
As a professor at Stellaris Academy, she had no reason to turn down a student willing to learn something new.
If anything, it could've been good information for fighting demons down the line, but…
'It's dangerous.'
As a dhampir, Lilliana was very aware of how dangerous Blood Magic was, so much so that even though humans were incapable of learning it, she didn't want to teach it to Soren.
Woongg—
Lilliana's eyes lost their emerald-green colour and slowly shone red.
A crimson magic circle formed in Lilliana's hand, and the blood drained from her body.
"「Hemokinesis」"
With a single word, deep red blood formed around her hand and moved according to her will.
It was magic that only those born with a true heart, vampires in other words, could use.
The reason for this was that a vampire's true heart was used to store mana blood, which could be used in blood magic.
However, if a human were to attempt to use this…
'They'd die..'
It was inevitable.
Blood magic required the use of the blood flowing through one's body to activate, so the moment a human activated this magic, they would begin suffering the symptoms of blood loss.
But there was something Lilliana didn't understand.
'Why did he ask?'
The Soren Arden she knew was emotionally and physically weak, but he also had a good head on his shoulders.
Lilliana was sure that he would be aware of all of these facts, yet he still asked anyway.
'Should I ask him?'
She was aware that as a professor, she shouldn't hinder his growth for personal reasons, even if she was worried, so she thought it might be better to find out his reasoning at least first.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Soren Arden POV
A week after the midterms in the class F classroom.
'This is a little awkward…'
Soren was currently sitting next to Lilliana.
Ever since the Rena Forest incident, they had frequently eaten lunch together a couple of times per week.
As usual, she asked Soren if he wanted to have lunch together, and as usual, he accepted since he didn't have a reason not to.
'But why is she here?'
He looked to his right.
"Something wrong?" She said in a husky voice.
It was Amelia.
Ever since the midterms had concluded, she had been following Soren around like a shadow. When he asked why that was, she gave a simple response.
– Because we're friends.
Hearing a response like that, Soren couldn't ask her to stop, so it ended up like this.
When Amelia came to the classroom to pick him up as usual and discovered that he was going to have lunch with Lilliana, she sat down next to him as if it were completely natural.
There was also something else Soren had discovered about Amelia.
'She has no sense of personal space.'
Even right after the midterms, when they were sitting in the lounge waiting for the results, she had sat so close that there wasn't even a centimetre of space between their legs.
He had obviously asked her about this, but she simply shrugged and continued as she was doing, leaving Soren in a state where he couldn't do anything but accept it.
'I'm not complaining though.'
It wasn't every day that you got to sit so close and talk to someone so attractive, so Soren quickly gave up on worrying, which led to their current situation.
He turned to his left.
'She looks troubled…'
By the looks of it, Lilliana had something he wanted to talk about, and given the fact that they hadn't spoken since the midterms, Soren had an idea of what she wanted to say, so he decided to start the conversation.
"Is there a reason you can't teach me blood magic, Miss Rose?"
"...You should already know the answer to that, Soren."
'Of course I do.'
In fact, when he had received the skill, he had agonised heavily over it, not even knowing if it was something he could make use of thanks to the dangers, but he refused to let it go.
"Because it's dangerous and I'm human, I know. But I still want to learn it."
"...But why? It doesn't make sense."
Lilliana's worry was evident.
Instead of responding, Soren formed a red magic circle in his hand.
As the crimson light started glowing, not only Lilliana but also Amelia, who had already seen it, looked impressed.
"「Hemokinesis」"
Flinch
Lilliana flinched at the words she was all too familiar with.
The blood drained from Soren's body as the ball of blood appeared in his palm, leaving him with a slightly dizzy feeling.
The reason he showed this was;
"T-That's impossible?!"
Lilliana shot up from her seat and looked at the ball of blood with a pale face full of fear, while her eyes were tinged slightly red, so subtly that it was almost impossible to tell.
"Soren, how did you learn this? It should be impossible for you. Do you happen to have some vampire blood in you? No, that can't be the case, otherwise, we would have discovered it during the initial application process. But then how?"
"Miss Rose?"
"Ah! That's not important right now. Are you feeling okay?" She grabbed his shoulders with a panicked expression.
"I feel slightly dizzy, but I'm fine. More importantly, is this a good enough reason?"
Hearing those words, Lilliana's face appeared conflicted.
It was as if she wanted to say yes, but something was holding her back.
'I can understand why.'
Soren was essentially asking her to teach him magic, which, if used wrong, could kill him.
"Soren…"
After a few minutes of silence, Lilliana finally spoke up, cold sweat trickling down her face, her eyes shaking, and her face pale; she looked scared.
"...Can you come to my dorm after classes are over today?"
At any other moment, those words could've easily led to a multitude of misunderstandings, but it was clear to Soren that those thoughts were the last thing on Lilliana's mind at the moment.
"Ohh!"
'Of course I'm not the only one here though.'
He turned to his right and saw Amelia staring at Lilliana with wide eyes while clapping.
When Lilliana came back to her senses and noticed Amelia, her cheeks flushed rapidly, and she started fumbling out excuses, but Soren was already thinking about something else entirely.
'It worked.'
He wasn't sure if she had fully agreed yet, but the fact that she had even considered his request was already a step forward, which was more than enough for now.
————「❤︎」————