The remedial classes that Lilian Ackermann was holding for Roel Ascart were to be kept confidential for various reasons.

  In the first place, it was simply wrong for an imperial princess of the Austine Empire to be tutoring a high noble from the Theocracy. On top of that, if the student populace were to learn that Lilian was tutoring Roel, it would give out the impression that she was superior to him, and this would have adverse implications in terms of public perception for a Ringbearer.

  One must know that Roel was intending to form his own faction in the future. If the members of his faction were to learn that their boss was Lilian’s tutee, they would never be able to raise their heads before the Purplerose Faction.

  And most importantly of all, Nora and Charlotte would surely object to it. From Lilian’s point of view, that would also be equivalent to defying Emperor Lukas’ command too.

  With such factors in play, they swiftly came to a consensus about keeping this remedial class confidential.

  Roel was thankful to Lilian for her help here, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated at her quirks, such as this entrance password. What the hell was ‘Teacher’s Mission’?

  It was almost as if Lilian intentionally chose this password so as to remind Roel not to think too much into it. Naturally, he opposed the idea of using a password, but the power of choice wasn’t exactly in his hands. Since Lilian refused to budge on her decision, he could only go along with her.

  Heh, did you think that you’re the only one with a mission here? I also have a mission from my ancestor too!

  Roel consoled himself as he pushed the heavy doors open and entered the classroom. He immediately spotted Lilian standing by the podium.

  She was wearing a conservative Austine black formal gown that covered both of her legs and tightened around her waist, accentuating her slender figure. There was also a bowtie before her chest that gave a slight touch of mischief to her appearance.

  Roel was so surprised by her different attire that he couldn’t resist taking a second look.

  While Lilian always maintained a cold front before him, there was no denying that she was a looker. When Roel’s eyes fell upon her flat stomach, his heart couldn’t help but skip a beat as Ro’s words echoed in his mind.

  W-w-wait a moment, what am I thinking?!

  As Roel’s mind started to overheat, he quickly averted his gaze and made his way over to the first row to take his seat.

  Usually, when fellow students were tutoring one another, they would sit next to one another to make it convenient to speak to one another. However, it was clear that Lilian had no intention of sitting next to him, resulting in the classroom turning into another lecture.

  It was quite a queer setting, but Roel could only accept it.

  To his surprise though, despite Lilian’s cold attitude, she was extremely serious in her lessons. Her explanations followed a coherent flow of logic that made it easy to comprehend the concepts she was interpreting.

  Roel thought that prodigies like Lilian tended to teach according to their stream of consciousness since they were able to naturally achieve what others couldn’t, but it turned out that she had a strong theoretical foundation as well. Her understanding of the details was on point, such that she could be said to be a more meticulous teacher than Chris.

  Many things that he struggled to understand earlier in the day gradually cleared up under her explanation, leaving him deeply enlightened.

  He was starting to see why Chris chose to get Lilian to tutor him despite their backgrounds. On one hand, Lilian was indeed good at teaching, and having two different perspectives on the same topic achieved a symbiotic effect that greatly deepened Roel’s understanding of a topic.

  Under this high-intensity cramming session, Roel’s expression gradually grew more and more serious whereas Lilian continued to maintain her usual nonchalant expression. It looked like she could have very well been lecturing to an empty classroom.

  Wait a moment, is she treating me like air?

  Such a doubt surfaced in Roel’s mind, but it was swiftly shattered by Lilian’s action.

  It took an hour for Lilian to finish explaining the content of the lessons in the day, and for the first time since the remedial class started, she turned around to look at Roel.

  “Is there anything you don’t get?”


  “Err…… I think I should have gotten it all.”


  “Good,” replied Lilian with a nod.

  Just as Roel thought that it was time for the lesson to come to an end, Lilian suddenly spoke up once more.

  “Give it a try.”


  “Try what?”


  “Try creating the mana thread we did earlier in the day.”


  “.……”


  Roel blinked his eyes in surprise, clearly not expecting her to delve into the practical aspect of the classes too.

  Wow, she’s far more responsible than I thought, but this……

  Thinking about how he struggled during the Mana Precision Class earlier in the day, Roel’s face stiffened a little. It was a man’s pride to not reveal his own weakness before a beautiful woman, and Lilian was no ordinary beauty. However, after a short exchange of gaze, he eventually sighed softly and obediently gave it a try.

  The next moment, a crimson burst of mana shot out from Roel’s palm, forming an incredibly thick rope under his ‘delicate’ control.

  “.……”


  Tsk, I knew it!

  Roel felt utterly helpless at his inability to achieve refined control of his mana.

  As it turned out, having a beautiful woman as a teacher didn’t necessarily improve one’s performance right away. Feeling a little embarrassed by his incompetent display, Roel raised his head diffidently, only to see that there was no change in Lilian’s expression.

  Her lack of response was surprisingly comforting, but her following words left him with a weird look on his face.

  “This won’t do. It’s too thick.”


  Such an odd innuendo was suddenly uttered by Lilian with a composed tone, creating a mysterious contrast that left Roel feeling a little weird inside. And this was only the start.

  “Still too thick. Try again.”


  “Too thick. Again.”


  Lilian would utter similar words with each attempt from Roel, causing the atmosphere to grow a little weird. This went on until she finally called for him to stop.

  “.……”


  Roel heaved a sigh of relief at being able to finally catch a break. On the podium, however, Lilian was hardly as calm as she appeared on the surface.

  This is far too similar.

  She had been observing how Roel channeled his mana, and she couldn’t help but feel like she was looking at her in the past.

  There were usually some differences in how each transcendent channeled and controlled their mana, but for some unfathomable reason, Roel’s method was completely identical to her from the past.

  Is it because we’re both creation transcendents? But even so, this is still far too much of a coincidence.

  Many questions surfaced in Lilian’s mind, but there was one that particularly stood out.

  Since our ways of channeling mana are identical, why is he having such difficulties trying to control his mana?

  Lilian thought about the dozen failures she had just witnessed, and she had a feeling that there was something crucial that was different between the two of them despite all of the similarities.

  But that ‘crucial thing’ was somehow eluding her notice. She couldn’t get a firm grasp on what it was. She knew it was a vital piece of the puzzle to figuring out why he was having such difficulties despite their identical mana channeling methods.

  Lilian stared at Roel intently with something flickering in her amethyst eyes. Her prolonged, intense gaze left the latter feeling uncomfortable, causing him to fidget in his seat. It was a long time later before she finally widened her eyes.

  “I see. I understand now.”


  Lilian nodded in realization. She looked at Roel and remarked calmly.

  “You must have killed someone before.”


  “!”


  Time seemed to have stopped in the classroom. Roel stared at the black-haired woman in front of him as he found himself at a loss for words.

  Even in the relatively more chaotic Sia Continent, it was unusual for a student who had just come of age to have committed murder. Roel had also never spoken about this matter to anyone else due to his personal reservations about taking another person’s life.

  He never thought that someone would be able to see through it.

  “Senior Lilian, may I ask what do you mean by that?”


  Roel’s eyes sharpened and his tone grew a little deeper.

  Despite his sudden change of attitude, Lilian still remained as unfazed as she always had been. She had no intention of criticizing or questioning Roel for his history; she simply lowered her gaze to look at his hands.

  “You are weighed down by your strong murderous intent. That’s the reason behind your failure.”


  “Huh?”


  Staring at the bewildered Roel, Lilian became even more certain of her conjecture.

  It was true that his usual high mana consumption did affect his ability to precisely control his mana, but more than that, it was more like an instinct for him not to do so.

  This instinct arose from his pursuit of extreme burst power so as to destroy all threats that stand in his way. To delve a little deeper, it could be described as a psychological barrier arising from long years of unease and numerous life-and-death experiences.

  No, it can’t be just a single encounter. didn’t just occur once. For such instincts to be deeply ingrained in him, he must have been through quite a few perilous situations…… but why is that so? The Theocracy should have provided him with a safe environment……

  For the first time, Lilian looked at Roel with intrigue.

  On the other hand, Roel was put at a loss after hearing Lilian’s analysis.

  He had no concept of what ‘murderous intent’ was, so he had no clue as to what he had to do with this piece of information he was given.

  “Senior, what is murderous intent? How can I correct this problem?” asked Roel.

  Surprisingly, Lilian fell silent before his question. This silence loomed in the classroom for a long while before finally culminating in a sigh.

  “S-senior?”


  “I’ll just get straight to the conclusion here,” said Lilian calmly. “It’s no longer possible for you to achieve refined control of your mana.”