Chapter 162
Thud—
At the sound of something dropping, the club members who were about to enter the clubroom froze in place.
“Why is no one coming in?”
Selina chuckled softly as she watched them, and the faces of Xenon and Asta—who were standing at the front—instantly lit up.
“Selina!”
“S-Se, Selina! Are you okay now?”
Asta threw herself into Selina’s arms, while Xenon gently patted Selina’s head.
Seeing the enthusiastic welcome coming from all sides, Selina burst into laughter.
“You’re all reacting exactly the same. You missed me, didn’t you?”
“It’s not about being bored! We were so worried about you that we couldn’t sit still!”
“Yeah! We’re second-years, so we couldn’t even enter the first-year dorms!”
“Huh? Senior, you’re not stuttering anymore?”
Noticing the change, Selina pointed it out, and Asta’s cheeks flushed red.
“I think the necklace you lent me last time is still working. Th-That’s embarrassing!”
It seemed like her confidence had increased a lot too.
“Judging by your hair color, the magic tool is working well, huh?”
Becky, who had arrived late, said as she patted Selina on the shoulder.
“Yeah. Thanks to this, I attract a bit less attention. My hair changing was already pretty noticeable.”
“I was too far away to see clearly back then, but what did it change into? I heard someone say purple.”
“Not purple—silver. It was shinier than a silver coin.”
“I want to see it.”
As her friends’ eyes sparkled with curiosity, Selina gave an awkward smile and stepped back. Then she noticed someone still standing by the doorway.
Seeing her, Selina smiled wryly.
“Mie. Aren’t you going to welcome me?”
When Selina opened her arms, Mie finally rushed over and hugged her, bursting into tears she had been holding back.
“W-What? Why are you crying?”
“Huaaang! I-I thought you were going to die!”
“Oh my, I didn’t know you were such a crybaby.”
“You brat—don’t ever get sick like that again!”
No matter how much Selina teased her, Mie couldn’t stop crying. While Mie sobbed, the others explained how worried she had been the whole time.
After Mie finally calmed down, everyone gathered around the desks.
All eyes were on Selina. Feeling oddly ticklish and pressured, she quickly changed the subject.
“So, you all did well while I was gone, right? I have no idea how the club’s been running without me.”
“Don’t even ask. Without you, we didn’t know what to do.”
“But since we didn’t know when you’d come back, Senior Asta did fortune-telling in the meantime.”
“What? Really?”
Selina turned toward Asta in surprise. Asta scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Since I’d done fortune-telling once during the academic festival, some of the students from back then came again. And… well, I kind of gained my own fanbase. I’m surprisingly popular.”
“Ooh, that’s amazing, Senior! It hasn’t even been a month since you started seeing clients.”
“It’s thanks to you helping me before. And with you gone, I felt like I had to do even better.”
“Then should we just keep Senior’s fortune-telling going? What do you think, Senior?”
“Of course I’d like that.”
“Great. Then I’ll teach you fortune-telling more deeply. That’ll be better for you too, right?”
Asta beamed with joy and showed strong determination to work hard.
Theodore, who had been quietly listening, frowned as if something bothered him and asked Selina,
“You’re starting club activities again right away tomorrow?”
“Huh? No?”
“Oh. That’s a relief. You should rest a bit more—”
“I’m starting today, not tomorrow.”
Theodore’s face stiffened instantly. The club members’ reactions split in two.
Half welcomed the idea, saying it was great. The other half worried it was too soon and hoped she would rest more.
“But Selina, the priests are still outside, aren’t they? If you start working again, you’ll have to deal with lots of people. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Oh… right.”
Outside the clubroom were the priests assigned by Freiman.
Simon and Veronica—both probationary professors working alongside Baon.
They had been dispatched from the temple to work as professors, and Selina had wondered whether it was really okay for them to stay by her side like this—but it seemed there was no problem.
‘It’s fine. I actually prefer it this way.’
‘Exactly. Being a professor is exhausting—I was sick of it.’
They almost seemed happier this way.
“It’s fine. We’ll manage somehow. If I explain it well, they’ll listen.”
This time, most people didn’t quite believe her and looked uneasy.
Seeing their doubtful gazes, Selina cleared her throat.
“Ahem! Anyway, let’s move on. There’s something I’ve been curious about—”
She clasped her hands and scanned the room with a serious expression.
“What happened with the academic festival results?”
“Well, obviously—”
Xenon, who had stiffened as well, soon broke into a grin.
“We got first place!”
“Just as expected!”
“We actually got the prizes today. First, club activity funding—and the overnight stay permits you all wanted so badly!”
Xenon pulled several overnight permits from his pocket. The entire clubroom erupted in cheers.
Simon and Veronica, who were outside, were startled and briefly opened the door to peek inside. Seeing the energetic students, they quietly closed it again.
“We were going to tell you when you came back, but the timing worked out perfectly.”
“Now, we’ll begin the overnight permit award ceremony.”
Putting on a serious tone, Xenon handed the first permit to Selina.
“To our witch, who’s been through the most trouble.”
“It’s an honor for my family.”
“Next, our club president! Asta!”
One by one, he handed permits to all the members.
“Just so you know, these permits are valid until next semester, so use them wisely.”
Everyone excitedly discussed what they’d do with their permits. It was the usual club atmosphere.
Selina felt her heart grow lighter. When she had been alone in her room, this was the scene she had missed.
Of course, she still had Sylvia and Knox, so saying she was completely lonely would be a lie—but since she had decided not to get involved with the Hailers anymore, she chose to pay them as little attention as possible.
Watching Xenon and Sylvester’s trivial pranks, Selina burst out laughing.
* * *
Bang—!
At the sight of a fist slamming onto the desk, the servants standing before it squeezed their eyes shut.
They weren’t prepared to face the fury of the man before them.
Yet they understood why he was angry and couldn’t say a word.
“How many times has this been already?!”
The furious man was none other than Arnold Hailers.
Ever since the academic festival’s closing ceremony—now nearly two weeks ago—he had repeatedly sent requests to meet the Moon Temple’s Apostle.
Despite using every connection he had to reach even the inside of the temple, he hadn’t seen so much as the apostle’s shadow.
Hearing that she was staying at the academy, he tried approaching through that route as well—but that too ended in failure.
The academy and the temple’s vigilance toward outsiders was that strict.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh escaped him. The daughter of Anais—whom he had finally found—turning out to be the Moon’s Apostle.
At first, after Sylvia, he had been delighted that her biological daughter too held such influence in the Moon Temple. Now, it only made him sigh.
“Is the temple’s response still the same?”
“Yes. But compared to the beginning, the momentum has clearly shifted in our favor. If we push a little more, we may have a chance.”
“But when that will be…”
Knock, knock—
Arnold looked up and immediately stood when he saw who entered.
“Anais.”
“Are you busy right now?”
“No. It’s fine. Come in.”
The servants bowed to Anais and naturally left the room.
Though welcoming her, Arnold felt cold sweat run down his back.
“You’ve looked drained lately, so I asked the head chef to prepare something special.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.”
“It’s nothing… There’s still no news today, is there?”
Anais went straight to the point. Arnold hesitated.
Seeing his expression, Anais forced a small smile.
“That was a pointless question. You’re doing your best.”
“No, no. It’s your daughter—we’ve been searching for her for so long. I understand how desperate you feel.”
“…Thank you for understanding.”
Seeing her bitter smile, Arnold swallowed the sigh that nearly escaped. She was the one suffering most—he couldn’t afford to look weak too.
“But compared to before, their guard has lowered a lot. We might be able to meet her next month.”
“Really?”
Anais’s face brightened instantly.
“Yes. And I found out why they’re so reluctant to reveal the apostle. I thought it was because she was the first apostle in 500 years—but that wasn’t it.”
“Then why?”
“It seems your biological daughter was about to be adopted.”
Anais’s expression hardened.
“The one who wanted to adopt her was Lord Freiman.”
“Lord Freiman…”
“You seem to clash with him in many ways.”
Arnold let out a hollow breath. Though he’d never met Freiman directly, they had clashed often over Sylvia becoming a saint.
Because Freiman refused to accept Sylvia, she hadn’t been able to belong to the Moon Temple before awakening.
Now that Sylvia had awakened, Arnold thought he’d never have to deal with him again—but now Selina’s situation brought everything back to square one.
“Are you saying His Excellency intended to adopt my child?”
“Sylian told you before, didn’t he? That the girl was under Lord Freiman’s sponsorship.”
“Ah…”
Now that he thought about it, Sylian had mentioned that.
“I looked further into it, and it turns out they’d known each other since the girl was young. More precisely, he was close to the child’s mother.”
“She… had a mother?”
“Yes. She passed away from illness last year. And she deliberately hid the child’s hair color while raising her.”
“So that’s why we could never find her.”
Anais felt dazed by the unexpected truth. Soon, she closed her mouth and clasped her hands.
“She was a truly kind person… raising my child like that. If she were still alive, I would have rewarded her greatly.”
“Yes. According to the information, though she was a commoner, she lived quite comfortably.”
“Haa… I wish my child would come to me soon. I want to give her everything I couldn’t before.”
Anais exhaled shakily and buried her face in her hands. Arnold wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly, comforting her.
Then, as if recalling something, Anais lowered her hands and asked,
“You said the child was adopted?”
“No. She’s in the process of being adopted.”
“Then… she hasn’t been adopted yet.”
“That’s right. Why do you ask?”
“She doesn’t have a legal guardian yet, does she? Even if she’s an apostle, she’s still a minor. She needs a guardian. Since I’m her biological mother, couldn’t I use that to meet her? What do you think?”
Caught off guard, Arnold looked surprised, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Yes. That might work. Anyone under eighteen is a minor and needs a guardian. If we consult the imperial family, it should be possible.”
A sharp light gleamed in Arnold’s blue eyes as he stood abruptly.
“I should go to the imperial palace right away. I’ll be late—have your meal first.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Arnold ordered the servants to prepare a carriage immediately. Watching her husband hurry away, Anais closed her eyes.
“I want to see you so badly.”
The image of her daughter being appointed as an apostle shimmered before her eyes.
