Chapter : 15
9. Secret, But Not Really Secret Passage (2)
Anyway, he didn’t like that expression that looked like she was about to cry.
“Why did you even follow me if you’re going to be that restless?”
“I was worried about you… Beyond this tower is the Dark Forest.”
“Who’s worried about whom? You or that teacher of yours? Weird. Don’t get in the way.”
‘Are they playing house or something?’
Estelle, the youngest physically but the most mature mentally among the three, watched them and snorted.
For a conversation between the future infamous Master of the Magic Tower and a mysterious saint, it was surprisingly harmless.
Then, suddenly, Noel stiffened and stepped back, startled, as if he had touched something he shouldn’t have.
“Noel?”
Beatrice cautiously called him, but he raised a hand to stop her, signaling her to stay quiet.
Clunk—
At the same moment, a heavy sound resonated somewhere inside the ceiling and walls.
Noel, who had been listening intently, turned to Beatrice and Estelle with a strangely bright, almost ominous smile.
“Ladies, do you know what floor you’re on?”
Instead of answering, Estelle grabbed Beatrice’s arm and started running.
Her instinct, which had kept her alive in the royal court until now, pushed her forward.
“Wait, huff, Estelle!”
“Wait? Just run!”
That bastard definitely caused trouble!
But it was too late.
Thud! Clang!
With a loud noise, an iron gate came down, blocking the passage they had just climbed.
“Don’t waste your energy—come this way.”
Now, with the ground shaking beneath them and sharp alarms ringing from all directions, Noel’s calm demeanor seemed almost as if he had a backup plan.
However, Estelle noticed that the boy’s sparkling blue-violet eyes were fixed outside the window—on the ground they couldn’t even clearly see.
“No… no. What you’re thinking… it’s not that.”
The northern tower was the tallest building in Noctua, and teachers with peculiar tastes often had their classes assigned here, causing students to drop out en masse.
They were at the very top—the highest floor.
“Princess, you’re quicker-witted than I thought.”
“Isn’t it obvious when I see that crazy look in your eyes?”
“No, I mean you, Princess. Can’t you hear the alarms going off like mad? If you get caught by the guards on the first day and they summon your guardian, what happens to your dignity?”
Unlike his excessively free-tongued self when talking to royalty, Noel’s hands moved calmly.
He tapped Beatrice’s and Estelle’s shoulders gently, and they felt a warm energy surrounding them.
Beatrice looked at Noel, puzzled.
“Why the protective magic? The guards won’t attack students. They’ll punish, sure… but…”
‘As if that matters.’
Having faced execution in a holy trial in her past life, Beatrice had no fear of mere school punishments.
“For all I know, the guards might not be friendly here.”
As Noel pushed them toward the window, Beatrice finally understood his intention and went pale instantly.
“No, this is wrong!”
Even if she wasn’t afraid, that didn’t mean she wanted to die by falling from a tower!
Estelle, also being pushed along, shouted indignantly.
“I told you no earlier! He’s gone crazy!”
“Don’t worry. I’m not the type to abandon accomplices mercilessly.”
Noel placed his hands on their backs, ignoring their protests.
“No, let go! Leave me! If I die, let it be alone!”
“It’s okay. You won’t die.”
Estelle regretted it.
She should have known better than to follow, thinking she could just make connections with a future saint or the Master of the Magic Tower.
Genius or not, trusting a peer’s protective magic to jump from the tower was too unrealistic for her.
“You’re a royal subject. Head straight to the guillotine!”
Having stood before a guillotine herself, Beatrice nodded vigorously.
“There has to be another way. There is. Wait.”
Since returning, Beatrice desperately tried to recall any knowledge of the northern tower.
She remembered when Noel was caught by the guards, Klein had clicked his tongue and mentioned some kind of passage…
But Noel didn’t wait.
“Once we’re down, forget all this. We were never here. Got it?”
Estelle retorted sharply.
“You’re not planning to kill us to shut us up, are you?”
“Phew, no. Do all royals just kill people so easily?”
Not sure about all, but the emperor certainly did.
Estelle was frustrated.
Having survived under a tyrant in her past life, she now had to bungee-jump without a rope because of a crazy classmate!
Just before Noel started counting down, Beatrice let out a scream of almost delight.
“There it is!! A way to survive and get down from here!!”
Noel tilted his head.
“I never said we’d die to get down.”
Estelle’s face lit up.
“What is it?! Hey, move your hand! Bea, tell me!”
“So this is a way to survive… Are you listening?”
No one was listening.
Instead of explaining, Beatrice acted.
She removed a frame on the west side of the magical barrier stone and pushed the stones inside in order: the second, fourth, and sixth from the top.
Kugugung— something massive moved inside the wall.
A passage just big enough for one person appeared.
“A secret passage. Used as an emergency escape route.”
“How do you know this?”
“…Someone told me. They were told by a senior.”
Suspicious, but Estelle didn’t ask further.
What mattered now was that there was a legitimate way to get down alive.
“Noel, let’s go down together.”
“This passage leads outside, right?”
“Yes. Hurry! The guards will be here soon.”
Noel led the way, trusting the secret passage more than the naive classmates who trusted his magic more than anything.
He felt uneasy putting them in front.
‘Something about this is fishy.’
A magic to trap intruders was triggered, and yet the passage opened?
It looked like a guided route, but Beatrice, usually timid, seemed confident, so he stayed silent.
As the path grew steeper, the two girls fell silent.
They walked tensely in the dark passage, and finally, Noel, at the front, spotted light.
“Looks like we’re coming out—”
“Dammit.”
“Ah!”
“Hey, what are you doing stopping suddenly?”
Noel stopped abruptly, and Beatrice and Estelle bumped their foreheads against the one in front.
“Good afternoon, everyone?”
A gentle voice spoke first.
Looking up slowly, they saw a white-blonde head shining in the sunlight, wearing a blue cape robe adorned with Noctua’s laurel pin.
“Teacher Lucien?”
Lucien stood there, guards behind him, as if he had known they would come out here all along.
‘Damn it. Of all places, it had to be here.’
The least desirable place of all.
Unable to freak out in front of the students, Lucien calmly helped them to their feet.
“You know, even among seniors, there were students who escaped using secret passages unknown to teachers. Seems like a book called ‘Secrets of Noctua’ has come out or something?”
Half-jokingly, Lucien muttered, making Estelle and Beatrice flinch as if caught red-handed.
Lucien’s gaze swept over them. Dusty, but no visible injuries.
“Teacher Philonia, are those the students?”
The captain of the guards approached. As soon as he and Noel made eye contact, their expressions soured like old enemies.
The guards were always the ones to clean up after Noel’s mischief, alongside the teacher in charge.
Lucien would see a lot of them going forward.
“This is definitely a suspension! The security of the entire academy was at risk! Even if the Master of the Magic Tower supports you, there are limits…!”
“I’m sorry, I’ll guide them better.”
“No, it’s not your fault, teacher…”
“No, thank you for your constant effort.”
“No, it’s the teacher who’s worked hard.”
The two comrades-in-arms awkwardly exchanged greetings.
