Gwen walked in surrounded by servants, and Victor courteously extended his hand to invite her into the meeting room.
He and Gwen walked side by side. On the way, Gwen sized Victor up, and at the same time, she caught sight of the pitch-black, one-eyed raven perched on his shoulder.
After the two entered the meeting room, Victor glanced at the servants beside him. They immediately understood and quietly left.
When the door of the meeting room closed, Gwen and Victor sat facing each other.
Gwen asked coldly, "Did you receive the Academy's invitation?"
Victor tapped his fingers on the table and replied, "I did."
After that, the air in the room suddenly grew cold.
At this moment, Victor had absolutely no idea what this woman's true attitude toward "himself" was.
Though the two were engaged, in the end, the one who personally killed Victor had also been her. Victor could feel that Gwen had no affection for him whatsoever.
But then again, she had helped him.
The Academy's invitation for a professorship, naturally, the Derlin family had put in a recommendation as well.
The more Victor thought about it, the blurrier it all became.
In any case, if he could improve his relationship with Gwen, maybe he could even avoid that fatal ending.
Victor waved his hand, and five bottles of crimson life potion appeared on the table, placed before Gwen.
"Please, take these."
Gwen merely glanced at them, showing no intention of accepting.
Seeing her proud demeanor, Victor sighed and continued, "This is a token of thanks for your help. I heard from Liya already. I don't want to owe you a favor."
He looked straight into Gwen's eyes with those deep, ink-black pupils.
Gwen turned her head away, biting her lip. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Yesterday… did you really flirt with the duke's daughter?"
Victor fell silent. Whether he had done that yesterday or not… even he didn't know.
That was something yesterday's Victor had done, and the Victor of today was an entirely different person.
Seeing his silence, Gwen truly believed he had done such a thing. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she scolded angrily, "Victor! How could you do something like that! The duke's daughter is only seventeen! How could you lay a hand on an underage girl!"
Victor, "…"
Great. Now it looked like everyone knew he had flirted with an underage girl.
Gwen was a knight with a deeply righteous heart; naturally, she couldn't stand such a thing as a grown man teasing a young girl.
If this matter wasn't properly resolved, it could easily become the spark that would completely ruin his relationship with Gwen in the future.
So he had to handle it carefully.
Feeling a heavy pressure in his chest, Victor spoke calmly, "I hope you can understand, I don't have any interest in that duke's daughter."
Gwen glared at him, replying, "This matter has already spread everywhere."
Looking into her eyes, filled with both anger and helplessness, Victor answered seriously, "I'll take care of it. I won't let the rumors continue to involve us."
Victor knew very well, now that the matter had blown up like this, it wasn't just the Clavenna family's reputation on the line.
Even the Derlin family, to whom he was engaged, would inevitably share in the disgrace.
The Derlins had helped him, but they were also helping themselves.
Gwen opened her mouth, yet no words came out. She looked at Victor and felt… something had changed in him.
But she couldn't tell what exactly.
Standing up, Gwen finally took the potions. Just as she was about to leave, she paused at the door and said to Victor, "If you run into any trouble, come to me. I'll help you."
With that, she pushed the door open and left.
Victor let out a long sigh of relief.
Seeing his reaction, Vega, perched on his shoulder, croaked near his ear, "Who was that?"
"My fiancée."
Victor spread his hands helplessly.
The one-eyed raven gave him a pitying look and preened its feathers. "She's very sensitive. Her gaze is frightening, felt like she could see right through me. Fortunately, I only look like an ordinary raven."
Victor was speechless.
"A one-eyed raven is anything but ordinary."
———
Before long, the next day arrived, and Victor arrived punctually at the Academy.
The Royal Magic Academy, as its name suggested, was a place for the rich and noble young sons and daughters to study.
There was also a special group among them, those born with exceptional magical talent. Such students could study here tuition-free.
But that exemption came with a price. In the future, those geniuses would naturally have to serve the royal family.
Victor looked at the grand academy before him and recalled the images from the game, he remembered that there was a huge library here, where mage players could study spells of all ranks.
Victor planned to go there to study for a while.
He now urgently needed a few powerful skills to bolster his spell repertoire. Though Victor's current magic was already sufficient, as someone who came from a player's background, the more spells he had, the safer he'd feel.
The contract had already been delivered to him yesterday, he was now officially a senior professor at the Royal Magic Academy.
It was his first time coming here, so he went to meet the headmaster in person. After a brief greeting, the headmaster assigned him to teach in the Academy's best class, to prove his strength.
Leaving the headmaster's office, Victor followed his memory to the Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower, also known as the Trial Tower, was where players could undertake a daily trial. Passing the trial granted a large amount of experience.
The tower was magnificent, soaring straight into the clouds. Its walls were covered in all sorts of magic arrays, and higher up, rippling energy veils obscured the view, radiating a mysterious aura.
Victor approached the magic tower and touched its barrier. His magic power trembled slightly.
[Identity Verification Successful. Welcome back, Professor Victor.]
A swirl of black mist rose before him, and when he came to, he was already inside the tower.
'So that's the teleportation array.'
As he climbed the stairs, he saw magic crystals filled with powerful energy scattered throughout the tower. Books were neatly arranged, completely different from the dusty, ancient look the tower had from the outside.
Seeing the spotless floor, Victor immediately realized someone had recently cleaned the place.
He then heard a gasp behind him. Turning around, he saw a short-haired young woman stood before him.
Her fluorescent yellow eyes were fixed on him. Because Victor was looking directly at her, her cheeks flushed red. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Are you… Mr. Victor?"
Victor turned his head and nodded.
The girl quickly continued, still nervous, "I... I'm Hennie, your assistant."
She handed him a sheet of paper. "This is your lecture script. Before your afternoon class, please memorize it, and then just follow it word-for-word when teaching."
Victor took the script, gave it a quick glance, and nodded. "Thank you."
Hennie suddenly panicked, turned around, and hurriedly ran out of Victor's office.
Victor thought to himself, 'The Academy's really covering all their bases.'
Right now, no one at the school actually knew the extent of Victor's real magical knowledge. Though he was indeed a powerful third-tier mage, the position of "professor" had been given to him mainly for his magical talent, and for political reasons.
If Victor turned out to be an incompetent fraud, then no matter the backing of two noble families, this professorship would never have been his.
What he needed to do now was simply deliver the speech perfectly. As long as he performed flawlessly, no one could find any fault.
The Royal Academy's professors are definitely not half-baked amateurs.
Victor smiled faintly, picked up the lecture script again, and studied it for a while.
After all, since he already had a ready-made script, why not use it?
Before he knew it, noon had passed, and the afternoon sun shone even brighter.
People from all walks of life were eagerly waiting for the appearance of the Royal Magic Academy's young professor.
They were curious, was this long-silent genius professor merely a publicity stunt by the Academy?
Victor entered the classroom. He had already memorized the lecture script perfectly. He thought he only needed to recite a portion of it to get through this easily.
At least, that's what he thought.
But when he scanned the classroom and saw a blonde beauty sitting in the first row, he immediately changed his mind.
Seventeen years old, she was the most talented student the Royal Magic Academy had seen in recent years.
And her family status was extraordinary as well.
A duke's daughter.
Erica du Croy.
He hadn't expected that the girl he'd provoked the day before yesterday would now turn out to be his student.
Erica noticed him too. Her beautiful eyes shimmered with intrigue, he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
'So this is the pretty little girl from yesterday's newspaper headline,' Vega whispered from his shoulder. 'Hmm, quite the looker. Let's see… tsk, tsk, still young, yet already a second-tier mage. Not bad.'
The only reason Vega could follow Victor into class was because the Royal Magic Academy didn't forbid pets, and didn't restrict their types either.
The headmaster himself owned a watermelon… with eyes.
Compared to that thing, a one-eyed raven wasn't all that strange.
Victor cleared his throat and addressed the students in the classroom, "I'm Victor Clavenna, professor at the Royal Magic Academy. From now on, I'll be your instructor."
"Today's lecture topic is, 'The Structural Composition of Magic Circles and Their Influence on Advanced Magic Systems.'"
———
As the class went on, Victor gradually grew more comfortable, fully immersed in teaching. Time passed quickly.
After about forty minutes, he glanced at his watch, it was already four in the afternoon. He waved his hand.
"Class dismissed."
He silently breathed a sigh of relief.
'Good. This class went smoothly, no problems, and no one asked questions. Perfect.'
Just as Victor was preparing to leave, the blonde girl in the front row suddenly raised her hand, smiling.
"Professor, I have a question. Could you answer it for me?"
Victor's expression darkened slightly.
Sure enough, trouble had arrived.
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