I Became the Only Cure for My Dying Husband - Chapter 13

Chapter 7.1

The magic lessons didn’t go as smoothly as Edith had hoped.

At first, it seemed promising. Edith quickly mastered the basic spells, even though it was her first time learning magic, and the mage soon grew fond of her.

“Excellent! You’re the first student to do this well on your initial test.”

Receiving praise and attention from her first mentor filled Edith with excitement.

‘He’s a good person. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from him.’

Her heart raced with anticipation.

But then…

“H-how did you do this so quickly…?”

“I just did what you taught me.”

“This… shouldn’t be possible on your first attempt…”

The mage was in awe of Edith’s talent at first, but as the days passed and she absorbed knowledge like a sponge, his face grew paler.

“Edith, I haven’t taught you this yet.”

“I thought I could apply what I learned, so I tried it. Was it wrong?”

“N-no, you did well. Too well, actually.”

This went on until, exactly a week later, the mage threw up his hands and went to report to the duke.

“Your Grace, I can no longer teach Miss Edith.”

It was shocking news, even for Edith, who was present then.

“Even if you bring in another teacher, the same thing will happen.”

“Why is that? Edith doesn’t seem like a difficult student to teach.”

“That’s precisely the problem. She’s too brilliant. Students may surpass their teachers eventually, but she’s already far beyond that point. No matter how skilled the teacher, none will be able to keep up with her.”

He admitted he simply wasn’t capable of teaching someone so gifted.

“And the young miss is a fire mage.”

The magic formulas used by fire mages were unique, meaning only another fire mage could properly teach her.

So, the mage couldn’t provide the training Edith needed.

Frustrated and defeated, he gave up, while Edith was shocked to discover the truth too late.

‘I can’t learn fire magic unless it’s from another fire mage?’

Before the mood could get any heavier, Khalid decided to send Edith out.

“Edith, go play outside for a while.”

“Okay.”

Edith bowed and quietly left the room, closing the office door behind her.

As she stepped out, she caught snippets of their conversation.

“Someone new at the Tower of Magic… if they could…”

“Then we should contact…”

Edith let out a deep sigh as their voices faded.

‘I should’ve pretended to be clueless.’

But it had been too easy to fake ignorance.

At first, she didn’t understand much, but once she learned the basics, everything seemed as simple as 1+1=2.

Learning addition and subtraction naturally led her to multiplication and division, but she never imagined her mentor would quit because of it.

Being called a genius should have made her happy, but instead, she felt nothing but gloom.

‘Now I won’t be able to properly control my powers.’

Frustrated, Edith stepped outside and sat on a bench, clenching her fists.

How many fire mages were there in the empire? Was there anyone who could teach her magic?

Those stubborn, self-righteous old mages would never agree to take her on as a student.

“Haah…”

“What are you doing out here?”

“Young master?”

When she looked up, she found Lucion’s sharp eyes scrutinizing her.

“Isn’t it time for your lesson?”

“…It ended early.”

“You didn’t skip it, did you? Or were you so bad they kicked you out?”

His mean words were oddly comforting today.

‘I never thought I’d be glad to hear his insults.’

His constant barrage of harsh words was enough to snap her out of her funk.

‘But why is he being crankier than usual?’

It was nice that her sadness was starting to fade, but now her ears were beginning to hurt. Edith stared at Lucion’s face, which looked like he was possessed by some demon.

“What are you looking at? Get that ugly face out of here.”

“Were you sulking?”

“Are you crazy?”

Lucion scowled, rubbing his ears as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

Edith stood up, and Lucion took a step back.

His normally cool expression was flushed, and it seemed like he was trying to hide it.

‘Huh? Is he actually upset?’

“You look upset…”

“Are you on something? Hah! I was glad you were gone. Who’s upset?”

“Then why do you keep backing away?”

She pointed out, noticing the increasing distance between them. Scoffing, he told her to stop talking nonsense.

“Then let’s walk together.”