The sunlight was as bright as usual, filtering through the branches of the roadside trees and scattering in mottled patterns on the ground, but Mahina felt cold all over.
Mahina walked quickly out of the dormitory and headed toward Ophelia’s residence.
The campus was already lively, with students in uniform gathered in groups of two or three. In the past, whenever students saw Mahina, countless people would scramble to flock toward her, all just to win her attention.
But now, silence hung in the air. When the students saw Mahina, they no longer took the initiative to greet her as they had in the past.
‘It’s probably just habit,’ she thought.
At first, even if the students did not greet her, she would still smile and say hello to every student she passed, responding politely when their eyes met.
But… it was different now.
The students began to avoid her gaze. Even when she smiled and greeted her classmates, she would only receive awkward responses.
The moment their eyes met hers, they would snap away as if they had been burned.
“Ah…”
The other party would hurriedly lower their head, their eyes darting around uncertainly as they scurried away in a panic, avoiding her as if she were a plague.
One, two, three times.
As it happened more often, Mahina felt there was no longer any need to keep trying to please them; in the eyes of others, it only looked pretentious.
As the days passed, Mahina stopped taking the initiative to greet anyone.
The students avoided her with subtle glances, and she stopped looking at them in return.
Those gazes filled with scrutiny, disdain, and even fear pierced her back like needles, but she learned to turn a blind eye to them.
Other people no longer mattered.
She did not need to care about how her every word and action reflected on her family. She had already decided to sever ties with the Talane Estate. From the moment she learned the truth, all of those concerns had turned to dust.
Mahina Talane’s perfect mask had shattered into pieces. Since the ugly truth beneath had been exposed, why bother picking up the bloody fragments to piece them back together?
Right now, she was simply “Mahina.”
A girl who was as ordinary as could be, a girl who loved Merlin with all her heart.
She was not some Magic Genius, not some Duke’s Daughter—just “Mahina.”
‘This is for the best. Didn’t Merlin say she didn’t like seeing me smile at others?’
A sharp pain suddenly throbbed in her heart, and Mahina gripped the front of her clothes tightly.
From now on… Mahina would keep her word. She would never show her smile to anyone other than Merlin.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she forced them back.
She did so because Merlin had said it was painful to see Mahina smile at others while being cold toward her.
It would never be like that again. If Merlin woke up —
Mahina swore that she would save all the tenderness, all the smiles, and all the humble love she had left for the rest of her life solely for the girl she had wounded so deeply. Everything she had belonged to Merlin.
Without realizing it, Mahina, who used to walk with her head held high, unconsciously lowered her head as she moved forward. The closer she got to Merlin, the more erratic her demeanor became.
Mahina’s cowering appearance lacked any of her former nobility and imposing presence.
‘Yes… what was so noble about me anyway?’
It was a fake persona to begin with, and now she was simply returning to her true self.
Even the persona she had maintained was inspired by Merlin.
Even the identity of the Duke’s adopted daughter, which she was about to discard, had been given to her by Merlin.
Even the magical talent she had been so proud of was nothing more than charity that Merlin had exchanged her own flesh and blood for.
Mahina looked away, feeling the suspicious and malicious gazes of the students around her.
‘Did Merlin suffer through this treatment when she first enrolled?’
At that time, Mahina was a Magic Genius surrounded by admirers, looking down on her from a high position.
Merlin was just a student in the Alchemy Department who had lost her Crystal Core and had no Magic Power.
The sensation from that day seemed to linger on Mahina’s palm.
The slap she gave Merlin when they first enrolled was half-intentional.
Back then, she still misunderstood Merlin, mistakenly believing that Merlin had betrayed her.
At that time, just seeing Merlin’s face would leave her flustered and irritated, making her want to drive Merlin out of her sight.
The Purple-haired Gentle Mother really was Merlin’s mother. Merlin had never betrayed her; rather, it was Mahina who had broken Merlin’s heart.
Because Mahina knew how much influence she had, and because she believed Merlin had betrayed her, she wanted Merlin to suffer a little.
Yet, her heart could not completely let go. Just seeing Merlin’s face made her feel restless. It would have been better if she could have just driven Merlin out of the school.
‘Now, the roles have reversed.’
Mahina let out a bitter smile that looked worse than crying.
Used to being revered and walking among flowers, Mahina was truly unaccustomed to this atmosphere.
But when she thought about how Merlin had suffered the same fate before, she realized this was probably her retribution.
“I didn’t expect that Mahina to be one way on the surface and another behind the scenes. How hypocritical.”
“Hey, can you keep it down? She definitely heard you.”
“So what if she heard me? Isn’t it the truth?”
Those voices were filled with the arrogance that comes from a sense of justice. Every word hit Mahina like a stone.
But the students were not wrong.
“I told you to be quiet! Didn’t she also not know the whole truth?”
“Does not knowing the whole truth erase Merlinlia’s pain? Think about what she did! She used her status and reputation to smear Merlinlia right at the start of the school year, leaving her isolated and helpless.”
the student who had tried to discourage the gossip seemed to be persuaded. Instead, their voice grew heated, as if they were trying to wash away the shame of their own former blind obedience. “Yeah… and then she specifically targeted Merlinlia’s weakness of being unable to use magic, attacking her over and over. Many students saw it with their own eyes back then.”
The student became more excited as they spoke, their voice so sharp it nearly pierced Mahina’s eardrums.
“How terrible. To think Her Highness Merlinlia gave her the Crystal Core to save her, only to be repaid with such ingratitude. She didn’t even stop to think why the girl had no Magic Power in the first place. How hypocritical.”
Mahina’s footsteps came to a sudden halt.
She did not turn back, and she did not defend herself.
She should get used to it. No matter where she went, students were slandering her.
Seeing that Mahina neither argued nor retaliated, the students grew even more emboldened.
The malice of one or two students might be insignificant, but when droplets of water gathered, they turned into a river of soaring spite.
Past happiness and past pain flooded her heart like a tide. Mahina let out a deep sigh and chose to quicken her pace toward Merlin’s location.
With every step closer, the pain of her heart being torn apart intensified.
Yes, the destination was also painful, but —
She would no longer run away, and she would no longer be afraid of being hurt.
No matter how much it hurt, it could not compare to the pain Merlin had endured in the past—the pain of being run through just to protect her.