Even though Izar came from the information-exploding twenty-first century and prided himself on his broad experience, the scene before his eyes was enough to drop a heavy bomb in his mind.
A forbidden teacher-student romance! And it was even a taboo yuri relationship!
Even in his own era, with its open-minded values, these two elements would have drawn plenty of attention—let alone in this class-stratified, comparatively conservative world of magic.
It was like walking on the knife’s edge of imperial ethics and public opinion.
In truth, Izar’s understanding of Senior Emma was rather limited. Compared to the dazzling, universally beloved eldest senior sister, Sara, Emma was more like a distant, cool star in the night sky. She was strict, even to the point of harshness, and carried an air of aloofness that warned strangers away. While both students and teachers at the academy acknowledged her magical achievements, her rigid, unfeeling demeanor left her with rather mediocre personal relations, and in private, she was often the subject of student complaints.
As for Professor Isha, she was the Empire’s acknowledged authority in pharmaceutics. Her profound expertise and icy, stunning beauty—like a sculpture carved from an eternal glacier—had earned her the title “Ice Beauty of the Empire.” She was someone countless people looked up to but no one dared approach lightly.
Thus, faced with such an explosive scene, even the always cautious Izar couldn’t contain his burning curiosity. Holding his breath, he shrank further into the shadows and perked up his ears.
When Professor Isha suggested breaking up, Senior Emma first put on her usual proud, as-if-nothing-matters expression. She nodded, her tone deliberately light and even slightly mocking: “Professor Isha, you’re right. Fortunately, no one knows about us. You’re the Empire’s renowned Ice Beauty, a top-tier pharmaceutics master, and I… I’m just an ‘exceptionally gifted’ but otherwise ordinary third-rank magician. If word got out, no one would dare say a thing about you, but I’d probably become the laughingstock of the entire noble circle.”
Tsk tsk, listen to that—looks like the feelings really have faded. Even the break-up meal is eaten so “calmly.” Izar secretly commented.
Professor Isha merely gave a faint “Mm,” which was as good as agreement. Her face betrayed no emotion, and her voice remained calm and cold: “Ending it now is just right. Your reputation won’t suffer. That’s all. From now on, unless it’s necessary, don’t seek me out again.”
After saying this, she truly didn’t show a trace of reluctance. She turned crisply on her heel and didn’t even spare a single backward glance.
Emma gazed at that determined back for a moment, then finally spoke, her tone seemingly calm: “Professor Isha, after we break up, please take care of yourself. Without me… I’m sure you’ll do even better.”
Look at that! Aside from her unusual orientation, Senior Emma’s character and values were actually pretty upright! Even after breaking up, she could so frankly give her blessing.
Izar silently gave Emma a thumbs-up in his heart.
However, Professor Isha’s departing steps didn’t pause for a moment—if anything, they quickened.
Seeing this, Emma suddenly raised her voice, as if desperately trying to prove something: “Professor Isha! Come to think of it, it’s a good thing we broke up! While I was with you, I barely had any time to focus on my own cultivation! Every day it was either climbing mountains to gather rare herbs for you, or meticulously recording your convoluted research, or organizing your mountain of data! I could’ve learned several powerful spells with all that time! It was all for your sake—I’ve missed out on so much progress! If Dean Clea knew, she’d scold me for lacking ambition again… Now that I’ve left you, I finally have more time to focus on myself. I’m really, truly glad!”
Eavesdropping up to this point, Izar keenly sensed something was wrong.
Why did it sound like, even though Senior Emma was saying such resolute words, her tone was tinged with a sadness she couldn’t hide, a touch of repressed longing, and an overwhelming sense of grievance and complaint that threatened to spill out at any moment?
As someone who’d been single since birth and was determined to walk the NPC path to the end, Izar had no real-world experience in the mysteries of love, and he couldn’t help falling into a momentary daze.
But the development that followed only confirmed his foreboding premonition.
Emma’s voice began to slip out of control, her feigned strength fracturing bit by bit. Her words trembled, edged with an irrepressible sob, each syllable seeming to be squeezed from her heart: “Professor Isha… is there… really no chance for us at all?”
The figure ahead still gave no response, leaving her only with an ever-dwindling, icy and merciless silhouette.
At last, Emma completely broke down.
“Isha… Isha, my Isha!”
“Uuuu… without you, how am I supposed to go on!”
She cried out, her voice rising sharply, and then burst into loud, unrestrained sobs, ignoring all pretense of composure.
“Isha! I can do anything for you! I don’t care about my reputation! I’ll take whatever punishment the Dean gives! I’d even be willing to go against the whole Empire for you! But I can’t live without you! Isha! Isha! I can’t live without you!”
“Isha! Without you, how can I live!”
“ISHA!!!!”
“AHHHHH!!!”
“AWWWWWW!!!”
That heart-rending wail, filled with pain and despair beyond words, as if even the collapsing of mountains and dimming of sun and moon would fall short of describing a fraction of her agony in this moment.
Izar was dumbstruck, jaw almost hitting the floor.
He’d only ever seen the species known as “bootlickers” in internet legend, but seeing a real-life case—he never imagined it could reach such a world-shaking, ghost-weeping degree!
Sadly, even the most devoted bootlicker ends up with nothing. Professor Isha not only didn’t look back—her steps away were even more resolute, as if determined to shake off the nightmare behind her once and for all.
With the dramatic scene coming to a close, Izar hunched his neck and prepared to quietly slip away while Emma was still lost in her grief.
But when your luck’s bad, even drinking cold water can chip your teeth.
Maybe it was because she was crying too hard and lost her footing, but Emma suddenly dashed out of the pharmaceutics lab and, not watching her step, tripped heavily over the threshold and landed on the ground with a “thud.”
As fate would have it, this fall brought her line of sight directly in line with Izar, who was hiding behind a column and hadn’t had time to fully conceal himself!
In that instant, the world went silent.
Emma’s earth-shattering cries stopped abruptly.
And Izar… he felt like crying himself.
He watched as Emma shot up from the ground with lightning speed. The face that had just been streaked with tears transformed before his eyes—white to red, red to blue, and finally darkened like the Dead Sea before a storm! A murderous aura erupted from her, locking onto Izar with tangible intensity.
“Iz—ar—!” The two syllables were squeezed through Emma’s clenched teeth, bone-chillingly cold. “Why—are—you—here?!”
At that moment, Izar had no doubt that Senior Emma wanted to kill him on the spot and grind his bones to dust!
In this critical moment, Izar’s mind whirred faster than ever—at the edge of life and death, the calmer you have to be!
And just then, as if sent by heaven, the life-saving system prompt rang in his mind:
[God-level Choice System at your service. Please make your selection, Host.]
[Option 1: Pat Senior Emma on the shoulder and say with deep feeling, “It’s just a breakup, everyone goes through it. You have to learn and grow—promise me, don’t be a bootlicker anymore, okay?” Difficulty: A. Reward: +10 Protagonist Points]
[Option 2: Without restraint, clutch your stomach and point at her, laughing loudly: “Serves you right, you pathetic bootlicker!” Difficulty: S. Reward: +10 Villain Points]
[Option 3: If you don’t run now, when will you? Difficulty: E. Reward: +10 NPC Points]
Did this even need to be considered?!
Even if the system hadn’t given him the choices, his instincts had only one word—run!
So, under Emma’s soul-freezing death glare, Izar’s pupils instantly lost focus. He stared “ahead” (at nothing), arms outstretched stiffly as if groping blindly, carefully feeling along the corridor’s pillars. Then—without even glancing at the furious Emma right next to him—he slowly “felt” his way past her with exaggerated slowness.
As he “explored,” he mumbled just loud enough for her to hear:
“Where’s my cane… Sigh, I can’t believe making medicine left me temporarily blind. Just my luck…”
“My ears aren’t working too well, either… buzzing nonstop… Guess I shouldn’t have tested that potion on myself. Next time, I’ll try it on a small animal first…”
“Huh? Did I just hear someone calling my name? Must be an auditory hallucination. Deaf and blind now—I’d better get back to the dorm and lie down. Who knows how long these side effects will last…”
To make it even more convincing, Izar even steeled himself to give a “bang” as he pretended to bump his forehead on the wall, then let out an “ow” as he faked stumbling over the steps, and only then “staggered” away in the direction of the dorms, overacting but completely determined, disappearing safely at the end of the corridor.
From that day on, Senior Emma’s name was added in bold to Izar’s “Avoidance List,” alongside Dean Clea and Senior Sister Sara. To avoid ever meeting Emma, he even stopped setting foot in the pharmaceutics lab he’d once been interested in, and steered clear of any academy assessments where they might cross paths.
This was why, outside the Dean’s office today, Izar reacted with such terror and dread upon seeing Emma.
Now, confronted by Emma blocking his way, Izar forced out a smile of utmost humility, tinged with a bit of obsequiousness, and tentatively asked, “Senior Emma, did you… did you call me over because you have something important you need me to do?”
He’d sooner die than admit he’d witnessed that black history that could bring her social destruction…