Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 88

To the Teacher, From Vanessa – Episode 88 (88/146)

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“Write it.”

Vanessa, glaring, immediately sat Gideon down at the desk in his office. Gideon obediently took the pen.

“I’m daring to retract my offer to give Zanaba and additionally elect Vanessa Rose as a special operative.”

Gideon began to write a letter to the King very slowly. The letter, which began with ‘I deeply apologize for the master of Valder, your Majesty’s true servant, daring to disobey your order,’ conveyed its intent in a very roundabout way.

Even if expressed elegantly and indirectly, to summarize, it meant canceling the promised Zanaba, electing Vanessa Rose as a special operative, but leaving the deployment to the commander of the special forces himself.

“…You’re not trying to sideline me, are you?”

“Perhaps.”

Vanessa looked at Gideon with a dubious expression, but he folded the letter without meeting her eyes.

*Ah, so you won’t do as I want.*

Vanessa smiled brightly. Gideon was puzzled by the smile, but no answer came.

“Where’s Hörnir? Come to think of it, this is an office, but Hörnir isn’t here.”

Gideon shook his head at her words, determined to see the letter sent.

“There are so many Hörnirs that they are all stored in different rooms. I don’t send letters to His Majesty via Hörnir. My aide will deliver it directly.”

“Doesn’t your aide get a day off on the weekend?”

Gideon smiled at Vanessa’s curious expression.

He didn’t do much, but his gaze was so gentle that Vanessa coughed awkwardly out of embarrassment.

“I have two direct aides who take turns resting. If you’re okay with it, I’ll call one now.”

Vanessa hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded.

Soon, a black-haired man with a cold demeanor entered the office.

He looked very surprised to see Vanessa sitting on the sofa, then quickly fixed his gaze forward.

However, it wasn’t a very good choice. It wouldn’t have been easy to regain his composure even if he looked straight ahead.

The black-haired man couldn’t properly pay his respects and blankly stared at Duke Valder.

His employer, who should already be impeccable at this hour, looked very relaxed today.

*To face him with his bangs comfortably down like that. Why is the tie strangling his neck in such a strange way? Did that young lady perhaps do it and he left it like that?*

Ronan let such thoughts flow through his mind, completely losing his composure.

“It seems like you need to deliver a letter to His Majesty right away.”

“Yes. I will deliver it to the First Castle.”

The man, who had suddenly come to his senses, politely took the letter, wrapped it several times with a clean cloth, and tucked it into his coat.

The man was about to leave the office immediately but couldn’t seem to contain his curiosity. He only took three steps before stopping and fidgeting, rolling his eyes, which made Vanessa laugh.

Vanessa introduced herself directly.

“I’m Vanessa Rose.”

Vanessa smiled, and the man opened his mouth in a fluster.

“I’m really sorry…. I was very rude… it’s something I’ve never seen before…. Ah, my name is Ronan Bayer.”

“Something you’ve never seen before?”

Ronan seemed even more embarrassed when Vanessa asked back. His cold demeanor had long since crumbled.

“Well, the fact that the Duke is with a woman itself—no, I’m sorry. I’m just flustered right now.”

Gideon watched the scene with his chin propped up as Ronan quickly bowed several times. It was the first time he had seen Ronan flustered since years ago, not counting Miguel. Miguel did it often, though.

Vanessa glanced at Gideon and whispered loud enough for him to hear.

“How long have you been working together?”

“Yes? Ah, I’ve been working as an aide for a little over five years.”

“You must know everything about Gideon.”

Vanessa whispered playfully as Ronan mumbled something.

“I’ll ask you about this and that next time. Please take care of me.”

Ronan bowed perfunctorily and quickly ran away. Vanessa laughed out loud as she watched him leave.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen someone who looks so good with black hair and glasses. He has a cold demeanor, but he looks better when he’s flustered.”

“I’m getting jealous, so it would be better not to say such things. That’s just how Ronan is,” Gideon said sharply, looking over some documents while sitting down. Vanessa snorted.

Vanessa, who had been happily admiring Gideon sitting at his desk, glanced out the window and jumped up in surprise. *No, how did the sun rise so high?*

“I’ll get going. I have somewhere to go.”

“Where? I’ll go with you.”

Gideon immediately put down the documents he was looking at and tried to get up, but Vanessa kindly refused.

“No way. I’m not going to tell you.”

Vanessa said firmly as Gideon raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Goodbye. Commander who does as he pleases with deployments. But it won’t be as you please. I’m going to be a very useful mage!”

*I wondered why she was smiling so brightly earlier.* Gideon chuckled in amusement, but Vanessa ran straight out of the office.

Gideon stared at Vanessa’s receding figure. But his headstrong lover had no intention of looking back and disappeared as quickly as she came.

Gideon, trying to hide his disappointment, began to write the appointment letter.

He wasn’t particularly worried. He seemed to know Vanessa’s destination roughly.

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Vanessa used space-movement magic as soon as she left Valder Castle. The magic circle drawn under her feet shone several times, and fortunately, the movement was successful.

However, Vanessa landed not in Nimrod, which was her goal, but somewhere near it, around a mountain ridge.

“…….”

Vanessa frowned as she looked at the houses of Nimrod, towering high somewhere in the distance. Still, after doing it a few times, she now only had a headache that she could somehow endure instead of a severe one.

Surprisingly, the magic power flowing within her body had not yet run out. Nimrod is closer than Seogote, but not that close even from Pydom. Vanessa felt a surge of pride.

In fact, it was very rare for a mage to move such a long distance at once, and most of them used portals in between. Because there were countless cases of falling in strange places or getting hurt due to lack of magic power.

It was not for nothing that it was called the highest stage of incantation magic.

However, Vanessa didn’t know this at all. The only examples she commonly saw around her were Gideon and Jenien, and they were among the most powerful mages in the entire continent, so Vanessa’s standards had risen as high as the sky.

Since Gideon and Jenien both did it easily, didn’t she think it was natural?

Vanessa sat down for a while, listened to the birds singing, and took a breath before using space-movement magic again. And fortunately, this time she arrived in front of a fairly familiar stake.

Vanessa grabbed the stake and groaned.

“Head… hurts….”

“Do you think my house is some place you come to when you’re bored? Why are you grabbing the stake like that every day?”

Suddenly, a nonchalant voice came from behind. Vanessa, who had been groaning, turned her head and saw Jenien holding a brown bread bag with a bothered expression.

But Vanessa was sure she saw a hint of amusement hidden beneath his annoyance.

“Jenien! Please help me.”

“Why should I?”

“If I ever write an autobiography later, I’ll be sure to include Jenien’s name in it.”

Jenien’s messy, tangled gray hair seemed to bristle even more as Vanessa said it seriously. Jenien sneered so much that deep wrinkles formed around his eyes.

“Is this crazy? Why would you write an autobiography that I didn’t even write?”

“You never know what might happen.”

Vanessa put determination in her eyes and tried to decipher the barrier protecting Jenien’s house. *She thought that if Gideon could easily break it, she could do it too. Then he’ll drag me away to scold me first.*

However, Vanessa couldn’t discern the location of the barrier, so she couldn’t visualize it properly, and the magic didn’t materialize.

However, it manifested in a strange way, and a branch of a huge tree in the nearby forest suddenly fell off.

“No! Why is *that* one breaking?”

“…Were you trying to break my barrier?”

Vanessa flinched as Jenien muttered fiercely when he saw it.

“I was trying to show my teacher in my heart, the amazing mage Jenien, that I have realized the conditions….”

Jenien gnashed his teeth as he watched Vanessa immediately put her hands together in a humble attitude. *He must have learned it from watching Gideon. These young ones, really!*

“Follow me in.”

Jenien swung a stick-like thing, and the house rose from the ground. Vanessa tried to examine the barrier, but it soon became transparent as if it were melting.

Jenien’s house was the same as ever: messy, but with its own rules.

Looking at the doors hanging in the air, Vanessa realized once again that she had come to the right place. It was the perfect place to practice magic. Even the personality of the owner is perfect.

Jenien threw the brown bread bag roughly on the table and nonchalantly combed his beard with his fingers.

“You know the conditions, so why are you coming to me?”

Jenien picked up a beeping machine next to him. He barely managed to brew two cups of tea with the machine and gave one to Vanessa.

The scent of the tea was very unique and strange. Vanessa pushed it to the side as soon as she took a sip. *Why does the tea taste so sour?*

“Jenien, I’m scheduled to move to the special forces now.”

“Really? You were originally in the magic department, right? It’s good that you know Gideon. Ask him to send you to a reasonably comfortable place. No matter how cold-hearted that guy is, he’s still a friend, so he’ll give you some leeway.”

Vanessa stomped her feet in frustration as Jenien picked his ear.

“That’s not it. Ah, Jenien, I’m dating Gideon.”

Jenien spat out the tea. After a few coughs, a cracked voice came out.

“What did you say?”

“Gideon is worried about me, so he keeps trying to protect me. He’ll probably want to put me in the very back. I don’t like that.”

Jenien’s eyes wavered. As someone who remembered Gideon’s childhood, it was a very shocking story. Jenien thought that there was absolutely no problem with his personality, so he evaluated Gideon’s personality as being fussy.

*He was really a brat with a broken personality. Did he even know how to protect someone! Wasn’t he a guy who lived for his own ego!*

Jenien struggled to open his mouth.

“Don’t tell me the person you said you liked before…?”

“That’s right, it’s Gideon. I confessed because I was afraid Gideon would run away. Surprising, right? I’m surprised too.”

Vanessa rattled on, worried that Jenien would get bored.

Jenien was preoccupied with thinking about how terrible it would be if the two people who didn’t fear him even when they were apart were together. The summer in Nimrod when the two came together was the most chaotic time in his life.

“So… what…?”

“I realized the conditions for magic realization, but I still have a lot of shortcomings. I want to speed up my reaction time even a little bit while practicing with Jenien. The special forces go to dangerous places a lot, so I don’t want to be a hindrance even if I can’t be of help.”

Only then did Jenien realize Vanessa’s intention and twisted his lips.

“So you’re telling me to attack a mage who has just realized the conditions? To this Jenien Stargera?”