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Luo Wei stopped walking. "To check in. It's not long at all β I just saw you a month ago."
"A month." Axina looked at her with that unreadable expression of hers. "That's been truly unbearable, hasn't it, Luo Wei?"
"I might not be able to understand your feelings." Luo Wei smiled back pleasantly. "Axina, why don't you tell me just how unbearable it's been?"
"Luo Wei. You're still so fond of pretending to be strong."
Axina wasn't the least bit annoyed. She glided over to Luo Wei's side, her expression settling into something that resembled sorrow.
"I'm not a believer of the God of Life, but His sudden fall β I feel the grief too, just as you do."
"A god who has lost his believers must be in tremendous pain. You need to move on, Luo Wei. The God of Life isn't the only one worth believing in. The glory of the Love God shines just as bright."
"The Love God?" Luo Wei looked at her with genuine surprise. "You're recruiting for the Love God now?"
Without waiting for an answer, she murmured half to herself, "But the Holy Knight Commander tried to recruit me too, hoping I'd become a believer of the Sun and Moon Gods. How am I supposed to choose?"
Axina stared at her for a long moment. Clouds gathered in her eyes. A smile curved her lips anyway. "I was overthinking it. How could someone with no loyalty to any faith feel pain?"
"So you don't feel pain?" Luo Wei asked, with a particular weight to the question.
Axina let the smile drop. She raised those clear blue eyes. "As long as the poisonous snake doesn't bite the dog, and the dog doesn't eat the poisonous snake, they can both survive."
Luo Wei gasped in admiration. "What kind of dog is that smart? To understand such profound reasoning!"
Axina couldn't quite hold it. Her face twisted , just for an instant.
She fixed Luo Wei with a cold look and gave a sharp snort. "Some people carry themselves like they own the place. In reality, they've had forty credits deducted and been posted on the wall of the academy chapel."
Luo Wei: ...
What?
Posted what? On what wall?
Seeing Luo Wei's expression cave, Axina finally felt better.
She pressed the advantage without mercy. "Sixty credits. One sneeze in class and she's failing. I'm afraid that person doesn't know yet β self-criticism essays have to be publicly displayed too, don't they?"
Self-criticism essays... publicly displayed?
Displayed.
Luo Wei's face went rigid. She suddenly felt the essay tucked in her sleeve burning hot against her skin, a heat that crawled straight into her chest.
Axina gave her one last contemptuous glance, raised her chin, and walked past. A rich wave of rose and rosemary ointment lingered in her wake.
Luo Wei stood still for a moment, then lifted her hand and waved it in front of her nose.
The two scents weren't a bad combination, honestly. But it still smelled strange.
She walked into the primary division's check-in office and found a row of heads in every color waiting ahead of her. Professor Phil was already seated behind the desk, quill in hand, recording the names of each arriving student.
Luo Wei joined the back of the line and glanced over her shoulder. A few more students filed in through the door and fell in behind her.
There was no slipping out of this.
Social death or dropping out. That was the question.
She stood there in stiff-backed contemplation. Could a self-criticism essay as heartfelt and eloquent as hers actually be shown to other human beings?
Actually. Perhaps. Was it possible that attending school wasn't all that necessary to begin with?
The internal war raged for sixty full seconds. Luo Wei exhaled and let her shoulders sag.
The disciplinary notice was already posted. Whatever face she had to lose, she'd lost it. Was she really going to balk at one more piece of paper on the wall?
Her turn came. Luo Wei walked up to the desk with the energy of someone marching to the gallows.
"Professor Phil. Good day. I'm here to check in." She lowered her head.
Phil glanced up at her, set down his quill, and pulled open a drawer. Out came a thick stack of papyrus.
"Luo Wei. You have eighteen records of violating school rules. Your disciplinary actions are not yet complete." He flipped open the record book, his index finger sliding beneath lines of dense text as he read aloud. "Credit deduction, self-criticism essay, public service..."
He finished and looked up. "Did you bring the essay?"
"I brought it." Luo Wei pulled the scroll from her sleeve , she'd rolled it into a tight tube , and held it out with trembling fingers.
Professor Phil extracted it from her clenched hand, unrolled it, and began to read in earnest.
His brow furrowed. He started reading out loud.
"Lacking self-control, young and ignorant, greedy for excitement and pleasure, harboring a sense of reckless luck, in violation of school rules..."
Luo Wei curled her toes hard against the bottom of her shoes. Her gaze drifted, unfocused, to the edge of the desk.
Just read it. Why does he have to read it out loud?
Was this Axina's revenge? Because it was working.
"Luo Wei, this self-criticism essay..." Professor Phil's brow stayed knitted. "Why didn't you write what you actually went out to do?"
Luo Wei, internally: What did I do. I did a lot. None of it writable.
Making puppets, stealing books, playing ghost, deceiving believers... Pull any single item out and it was either expulsion or execution. She was spoiled for choice, unfortunately.
She kept her expression steady and extended one finger to tap a line near the top of the page. "Professor, I did write it. Right here."
"Momentarily reckless. Greedy for excitement and pleasure."
"Having fun. That's what I went out to do."
Professor Phil was quiet for two seconds. "Be more specific. What kind of fun?"
"Fun." Luo Wei thought about it and added one more word. "Fun things."
"..." Professor Phil drew a slow breath. "What kind of fun things."
Luo Wei blinked. "The kind of fun that comes from sleeping in a big bed. You know how comfortable that is."
Professor Phil looked pained. "At your age, you went to that kind of place?"
"...Professor, I'm not talking about that kind of place."
"You know what kind of place I mean?"
Luo Wei asked, carefully, "What kind of place are you talking about, Professor?"
Professor Phil's expression went stern. "Not the kind you're talking about. In any case."
Luo Wei's toes nearly punched through the floor. "Professor. I'm talking about the big bed in the small courtyard I bought. I like to sleep on a larger bed."
Professor Phil's face went momentarily stiff. "Oh. I was talking about that kind of place."
A beat passed. He seemed to realize something was wrong with that and added quickly, "I was talking about the place you mentioned first."
"Students should prioritize their studies. You came here to learn magic, not to indulge yourselves. From now on, you are not to skip school and go to that kind of place again."
He said this briskly, picked up his quill, and signed his name across the bottom of the essay in quick strokes.
"Alright. Check-in complete. This essay barely passes. The remaining punishments will be communicated separately. You may go to Rose Castle and get settled."
At the word "settled" , or perhaps it was "bed" still echoing in his head , his facial muscles gave a brief, involuntary twitch. That word had clearly left a mark.
"Thank you, Professor." Luo Wei bowed in a hurry and turned and walked away at a pace that was not technically running.
Who would have guessed. Professor Phil, with his composed and scholarly manner , apparently a man who sought his entertainment in brothels.
Though, when she thought about it, she could understand. Even Professor Moses, solemn as they came, kept a lover at home. It was perfectly normal for Professor Phil to want a little excitement now and then.
Professors had their feelings and desires like anyone else. A small imperfection in one's private life was nothing to judge too harshly.
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