12. Nightmare of Old Memories (2)
The carriage is on fire.
Right before Carla’s eyes, the carriage is ablaze.
‘This is…’
To Carla, it’s an all-too-familiar scene. It was one of the recurring nightmares that tied her to this present life with her stepfather, dredging up her childhood memories that carved such a deep chasm.
Carla instinctively looked down at her own body. It was her body from when she was perhaps five or six years old — the childhood form of Carla, no, Carlo.
Hooded assailants wearing white gloves emblazoned with hexagrams were attacking the carriage.
— No, no… not Fabio, not Fabio!
Her mother was screaming. She was trying to evade the assailants, tightly wrapping the infant Fabio in a quilt, but Carla already knew what happened next. Clenching her teeth tightly, Carla could only watch her mother and the bundled baby Fabio in her mother’s arms.
Magic spells cast by the assailants struck her mother. Simultaneously, a lightning bolt descended from the sky towards the assailants.
‘…If only my father had arrived just a little earlier that day. Would that have changed anything?’
That day, her mother died.
As the heir, Carlo had been protected with the highest priority in care by the maids, forced to watch helplessly. Her father arrived late but crushed the assailants with overwhelming power, yet he could not save her mother.
Despite this, the baby Fabio was saved, but her mother, her mother…
Even as her mother’s eyes remained open until the moment her breath left her, their gazes met—no, her gaze met Carla’s…
“Huff!”
Carla awoke, drenched in sweat.
Looking around, all she could see was pitch darkness enveloping her room. The faint moonlight peering through the curtains was the only indication that she had woken from her sleep.
“Mother…”
She wiped the cold sweat from her face and let out a long sigh.
“…It was just a dream…”
Yes, it began from here. Losing her mother, who had been so kind and gentle, it began from here. Carla—or Carlo—swore to become strong, no matter what.
To become stronger than anyone in the world so that no one would ever hurt what she held dear. To surpass her father, who seemed strong but was, in reality, frail in comparison, to become truly the strongest.
— Isn’t it thanks to you that I won?
That voice, that face. The moment it came to mind, Carla grabbed her pillow and hurled it against the wall with all her might.
Becoming stronger. Even if I become stronger, he was always there, right in front of me!
“Damn it!”
Screaming foul words loudly wouldn’t change the fact that she had lost to Ivan. Carla exhaled heavily and tried to calm her racing heart.
There was a reason she needed to grow stronger, a reason for her. Her goal was to become stronger than anyone else so she could protect those precious to her.
But that goal felt stagnant now, all because of Ivan—no, Ivan Kontadino. Because of that bastard…
“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s Basilov, Miss. I heard a loud sound…”
“It’s nothing. Go back.”
Carla steadied her breathing, got down from her bed, and retrieved her pillow. Night was still long, and she had to try catching as much sleep as possible.
Tomorrow, a new day would dawn. She would go to the Academy, where training would continue.
Managing her physical strength was also the responsibility of a seasoned magician, so she quietly lay down her head on the pillow again.
“Ah… Is that carriage…?”
In the early morning, Reginal was strolling through the Academy campus when she suddenly came across a familiar carriage.
The carriage bearing the insignia of Cascata made it obvious who was inside.
Smiling, Reginal was about to greet her friend when she stopped abruptly as Ivan stepped out from the opened carriage door. And then seeing Carla following behind him, she quickly hid behind the wall to watch them.
‘How could Carla and Ivan… be in the same carriage?’
Actually, there was no real need for her to hide. Reginal knew that, yet she remained behind the wall, unable to step forward.
What exactly happened between those two? Why were they riding together this early morning?
“Are you okay from yesterday?”
It was Carla, asking the question. “Yesterday”… Reginal had no idea what they were referring to.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Seriously.”
Why was Ivan responding with such apparent discomfort? What had happened?
Reginal contemplated the worst-case scenario that came to mind but quickly dismissed it with a snort as she watched Carla turn and walk away. That couldn’t be it, could it?
It was rare for Carla to address Ivan first. Furthermore, the content seemed to express worry, making it both surprising and concerning.
Their relationship seemed to have improved overnight, which was rather fortunate in a way—yet…
‘No, surely not… It can’t be anything like that, right?’
That sense of relief was overshadowed by a growing, much stronger unease.
‘No, no… It’s good that their relationship is improving…’
Above all, Carla was the daughter of one of the great noble houses. Ivan, on the other hand, was a commoner.
Reginal firmly believed that nothing she feared would happen between them.
Carla frowned as she looked up at Liam who was blocking her path as she entered the classroom.
“What is it? Why are you blocking my way?”
His large frame made her feel as if she were surrounded by a mountain.
“Summon.”
“What summon?”
“Professor Albina.”
“Well, you could just say so instead of standing in the way. If you were shorter, I wouldn’t even know.”
She brushed aside Liam’s presumably aggrieved explanation with a flick of her ear and dropped her bag before heading to Albina’s office.
“Yesterday’s attack, I heard you played a big part, Carla.”
Albina offered praise, though Carla seemed largely disinterested.
“It was basically all my doing. No one else was involved.”
Though Carla’s statement wasn’t untrue, Albina still gave an uncomfortable laugh.
“It’s true… Anyway, thanks to you, we managed to capture one of the attackers. They’re quite injured, but as soon as the treatment is complete, we plan to interrogate them. There’s a suggestion that they have been subjected to a spell of non-utterance, so the interrogation won’t be easy.”
“Is that so? Still, can’t the Academy do something? It seems there could be a connection between these people and the fire that occurred in Ivan’s room.”
“Yes. We are considering that possibility.”
“So, why did you call me here? You didn’t summon me just to congratulate me, did you?”
“True, you’re right… Ah, we’ve decided to protect Ivan well within the Academy, so you don’t need to worry.”
At that, Carla scowled.
Why should she care about such trivial matters?
“What do you think I care about some commoner? Why would I even worry about that guy?”
“Well, is that so? Okay then… Anyway, good job. Keep using your magic properly, like this. And… hmm.”
Albina lowered her voice.
“The issue with Lucas from the Western Division has been resolved somewhat. Try not to be so fiery from now on. We don’t want bigger problems…”
“I don’t start unless they provoke me. If that’s all, I’ll leave.”
Carla turned on her heel. Albina watched her departing figure, pondering how to manage her fiery temperament, thinking that Ivan must be suffering quite a lot for being disliked by someone like her.
“Can you deliver a notice for me?”
“What is it?”
Though Carla’s evident annoyance made Albina hesitate slightly, as she had urgent business at the faculty office, there was no other option.
“Truth be told, we planned to go out for a more detailed leveling test today. However, in light of yesterday’s incident, it’s hard to venture outside, right? So, we’ve gotten approval to conduct the test within the Academy. Could you inform the students of this change?”
“Alright.”
Carla turned and left without listening further.
Albina sighed as she watched her retreating figure, muttering about what a difficult girl she was to deal with. She wondered how Ivan was coping, being on the bad side of such a girl.
“So, we have such a place here?”
As Liam mentioned, the students of the Eastern Division had been moved to a clearing near a hill at the back of the classroom.
“I apologize for the sudden change of venue. There were unavoidable reasons, so I hope you understand…”
“Even though it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the woods, why this particular place?”
When Liam asked, Albina gave an uncomfortable laugh and answered.
“There were some issues. You need an unrestricted area to test your abilities, and public places like parks and squares wouldn’t work. Anyway, we’ll conduct the test here from now on. I’ll give a brief explanation, then we’ll start—”
A chilling wind swept through the clearing.
While listening to Albina explain, Carla felt an uneasy, oppressive atmosphere enveloping the area.
It was strange… An overwhelmingly eerie and damp air seemed to suffocate the clearing.
