I Became an Outcast in the Academy

10. Struggling (4)

‘There is a traitor among us.’

That was Lobelia’s final conclusion after finishing the conversation with Xian.

‘No matter how much I think about it, I’m sure my brother noticed. That I joined hands with warlocks.’

In the conversation just now, it was said in passing and as if sarcastically, citing an example, but Lobelia was able to intuitively understand it.

Perhaps Sian is not just expressing it on the outside, but deep down, she is almost certain that she has joined hands with a warlock.

‘But how?’

Just now, I was so embarrassed that I thought that the perception-impairing magic the warlock had cast on himself had no effect, but after thinking about it calmly, I realized that wasn’t the case.

No matter how you look at it, it was clear that the warlock who contacted Lobelia was a person with considerable power.

And he said this in a confident tone. This magic will not be easily seen through unless you are a strong person who is at a similar level to yourself or a higher one.

In fact, none of Luthra’s students or professors saw through the perception-impairing magic?

‘However, my brother noticed the existence of the warlock.’

But that doesn’t mean that Xian has more power than that warlock… No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like it.

However, I think it makes no sense to say that Xian is stronger than a warlock who freely uses such powerful black magic and has resisted the empire’s pursuit for a long time.

Then how on earth was Sian able to notice the existence of a warlock? What on earth did they do?

‘At first, there are two possibilities that come to mind.’

First of all, the ability that Xian possesses, that is, the ‘ability to interfere with other people’s talents,’ had some influence on his ability to detect the existence of a warlock.

Lobelia does not know exactly what abilities Xian has.

She is just guessing that ‘Xian’s abilities are probably like this’ based on the changes that have occurred to her and various circumstances.

In that case, it wouldn’t be strange at all if Xian’s ability had the additional effect of easily detecting someone who is hiding.

‘But this hypothesis is somehow too far-fetched.’

In Lobelia’s opinion, this hypothesis is not logical at all and is somewhat unconvincing. It just felt like something was put in a bit of an unreasonable way to explain the situation she went through.

Then, there is only one possibility that can actually solve the questions about this whole situation.

‘Ellie… I guess that b*tch was all over her brother.’

Looking at it objectively, it is not impossible that Leticia or Sepia betrayed him.

But aren’t those girls already in the same boat as Lobelia?

Furthermore, with one possibility in mind, Lobelia had also introduced Leticia and Sepia to the group of black magicians.

So, it would be good to exclude those two from the list of dragons for now.

Lobelia knew full well that Leticia and Sephia wanted to ruin her, but she would not want them to all be destroyed together, no matter how much she wanted them to be.

Then, when you think logically, it would be most reasonable to think that the person who told Xian the whole truth was Ellie, who had nothing more to lose.

‘Damn it. I should have crushed that girl’s snout a long time ago.’

Anyway, since long ago, whenever I saw Ellie, it wasn’t for no reason that I felt something strange.

Anyway, to Sian, we are all b*tches who betrayed him, but he really didn’t like the way he was pretending to be good and looking guilty.

‘Wait a minute, but what on earth were you thinking when you told me this information?’

Until now, Sian’s provocation had heated her up to the very tip of her head and she hadn’t even thought about it, but now that she thinks about it, she feels that the situation is turning strangely.

At this point, Cyan and Lobelia are enemies.

And when you think about it in common sense, there is no reason to tell the enemy what you know or what you are aware of.

If Lobelia were in Xian’s position, she would never have acted like that.

Rather, she would have collected certain information about the other person while completely hiding the fact that she had noticed something, and then revealed that information at a critical moment.

Nevertheless, Sian even boasted to Lobelia that she knew this and that she was holding hands with her warlock, as if to show off.

Why? For what purpose did Sian tell Lobelia these things?

Is it because, as Xian said, Ellie was a very boring partner to him? If even Lobelia shows such a side, are you afraid that the end of her own revenge will be too wasted?

‘That can’t be possible.’

Muttering that the end of revenge is trivial or that one feels empty is nothing more than the grumbling of a person who has successfully completed revenge.

Although it is said that Cian is currently in a much superior position than Lobelia, it does not change the fact that Lobelia’s joining hands with the warlocks is a threat to Cian as well.

‘Then again… Is it a trap?’

Making the prey impatient by giving off an air of knowing something and then targeting the gaps or loopholes that arise is one of the widely known hunting techniques.

When considered comprehensively, the advantage that Xian can gain by hinting to Lobelia that he knows something about her is nothing more than –

“…..”

I originally planned to run straight to Leticia or Sepia and tell them about the current situation and discuss future preparations, but I changed my mind.

Lobelia turns back as she was about to head to her dormitory.

And at the same time, she concentrates her mind and secretly summons the spirit of darkness without anyone noticing.

Recently, her ability to summon spirits had been greatly reduced due to the quality of her Xian’s work, but Lobelia was nonetheless one of the most talented spirit masters in the empire.

Summoning a spirit secretly like this without being seen by others was not an easy task.

Wooow-

As soon as Lobelia has the will to do so, she is simultaneously summoned to the present world by the dark spirit Shade in a transparent form.

Shade, the spirit of darkness, cannot be easily detected by anyone who does not have spirit affinity, and at the same time, it has the ability to assimilate with darkness itself, so it could be said to be the optimal spirit for erasing its presence.

‘Watch your surroundings secretly and never be seen.’

She pretends not to notice anything, and Lobelia gives orders to Shade.

Shade, who understood Lobelia’s words, nodded her head slightly, and then she disappeared into thin air.

And after a while, Shade conveys her will to Lobelia.

‘I found it. Just as you said, a person is following behind you.’

‘What does it look like? ‘Is this someone you know?’

‘He’s the guy who always hung around with you back in the day. He is the man who used the sword and was kind to you.’

From her shade’s explanation, Lobelia realized that her guess was correct.

As she expected, Sian was now secretly following Lobelia.

‘Yes, it was like that.’

Now I am starting to understand what Sian was thinking when he said those things.

A while ago, Xian was trying to hunt Lobelia.

By some means, Sian found out that she was joining hands with her warlock.

But she must have realized that putting Lobelia in prison after informing the imperial family of that fact right away was not in her best interests.

‘Because he knows that I have a rough guess as to what his hidden abilities are.’

You would also quickly notice that Lobelia most likely revealed to the warlocks that her Cyan had such abilities.

The only thing left for the current Lobelia to attract her warlocks to her side.

And for Xian, there could be nothing more terrible than that.

No matter how much Xian was said to be under the protection of the imperial family, he could have lost his mind if there was an attempt to kidnap or assassinate him at any time.

Therefore, Sian must have been deliberately provoking Lobelia, hoping that she would run to her warlocks.

As Lobelia, who has nowhere to turn now, there is nowhere else she should go but there.

‘But brother, when you made a plan like this, you should have thought that the other person might notice your plan.’

Lobelia thinks of her as an imbecile and smiles as she remembers the face of her daughter, who must be secretly following her.

“… Hello? “Can I contact you right now?”

When her Lobelia takes out her communication sphere from within her and whispers in her small voice, her disgusting voice, like scraping metal that she never gets used to hearing, greets her.

– Oh my, it’s been so long since we broke up that you’re already contacting me. What business is this?

Even though the warlock she met yesterday spoke in a sarcastic tone, Lobelia was not very angry.

If he could shake off this damn nightmare at the cost of his sarcasm, he would have plenty of business.

“Shut up, put all the troops you can mobilize around the base right now.”

As she said that, Lobelia raised the corners of her mouth with a smirk.

“It’s still a little early between us, but I have a surprise gift for you.”