Magic Academy's Bastard Instructor

Chapter 53: Interlude [1]

Chapter 53: Interlude [1]

"What? Is that true, Princess?"

"It is, Nicolas."

Astrid sat at a table inside her private mansion, a teacup in hand. 

Textbooks were spread out before her, though her focus had shifted entirely to the man in front of her—her personal knight, Nicolas.

She had called him here for one reason: to share the news about someone they often discussed.

Vanitas Astrea.

"Desmond Wyndale's attempted murder, the incident at Index... His name keeps coming up, doesn't it?" Astrid said.

Naturally, as the princess, she had access to information far beyond what the general public could ever hope to know.

Nicolas was silent. His brows furrowed in thought. His fingers drummed lightly on the table.

"If it were the old Vanitas…." he muttered. "He would've ran the moment he heard the inmates escaped."

It wasn't like him to speak so freely. This was only the second time Astrid had seen him lose his calm.

"Yet you're telling me he chose to stay? Even after the Warden told him to leave?"

"That's what the Warden said."

Nicolas shook his head slowly, disbelief plain on his face.

"It doesn't add up. Not that Vanitas."

Astrid leaned back in her chair, studying his reaction. 

She had heard the story before. About what happened six years ago when Nicolas and Vanitas were still in university. 

She had known of the tragedy as a child, but it wasn't until Nicolas told her the details that she understood it in detail.

When faced with danger, most people's first instinct was survival. That was human nature. 

But abandoning allies? That was something else entirely.

Even so….

"Maybe he changed," she said quietly. "Six years is a long time, Nicolas."

His head snapped up, staring at her as if she had just said something outrageous.

Change? Vanitas?

No. He could never forget what happened that day.

The memory was still fresh—every detail, every word.

——Stay down, Nicolas.

Vanitas's voice echoed in his mind like a curse.

——You blame me for abandoning everyone, but remember this, Nicolas. It wasn't me who killed Roxanne. It was the demons.

His words were cold. No regret. No remorse. Just a chilling indifference.