"....Ugh."

Kiera groaned while staring at the paper in front of her. How much time had passed since she started? Staring at the clock, her expression twisted.

Three hours...

Kiera looked up with a hopeful look.

"Can I take a break?"

"No."

".....I'm going to die."

Kiera sprawled over her desk and groaned. She felt lightheaded and her body felt limp. She didn't feel like doing anything.

Akh. How many problems have I solved already...?

Too many. It was too many.

No, but that wasn't the problem. Frowning, Kiera raised her head and glared at Julien.

"Oy, at least teach me something! I've been spending all my time doing these damn questions. You've yet to teach me anything!"

Kiera was starting to get pissed off. Throughout the entire three hours that she had spent here, she had yet to learn anything from him. All she did was solve the questions in front of her.

....He had done nothing to help her the entire time.

"At least tell me how to solve this question. I've been stuck on it for the past thirty minutes."

Kiera pushed the paper Julien's way.

The entire time he had been absorbed in reading his book. Finally, taking his eyes away from the book in his hands, he looked up at her. Their eyes met and he closed the book in his hands.

Julien, who had been absorbed in his own studies, turned his attention to the question sheet.

"Rune study?"

".....Yes. I don't know how to do it."

"I see."

Julien nodded briefly before turning his attention towards the books scattered across the table. Carefully looking through them, he picked a book up and handed it to her.

"The answer is in here."

He then returned his attention back on his book.

"....Uh?"

Stunned, Kiera alternated her gaze between the book and him. What sort of nonsense...?

"The fuck? Aren't you supposed to teach me? I'm not paying so much money for you to tell me to look at a book. I can just-"

"That's not it."

Flip

Julien flipped to the next page of the book he was reading. Without taking his eyes away from it, he went on to explain.

"I'm not here to teach you how to solve a problem."

"Wh-"

"I'm here to teach you how to study."

"....?"

Lifting his gaze, their eyes met.

"I'm not here to coddle you."

His tone lowered. So much so that Kiera suddenly found herself unconsciously sitting up straight. Wait, what the fuck?

".....I can teach you. I don't have a problem with that. Teaching others is one of the best methods to learn."

"Then...?"

"What about you? What will you do when I no longer decide to teach you or you run out of money?"

"I..."

Kiera frowned. She didn't really know how to answer. What will she do? Would she just hire another tutor, or just go back to her old ways?

"I'm not here to teach you subjects. That's the Professor's job. I'm here to teach you how to take care of yourself for the future."

Julien pressed his hand against the book and pushed it back.

".....I won't always be here to teach you. You need to learn to be self-reliant. If you want to improve your grades you should first learn to do it without relying on others. People will only help you out so much. The one person who will never fail you is yourself. Rely on yourself."

Kiera lowered her gaze to stare at the book in front of her. Doing so, her brows furrowed. She was just about to say something when she noticed his gaze.

"....."

The words that she was about to say never left her mouth. Eventually, she took the book and opened it.

".....What am I supposed to do now?"

"You look for the answer."

"Is that it? I can do that my-"

"Discipline first. You need to learn to be disciplined. If I tell you the answer, you'll eventually forget it. The same isn't true if you figure it out yourself. You need to discipline yourself to find the answer without asking. Don't look for a lazy way out."

"Ugh."

Groaning, Kiera proceeded to look for the answer.

'Fucking bastard. Just say that you don't want to teach me... No need to come up with such a roundabout way of saying it.'

"Ah, found it!"

It took her several minutes but she eventually found the answer. Her eyes lit up and she quickly started to fill the answer sheet.

Kiera felt a weird feeling of satisfaction as she answered the question.

It was hard to describe, and her lips unconsciously pulled up. Trying her best to keep them even, she went on to the next question.

Yet again it was a complicated question and she looked up at Julien.

"What about this one? How do IAh."

Halfway through her sentence she realized her mistake and covered her mouth.

"Fuck, this..."

Pursing her lips, she looked around and found the right book, [Body Studies], before proceeding to find the right answer. There were times when she wasn't sure about the answer even with the aid of the book, and ended up writing whatever she could piece together with the information.

Either way, Julien would just ignore her every attempt to talk to him.

At some point, she stopped looking for him and just focused on her task at hand.

"Ah, so it's like this."

"Ugh, fuck... My head hurts. I want to take a break."

"Shit."

"I want to die."

"I'm dead."

"...Oh, so it's like this."

Throughout the hours of the study session, Kiera would always let out an occasional complaint. However, despite that, she would always recover after swearing for a good minute.

Time ticked and before anyone knew it, a few more hours passed.

"...Uh?"

Opening her eyes, Kiera looked around her.

"The hell?"

Looking around, she noticed that it was dark outside. Wiping the saliva from her mouth using her wrist, she blinked several times.

"What time is it?"

Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

"....Ah!"

Her eyes widened when she looked at the clock.

It was 10 P.M.

Abruptly, Kiera stood up and raised her head.

"Hey, shithead! Why didn't you wake me uUh?"

Kiera stopped and looked towards the empty seat in front of her. Realization soon dawned on her and she slumped back in her chair.

"Ah, fuck. He left didn't he?"

Ruffling her hair, Kiera blankly stared at the ceiling.

"...."

She felt lightheaded and drained. She would much rather prefer his hellish training than this. Even so...

"....I guess I did good."

Kiera felt a certain sense of satisfaction from having gotten so much work done. Usually, she wouldn't have done more than ten minutes' worth of work. That would in turn make her feel like shit for an entire day.

Things were different now.

"I could get used to this feeling."

It didn't feel so bad.

But...

"....That fucker really went ahead and left without waking me up."

It sort of pissed her off.

"If that bastard charges me even a single extra Rend then

Hm?"

Pausing, Kiera's gaze fell on the papers in front of her. She hadn't noticed because it was dark, but waving her hand, a trail of flames manifested in the air illuminating the surroundings.

"This..."

Kiera's eyes widened.

Taking a closer look at the paper, her eyes paused on the numerous notes around it. There was also a mark written above each paper.

<39/100>

[You did better here. However, there are a lot of areas you can improve on. For example, for this question, the answer was the 'Alpha Rune' rather than the 'Delta Rune'. Compared to the 'Delta Rune' which speeds up the gathering of mana, the 'Alpha Rune' slows it down so that the flow is smoother. For the spell [Fire Veil] the 'Alpha Rune' is more appropriate as the spell would shatter if created too fast...]

For every question that Kiera got wrong, she'd receive a long detailed explanation of what she did wrong and what the real answer was.

"What in the..."

Dropping the first paper, Kiera looked at the other papers.

Flip. Flip. Flip

Kiera quickly skimmed through the numerous papers. Her expression changed with each paper that she looked through.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

All the papers. They were the same. Filled with the same notes and corrections.

Kiera had done a lot of questions today. There were at least more than a couple hundred.

Counting all the ones she got wrong...

"Fuuuuck."

Kiera let out a slow curse.

It was no wonder he didn't wake her up. How long did it take him to do all of this?

"This guy is crazy."

Batshit crazy.

Flip

Flipping another one of the assignments, she noticed a note slipping from it.

"....Uh?"

Picking it up, Kiera noticed that there was something written on it.

Curious, Kiera read what was written on it.

[You owe me 700 Rend. I won't count the time you were sleeping. Make sure you pay up. Come at the same time tomorrow.]

The note ended there.

It was short but the meaning was clear.

"...."

Staring at it with a blank look, Kiera's lips pursed. Then, looking down at the documents and seeing all the notes written, she crumbled up the note in her hand.

".....This isn't good for me."

*

From that day onward, Kiera showed up every morning at the exact same time. There was a noticeable difference in her attitude compared to the first time she came.

While she did occasionally grumble, it wasn't as much as before.

In fact, most of the time she would remain silent while solving the problems next to Julien. It was an odd sight.

The two of them studying together.

"I'm not seeing things wrong, right?"

"Is this for real?"

"Quickly pinch my face so that I-Akh!"

Given how contrasting their personalities were, nobody expected such a development.

Regardless, nobody dared to ask anything about it. Julien and Kiera weren't exactly the easiest people to talk to.

"....."

"....."

Despite what seemed to be a tense atmosphere around the two, the reality was that it was strangely peaceful.

At least to Kiera who did nothing but focus on the questions.

"Ah, so it's like that..."

It was an odd feeling for her. She couldn't quite explain why she was like that. However, she had an idea of why.

Looking up slightly, her eyes paused on the figure that sat opposite her.

For the first time ever, she looked at him properly. From his neatly arranged hair and suit to his careful movements as he flipped over the pages.

He appeared flawless in everything that he did, but...

'His eyes.'

Just faintly, Kiera could see the dark circles beneath his eyes.

She pursed her lips at the sight as her head lowered to stare at the question sheet beneath her.

The reason behind his dark circles was clear to her. It didn't take a genius to understand. It was all because of her...

If she didn't...

'No, fuck.'

Kiera snapped out of it.

'Right, I need to focus.'

This wasn't the time for her to feel guilty. She needed to focus on studying. Looking away from Julien, Kiera once again locked in and started to fill in the questions.

With each passing day, the number of mistakes she'd make would decrease.

[51/100]

[67/100]

[73/100]

[81/100]

Seeing the noticeable improvement in her score, Kiera felt a strange sensation. It was hard to describe, but it filled her chest up with a pleasant feeling.

It felt addicting and she slowly started to look forward to the lessons. It was odd, but this was starting to become the reality of her life.

That was until...

"Everyone, the exam will be starting soon. You already know the rules so I won't repeat them."

The day of the exam finally came.

Taking a deep breath, Kiera stared at the paper in front of her. For some reason, she was shaking.

Holding her arm down she cursed to herself.

'T-the hell is wrong with you, stupid bitch? This isn't the time to be nervous.'

No, in the first place, why did she even feel nervous? She had prepared so much for it. Realistically speaking, she was ready.

So...

Why?

Why was she so nervous...?

Gradually, her head turned and her eyes locked on a certain person. An idea occurred to her and her expression twisted.

'No, no way.'

Clenching her teeth, she looked away from him.

Fuck that...

It was a ridiculous idea.

'It's not that.'

Kiera stubbornly clung to her refusal. Amidst her struggle, the Professor's voice echoed loudly.

"You may begin! Best of luck!"

Flip

The classroom was filled with the simultaneous sound of pages turning as the cadets flipped through their textbooks in unison. Kiera joined them, and as she turned a page, her expression froze.

"Ha."

A soft laugh unconsciously escaped her lips as she stared at the question in front of her.

She didn't know how to react.

The question...

'I know it.'

She had done it before.

For the first time in a very long time, Kiera smiled.

It was a genuine smile.

And her pencil touched the paper.