True to her name, Paper had quickly absorbed the knowledge regarding witches and magic power. She made great progress in learning how to read and write as well as knowledge about the natural world. At present, she was already able to learn new vocabularies on her own. There was only a bit of concern about her tutoring. On occasions, she would raise questions that even Wendy could not answer, and that meant either Anna or Roland had to be consulted.

Compared to Paper, Summer's progress was much slower. This was perhaps a matter of age. Every word had to be recited a few times to her before she could remember its spelling. Furthermore, she seemed confused by natural knowledge. But Wendy was okay with it. After all, what she did not lack at the moment was time and patience. In fact, it would be more problematic for her if her students were all as smart as Anna.

Every morning, she would call her two students into the living room to go through the homework that was a.s.signed the day before. This was in line with what His Highness had told all of the Department of Education's teachers: The knowledge that was learned without practicing would be forgotten quickly, and only through regular practice would the knowledge be committed to memory. Wendy agreed very much with this statement.

The next lesson was practicing magic power. For this, Paper could a.s.sist Agatha to produce acid, or go to the s.h.i.+pyard to help in accelerating the hardening of cement. Hence, Wendy mainly tutored the newcomer, Summer. She had heard that Summer would soon be joining Nightingale in the Security Bureau and help His Highness to recreate crime scenes. Thus, the most important thing to learn was how to precisely control the reversal of time.

Fortunately, using magic ability was as natural as breathing to witches. Even the slowest students could not go very wrong once they felt the operation of magic. Wendy often raised the example of Maggie in order to encourage Summer not to be disheartened by her lack of natural proficiency in magic power. If even a pigeon was able to evolve, surely a regular witch could also do so? Of course, after that, she would secretly bring a few pieces of honey roast meat to Maggie as compensation.

Elementary cla.s.ses were conducted in the evenings. In consideration of the different learning paces of incoming students, His Highness had sorted the Witch Union into two cla.s.ses. The early comers would continue to receive lessons from Scroll and also begin to learn knowledge about elementary physics and chemistry, while the new arrivals would receive extra tuition from Wendy after their usual lessons.

This was the most relaxing part of Wendy's day.

As the earliest witch from the Witch Cooperation a.s.sociation to join the Union, she had increased the gulf between herself and the other top-scoring sisters after a period of learning. She would feel a great amount of pressure on her shoulders whenever she remembered that His Highness had conferred on her the role of manager of the a.s.sociation.

Only while teaching the newcomers did she feel free and able to put her heart and soul into the tutoring.

After a.s.signing homework to the two students, Wendy went to have a hot bath. When she returned comfortably to her bedroom, she was surprised to see Nightingale sitting by her bed and dazing while holding a copy of Natural Science Theoretical Foundation.

She's definitely dazing. If she was focusing on the book, she would have fallen asleep within minutes.

"What's the matter?" Wendy uncovered her quilt and climbed on to the bed, sitting next to Nightingale.

The latter s.h.i.+fted her head slightly and briefly glanced at Wendy, who gasped when seeing Nightingale's vacant expression. Wendy had seen such an expression on Nightingale's face only in Silver City, which was the first time they met. At that time, Nightingale was walking alone spiritlessly through the snowy streets, in complete disregard of the snowflakes that fell on her shoulders.

"His Highness Roland's together with Anna already..." she muttered, "and it was I who encouraged him."

"..." Wendy was at a loss for words. She had also noticed that Anna and His Highness had grown closer recently, but this was acknowledged by everyone and thus it was not surprising. Anna was the first witch that His Highness met, and was impeccable in all respects. Apart from her inability to give birth, she was considered by Scroll to be the most suitable person to be Queen. The only surprising thing was that the recent development was facilitated by Nightingale.

"I had made preparations and knew that this would be the outcome. Yet, seeing them together, why... why do I feel so painful?" Nightingale grasped Wendy's hand tightly. "I'd resolved about this long ago..."

Wendy also began to feel bad as she looked at Nightingale's appearance. Her deepest impression of Nightingale was her strength and courage. Whether it was stabbing and capturing her own distant relative in Silver City, or fighting against the church, she was able to keep her cool and fight on despite the difficult circ.u.mstances. She even showed no sign of fear while facing the menacing Cara. Yet, on this relations.h.i.+p matter, she once again became a helpless child. And Wendy was unable to provide any help.

There's no right or wrong with regard to feelings.

All that Wendy could do was to embrace her and pat gently on her shoulders. "If you feel bad, cry it all out and you'll be fine."

Nightingale shook her head in disagreement and mumbled. "Since I left the Gilen family, I vowed... never to cry again, never again..." Her voice progressively lowered until she became inaudible. Wendy gradually felt a warm and moist feeling in her bosom, but even so, Nightingale did not make a whimper. Because she was restraining herself greatly, her shoulders began to shudder and she held on to Wendy even more forcefully.

"I didn't cry..."

"Yes, you didn't.... I know." Wendy closed her eyes and started to regret what she had once said to Nightingale. Staying around His Highness was a simple solution. In fact, the majority of witches would choose to stay around him... because they did not have anywhere else to go. They were also aware that there was only a minimal chance that Roland would accept and marry a girl who could not give birth and thereby could not carry on his bloodline. However, the problem with staying around him was the distance. Just like with the sun, anyone can bask in the warmth and glory of the suns.h.i.+ne, yet it was easy to get burned if one tried to move closer. And Nightingale's intention was obviously not to gaze at him from a distance.

This was not an easy road to follow.

"How about giving up?" Wendy asked softly. "If you take a step back, you'll still have the sisters to accompany you."

The ensuing long silence made time appear to freeze. Wendy felt as though she was awaiting a trial, and even though she was not the defendant, it was still extremely difficult for her to bear. A few times, she almost opened her mouth to ask more questions, but her words would slip back just before she said anything.

This continued until Nightingale raised her head.

Her eyes appeared slightly red, but tears could not be seen—the wetness on Wendy's bosom seemed to be her own false perception. Seeing the expression in Nightingale's eyes, Wendy could tell that there was a conclusion to this trial... but it was not the end.

"I won't give up." Nightingale shook her head and said, "No matter what, I'll stay beside him until the very end..."

She did not mind being burnt to ashes by the sun.

This was her answer.