Chapter 224: But... specific
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"What do you mean by ’since when’?" Aylin said to Caius, "Since forever. Since the first Alchemy class in our first week of school."
Caius’s brows were furrowed.
"Huh," was all he could think to say.
What could have caused the change from the original story’s canon? He wondered.
"You know I’ve been to her office. Talked in person," Aylin said then with tiny twinkles in her icy blue eyes, "She says I have talent."
"You’ve been to her office?" Caius asked. He had spent so much time with Arlette in her office that he found it almost difficult to see how he would not have noticed those visits.
Aylin nodded.
"I have," she said.
"When was this?" Caius asked.
"First time was two weeks ago," Aylin said, "We just finished Alchemy Class and Professor Gilligan sent her bird to you to deliver a message- I recognized the thing earlier today during Study of Magical Beasts class.
Anyway, that day I finally mustered up the courage to pay her a visit in her office. She was so gracious about it. A bit distracted though and that... almost derailed things but when we hit our stride in conversation, we really got going."
Caius remembered that day. It was one of the few days back then when he didn’t visit Arlette during break as he usually did.
"And you’ve visited her how many times since?" Caius asked.
"Not that many," Aylin answered with a shrug, "She’s awfully busy you know. I understand. We’ll get around to it again."
There was something about Aylin’s tone that sounded like a fan who was merely phasing herself out of the desire to talk to their favorite celebrity—or in this case, Teacher—for fear of being disappointed or turned away. Something told Caius that as much as Aylin was gushing over that day and that meeting and that conversation with Arlette, on some level, she had detected some level of disinterest coming from Arlette and was not sure if she wanted to really test that and break the facade of wonder that she had built up in her head.
But Caius knew Arlette’s graciousness wasn’t a one-time thing.
He knew Arlette actually must have enjoyed talking to Aylin because she was one of the few in the First year who seemed to have an interest and talent in Alchemy.
That said, at the time that conversation happened, Arlette hadn’t yet allowed herself to accept how she truly felt about her time at Lochxen which had, at the time, been an Assignment thrust upon her by ’Ophiuchus’.
Now that she actually ran the organization with authority granted to her by Caius and was staying at the Academy for somewhat different reasons, she was more... accepting of her role as a Professor.
And that was when it clicked for Caius.
He finally understood where this affection for Arlette had come from with Aylin.
In the original story, Arlette had been all about her assignment and had no desire for her role as Professor. It was merely something she had to get through for the good of an organization she had dedicated decades of her life to and was ready to dedicate decades more. To her, nothing was fulfilling about molding young minds or staying up all night making lesson plans.
Caius was the exception to the boredom of the Academy life for Arlette Louvene and her desire to have him reveal his true nature to her and make him feed on her so she could make him into something she could control, became an obsession. An obsession that left room for little else.
You see, in [To Kill A Demon Lord...], while Arlette may have detested being a Professor and being stuck in one location for such a long stretch of time, she was still such a good operative that she could pretend to be happy about it. And her pretense included being gracious to students who summoned the courage to seek her out.
Sure she would mostly be patronizing to them and make sure they never came back for more guidance but she wouldn’t have been all that... unwelcoming.
Alas, with all of her thoughts and goals and essentially her thoughts, getting completely occupied by Caius and her desire to possess him, she had even less patience to keep a false appearance.
This was proven by how, in [To Kill A Demon Lord...], she disregarded Alchemical talents among the students in the likes of Aurelius, while she spent every class cooing for Caius to pay her a visit to the extent of seeming creepy.
Without going into how exactly she died, it’s already easy to see how in [To Kill A Demon Lord...], Arlette would never have granted Aylin an audience as she did in this reality.
However, because Caius had not avoided her as his counterpart did in the original story, Arlette’s interest in him didn’t become an obsession. At least not the type that would be detrimental. And so, at the time Aylin had visited her, Arlette had at least been open to putting on an ’inviting act’ even if she couldn’t truly let go of her disinterest in being a Professor and had let it seep into her countenance enough that Aylin picked up on it.
But things were different now.
At least, Caius thought they were.
He believed he knew Arlette quite well despite how little information about her he had from reading [To Kill A Demon Lord...] because she had been a fringe character who got killed off quite early.
Anyway, Caius wouldn’t say with absolute certainty that he knew all that was going through Arlette’s mind and he didn’t really want to because where would the fun be in that? Still, he was sure he at least knew her enough to say her interest in teaching was no longer an act.
He looked to the side at Aylin whose eyes were on Arlette and she appeared like she was hanging off every word that left the Professor’s lips.
Caius could tell that as much as Aylin had claimed to have felt this way about Arlette since the very first Alchemy class, she had actually only gotten this way after that talk she had with the Professor.
He was sure Aylin had tried to have that same conversation off-screen in the original reality of [To Kill A Demon Lord...] but quickly got over it after getting ignored and turned away.
In fact, she got over it quickly because nothing about her character ever showed that admiration and she never went on to become some accomplished Alchemist. She hadn’t even cared when Arlette mysteriously stopped teaching at the Academy and she hadn’t shown any enthusiasm towards the Professor who replaced her which likely started her disengagement from the subject itself.
Apparently, the only person/subject of interest that would turn Aylin Khione down literally or metaphorically and she would still continue to chase after until the end of her life, was Caius.
It was then that Aurelius walked into the classroom, his eyebrows furrowed and his expression troubled.
"Mr. Du Aristide, you’re late," Arlette said with her arms folded beneath her breasts as she eyed one of her star pupils.
"I’m sorry, Professor," Aurelius answered in a monotone.
"Head to your seat," Arlette told him in a gentle voice.
"Thank you, Professor," Aurelius continued still in a monotone.
He began to walk up the aisle to take his seat beside Baler Khione then and the eyes of the entire class were on him.
The majority had seen when Caius called him aside for a ’talk’ and their eyes moved soon to Caius after Aurelius had taken his seat, like they were asking him what he did.
Caius mostly ignored the looks but Aylin took advantage of the fact that she was right by his side to whisper,
"What did you two talk about?"
"The Mid-Semester Tests," Caius told her which wasn’t technically untrue.
"Oh, tips to pass it?" Aylin asked, sounding intrigued.
"More or less," Caius answered and was, again, not entirely untruthful.
"Does it have anything to do with that potion you used for the fight with the Bullcroc?" Aylin asked.
That took Caius a bit by surprise. He had decided to indulge Aylin’s questions with half-truths rather than ignoring her but he hadn’t quite expected her to lead the conversation here. Although, in hindsight, it made sense why she would.
"I saw you holding a vial when Eloise was reading through her notes," Aylin clarified when she noticed his surprise,
"That was the reason you could go at the Beast with your fists, wasn’t it?"
Caius nodded.
"It was," he admitted.
"Well, why didn’t you pass a few over to the rest of us?" Aylin asked, mostly in jest, "What, was it in short supply?"
"Yes, it was," Caius answered, humoring her question with the truth, "And you couldn’t have used it anyway."
"Oh," Aylin said now, looking intrigued, "Is it gender specific? I know a thing or two about those, you know."
’I bet you do,’ Caine thought with a little laugh.
If anyone would understand Gender-specific boosts and techniques, it would be a Khione and a wielder of Ice Magic.
Caius took his time though and picked his words well to answer somewhat vaguely,
"No, not gender specific. But... specific."