Mirage (Shall We Date Wizardess Heart Fanfiction)

Chapter 53: The human heart has hidden treasures, that only the stars know

The room was silent for a few hours after Randolph left.

Aurora supported her chin on the palm of her hand and tapped her forearm with a couple of fingers from the other hand. Nothing seemed to happen really and so, she felt genuinely bored just by sitting comfortably on the edge of the bed and absently staring at the far wall of that office.

After the 'strolling-in uninvited' incident with professor Schuyler earlier, all she wanted to do at the moment was to run to the dormitory and lock herself in her room, to die of embarrassment underneath her sheets. But, things didn't go as she had wished. Randolph kept her from leaving and urged her to stay, telling her that he would feel much more at ease if he was able to escort her back. And, she just couldn't say no to him.

With a long sigh, she rose and made her way to the piano; she pressed a few keys, the melody coming out sounding lovely in her ears. She coaxed one note after another from the old piano, and then finally she folded the lid down, loitering around the rest of the room. Placidly, her feet lead her to Randolph's workplace, his well-organized desk. Her fingers slowly traced the surface, lightly outlining some of the bureau objects along the way while she contoured the table's framing.

The board meeting set couldn't be that much time-consuming, he had so much reached the point of assuring that he would be back before sundown. So, how long would it take? She quickly wondered to herself as she, at last, reached the third of four edges in which the desk was structured. She came to a sudden halt as if there was an invisible line that couldn't be crossed further.

She then lifted her chin up, meeting the sharp and yet kind gaze of who she assumed to be the portrait of the previous headmaster, considering that there was no way Randolph would have been the only headmaster in the academy's history. If that scenario were to be true, the land had hundreds of years already so, that would mean he had to be too. And, that couldn't be, right?

Curious about the man in the proponent painting, Aurora approached the object on the wall. He had piercing azure eyes, roughly darkened by the faint dark circles underneath them naturally brought by his advanced age; his long, curly midnight blue hair was perfectly pulled back into a delicate ponytail, the ending strands falling down his shoulder. One long mustache and the lazily shaved beard matching in color to his hair made his features appear serious and mature, his projecting nose lengthened his face and the lips thinned into a straight line. He was dressed to the nines in a formal white tail-coat, wearing a jet-black micro-fine ribbed fabric ascot tied around the collar of his ruffled white shirt, a lustrous chiffon silver corset, and plain set of black-colored high waisted breeches. He stood proudly tall, gripping onto the pommel of his sword with his left-hand and supporting the elbow to his right arm on what seemed to be a small table.

She tilted her head to the side thoughtful, never has she ever paid attention to such portrait on the wall up until now but, he seemed oddly familiar somehow, one she couldn't quite place a name over his head. On a closer look, there seemed to be a golden plate nailed to the bottom framing. She touched it lightly and wiped most of the dust from its surface. Squinting her eyes, she read the small print, 'King Siegfried of Gedonelune'.

Blinking with surprise, she glanced back up again, only now noticing the huge strap of cloth crossing his chest from the shoulder to the waist with the royal seal right on top."So, this wasn't the previous headmaster... it was the First King." She whispered amazed to herself, delicately touching the painting whilst admiring his elegance and charm. The details on that portrait were incredible, she almost felt like she was in his presence."One of his best portrayals, I must say." She said, slowly withdrawing her hand and backing away promptly to take in the full picture once more."The illustrations displayed on the books really don't make you any justice, your majesty." A disconcerted expression escaped her control, her mind wondering how painful and uncomfortable it must have felt for the king to maintain that stance for a couple of hours straight in order for the royal painter to come up with such aesthetic art. Now, that she gives it a much more thorough thought, It made complete sense that there was a portrait of him in the headmaster's office, he was the founding father of the Gedonelune Kingdom and the Magic Academy, after all.

She took one good look back at the intimidating painting before starting to walk away, but then something caught her eye; on the first drawer to the desk, there seemed to be some sort of object preventing it from fully close. Without giving it much thought, she reached out and forced it open; the drawer was full of documents, pens, and a set of keys. "What's this?" There was an old, bunch of envelopes tied up together with flax yarn in the back of the drawer. She pulled the set out and placed them on the desk. Hastily, she undid the knot that kept everything in a messy pile and grasped the top one. Aurora pulled out its content, a piece of torn-out paper with burnt edges, and read it like a noisy little brat. Five minutes ought to have been enough time for her to stop. "Wait, this isn't possible..." She muttered bewildered with a sudden realization."This is... comes directly from the king and it's addressed to Randolph." She noted to herself, trying to piece the puzzle together. "How can that be? It's impossible." The words written on the letter served to confuse her even more.

She placed it down on the desk again and, for the next ten minutes, she focused on the drawer only. "There must be something else inside that explains-- what's this?" Her fingers brought out a photo of some sort; a somewhat distorted view of a redheaded woman was on display, it almost made it seem that they were taken from afar and without the knowledge of the person in the photo. Somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity but, the state it was in made it very difficult to recognize whatever else. Then, turned it around, on the back a half-erased date was written. She was becoming even more curious, "What's going on here?" her hand reached inside once more, trying to find more pictures. She was able to grasp a few more; they sure didn't seem any better from the previous one she found, however, there was one that stood out the most for its clear-out cut. It was an image of a queer tattoo inked to someone's skin; she recognized straight off the strange flash of a red, glowing around the tattoo on that person's exposed neck, recent scarring. She slowly traced the outlines of the triangle-shaped marking, acknowledging the great detail so scrupulously put into it. The pattern resembled tattoo marks to some sort of occult group. Once again, the flashy figure drawn in the middle caught her attention, "Why do I feel like I've already seen this? Where tho?" She bit her bottom lip and tried to recall where she had crossed paths with. Frustrated with not finding an answer herself, she placed it down on the desk and pinned her hands on each side of the small print. "Maybe I saw it in a book? I should try the library then." She averted her gaze for a moment and looked inside the drawer again, wondering what kind of other secrets he might be keeping from her."If I were to look, what will I find out?" But, before she could investigate more, the door to the office creaked loudly open, revealing Randolph by the entryway.

Startled, Aurora let out a small yelp and, just had time to throw everything inside the drawer, thrust it close in a glance, and hide the photo she behind her back.

He stepped inside the office and immediately noticed her standing by his desk, "Aurora? What are you doing back there?"

"R-Randolph... I... I-I was... er-r..." The girl stammered and did not know what to reply.

"Well?" He frowned at her suspiciously. "You were, what?"

"I... I-I was eye-sighting this beautiful portrait from up close--" Her eyes instantly traveled to the painting behind her as the idea hit her, "Yes! That's it! That was what I was doing!" and, she laughed nervously, hoping he would believe her words.

His gaze quickly shifted between her and the portrait; he didn't seem to buy any of that. Crap...!

A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and she tried to change the subject's focus, "A-Anyway," she stealthily shove the small piece of paper inside her dress' pocket before leaving her stance behind the desk and walking up to him, "Has the meeting ended? How did that go?"

"Ah, yes. And, you don't have to worry about that. Let us grown-ups do that." He said with a kind smile, stretching his arm in her direction and silently asking her to accept his hand."Come, I'll escort you back now."

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