Haley Miler.
The head of the Miler Count Family, renowned for their mastery of curse magic. Once called the “Sword Master” and a role model for swordsmen, her current state was far from her illustrious past.
Sitting in a dimly lit room that exuded a suffocatingly melancholic atmosphere, she let out deep sighs repeatedly.
She had lost track of how long she’d been in this state.
She had withdrawn from the world, choosing a life of seclusion.
Why?
The reason was simple.
“After what I did… Could I ever be forgiven? No, expecting forgiveness would be far too shameless.”
Ian, once her student but now a significant figure commanding the Empire.
The memory of the irreparable wound she had inflicted on him was a weight that crushed her.
Although the final battle with Lucifer had offered some solace, it didn’t mean she had finished atoning.
She believed she needed to make amends for the sins she had accumulated, which was why—
‘I’ve relinquished the position of head of the family. Now, I am nothing.’
She had passed on the hard-won title of Miler family head to her rival younger brother.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
‘My arm… in this condition, I’ll never wield a sword again.’
Having lost her dominant right arm, it was fair to say she had lost everything.
She had also resigned as an instructor at Ark Academy.
Now, she had nothing left—no honor, no friends.
Her lips twisted bitterly at her wretched situation when—
Knock Knock!
The sudden sound of someone knocking on the door caused Haley’s expression to sour.
“Ugh… Not again.”
It was likely people sent by her brother, urging her to leave.
The time left for surgery to reattach her arm was running out, and they’d probably come to insist she act now.
Frowning deeply, she couldn’t help but raise her voice.
“I told you, I’m done! Stop bothering me and go away!”
Her angry outburst reverberated through the room, followed by a tense silence.
As expected. With such a loud warning, they would flee immediately.
Why did they keep coming if they were just going to run away afterward?
“I was already sick of their persistence, but this time, I infused my voice with mana. That should serve as a sufficient warning.”
Just as she muttered to herself, trying to calm her burning frustration—
“Um… Instructor? We’re not people sent by the family head.”
“This voice…”
The moment she realized the people outside weren’t who she thought, her pupils widened in surprise.
It was a voice too familiar to forget.
“Reina?”
Struggling to her feet, she flung the door open—and there they were.
“Hello, Instructor.”
“It’s been a while, Haley.”
Reina… and Bianca.
Seeing her former students after so long, Haley Miler felt both joy and confusion.
“What brings you two here…?”
***
“What? There’s a wraith haunting the Volkanov estate?”
“Yes, that’s why we came to see you, Instructor. Leticia’s memorial service is in a few days, and we’re concerned the wraith might cause trouble during the ceremony.”
“That’s plausible. Wraiths are unpredictable.”
Wraiths—spirits that should have vanished upon death but lingered in the world between.
Some became wraiths due to unresolved grudges, while others resisted disappearance because of their immense power.
‘Of course, there are stories of spirits returning to the middle world around their death anniversary to visit their families, but…’
For a moment, Haley wondered if Leticia’s spirit had returned for the memorial and was being mistaken for a wraith. But she kept that thought to herself.
‘That couldn’t be it. Surely not.’
Bianca Volkanov.
What kind of person was she?
She was practically the leader of the Black Mages’ enclave and a scholar of spirits. If anyone could distinguish between a spirit and a wraith, it would be her.
Upon graduating, Bianca had married Ian and dedicated herself to fulfilling her father’s dream. She tirelessly worked to gather scattered dark mages across the continent to establish a Magic Tower.
Even though she had not officially accepted the role, those rebuilding the towers were already considering her as the next Tower Master. Such rumors even reached Haley, who lived in seclusion.
The point was simple.
‘There’s no way the prospective Black Tower Master can’t distinguish between a malevolent wraith and a benign spirit.’
If there was one thing Haley knew about Bianca, it was that she would never mistake Leticia Volkanov’s spirit for a wraith.
The confusion made no sense.
The Volkanov estate undoubtedly harbored a harmful wraith, and Bianca needed Haley’s help to eliminate it discreetly.
At that moment, Haley’s path became clear.
“What do I need to do?”
It was time to act as the mentor she had once failed to be.
***
Reina and Bianca’s plan was straightforward:
If the wraith intended to cause harm, it wouldn’t stir trouble during the preparation period but instead wait until the memorial ceremony was fully underway. The plan was to patrol the estate on the morning of the ceremony, locate the wraith, and act.
‘Once the wraith is found, Bianca will strip away the veil concealing it. At that moment, we’ll seal it.’
It was a high-stakes plan—if they failed, the ceremony could descend into chaos. But failure wasn’t an option.
With that determination, Reina, Bianca, and Haley readied themselves and began cautiously searching the estate. Using mana to conceal their presence, they moved silently.
They had just finished sweeping the first floor and were ascending the central staircase to the second floor when—
“Uh, there! There it is!”
“What’s wrong? Is it because of Ian?”
“No! The wraith is in the corridor—walking right next to Ian!”
“What?!”
Hearing that the wraith was near Ian, everyone’s attention turned sharply.
While they had anticipated the wraith would cause trouble on the day of the ceremony, targeting Ian himself was unexpected.
Though Ian was unlikely to fall victim, the idea of such a threat to the most important person in their group was intolerable.
“Reina, prepare to snipe from here! Haley, let’s go!”
“R-right!”
Bianca gathered mana in her hands and sprinted down the corridor, breaking her concealment.
Whoosh!
“Huh? Bianca? Reina? And… Instructor?”
At that moment, Bianca unleashed her mana to strip away the veil hiding the wraith’s form.
“Huh? That, that person is…”
-… Oh.
“Bianca… Are you here for your mother?”
“Mother-in-law?”
Leticia Volkanov, Ian’s mother and Bianca’s mother-in-law, stood before them, gazing down at them with widened eyes.
She wasn’t the only one shocked. Haley, who had been preparing her sealing ritual, froze and turned to stare at Bianca.
“Bianca, is the ‘wraith’ you mentioned… Leticia? Don’t tell me you called us to seal someone who’s supposed to be honored at the memorial.”
“No… no way. Are you saying I mistook my mother-in-law’s spirit for a wraith? That can’t be….”
The incredulous gazes of the group landed squarely on Bianca, as if silently asking, “What on earth is going on?”
Bianca, just as bewildered, felt her heart sink.
How could this have happened?
Had she, a black mage, failed to distinguish a wraith from a spirit?
As she tilted her head, utterly unable to comprehend the situation, a child’s voice broke through the tension.
“Mom! There you are! Where did you go? I was bored waiting for you!”
“Neltalion?”
Clutching food prepared for the ceremony, Neltalion clung to her leg.
Seeing Bianca’s pale complexion, Neltalion looked up at her with concern.
“Mom, you don’t look well! It’s because you haven’t been sleeping, right? That’s why I gave you the sleeping medicine! Let’s go sleep together!”
“Wait, sleeping medicine? What do you mean?”
She gave her sleeping pills? When did she do that? Bianca’s brain seemed to freeze up at the incomprehensible sequence of events.
As she stiffened, Neltalion spat out the shocking truth.
“Yeah! I put it in the water you drink every night before bed! I did a good job, right?”
“Sleeping medicine? Where did you even get that?”
“From your desk! It was just sitting there!”
“The desk… no way!”
Bianca’s thoughts raced.
The sleeping medicine on her desk? Could it be the failed experimental potion?
‘I made that for Ian when he was overworked….’
What had started as a plan to create a fatigue recovery potion had turned into a sleep-inducing concoction due to a mistake. Bianca had left it on her desk, completely forgetting about it.
But the potion’s effects didn’t stop at inducing sleep.
It went much further than that.
‘If I remember correctly, it was a drug with severe side effects that temporarily impaired cognitive abilities.’
Did she feed her that?
If so…
Could this oppressive feeling she had been experiencing lately also be related…?
Bianca, feeling uneasy at the thought, began channeling mana to dispel the strange energy enveloping her body.
Only then could she see it.
‘This can’t be…’
With her vision now clear, she could perceive Leticia’s soul, visibly distressed.
Bianca collapsed onto the hallway floor with a dull thud.
“Huh? Mom, you can’t sleep here! You’ll catch a cold!”
Neltalion’s voice reached her ears, but unfortunately, it failed to register with her at all.
***
The spectral issues caused by Neltalion’s sleeping pills were fortunately resolved without attracting much attention.
If rumors of a ghost wandering around the mansion had spread, it might have delayed the preparations for the ritual. Thankfully, everything had been handled discreetly enough that the household staff remained unaware.
There was some commotion over the reappearance of Haley Miler, who had once abandoned her position as head of the family to live in seclusion.
However, the reaction was little more than murmurs of, “Is she really here?”
Beyond that, there were no major problems.
This allowed for some rare tranquility.
“Is the ritual finally over?”
Ian, who had been overwhelmed by countless handshakes mere moments ago, now found himself able to relax. From the balcony, he absentmindedly gazed at the darkened night sky.
He had been observing the procession of carriages leaving the mansion, sipping a drink while using the scattered lights in the pitch-black forest as a comforting backdrop.
“It’s like watching stars scattered across the heavens.”
Thunk!
“Ah… Ian?”
“Hmm? Professor Haley?”
Caught off guard, Ian noticed Haley, her face flushed, staring blankly at him.
Her uneven steps and the way she leaned against the wall suggested she had been drinking and had wandered onto the balcony for fresh air, only to encounter Ian.
Whoosh!
Upon realizing she’d been seen, Haley quickly turned her back to him as if she had shown something she shouldn’t have.
“Ah… that, um…”
‘Is she trying to hide her severed arm?’
Her face grew redder by the second. Her occasional glances back suggested she wanted to leave, but her body remained frozen as if unwilling to comply.
She seemed tense.
There was no need for Ian to aggravate the situation with pointed questions like, “Why are you here? What’s wrong with your arm?”
There was only one thing to say in this situation.
“Come, let’s enjoy the night view together. Opportunities like this don’t come often.”
Without shifting his gaze to her, Ian maintained a calm and composed tone, diffusing the awkwardness.
Realizing that Ian wasn’t particularly bothered by her presence, Haley finally managed to move.
Keeping a respectful distance, the two leaned against the railing, staring out at the night.
How long did the silence last?
In the stillness, the faint chirping of forest insects could be heard.
Then, Haley broke the silence.
“I’m sorry, Ian.”
“For what, exactly?”
“For many things… But most of all, I regret not trusting you.”
These were words she had always held back, lacking the courage to say. Now, they tumbled out.
At the same time, her emotions began to stir.
“That time… Early in the semester, when you were cleaning up the wrecked classroom, you talked about the mentor who taught you how to use your fists.”
“I did, yes.”
“Embarrassingly, I didn’t understand the significance of your story back then.”
She had assumed it meant Ian no longer needed her, that he had found a better teacher.
But looking back, Ian’s words had carried a deeper meaning.
His former mentor, though not exceptionally skilled or renowned, had been someone who truly cared for their student.
Ian had a mentor who possessed the very qualities Haley herself lacked. And yet, without even trying to understand Ian’s reasons, she had left him.
“When I realized the truth, I thought it was too late to mend things between us. No, I was scared. What if you didn’t forgive me, even if I apologized?”
There’s a saying: ‘The best time to act is when you realize you’re late.’
And another: ‘Knowing you’re late but doing nothing is the worst action of all.’
Despite holding those words deeply in her heart, and knowing that this might be her only chance to mend her relationship with her former student, Haley had chosen the worst option: avoidance. A cowardly lack of courage had led her to run away.
“The fact that I ran because I was afraid you wouldn’t forgive me… that I abandoned you, someone with no one else to turn to, and drove a nail into your heart… I regret it so much.”
She had run away until the very end. Though she eventually mustered the courage to help Ian, it wasn’t enough to absolve her of her sins, or so she believed.
After all the torment she had inflicted upon him, one act of assistance couldn’t possibly clear her conscience.
The deeds she had committed were burdens she would carry for the rest of her life.
That was why—
“If that’s what you want… I’ll stay out of your sight from now on.”
Haley had stepped down from her hard-fought position as head of her family and chosen not to restore the arm she lost in battle.
To her, the loss of her right arm was penance for her accumulated sins. If Ian could not forgive her, she felt unworthy of healing it.
After finishing her words, Haley sealed her lips shut.
‘So I finally said it…’
The regrets she had bottled up out of fear spilled out in a rush.
Now, the only thing left was Ian’s response.
Of course, she wasn’t holding out much hope. Her reason for seeking him out this time had been to apologize and bid him farewell for good.
‘He won’t forgive me anyway.’
Haley calmed herself, feeling the cool night breeze and closing her eyes.
“I forgive you.”
“…I figured. Wait, what?”
The words she never thought she would hear came from Ian’s mouth, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
Forgive her? Surely, she must have misheard.
“Ian… can you say that again?”
“I said I forgive you. In fact, I was planning to seek you out about this matter myself.”
“Forgive me… why…?”
Haley stared at him, clearly unable to understand.
She had thought of her actions as unforgivable. In the battle with Lucifer, she had fought as if throwing her life away. The injury that had taken her right arm had come from that very battle.
Ian could understand her feelings. However, he had no intention of ignoring her because of her past.
‘The wounds she inflicted on me have long since dulled.’
His anguish over her actions had been erased by the blow he delivered to Lucifer. Even if it hadn’t, Ian would still have accepted her.
The fact that Haley, who had been too afraid to even apologize, had been willing to risk her life to help him meant she had acknowledged her mistakes.
And that was enough.
“I forgive you. So why not let go of the burden you’ve been carrying? You should also get your arm treated. Since Saintess Glendia is here, it won’t take long.”
“Is it… really okay? That you’re forgiving me?”
“Well… if you feel uneasy because it seems too easy, then you can make it up to me by helping me from now on, don’t you think?”
Ian extended his hand with a faint smile. Haley, on the verge of tears, grasped it tightly.
