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Senior Disciple
In the room Dahlia left, Tobias slumped on the backrest of the chair.
How did it turn out like this, he knew he was in the wrong, but he felt helpless.
Dahlia was the daughter of his teacher in Magical Device craftsmanship, Carlo.
The first time he saw her was in the workshop in the Green Tower.
She, who had just returned from the academy’s laboratory, had several books in her hands.
When Carlo introduced him as her senior disciple, she bowed to him while still holding the books.
Red hair tied in a bundle, with large rimmed silver glasses over her green eyes, clad in a simple, ash-colored one piece dress.
Lacking the charms of a girl her age, a very boy-like girl.
They met several times at the workshop after that, but with Dahlia being an assistant to a professor at the school’s laboratory at the time, she didn’t speak much with him.
They started speaking more only when she started working on waterproof fabrics.
She started researching not just at school, but at the tower too, trying to dry slime out on the rooftop or in the garden, choking over large amounts of slime powder.
Her childlike enthusiasm for research made him smile so many times.
‘The slimes will bear a grudge’, he even teased her so.
However, as a result of her tussle with slimes, despite being just 10, Dahlia completed a royalty agreement, registering the magical devices waterproof clothing and raincoat.
At that time, he didn’t have even a single registered magical device.
While he was amazed by Dahlia’s achievement, the title of ‘senior disciple’ became like a thorn.
The engagement was sudden.
On a day when Dahlia was staying over at her friend’s house, he was strangely invited to go drinking with his father and Carlo.
When Carlo asked at the table “Won’t you marry Dahlia?”, he accepted the idea with just a few seconds of thinking.
Instead of marrying Dahlia, he might have wanted more to succeed Carlo.
The next day, Dahlia was told that too.
With her emerald eyes opened wide, she introduced herself once again.
Standing close to her, he noticed her height which was almost the same as his for the first time.
Embarrassed and restless, he ended up saying “You’re quite tall, aren’t you”. However, she just gave a troubled laugh.
A fiance like Dahlia, he felt that was a nice condition.
The daughter of his teacher in magic device craftsmanship, the daughter of his father’s best friend, her background was clear.
Her personality was mild like Carlo’s, he had never heard her raise her voice.
She sometimes got engrossed in her work as a magic device craftswoman, but she did the household work skillfully.
She looked plain, but certainly not bad.
In fact, after the engagement, whatever he asked her to do, Dahlia almost always obeyed.
When he made requests, although she asked for reasons, she never spoke back to him emotionally.
Seeing her dye her eye-catching red hair to a dull dark tea color, Tobias was secretly relieved.
With him as her senior disciple, she’d become a wife following him from behind. That way, he can protect Dahlia behind him from the front – He thought.
When it was about time to register his marriage, his father didn’t get up in the morning and died just like that.
The Orlando firm fell into chaos.
A bed-ridden mother, an older brother out to gather materials from another country, he himself busy with various procedures and a company not meeting deadlines.
There were times where Dahlia put her work as magical device craftswoman aside and helped with various procedures and bookkeeping.
‘She will make a good wife’, is what the surroundings said, and he felt proud of that.
Just as she helped him, he wanted to help her one day. He wanted to be able to protect her.
Just when did that gear start going awry…
About a year after Tobias’s father died, Dahlia’s father collapsed at the commercial guild, and died there and then.
By the time he rushed to the hospital, Carlo’s body had already turned cold, and was being prepared for the funeral.
Dahlia was cooling her recently crying eyes with a wet handkerchief.
Without crying on his shoulders, or putting her grief to words, she smoothly conducted the funeral rites and finished the procedures.
The time he started feeling something was weird, might have been then.
He was irritated by something about her. He repeatedly made one-sided demands.
When he wanted her to wear calmer clothes, she switched to those worn by other married women.
When he wanted her to stop drinking more than two cups, she did so.
When he said he disliked the smell of cosmetics, she stopped using even powder.
When asked to do work like an assistant, she smoothly did all the work asked of her.
That’s why, even with this royalties agreement, he felt it would be fine with post-facto-acknowledgement.
When they talked about magical devices their conversations would become more lively, but that was about it.
The devices she thought of were all things Tobias couldn’t even imagine, and that was something that left a bitter taste in his mouth more and more often.
Looking back on it, Dahlia had never let herself be spoilt, had never clung onto him, and had never relied on him, not even once.
Then, he realized. It was simple.
To Dahlia, he was just a ‘senior disciple’.
Since he was her ‘senior disciple’, and since her father and teacher Carlo asked for it, she got engaged to him.
Probably, Dahlia would be fine even if it was someone else.
And, that might have been the case for him too.
Even so, if asked whether he liked her or disliked her, he liked her.
Neither had anyone else, so they would get married as this went on. He thought absentmindedly.
If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com.
But, at that time, he met Emilia.
A small girl who came in as a receptionist, a few months before marriage registration.
Bright honey-colored hair, bright light brown eyes.
For work, on that innocent face, just a touch of make-up on her white skin.
Shining, although she made mistakes at work, she always tried her best.
“A magical device craftsman, Mr. Tobias is amazing!”
When he first spoke to her, she said so with sparkling light brown eyes.
Answering that it wasn’t much, it ended at just that back then.
Just, when he realized it, his eyes started meeting hers a lot more often.
He mustn’t get close to that girl – That’s what he always thought at that time.
Because he knew he was really attracted to her.
When he was eating with some people from the company, she also happened to be among them.
She had noble blood, but her mother was a commoner. She said she was made to understand her mother was not permitted to marry.
She gave up on high school due to her mother’s illness, and since her death, she barely managed to scrape by.
When she said she’d work hard to learn to work from now on, the people there cheered for her.
Whether it was pity or goodwill, she started being called out by the men around her more often from then onwards.
When she asked with a troubled face on how to reject the advances of the men who called out to her, he meant to give advice like an elder brother.
Even so, he couldn’t help but realize that he was incredibly jealous.
A few days before the marriage registration, he was about to consult Emilia at lunchtime, when a sudden customer came in. Feeling bad about breaking a promise, he invited her to join him for lunch later.
The one to invite Emilia who said “I have always lived in a room for rent, so I’ve never seen a family house” to see the new house was Tobias.
Getting confessed to by a crying Emilia in the new house, and proposing to her in return, was completely his fault.
He knew, but no matter how many times he returned to that time, he’d do the same.
Emilia, only Emilia, was the girl he liked from the bottom of his
As Tobias was lost in thought, a hesitant knock resounded.
After a brief answer, a woman with bright honey colored hair entered the room.
“Umm… Excuse me”
“Emilia, I told you to stay in the back since Dahlia has come.”
When Dahlia came, Emilia who had just left the room, had been asked by others to stay in the room at the back. Although she must have come out after confirming Dahlia had left, he didn’t want them to bump into each other.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but be worried… Mr. Tobias, umm… What did you talk about with Ms. Dahlia?”
Her bright light brown eyes glisten, and look at him uneasily.
“It was about the work of magical device craftsmen. I’ve already broken the engagement. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
Tobias replies with a forced smile.
Emilia lowered her gaze, and gripped his hand tightly.
On her hand, was a carnelian engagement bracelet matching the color of Tobias’s eyes. It was originally on Dahlia’s wrist, but Emilia was still very happy.
“… I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But, even though Mr. Tobias was engaged, even though I knew that, I fell in love with you.”
A tear ran down her white cheek as she spoke with a trembling voice, Tobias gently wiped it with his finger.
“You did nothing wrong. The one who did wrong, was me.”
The body of the girl he embraced was slender, tender – he felt he must protect it at all costs.
This feeling, this love alone definitely felt true.
At the same time, a small dark voice burst out within him.
Dahlia, I have not even once been anything other than your ‘senior disciple’.
— Thanks for the chapter~ ^^.
Whew… goosebumps~!!
What a disgusting man-child
Lets be honest its for the best that they broke up, they might’ve made good friends but a couple they did not. The way he treated her was demanding and the way he broke up with her was plain wrong, but somehow I dont see it happening to Emilia.
I kind of agree, the basic fact is that Dalia really is not and has no interest in seeking a man for marriage. Relations are a 2 way street, you can see that their relationship isn’t 2 way and that is partially why Tobias is being so petty. He can see that she doesn’t really need him nor is she interested romantically with him.
I really like this story a lot!
Tobias is to be hated, but I don’t hate the story because of him, sometimes there are hateful characters which just ruins the whole story for me, but here there author did a great job in my opinion!
Thank you so much for the translation!
I kind of pity him actually. Yes, he’s an idiot and an ass and his idea of trying to get Dalia to notice him is a slightly more adult version of a kid bullying a girl he likes, but the short of it is he likes Dalia but Dalia has absolutely no interest in him as a man.
Emilia is “just” someone he caught on a rebound. Hence why I pity him. He’s still an idiot though.
Thanks for the great chapter!
But to be honest,Thomas just wants someone that is pitiable and needs protection, that’s no love. He wants to feel more superior than anything else. He said himself that he felt good when Dahlia played the good wife that he can protect, but when he realised that she never needed his help and she was even better at the same job, he felt bitter. I think that his marriage with Emilia won’t last long, because of his bad personality.
Tobias is just an insecure piece of trash.