As Professor Alden left the room and the students began gathering their things to go for lunch, Eliza suddenly stormed toward Ethan, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him out of the cssroom. Several students stopped in their tracks, staring in open disbelief.

  "Eliza!? What the—?" Ethan called after her, but she didn’t answer, her grip iron-strong as she pulled him through the hallways. They didn’t stop until they were outside the building, where she promptly shoved him against a nearby wall.

  “What did you do to me!?” she demanded, frustration burning in her silver eyes.

  Ethan blinked, completely thrown off. “Eh? What did I do?”

  “Don’t py dumb! The spell! What kind of contract is this!?”

  “Spell? Contract?” Ethan echoed, genuinely confused. “Sorry, I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about!”

  Eliza let out a growl of pure exasperation, fists clenching at her sides. She could feel it—he wasn't lying. That made it even more frustrating.

  Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down. “Alright, one step at a time. Before css today—remember what happened?”

  Ethan rubbed his temple, trying to recall. “Kind of? I remember you asking for help... I think I did something with your spell... and then I fell asleep?”

  Eliza nodded sharply. “Do you remember exactly what you did?”

  He shook his head.

  With a huff, Eliza pulled out her spellbook and thrust it into his hands. “You helped me cast this spell.”

  Ethan took the book and scanned the page. His eyes widened in horror as recognition dawned.

  His face went pale. “Oh no… Oh no no no no… Please—please, Eliza—please don’t tell anyone about this!”

  Her eyebrow twitched. “Rex. I have no intention of spreading word that you know forbidden magic. I’m not stupid.” She crossed her arms. “But in exchange, you’re going to expin to me exactly what you did. I want to know what kind of contract you bound me with—and how to break it.”

  Swallowing hard, Ethan nodded and carefully reread the spell.

  “So... from what I can tell,” he began cautiously, “the main structure of the spell creates a link between the caster and the target. Specifically, it allows the target—you—to receive mana directly from the caster... me.”

  “That’s it?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Well...” Ethan frowned. “There are a few runes I'm not completely sure about. They're mostly in the subroutines. Conditions, checks, that sort of thing. But overall, it shouldn't do anything beyond transferring mana.”

  “Then why am I feeling like this!?” Eliza snapped, her cheeks coloring fiercely.

  “Feeling like what?” Ethan asked, genuinely baffled.

  Eliza looked like she wanted to sm her head against the wall. She scratched her head instead, violently messing up her normally pristine hair. After a moment of hesitation, she turned to him and demanded, “Give it to me.”

  “W-What?”

  “If this contract is about taking mana, then give me some. I want to see what happens!”

  Ethan hesitated, but seeing how serious she was, he finally sighed and nodded.

  “Alright... fine.”

  Ethan hesitated for a moment, gncing around to make sure they were alone. Then, with a sigh, he reached out, letting a small, controlled trickle of his mana flow toward her.

  Eliza grabbed his wrist almost instantly, her fingers tightening around him with surprising urgency. She lowered her head slightly, her breathing growing heavier, and then—

  Without warning, her lips brushed against his fingers.

  Ethan froze.

  A shiver ran down Eliza’s spine as she parted her lips and, almost instinctively, traced the tip of his finger with her tongue. A soft, involuntary sound escaped her as a wave of satisfaction bloomed deep inside her chest. The craving—the strange, gnawing need that had been driving her crazy since this morning—was finally being soothed.

  Mana.

  She needed his mana.

  Her tongue slid slowly along his knuckles, savoring the connection, as if his energy tasted sweeter than anything she had ever known. Every pulse of mana he gave her seemed to feed a hidden hunger, a hunger that had nothing to do with physical needs alone.

  Ethan stood rigid, his brain short-circuiting. "What the hell is happening?" he thought, panic and confusion swirling inside him.

  “Eliza—” he tried to say her name, but it came out more like a strangled gasp.

  Realizing what she was doing, Eliza abruptly pulled away, her face fming bright red. Her breathing was uneven, her body trembling slightly from the lingering aftershocks of satisfaction.

  For a moment, they just stared at each other—Ethan in shock, Eliza in a mix of horror and overwhelming embarrassment.

  "I... I didn’t..." she stammered, taking a stumbling step back. "It’s the contract! I swear! I wasn’t... I didn’t mean to—!"

  "You licked me," Ethan said ftly, still staring at her as if she had grown a second head.

  Eliza covered her face with her hands, groaning in humiliation. "Shut up! Just—just shut up!"

  But even as she hid her face, a part of her still burned with the lingering, traitorous satisfaction of having tasted his mana directly.

  Somewhere, deep down, a frightening realization clicked into pce:

  This contract wasn’t just a mana transfer.

  It was bonding her to him.

  What cursed kind of spell did I cast? Ethan thought, his mind racing.

  The heavy silence between them stretched on, tense and awkward, until Ethan finally spoke.

  "Can I borrow the book for a while?"

  Eliza narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

  "I want to show it to someone," Ethan expined carefully. "Someone I trust. Someone who knows way more about magic than I do." He held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "I swear, I won’t say a word about you. It'll just be about the spell."

  She still looked uncertain, the book clutched tightly against her chest.

  Seeing her hesitation, Ethan pressed on, his voice lower, more serious. "This person... they’re the best chance we have to figure out how to break the contract. You want this undone, right?"

  Eliza stood frozen, caught in an agonizing tug-of-war inside herself.

  Of course she wanted to be free—this bond was dangerous, unnatural.

  And yet...

  A terrible thought slithered into her mind: But it feels so good.

  The sensation of his mana flowing into her had been unlike anything she had ever known—warm, rich, complete. She didn’t want to lose that feeling. A part of her screamed that it would be a waste to break something so precious.

  No! she argued with herself fiercely. This isn’t me. It’s the spell influencing me! I'm not thinking straight!

  She had to be rational. She had to break free while she still could.

  But what if she regretted it?

  What if, once it was gone, she could never feel that completeness again?

  Could she live with that empty, hollow ache?

  Tears welled up and began slipping down her cheeks, silent and unbidden.

  She was confused. Afraid. For the first time in a long while, she felt fragile, like a bird trembling on the edge of a cliff.

  Ethan’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of her tears. He took a small step forward, his voice softer now.

  "Eliza...?"

  She wiped at her face roughly with her sleeve, as if angry at herself for crying. Then, after a long, painful silence, she made her decision.

  "I’ll go with you," she said, her voice low but determined. "I want to hear what this 'trustworthy person' has to say... with my own ears."

  Ethan nodded, a flicker of relief crossing his face.

  "Alright," he said gently. "We’ll figure this out together."

  Together.

  The word echoed strangely in Eliza’s mind as she followed him, her heart a tangled mess of fear, doubt—and a desperate, shameful longing she didn’t yet know how to silence.

  Eliza wiped the st of her tears away as she and Ethan hurried toward the infirmary. The midday sun was high above them, but it did little to warm the knot of anxiety tightening in Eliza’s chest. Ethan walked slightly ahead, his hand brushing against the book tucked under his arm.

  They reached the infirmary, and as expected, they found Professor Alric at his desk, hunched over a pile of scrolls. The old man looked up as the door creaked open—and immediately frowned.

  “What now?” Alric barked, peering at them over his gsses. His sharp eyes narrowed even further when he caught sight of their guilty faces. “You two look like you just got caught stealing bread.”

  Ethan shifted awkwardly. “Uh, Professor… we need your help.”

  Alric leaned back, folding his arms. “Of course you do. Always when it’s inconvenient. Out with it, boy. What trouble have you dragged this poor girl into?”

  Suppressing a groan, Ethan pulled out the book and offered it to the professor.

  The old man snatched the book from his hands, adjusted his gsses, and skimmed the spell description. His thick eyebrows shot up almost immediately.

  “...You little idiots!” he barked, smming the book shut. “This is an old-style Familiar Contract!”

  Ethan and Eliza both flinched.

  “Professor?” Eliza asked hesitantly.

  Alric sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Listen closely. This spell was used centuries ago to bind monsters or magical beasts into service as familiars. It’s primitive—practically ancient magic. The bond transfers mana to the familiar to strengthen it. But," he held up a finger, scowling, "it had serious fws."

  He ticked them off like a list.

  "First: no guarantee of loyalty. The 'familiar' could go berserk and kill the master if provoked or unstable."

  Eliza paled visibly.

  "Second: if the master failed to feed it mana regurly, the familiar would fall into depression, stop eating, and eventually waste away and die."

  Ethan opened his mouth to speak, but Alric cut him off.

  "Don't waste your time learning this outdated thing! Modern familiar spells—real ones—fixed all these problems, though they're a couple grades higher and much more complex."

  Hearing all that, Ethan’s face tightened. He hesitated, then asked, “Professor... what would happen if, uh... this spell was cast... not on a beast, but on a person?”

  Alric let out a short ugh, as if it was the dumbest question he’d heard all year—until he caught the dead-serious looks on their faces.

  His ughter died instantly.

  He stared at them, mouth slightly open in disbelief.

  "You idiots—!" he roared, making both of them flinch again. "You used dark magic on another human!?"

  Eliza shrank under his gre, looking utterly miserable. Ethan tried to expin it had been an accident, but Alric would hear none of it. He unched into a thorough scolding, not sparing either of them from his wrath.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ethan gathered the courage to ask, “So... can you help us break it?”

  Alric snorted. “Absolutely not.”

  “What?!” Ethan protested, looking like he was half a second away from tearing his hair out. “Come on, Professor! You just said this spell is dangerous!”

  "That's for animals!" Alric snapped, shaking his head in exasperation. "She's human! She can control herself!" He gave a smug little smile. "And that's precisely why you are going to deal with it yourself."

  "But you said before—" Ethan argued, "—you said it was impossible to undo someone else’s curse!"

  "If that were the case, would I be able to cure her?" Alric shot back without missing a beat. Then he jabbed his finger against Ethan’s forehead, making him stagger slightly. "And you're wrong. What I said was that it’s impossible to undo high-grade curses—like the ones you’re carrying, boy."

  He held up the book and shook it in front of Ethan’s face.

  "As for her case?" Alric said, practically rolling his eyes. "This is a Grade 1 Familiar Contract. It's practically child’s py. It'll be the perfect for you to practice!" His smile widened cruelly.

  "So you do it."

  "But what if I mess up?"

  "Then she’ll get a headache and be mildly grumpy for a day. No backsh. No death. No permanent scars. Nothing to worry!" Alric grinned wickedly, clearly enjoying himself now.

  Ethan slumped in defeat.

  Meanwhile, Eliza looked between them, her heart thudding. On one hand, the idea of Ethan experimenting on her was terrifying.

  On the other...

  The warmth she had tasted earlier stirred faintly inside her chest.

  Would she really be able to let it go?