CHAPTER 414: I’M STAYING HERE WHETHER YOU LIKE IT, OR NOT

Inside the Headmaster’s Office, located at the Grand Tower of the academy...

"It’s been years since I last saw you," Professor Rowan said. "You look terrible."

"And you still look annoying," Luthor countered while sipping the coffee that the fox-masked young lady had prepared for him.

"Where have you been all this time, Luthor?" Professor Rowan chose to ignore the old man’s reply and asked another question. "I thought you were dead."

"As you can see, I’m not dead," Luthor answered. "All this time, I’ve been living under a rock."

A sigh escaped the Headmaster’s lips, knowing this discussion wouldn’t go anywhere. Years had passed, but it seemed like Luthor still held a grudge against him for not helping out when the former had been looking for a safe place to hide the prince under his protection.

"It was already too late by the time I heard what happened," Professor Rowan said calmly. "When I arrived, I only saw the remnants of battle. I tried to look for you and the prince, but I found neither of you."

Luthor didn’t reply. For him, what happened in the past was no longer important. Instead, he was more concerned about the "miracle" that might have happened.

He had no intention of letting other people know about Alex’s secret. Even the Headmaster, one of the Prince’s Godfathers, wouldn’t be an exception.

The young man’s safety depended on everyone believing Prince Aetherius was dead. Revealing he might be alive—even to someone he fully trusted—offered no benefit, especially with his memories still sealed by Nero.

"What do you plan to do now that you’ve come out of your rock?" Professor Rowan asked.

"Leech off of you, of course," Luthor answered without hesitation, "is what I’d like to say, but I am not shameless enough. I may be blind, but my skin is not as thick as yours, Rowan. Give me a job and a place to stay here in the academy."

"What job do you want? Do you want to be a Professor?"

"Too troublesome. Just make me a Gardener."

"But I already have a Gardener. Four of them."

Luthor scoffed. "You already have four, so adding one more will not make a difference. I’m staying here whether you like it or not."

Professor Rowan shook his head helplessly before finally agreeing to this relative’s request.

"Very well," Professor Rowan stated. "I will let you have a job on paper, but you are free to do whatever you want to do. I’ll also give you a small cottage and a monthly allowance. Now, tell me what happened that day."

Luthor didn’t answer right away. He quietly finished his coffee before setting his cup back on the table.

"There’s nothing much to tell," Luthor said. "After leaving the North, we made our way to the South to look for a place to hide. I originally planned to go here with His Highness. With the two of us protecting him, I believe the Empire wouldn’t be able to do anything.

"But they were one step ahead. They scried us and found our location, then they sent the Paragon of Ice to hunt us down. I fought him, but the coward targeted His Highness when he realized that fighting against me would only lead to mutual destruction.

"He turned the prince into a block of ice and threw him off the cliff. As soon as I defeated the bastard, I rushed down to look for the prince, but I only found blood and shattered ice.

"After that, I fled, guilty of my inability to protect His Highness and ashamed of failing to keep my promise to his mother."

Professor Rowan sighed once more after hearing Luthor’s statement.

He regretted not being around when the Paragon of Ice came to hunt them down. Had he been there, perhaps things could’ve ended differently.

But there were no ifs.

They couldn’t turn back time, and judging from the way Luthor behaved, he seemed to have accepted it already.

A moment of silence descended upon the room, lasting for a few minutes before the Professor spoke once more.

"Where did you meet my students?" Professor Rowan asked. "I can ask them for information, but let’s just save ourselves the trouble of bothering the kids, okay?"

Luthor also knew it was only a matter of time before the Headmaster got hold of the information he needed, so he decided that it wasn’t worth it to bother the kids at this time.

"Slime Paradise," Luthor answered. "I’ve been in Slime Paradise all these years."

Professor Rowan stared straight at Luthor’s clouded eyes, which could no longer see. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped midway.

Any words of consolation would just feel artificial, so he remained silent. There was nothing to be done but accept this as his relative’s second chance in life.

"Stay here tonight," Professor Rowan said. "Himea, please guide our guest to the guest room."

The young lady wearing a fox mask materialized beside the Headmaster and bowed respectfully towards Luthor.

"Please come with me, Sir."

"You can call me Lex, young lady. That’s the name I plan to use now."

"Understood, Sir Lex."

Luthor followed behind Himea and left the room, allowing Professor Rowan to have some time alone.

’Letting him stay in the academy is not a problem,’ Professor Rowan thought. ’Besides, the only people who can recognize him are those familiar with him from years ago. His appearance has changed so much. As long as I don’t tell anyone, I’m sure that no one will know who he is.’

Luthor had never been this skinny in the past, and he had also aged. No one would expect that such an illustrious figure had become blind, so he’d be safe from identification.

Professor Rowan knew that the last thing Luthor wanted to do was to return to the Aetherion Empire. They celebrated him as a hero, but so what? After the incident with the prince, Luthor had no desire to return, regardless of his title as the Guardian of the North.

A few minutes later, the Headmaster started to pace back and forth inside his office as if something had eluded his mind.

He combed through the details of the situation to pick out what exactly felt odd. Soon, he realized that the center of the incident was Endless Horizon again, and they were likely the ones who prompted Luthor into coming here.

’Is it a coincidence?’ Professor Rowan thought. ’Lately, every incident, no matter how big or small, seems to revolve around Endless Horizon. Are they just a magnet for trouble, or is there a deeper meaning behind this chain of events?’

The Headmaster then thought of the young man with short silver hair, who always had Dim Dim perched on top of his head.

The student council president, Theo, had once said that Alex had called Professor Rowan "his uncle".

The Headmaster smiled wryly after remembering this piece of information.

Professor Rowan dreaded the thought of Alex being his nephew. Right now, the silver-haired young man was just one of his students, yet he was already suffering from headaches.

If they have any deeper relations, the trouble-prone young man would undoubtedly become a source of endless stress and sleepless nights.