In a world where magic decides everything, the prestigious floating magic academy of Celestia is a battleground for gifted nobles and geniuses.
Lyra, 17, is a quiet girl who loves books more than people. She spends every day unnoticed in a corner of the library, reading. But Lyra hides an earth-shattering secret: she possesses a staggering magical talent no one at the academy knows about.
One day, Aiden, the academy's biggest troublemaker, accidentally witnesses Lyra's true power in the librar
The Invisible Throne of a Quiet Mage - A noisy problem child barges into the library.
Morning light streamed through the tall windows of the Biblio Arcana.
Lyra sat in her usual spot on the third floor, east wing. Behind her round glasses, her pale gray eyes wandered lost across the open book before her. The fingers turning the pages trembled faintly.
*(What if someone saw what happened yesterday?)*
The thought had refused to leave her all night. Casper had seen. Professor Vane, too, perhaps. And there might have been others there at that time, in that place.
Lyra unconsciously gripped the end of her long silver braid.
Celestia Academy sat on a floating island twelve hundred meters above the ground. Roughly six hundred students, thirty-two professors. The nobles of the royal capital Fernova sent their sons and daughters here, and as a commoner scholarship student, Lyra had always lived holding her breath. Even the gate lift toll was a major expense for her.
*(All I want is to just read books.)*
The open book was a continuation of an old magical history. An account of the Great Ether Upheaval from about four hundred years ago. How those with magical aptitude had subdued the magical beasts, how they had established noble rule. But though the letters entered her eyes, they wouldn't enter her head.
At every small sound, Lyra looked up.
The sound of someone turning a page at the next seat. That alone made her chest stir. She told herself *(It's fine, it's fine)*, but her fingers wouldn't stop trembling.
Overusing magic exhausts the magic core, and in the worst case, one loses their magic entirely. That was common knowledge any mage knew. But Lyra's case was different. A power she couldn't control moved on its own. Ever since that day in her childhood, when she'd blown away the festival stalls in her hometown, she had forbidden herself from using magic.
*(I've never once forgotten that day.)*
The sound of wind. The sound of wood splinters scattering. Screams.
Lyra closed her eyes.
――――
That silence was shattered by violent footsteps racing up the stairs.
*Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.*
A sound that had no place in a library. Lyra's shoulders jolted.
And those footsteps were heading straight toward her.
"Found you! You're the one who made the books fly here yesterday, right?!"
Lyra's heart clenched as if crushed in a fist.
She looked up. Messy, bright red short hair scattered the morning light in all directions. The right side always stuck up, and when he grinned, his fangs showed. Bright green eyes sparkled like a cat that had found something interesting. Freckles dotted his entire face. Both hands bore fresh bandages from duels, with old scars beneath them.
Aiden.
The academy's number one problem child. A boy like the sun—the complete opposite of Lyra.
"W-what are you... I don't know what you're talking about..."
Lyra's voice was barely audible.
Aiden plopped down across from her. The chair creaked.
"Don't play dumb! Yesterday evening, in front of the bookshelves. When you reached out your hand, the books around you just floated up, all *whoosh*. I was napping in the shadow of the shelves over there, and I saw the whole thing, clear as day."
The blood drained from Lyra's face.
*(So I really was seen.)*
Not just by Casper and Professor Vane. By this noisy problem child too. He said it without a trace of guilt, grinning all the while.
"You're amazing, you know that! You made the books fly! Show me again!"
"P-please stop... I can't use magic. That was... a mistake..."
Lyra shrank back, clutching her book to her chest. The other patrons were glancing over at them. In the silence, Aiden's voice alone was far too loud.
"There's no way it was a mistake! I saw it with my own eyes. A dozen or so books floated up, completely silent, and then went back on the shelves, right? Who else could pull off control that delicate? That was definitely you."
"It wasn't me... really, you're mistaken..."
"Then do it again and show me! I'll believe you then."
"I-I can't do something like that..."
Lyra stood up. *I need to run.* That was all she could think.
But in that instant, Aiden shifted his chair, blocking her path.
"Wait wait wait! Running away like that—that's your habit when you're reading in the library, isn't it? I know, you know."
"How do you know something like that..."
"'Cause I've been watching you. From the rooftop."
Lyra was speechless.
She'd never noticed at all. This boy had been observing her without her knowledge.
Aiden laughed, staring straight at Lyra's face.
"Hey, Lyra. You can actually use some amazing magic, can't you? Why are you hiding it?"
Hearing her name called, Lyra's shoulders trembled.
"N-no, that's not it. I really... can't use magic. I've never been able to, ever since I was little..."
"No way! What happened yesterday—anyone would call that magic."
"That was, um, just a coincidence..."
Aiden tilted his head, then broke into a grin.
"A coincidence makes twenty books float?! You're funny, you know that!"
Lyra's face flushed bright red. Being called "funny" was somehow unbearably embarrassing.
――――
At that moment, a low voice came from below.
"Who is making noise on the third floor?! Quiet down or I'll have you removed!"
Lyra flinched and looked at Aiden. It was the voice of Mina Herzog, the librarian. If the strict woman found them, they'd certainly be thrown out. No—what was more terrifying was what Aiden might say.
"S-see, we have to be quiet... please, just leave..."
"Nope. I'm not leaving until you show me your magic."
"I-I can't show you...!"
The sound of leather shoes climbed the stairs, *squeak, squeak*.
Lyra's heart raced so fast it felt like it might burst.
—Then Aiden stood up smoothly.
"Fine. Let's hide for a bit."
"Huh...?"
He grabbed her wrist.
"W-wait...!"
Aiden pulled Lyra along, half-dragging her into the maze of bookshelves at the back of the third floor. A dim passage thick with the smell of old books. The hand pulling her arm felt hot even through the bandages.
"This way."
Aiden sat down in the shadow of the farthest shelf.
Lyra, still pulled by the hand, collapsed down beside him.
It was cramped. Their shoulders touched.
In the shadow of the bookshelf, only the sound of their breathing could be heard.
*(He's close. Too close.)*
Lyra couldn't lift her face. The warmth of Aiden's body through his shoulder. The smell of sweat and just a hint of soap. The sound of her heartbeat pounded right next to her ears.
*Thump-thump-thump-thump.*
*Be quiet,* she thought, but her heart wouldn't listen.
"...Think the librarian lady's gone?"
Aiden said in a small voice. His breath stirred Lyra's bangs.
Lyra hunched her shoulders. She couldn't breathe properly.
Aiden turned toward her.
"You okay? You're sweating like crazy."
"I-I'm fine..."
"You're bright red."
Lyra covered her cheeks with both hands.
*(No. The heat isn't from running.)*
Thinking that made her feel ticklish and pathetic all at once.
"Hey, Lyra."
Aiden's voice suddenly dropped low.
Only when he was serious did his voice go quiet.
"...Why are you hiding your magic?"
Lyra looked at Aiden through the gaps between her fingers.
His green eyes had cast aside their teasing color and were staring straight at her.
"...Because I cause trouble for people."
"Huh?"
"A long time ago, at a festival, because of me... I destroyed a lot of the stalls. My magic—I can't stop it myself. So I decided not to use it."
Lyra's voice faded to almost nothing by the end.
But Aiden heard every word. He was silent for a while.
"...I see."
That was all he said, and then he laughed, a soft, crumpled laugh.
"You really are interesting."
"Huh...?"
"I mean, 'I don't use magic because it causes trouble for people'—who thinks like that? You're so serious, and so stupid, and so kind. I like that about you."
"L-like...?"
"As a person!"
Aiden laughed, still keeping his voice low.
Something deep in Lyra's chest grew warm.
Talking to him made her heart noisy. But somehow, she didn't dislike it.
――――
The librarian's footsteps faded into the distance.
"Looks like she's gone."
Aiden peered beyond the shelf, then slowly stood up.
Lyra stood too, unsteadily. Her legs had no strength.
Just as the two of them were about to leave the bookshelf maze—
"...What are you two doing?"
Lyra's shoulders jolted.
She turned toward the voice.
Standing there was Casper Valstein.
His lustrous dark blue-black hair was neatly parted to the side. Narrow golden eyes looked down coldly at the two of them. The silver family crest brooch on his left chest gleamed, catching the light from the tall windows. House Valstein had been a great noble family since the Great Ether Upheaval four hundred years ago, and still held sway over the academy's council. The scion of that house was now looking at a commoner and a noisy problem child with undisguised disgust.
"So you're the one who caused the disturbance in the library, Aiden."
"Oh, Casper-kun. What a coincidence. You alone again today? No friends?"
Casper's temple twitched.
"Shut up. I came here on business. More importantly, don't make such a spectacle of yourself, commoner. You're dirtying a place of learning for nobles."
"Oh, a place of learning for nobles, huh. I remember, you know. When you first enrolled, you came at me from day one. 'Don't think a commoner like you belongs in the same academy as me.' That one actually stung. I've still got a little thorn in my chest from it."
"It's the truth, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess so. But hey, do you really need to keep saying whose academy this is? If you keep talking like that, you're gonna end up with no one around you."
Casper's expression shifted.
"Be quiet. What would you know?"
"I don't know. But I do know you're always alone. Aren't you the one pushing people away? Even though you're lonely."
A blade-like silence.
The air grew taut.
Casper's fingers grew faintly warm. He was a fire-attribute user. His fingertips began to glow faintly red in response to his anger.
"P-please stop...!"
Before she knew it, Lyra had thrown herself between the two of them.
"I'm the one who made the noise. Aiden-san isn't at fault... I, um... used strange magic, and he was trying to take responsibility for me..."
Casper's gaze pierced Lyra.
"The commoner from before. You were using magic without permission in the library yesterday as well."
Lyra felt like she might vanish.
"Th-that was really just a misunderstanding..."
Lyra reached out with trembling hands.
*Please stop.* *Please don't fight anymore.*
—In that instant.
As if responding to Lyra's tension, a single book rose soundlessly from the shelf.
*Floating.*
It drifted slowly through the air, right around the midpoint between the three of them.
The old leather-bound book turned gently, round and round, like a fallen leaf in water.
"Wh—"
Casper was speechless.
His golden eyes were wide open. His mouth hung half-open, frozen. Lyra could see the heat draining from his fingertips.
"It IS real! Amazing! You didn't chant anything just now, did you?! Hey, how'd you do that? Tell me!"
Aiden's voice was brimming with excitement.
Lyra stood rooted to the spot. Her own hands were trembling violently.
*(Again. On its own.)*
"No... I didn't mean to... it's not..."
Lyra repeated in a small voice, tears welling in her eyes.
The floating book fell limply to the floor. *Flutter.*
"Hey, noble-sama, you get it now? She's the real deal."
Aiden said, deliberately peering into Casper's face.
"Look at you—you've got one hell of an expression right now. Scared? Because a commoner girl turned out to be way above what you imagined?"
"Shut up..."
Casper's voice trembled.
He looked at Lyra one more time. In his eyes were fear, anger, and a faint loneliness mixed together.
"...Remember this. If you use magic in front of me again, I will report you to the council."
Casper clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, then turned on his heel.
Leaving behind the *creak, creak* of his shoes, he
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