Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 154

**#154. Self-Love (3)**

 

—

Above the two circles encircling the boy’s heart—

The third orbiting point of mana, which had been revolving to form a third circle, suddenly began to surge forward at an uncontrollable speed.

**Wooooong──!**

The aching sensation made it difficult to breathe, and even the boy—numb to pain—couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

The pain was getting worse each time.

As his understanding of emotions accumulated.

As more colors were added to the circles.

*‘Sky-blue mana… is flowing into the circle.’*

A refreshing sky-blue hue.

Unlike the navy mana commonly seen in the slums, it was a rare color, possessed by very few.

But it was a familiar sight.

Because it was the color of emotions always carried by Phillip and Veronica.

**Wooooong──!**

Having observed the two of them for a long time, the boy had formed a rough hypothesis about sky-blue mana.

And now that a new bearer of sky-blue mana, Ain, had appeared—

He could solidify that hypothesis.

*‘At first, I thought it was simply associated with a cheerful or bright temperament.’*

But that wasn’t it.

> “You need to love yourself first before you can give that love to others.”

Sky-blue mana carried a deeper meaning.

> “I’m plenty amazing as I am. I mean, I’ll be a national treasure in the future, after all.”

It didn’t merely signify a bright and cheerful disposition.

What sky-blue mana truly represented was—

> “This is who I am, so what?”

*‘That “so what” kind of attitude.’*

For a moment, the revolving mana stuttered.

Then it began to slow down.

*‘Is that not it?’*

After a brief pause in thought, he shouted inwardly again.

*‘So what.’*

The orbit of the mana slowed to a crawl.

Sensing danger, the boy dove deeper into contemplation, and came up with a similar yet different expression.

*‘The feeling of cherishing and loving oneself.’*

The mana’s rotation sped up again, and a crisp breeze swept through the boy’s circle.

**Whooooosh───!**

In reality, only a few seconds passed.

But to the boy, it felt like several long minutes.

And at the end of that stretch—

…

The point of mana returned to its original pace, leisurely revolving around his heart.

The number of circles remained at two.

But he could feel that the completion of the third was imminent.

And another change—

*‘Sky-blue mana is contained in the circle.’*

Unlike typical circles, which permanently fix the type of element stored at the time of formation,

The boy’s circles continuously shifted in element type and ratio based on his revelations.

This time, the mana that had increased was sky-blue.

But the quantity was less than expected.

*‘A little… no, a lot less than I thought.’*

When he moved the sky-blue mana in the air, it felt much smoother than before.

Which meant his revelation had been accurate.

However, the fact that so little of it had been stored in the circle meant—

*‘Does that mean I don’t love and cherish myself all that much?’*

Wasn’t he someone with plenty of self-love?

As he peeled off a flimsy bandage dangling over a still-healing wound, Ray thought to himself.

Just then, Ain’s voice rang out.

> “So I don’t care what anyone says. I’m me.”

Even if he didn’t have much self-love himself, it probably didn’t matter too much.

Because he could absorb the secret of it from someone who clearly *did* have it in spades.

> “I turned out this way—so what?”

Ray nodded.

He engraved a new maxim in his heart.

*‘What matters is the “so what” attitude.’*

From the next part of the conversation, Ray was able to understand why Ain reacted so sensitively when it came to his older sister.

> “I’m not saying this just because I’m her little brother, but my sister’s kind of pretty, right? There are way too many scumbags trying to pull nasty moves on her. Dirty wolf bastards.”

Ain’s face twisted with fury just from the thought.

> “So I have to protect her. My sister’s not as strong-willed as I am, and sometimes she forgets to take care of herself.”

When they were younger, protecting his sister wasn’t too difficult.

But as they grew older, Ayla’s beauty became more radiant, and the intensity of those “moves” became unmanageable.

> “There was even a time when some organization tried to kidnap her. Crazy bastards. They even did their homework and found out our parents were deadbeats and wouldn’t be a problem.”

Then he met Binjin, who offered to teach him magic.

> “There was no reason to refuse. I needed more power to protect my sister anyway. So I’m really grateful to Master.”

> “Master showed up right after our parents passed.”

As they spoke, the siblings’ emotional vessels bloomed with a variety of feelings toward each other—

Pure affection, care, worry…

Ray focused more on Ayla’s vessel than on Ain’s.

Since he had already determined the associated emotion for Ain’s sky-blue mana, now it was time to analyze the blue mana from Ayla.

The most prominent emotion in Ayla’s vessel was—

*‘White mana—worry.’*

It floated high above the vessel.

Unlike the other emotions that were either frozen on or slipping across the icy surface of the blue mana—

…Typically, white mana tilted the most toward its own master.

*‘But Ayla’s white mana leans entirely toward Ain.’*

Could this unusual trait be related to the formation of blue mana?

Its volume was also larger than usual.

As Ray ran through several hypotheses and combinations, a thought struck him.

What if that white mana—

—were dropped onto the blue mana below?

*‘Then sky-blue mana might be formed.’*

Ray quickly organized the associated emotions and mana colors in his head.

*‘Sky-blue mana’*
→ The feeling of cherishing and loving oneself.

*‘Navy mana’*
→ The feeling of hating and loathing oneself.

*‘Blue mana,’ which sits in the middle.*
→ The associated emotion was still unknown.

*‘But blue can turn into either of the two depending on what it’s mixed with.’*

Add white, and it becomes the refreshing sky-blue.

Add black, and it becomes gloomy navy.

*‘White usually represents worry… while black is a mix of negative emotions like malice and fear.’*

Sky-blue and navy sit on opposite ends.

Adding white or black to blue determines the direction.

He felt like he was on the verge of understanding something big.

Ray’s excitement and focus hit a peak when—

> “What do you think, hyung? My sister? She’s pretty, right?”

Ain’s voice shattered his train of thought.

> “Ain… why do you ask that to every guy who meets her? Please stop doing that.”

> “Because if they say yes, I gotta break their damn legs—ah, crap, I said it out loud. Anyway, answer me, hyung.”

Ain stared fiercely at Ray, eyes full of suspicion.

So Ray stared back, eyes equally wide.

“……”

“……”

Ain glanced away first.

Ray then turned his gaze to Ayla’s face.

> “It’s okay. You don’t have to answer seriously. Ain just asks weird questions like that sometimes.”

But Ray was already contemplating the question.

*‘Is she pretty.’*

It was a meaningless question to Ray.

He wasn’t good at recognizing faces, and had no personal standard for beauty or ugliness.

The only thing he had ever thought of as beautiful was the radiance of Veronica’s sun.

*‘Though her facial features do seem more proportionately placed than most.’*

Still, if he had to give an answer—

> “I don’t really know.”

At that, Ain’s face lit up with joy.

> “I knew it, hyung! I could tell at a glance that you were different from those wolf bastards!”

Ayla simply stared at Ray, expressionless.

But her vessel brimmed with vivid curiosity and interest toward him.

Feeling good, Ain passionately answered all of Ray’s questions—and even shared things Ray hadn’t asked.

> “Also, Master prefers pouring sauce over food instead of dipping it.”

“……”

Ray really didn’t need to know that.

Just then, a loud ruckus came from downstairs, followed by a door opening.

**Creeeak!**

A thunderous voice followed.

> “You’re back, Master!”

> “Was your business well taken care of?”

Binjin had returned.

Ray, surprised by the earlier-than-expected arrival, said:

> “I should probably get going now.”

> “Cool. I had fun talking to you. I heard the Tower is on break right now, right? Do you think we could meet again tomorrow? I feel like we could get along well.”

Would they meet again?

The odds were high.

There was no way he could accomplish everything he needed in the mansion in just one day.

*‘I’ll have to meet Binjin downstairs and see.’*

At the very least, if not Ain, he was certain he’d see Ayla again.

Because—

> “Ayla.”

> “Yeah?”

> “I’d like to speak with you tomorrow, just the two of us, in a quieter place.”

> “Huh, huh?”

> “Outside the mansion.”

—he would create the opportunity himself.

Ain’s face turned catastrophic at the completely unexpected remark.

> “I called a pitch-black wolf bastard my hyung! Said he didn’t know if she was pretty! Didn’t know! Liar!”

Ain screeched, but ran off the moment Ray casually tossed a dictionary at him.

Ayla, slightly open-mouthed in surprise, asked:

> “Do you… have something to say?”

> “It’s hard to talk about inside the mansion.”

She paused in thought, then opened her mouth again.

> “I can meet outside. But only briefly in the evening. I’m not in Class A, so I don’t have much free time.”

> “Don’t worry. I’ll speak to Binjin.”

> “That’s not such an easy—”

Ayla trailed off mid-sentence.

She recalled how reverently Binjin had treated the boy earlier.

> “Hmm… okay. Then talk to Master first and let me know. I’ll be in the mansion, so you can come find me again. Or just tell Master.”

Ray nodded.

After asking a few more questions, he headed toward the stairs to meet Binjin.

**Tap─ Tap─ Tap─**

He could feel Ayla’s gaze on his back.

“……”

There was only one reason he wanted to see the girl outside the mansion.

Whenever a certain word was mentioned, Ayla’s vessel would fill with intense fear.

Two words, to be exact.

*‘The mansion, and Binjin.’*

The place she lived.

The master she served.

Ayla was afraid.

He didn’t know exactly why.

But it had made her swallow her words several times during their conversation.

As if something were caught in her throat.

*‘She’ll be able to speak outside.’*

Ain’s sky-blue mana.

Ayla’s blue mana.

The latter had yielded no significant results during their hallway chat.

Talking to Ayla had felt like facing someone wearing a mask.

That’s the feeling he got.

That there were truths hidden deep inside her heart, only accessible if he reached that depth.

If he approached and gently touched that blue mana—

If he could feel its texture and sensations directly—

*‘Maybe I’ll learn something new.’*

Even if he got too close and froze,

It didn’t matter.

Because he was already frozen to begin with.

Just then, a voice called from behind.

> “Sis, if you don’t want to see me lose my mind, reject that pitch-black wolf bastard’s date invitation.”

Ain had apparently returned.

Something occurred to Ray, and he stopped in his tracks, turning slightly.

Ain made a dramatic retreat, but Ray’s eyes were fixed only on Ayla.

After a long pause—

> “Mana waves at those who are honest with themselves.”

—he said.

While gazing at the frozen emotions in Ayla’s vessel.

Ray turned away again.

**Tap─ Tap─ Tap─**

“……”

Ayla didn’t move.

She simply stood there, staring at Ray’s retreating back as he disappeared down the hallway.

For a long time, for quite a while.

Even after he was no longer in sight—

She remained frozen.

 

 

 

 

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