Reborn After Betrayal: The Frail True Princess Decides to Give Up-Chapter 29 : The Battle for the Master's Disciple

Celitia and Sophia faced each other, each with their own thoughts, yet neither spoke.
The air momentarily fell into silence until Meilan suddenly spoke, breaking the somewhat awkward quiet:
"Child, your authentication magic is extremely exquisite, full of ingenious ideas that make an old man like me marvel… If I may ask, do you have a teacher? I'd like to know which master taught such an outstanding disciple."
Celitia pondered for a moment, considering how to answer.
When Sercis first came to this other world, having lost both parents and fallen on hard times, he and his sister received help from a family.
The mistress of this family was Florence's mother, named Maria, a local authenticator.
Maria introduced Sercis to authentication magic. However, in the year Sercis came of age, she died of illness, which was over a decade ago.
Maria might not have been an especially outstanding authenticator, but she was certainly a great educator. Using her methods, she taught Sercis and Florence, two children who went on completely different paths.
"It was a teacher of mine who opened the door to authentication magic for me," Celitia finally answered. "However, she passed away many years ago."
"So after your teacher's death, you continued to explore on your own and achieved such accomplishments?"
Meilan muttered, his tone full of admiration. "How astonishing..."
"No... it's not much of an achievement. Before a master like you, I'm merely showing off trivial skills."
After all, Celitia had been reborn and had long known about Florence's little tricks.
But to Meilan, the child before him was clearly an unpolished jade.
"Since your teacher has passed away, would you be willing to study under me?"
Meilan's voice revealed a hint of longing.
"I'm getting old, and none of my disciples can fully inherit all my knowledge, which I must say is a great regret of mine. But if it's you, I could regain confidence in passing on my mantle completely to you."
"Hey, Meilan, that's not fair!"
Colton immediately protested. "Celitia is my student; how can you try to steal her from me?"
"What's wrong with stealing from you? You're the dean of the academy with so many students; you won't miss just this one."
Meilan didn't back down at all. "Whereas I'm old and don't have a single disciple—quite pitiful!"
Seeing Meilan actually pretending to be pitiful, Colton was furious:
"After I brought you from the countryside, provided you with good food and drink, this is how you repay me?"
Meilan smiled: "That's a separate matter; we have to calculate them separately."
Watching these two highly respected senior scholars arguing like children, almost coming to blows over snatching a student, Celitia didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Mr. Meilan, I appreciate your kind intentions, but I don't plan to leave Cassia for now."
Authentication magic was indeed Celitia's hobby, but it wasn't her everything.
If she chose to become Meilan's student, she would likely have to follow him back to his hometown and spend all her time on studies.
Actually, such a reclusive life focused on learning wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
But Celitia still remembered her promise to Luna to take her and Rebecca away from home, to open a small flower shop in a corner of Cassia, and to live peaceful, happy days together.
She had thought that having been reborn and bid farewell to the past, she should be free of attachments, but she still had people she couldn't let go of.
Hearing Celitia's answer, Meilan was obviously very disappointed, but he hadn't given up hope:
"What if I stay in Cassia? In fact, I don't plan to leave anytime soon."
Celitia was taken aback, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
It seemed Meilan was quite persistent about finding a successor.
"Didn't you say Cassia was too humid, complaining about joint pain and wanting to go back?" Colton gave Meilan a side-eye. "In my opinion, you neglected exercise when you were young. If you had learned some martial skills and magic to keep yourself fit, you wouldn't look so decrepit at just over sixty."
Regardless of Meilan's feelings, Celitia's mouth twitched slightly upon hearing this, thinking Colton's tongue was too sharp.
But looking at Colton, also in his sixties yet appearing like a man in his twenties, even if Celitia wanted to rebut on Meilan's behalf, she wouldn't know where to begin.
"Just let her study at Samuel Academy. Celitia is still young and needs to broaden her learning. We have many courses, enough for her comprehensive development."
Colton continued eloquently, "As for you, if you want to teach her, I won't stop you. You could even come teach at our academy—how about it? The salary is quite good."
Celitia thought to herself: This person would be wasted if he didn't go into sales.
Meilan was clearly persuaded by Colton, nodding slowly repeatedly.
"Thank you for your generous affection, Mr. Meilan," Celitia coughed lightly. "Since you're willing to stay in Cassia temporarily, please give me an address. Once I have time, I will certainly visit to seek your guidance."
Meilan was finally completely convinced and immediately wrote down his address, handing it to Celitia.
Watching the battle between the two masters for a student come to a close, Sophia somehow felt proud by association and couldn't help but puff up her chest.
Indeed, she had been right to trust her instincts, to trust Celitia.
Speaking of which, Celitia had helped her, preventing her from spending a fortune on a fake gemstone. She should reward her with something...
Just as Sophia was fretting over the reward, Shanie's voice softly rose. She weakly raised her right hand, without much energy:
"Um... are you all done talking? Can we go eat little cakes now? I'm starving..."
Whether it was Charlotte's apology or if Celitia would be taken as a disciple by some master, Shanie didn't care about any of it.
All she had on her mind was cake!
Seeing it was almost noon and not having eaten a grain of rice, Shanie expressed that regardless of whether others were hungry, she was almost dying of hunger.
Sophia's eyes lit up: "Good, then I'll treat you all to cake!"
"Really?" Shanie was extremely happy. "Does that mean I can eat as much as I want?"
Sophia waved her hand grandly, with a magnificent air: "Hmph, am I some stingy person? Eat whatever you want; it's not like you can eat me into poverty, can you?"
"Hooray!" Shanie raised both hands in cheer. "Long live the princess!!"
These two are quite bold...
Looking at the two young girls radiating bright smiles, as if infected by them, a very faint smile gradually appeared at the corner of Celitia's lips.