When Your Secret Crush Wizard Took a Love Potion - Chapter 5

In the cabin where we lived, the household chores were generally managed by a golem Edgar had created. However, being made of piled stones, the golem was clumsy with its blunt fingertips, so our meals focused solely on nutritional balance rather than taste.

Occasionally, Edgar would assist the golem with kitchen tasks, but this usually involved merely reheating or serving prepared food; he had never actually cooked before.

But that day was different. The dishes on the table, such as thick, fluffy pancakes and chicken with a sauce made of sweet honey and wine, were unlike the golem’s rudimentary cooking.

These were meals touched by human hands.

“Did you make all this yourself?”

“Yes, enjoy your meal.”

Leaving his puzzled apprentice who was wondering about his intentions, Edgar didn’t explain further until after we had finished eating, when he presented a special dessert.

A peach sorbet magically frozen.

“What’s this, really? Did you suddenly develop a hobby for cooking?”

“Just.”

Despite my grumbling, I couldn’t help but smile as I took a spoonful, and Edgar’s gaze seemed softer than usual as he watched me.

“It’s been quite some time since we met. You’re about twenty now, right? That’s the age considered an adult in the nearest kingdom. It seems like just yesterday you were a small child, and now you’re old enough for an adult ceremony. I thought I should celebrate it as your teacher.”

Ten years. A mischievous child had had enough time to grow into an adult. The moment I met his elegant gaze, how my heart fluttered!

“Yes. I wanted to do this at least once.”

The excitement quickly faded. The icy mix of fruit juice crunched between my teeth. It was supposed to be sweet, but I couldn’t taste anything.

I didn’t need to ask what he meant; I already knew. Edgar had always emphasized our inevitable separation. He had told me over and over that we couldn’t stay together forever and that someday I would need to leave our secluded mountain valley for the wider world outside. He claimed that was the true life of a human.

Each time, I resisted, arguing that I was not yet independent enough to leave. The cabin, where I knew every local herb by heart as if I could find them with my eyes closed, had become as much a home to me as any place I was born. I didn’t want to leave.

“Do you want me to leave?”

It seemed Edgar no longer intended to take care of me.

“That’s not it.”

He smiled, looking not at all changed by the years, unlike me who had grown up significantly over the past decade.

“I am, after all, just your temporary guardian. If you wish to go anywhere, Chloe, you can.”

His smile was as gentle as ever, but it sliced through my heart like a blade. The boundaries he set were clear and the meaning was unmistakable.

Edgar wouldn’t mind if I left.

Perhaps he even hoped I would leave soon. He had brought a lost child from the depths of the mountain out of pity, nothing more.

For me, Edgar was everything—my only teacher, my family…

Everything.

That’s when I realized it. Ah, I was in love with Edgar.

But my unrequited love would never be fulfilled. My kind yet detached teacher would undoubtedly turn his back without hesitation if I crossed the line from student to something more.

I had been trying to rid myself of these feelings for Edgar day by day. By discarding them, breaking them down into the smallest pieces, maybe one day I could stop loving him.

But it was all just futile hope.

“Haa…”

I didn’t want to think about it. Yet, Edgar’s changed behavior after he took the love potion brought up these painful realities I’d rather avoid.

“Gasp, wheeze…”

Why is it so noisy?

“Ah, Chloe… so cute…”

I had pulled the sheet over my head to reminisce about the past and must have dozed off half-way through.

The rough, nasal sound of breathing jolted me awake, and a chill ran down my neck, making every hair stand on end. But that wasn’t all.

Squeak, squeak… A strange noise of wet liquid rubbing against the skin rang in my ears, and it was clear where it was coming from.

‘What in the world is he doing?’

Just as I had a foreboding feeling, I opened my eyes. Right on cue, a sticky liquid splashed across my face.

“Ugh!”

The thick, murky fluid reeked of a scent. Confused and without understanding why, I wiped the liquid dripping down my lips with the back of my hand and looked at it directly.

But I still couldn’t identify it.