Medea sat down beside Dark, narrowing her eyes at the article in the corner of the newspaper—the one that was so obviously fabricated.
She asked seriously, "What do you make of this piece of news?"
Dark, however, didn't seem to care much. "It's a clever scheme, but a foolish move."
Medea: "Hmm?"
Dark said, "Theorizing on paper always feels shallow; to truly understand a matter, one must put it into practice. This is nothing more than the product of a momentary fit of enthusiasm. But from the Eldest Princess's standpoint, it would be worth investigating who's trying to feed schemes to the First Prince. After all, useless as this foolish move is, it can still be quite irritating to deal with."
A trace of curiosity crept into Medea's gaze as she looked at him. "I never expected a mere first-year to have such insight. I really can't imagine how all those rumors about you got started."
Dark felt a little awkward. "Youthful ignorance." Medea smiled and said no more.
She turned her attention back to her own plate, cutting the bacon into small pieces and chewing slowly.
After a long while, she finally looked up again. "Easter is almost here."
Easter?
Today is White Valentine's Day, isn't it?
Talking about Easter on White Valentine's Day?
Professor, that's quite the leap you're making.
Dark thought this to himself, but didn't say it outright. "This year's Easter seems to fall on the same day as April Fool's, doesn't it?"
Professor Medea said, "To fool others is to fool oneself, to deceive others is to deceive oneself. Do you know the origins of Easter?"
Dark shook his head and admitted frankly, "I don't."
In his previous life, Easter was the Christian festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after he was crucified and died.
Also known as the Resurrection of Jesus or the Lord's Resurrection; in Catholicism it was also called the Feast of the Resurrection.
But as for the origins of Easter in this life—
he had never come across them.
Professor Medea merely smiled. "I suggest you look it up yourself. That will leave a much deeper impression on you."
And then she picked up her plate and just—walked off like that!
...
Dark stared at her retreating figure—one impossible to look at directly—his eyes filled with astonishment.
Originally, even if Professor Medea had skipped right over White Valentine's Day and casually brought up Easter, it wouldn't have been a big deal.
After all, an old leftover woman like Professor Medea would most likely deliberately ignore something like Valentine's Day.
But Professor Medea's identity as a prophet always draped her words in a veil of mystery.
It made one wonder—was she doing it on purpose?
...
"Easter, huh? What exactly does she know? And why bring it up with me?"
More thoughts stirred in Dark's mind. For now, he hastily finished the food on his plate and strode out of the canteen.
Even though it was still early, he went straight to the classroom for his first lesson.
Today happened to be Wednesday—two classes in the morning, none in the afternoon, and Professor Medea's Astronomy class in the evening. That was perhaps why she had shown up in the canteen.
Although Dark had stuffed the chocolates into his bag and brought them along, he ultimately felt it wasn't quite proper to give his return gifts in the classroom, so he decided to wait until the morning classes were over before dealing with it.
During the breaks and lessons of Potions and Summoning, the students were all quietly discussing topics related to Valentine's Day.
As the boy who had received the most chocolates this Valentine's Day, Dark naturally had to endure more glances and gossip.
But he sat there, utterly unmoved, leaving the boys and girls hoping for a good show unable to help feeling disappointed.
Over the course of the entire morning, one couple did actually come together.
But word was that the little couple from Fool's House had been childhood sweethearts all along!
And what's more, their homes were right next door to each other.
People who win at the starting line like that—there's just no way to envy them enough.
The students sighed and lamented, able only to secretly hope that in a few more years they too might find a kindred spirit.
"Ring-a-ling-ling!"
Just as all sorts of thoughts were swirling about, the bell signaling the end of the second morning class suddenly rang.
Professor Silf glanced at the clock, quickly assigned homework, and left the classroom.
The students all packed up their bags and went their separate ways.
For them, every Wednesday afternoon was a little holiday, and the evening Astronomy class was mainly about cultivating interest.
Now that class was over, they could rest properly for a good while.
Dark recalled Professor Medea's words in his heart and prepared to head to the Library to look up materials related to "Easter."
But when he had gathered up his books and taken his bag out of the drawer, he suddenly noticed that Diana and Rose, seated in the front row, were still sitting there perfectly composed.
Normally, Diana would have long since picked up her bag and been waiting off to the side.
A faint curve quietly traced its way across Dark's lips.
Then, in no hurry at all, he shouldered his bag and took two steps toward the door.
Sure enough, Diana's figure could no longer sit still.
He took two steps back again.
And then he even sat back down, gazing forward with a beaming smile.
The people in the classroom slipped away one by one, and soon only a few were left.
Dark's gaze passed over Diana's shoulder, and he saw Eudora Envy seated up front as well, looking somewhat ill at ease.
Eudora had her ears pricked up, nervously listening to the movements behind her.
Last night she had observed the stars, and one star had shone especially bright, foretelling that she might have a stroke of good fortune today.
So from the morning onward, she had been secretly keeping an eye on Dark.
Right up until now, there were finally signs that the auspicious event was about to occur.
"Is—is it coming?"
She suddenly heard the sound of someone standing up at the very back, and couldn't help growing all the more excited.
...
Dark had indeed stood up, but he didn't leave his seat.
Instead, he took a box of chocolates out of his bag, raised his hand high, leaned the upper half of his body forward, and over Diana's head, slowly lowered the chocolate gift box down from above.
Diana suddenly noticed something blocking the light from above, and when she looked up, she caught sight of the chocolate gift box right then.
Her eyes went wide instantly, and she abruptly raised both hands, clapping them hard at the chocolate box, trying to snatch the box between them!
"Whoosh!"
But the gift box suddenly rose up a short distance.
Her grab came up empty!
In that instant, a sharp gleam flashed in Diana's eyes. "Double Clap!"
"Clap!"
The crisp sound was extremely conspicuous in the empty classroom.
Dark had prepared in advance—how could he ever be caught by her?
"Clap!"
Another triple clap came up empty.
"Hmph ╭（╯^╰）╮."
Diana finally puffed out her cheeks, displeased.
Dark hurriedly lowered the chocolate gift box and stuffed it into her hands of his own accord.
Diana's five fingers closed at once, immediately gripping it tight, her mouth grinning crookedly with delight.
"Haha."
Rose half-turned around, covering her mouth to giggle quietly.
Dark then took out her portion as well and handed it over.
The moment their eyes met, a bashful look came over Rose's face. She hurriedly snatched the chocolates and turned back around.
After that, the two little girls quietly made V-signs with their hands under the desk.
Clearly, the purpose for which they had deliberately stayed behind in the classroom had been achieved.
Having delivered their chocolates, Dark then took out Eudora's box of chocolates as well, calmly stepped out of his seat, crossed the aisle, and came to the side of Eudora's desk.
Then he set the chocolate gift box on the desk and slowly pushed it over.
Only after Eudora turned her head to look did he say, "A thank-you gift."
...
Even though it was only a "thank-you gift," Eudora was already extremely excited.
She tilted her head up and glanced at Dark's face, then hurriedly lowered her head, quickly reaching out to grab the chocolate gift box and gripping it tightly.
Dark sighed faintly in his heart, withdrew his hand, and returned.
"I hope that once Eudora sees the card, she can put more of her focus on her studies. Especially the study of astrology—that's of vital importance to her as well."
...
The few people remaining in the classroom had witnessed Dark's behavior from start to finish, yet they couldn't, for the life of them, detect any "scumbag" flavor in it.
Only one chubby little boy, his face full of horror, muttered under his breath, "How terrifying—is this the legendary Sea King, the playboy of playboys?"
Then he was nudged by his deskmate and let out a short little yelp.
...
After returning to his seat, Dark extended an invitation to Diana and Rose, "Lunch together?"
The two little girls suppressed the urge to tear open the chocolate gift boxes right then and there, and immediately stuffed them into their bags.
Diana, as if she had suddenly come back to life, said with a giggle, "Let's go, let's go, my stomach's completely flat already."
Rose chimed in, "I heard there's chestnut cake today—if we go too late, we'll miss it..."
And so the three of them walked toward the canteen as always.
Walking through the corridors of the ancient castle, there was always a sense of time slipping away on either side.
As if, in the blink of an eye, it would all become a memory.
...
It wasn't until after lunch that Dark bid the two of them farewell and, along the way, headed toward Professor Lily's office.
"Come in."
After Dark knocked and entered, he saw Professor Lily sprawled miserably over her desk, grading homework.
He hurriedly placed the chocolate gift box on the desk and called out, "Professor Lily, I've left the thing here."
"All right, mm..."
Professor Lily jerked her head up, and seeing that Dark had already half-stepped out of the office, she hastily called out, "Dark, don't go!"
"Bang!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Dark shut the door and silently wiped away a bead of sweat.
"Good thing my reflexes are quick, or this whole afternoon would have been done for right here!"
He hoisted his bag and set off for the Library.
It was obvious at a glance that Professor Lily hadn't bothered to remember anything about White Valentine's Day at all, which actually made things nicely easy.
...
Upon reaching the Library, Dark found that Senior Pandora was not behind the counter, so he quickly registered his class and name and walked into the stacks.
As for the last box of chocolates, he could just give it to her once she came on duty.
Dark had not forgotten the other purpose of his visit to the Library.
He found the area marked "Festivals" on the Library's floor plan and quickly walked over.
Then, after spending about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, he finally found the books recording matters related to "Easter."
That stretch of shelves was packed densely with relevant books—some about Easter customs, some about Easter rituals, and some about Easter heroes... In short, just about everything one could think of was there.
Dark browsed for a moment, and in the end pulled out a book titled Easter: Revelation.
In this world where the gods had indeed once existed, the meaning of each festival was far more profound than ordinary people imagined.
Whether it was the earlier Halloween and Christmas, or this time's Easter, the same held true.
Their origins, too, were far from as simple as what was popularly passed down nowadays.
Dark leaned against the bookshelf and read carefully for a while, then took the book to the reading room and, beneath his usual seat, read on further.
The author of this book, Easter: Revelation, was the "Holy Church," which meant it had most likely been written collaboratively by a team from the "Holy Church"—though it was also possible that the "Holy Church" had stripped the true author of his authorship rights.
In any case, the content within was therefore slanted toward the doctrines of the "Holy Church."
Just as they proclaimed to the outside world that Christmas was the birthday of the "Saint."
This Easter, too, was called the day of the "Saint's" resurrection.
But unlike the allusion to Jesus's resurrection, no one could nail the "Saint" to a cross!
That was impossible—not permitted.
As one of the most ancient deities described within the Holy Church's scriptures, the first "Human," the "Saint" was not even permitted to "die."
Since there was no "death," there naturally was no "resurrection" either.
So then, how did Easter come to be?
Dark continued reading on.
The sound of his fingertips brushing against the corners of the pages was soft and fragmentary.
The "Saint" was the first human.
He was both "God" and "Human."
Before His descent, there were no "Humans" in the world.
After His descent, the first "Human" appeared in the world—that is, He Himself.
He was the beginning of "Humanity," and also the origin of "Humanity."
The progenitor of all humankind in the world!
He had never "died" in the past, and He still "existed" now.
The so-called "resurrection" was not a matter of "dying and coming back to life," but rather a "resurrection" in another conceptual sense.
...
In order to protect humanity throughout the long river of time, the "Saint" had once "sacrificed" Himself.
This was a very important stroke in the propaganda about the "Saint."
But He could not truly "sacrifice" Himself.
So He did not die; He merely divided into three.
This allusion was probably borrowed from "Laozi, with one breath, transforming into the Three Pure Ones."
After His "sacrifice," the "Saint" split into three fetuses.
Guided by fate, these three fetuses grew up flourishing—one became a Hero without equal in all the world, another became a Sage who knew all things, and the last became an Emperor of supreme nobility.
When these three avatars led humanity toward glory and touched the very pinnacle of that era—
the Hero, the Sage, and the Emperor all arrived at the place of the "Saint's" sacrifice at the same time.
As their gazes intertwined, the three suddenly recovered their memories, then exchanged a knowing smile and merged into one.
The "Saint," who had vanished for decades, was thus "resurrected" once more.
...
And that day was "Easter."
...
"Why do I always have this inexplicable sense of déjà vu?"
Dark closed the book, his expression peculiar.
"Professor Medea specifically had me look up the origins of Easter—could it be she wanted to tell me that the Demon King split into seven parts, the one whose very existence is uncertain, plans to merge back into one during the upcoming Easter? Does she really take this for the Calabash Brothers?"
Dark picked up his pen and tapped the desktop, then immediately dismissed the idea.
"Impossible—it's only first year!"
"Besides, there's been no news of the Demon King escaping his seal."
"And it's not even certain whether he really split into seven parts like Voldemort in Harry Potter."
...
"What are you looking at?"
The voice that suddenly came from beside his ear made Dark abruptly snap back to his senses.
He instinctively turned his head, and saw Senior Pandora leaning forward, her hands clasped behind her back, gazing at him with a charming, beaming smile.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 20 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉