Can the sadness that magic cannot take away be offset by love?

The awards ceremony was to be held in the afternoon, and there was still some time before it officially started. Iris sat in her seat, bored, listening to the Smith siblings behind her discussing the cafeteria cuisine of the Anthony Bridge Magic Academy in the noisy hall.

"Fried pork cutlet wrapped in strawberries and peanut sauce? Is it really okay to eat it like that?" This was Julia Smith's genuine question.

"You can rest assured, this is the Anthony family's secret recipe. I ate it in the cafeteria for two months straight before I figured out the formula—" This was Byron Smith's confident reply.

Dennis Anthony, a member of the Anthony family, was slightly displeased upon hearing this, and put down his water glass to rebuke Byron:

"You've been plotting to steal my family's recipes all along? You've got ulterior motives! I'm going to report you to my mother, and you can expect to be fired!"

Dennis's mother, as the head of the Anthony family, wielded immense power over the Anthony Bridge Magic Academy.

While casually mentioning being fired, Dennis picked up the toast brooch that had fallen on his desk, moved his fingers along the brooch closer to Byron Smith, who was now looking at him with half-closed eyes, seemingly bothered by the talk of firing him.

Yulia glanced at the brooch, which was already a bit rusty, and suggested that she give him a new one.

"It doesn't need to be that complicated."

"I have a whole box of that too—toast or something else? Kebabs? Pork belly?"

"...Pork belly, I guess."

Byron turned back as if nothing had happened, acting as if he couldn't be bothered with him now that he had a sister.

Just then, Audrey Anthony's message was sent to Dennis Anthony's Wisdom Network. He had no choice but to look down at the message, and after only one glance, he sighed with a sense of utter despair.

Sitting not far to his right and behind, Audrey glanced at her brother's expression, feeling quite satisfied. She turned and calmly took the drink her friend handed her, continuing their conversation: "Controlling the flower petals isn't difficult. I'll show you how later."

"Really? That's great!"

The friend, who was happy about this, didn't notice that Audrey was still typing rapidly to reply to someone.

On the smart network screen, Audrey's previous message was: "Dear brother, I watched your elimination scene several times yesterday and benefited a lot. Thank you so much for your selfless guidance! ~(^3^)-☆".

The most recent reply from the person whose nickname is "Dear elder brother →_→" is: "( ＿ ＿)ノ".

On the flashing input screen, Audrey's new reply appeared one by one: "If needed, I can teach you how to defend against ice magic~".

Dennis Anthony's temper flared up the moment he saw the new message.

Reversing the Heavenly Principles! Reversing the Heavenly Principles! The first magic Audrey learned as a child was taught by him!

While chatting with her friends, Audrey would occasionally glance at him and, seeing him standing there in a helpless rage, felt relieved.

To Iris's left, Leander Joe was browsing the SmartNet shopping interface, discussing with his clan which feather cleaner didn't leave a slippery feeling after use.

Two people were huddled in the back corner. One was Angelia, who was hiding in the shadows and busy replying to the endless stream of messages from the rabbits. The other was Lucius, who was also frantically dealing with the red dots on the intelligence network. Angelia could hear him muttering when she looked up occasionally: "Stop sending me messages! Stop sending me messages! Ugh, why is the economic report due today!"

Near the center, the blond young man who had been sparring with Celeste Wilmington for quite some time in the bonus match muttered, "Ernest hasn't arrived yet?"

Celeste, who was carefully wiping the blade of her staff, casually replied, "I heard that guy took on a lot of work for the head of the Ramirez family in advance. Even if the world ends, he probably won't be able to keep busy."

To Celeste's right, Lyland Vigras was shuffling cards while leaning back in his chair, and Wins Cooper was squatting by the table in front of Lyland, watching him shuffle with one hand on his chin.

The shadow cast by Lyland fell on his pale-faced features, then was disturbed by the paper Adrian Louis held out to him and waved it gently.

Under the bright lights of the venue, Adrian's short blond hair shone brightly, and genuine concern appeared in his deep blue eyes: "If you're really too tired, why don't you lie down on the chair and rest for a while? Lyland and I can play together."

Wins Cooper blinked, turned his head slightly to look at Adrian, and the tips of his black wolf tail hair swayed silently in the air.

"I'm not sleepy."

Despite the questioning look in his eyes, he insisted, "I'm just used to this state, I'm not really sleepy."

Adrian raised an eyebrow, replied "Okay, okay," and leaned back in his chair, patiently waiting for Lyland to deal the cards.

After Wins won two games against Lyland and three against Adrian, Ernest Ramirez finally arrived late. Levin Unsett walked quickly into the arena alongside him and parted ways at the aisle intersection.

Seeing Ernest walk toward Lucius and Angelia, Levin turned around, scanned the entire room with his green eyes, and then walked toward Lyland, who was waving at him.

Adrian, clutching the cards in his hand, said with a rather relieved tone, "Finally, we have four people."

Wins lazily lifted his eyelids to look at Levin, nodded as a greeting, and then told him to sit in his original seat.

"Are you planning to squat on the ground too when the show starts?" Levin asked incredulously.

Adrian scoffed, "He's afraid he'll actually fall asleep in a minute, so he doesn't dare sit down."

Lyland hesitated for a moment before reminding him, "But squatting next to the seat in the dark will make you even sleepier, won't it?"

Wins simply closed his eyes and said no more.

"No way, we only have four people to play cards," Adrian teased him.

Not long after, Olivia Noviro entered steadily with her long, glossy, silver-white hair flowing over her shoulders, followed by the blond boy named Iris who had eaten with her after the credit event.

As soon as Olivia appeared in the room, members of the Novello family's main family and affiliated families stood up almost simultaneously. Many of them left their seats and squeezed in front of her to talk to her, only to be stopped one by one by the blond boy next to her.

Elvis Dyer's smile remained as clear as ever, his cheerful expression seemingly revealing his carefree nature. Equally evident was his profound skill in handling trivial matters for his master and deflecting questions with polite words.

Olivia herself remained almost completely silent throughout, letting Elvis do as he pleased, and her attitude was quite indifferent.

After finally managing to block everyone who came forward, Elvis continued to protect Olivia as they walked forward. At one point, he saw Iris looking in their direction. His eyes lit up, but because Olivia was in front of him, he just blinked frantically to show that he had seen her.

Iris glanced at the other's tireless eyelids, a smile of appreciation on her face, then pursed her lips and met Olivia's gaze, the smile still lingering in her eyes.

Olivia then walked over and sat down next to her.

Iris tucked a few strands of her silver hair behind her finger and asked thoughtfully, "Are you very busy lately, senior?"

Her tone was like that of someone being coquettish.

Elvis was busy placing the hot snacks on the small tables next to the two of them.

Olivia paused for a moment before replying with a smile, "Would you like to... try it out?"

Her gentle, flowing voice was tinged with a rare liveliness, and the rising tone at the end of the "yi xia" sounded like a bewitching enchantress.

Iris didn't answer, but smiled at her, then turned to look at the stage where the lights were gradually coming on.