Creak, creak.
It was the sound of the Pumpkin Carriage slowly rolling away.
Zheng Qing adjusted the soft brim of his pointed wizard hat and discreetly glanced around. As expected, he found nothing but furtive looks. Yet beyond those half-hidden gazes, a strange, malicious aura hung in the air, making the young publicly funded student want to turn and run at once.
But when he looked back, Qingqiu Mansion's Pumpkin Carriage had already vanished without a trace. In the direction it had gone, there was nothing but dense night.
His crisp formalwear felt like sheets of iron, heavy and cold against his body, as though he had been shackled from the inside out. Fortunately, the undulating brim of his soft-brimmed wizard hat not only filtered out many prying gazes, but also concealed his own eyes, sparing him from meeting anyone else's gaze.
Look on the bright side. You already bought accident insurance, and you've exploded once before... Things can't get any worse. The young publicly funded student thought sadly but resolutely.
For a moment, he deeply regretted caring too much about Transfiguration Aftereffects in his daily life. Now, while everyone cast sidelong looks at him and whispered among themselves, he could not hear what they were saying at all.
The boy forced himself to focus on the witches' beautiful gowns and the music flowing through the night.
It was easy to see that every witch wore the confidence of a princess upon her face—reserved yet proud. Under the effects of magic, their long skirts rippled like flowing water, never dragging on the ground even without servants to attend them.
"Are you planning to stand here forever and serve as everyone's conversation piece?"
A familiar voice sounded beside his ear.
Zheng Qing spun around. It was Dylan, dressed in an old-fashioned