A Vampire, Yet a Magic Academy Instructor

When the emperor's decree arrived, declaring the Silveryllis family guilty, Eliander did not argue.

Because he had a secret.

He was the child of a vampire and a mage.

*

As the son of a condemned traitor, Eliander naturally became an "outcast" at the Academy of Magic.

Everyone avoided him, but one person was different.

He was Eliander's senior, the young duke of the Athenes family, the youngest baron, and the top student among the upperclassmen at the Academy of Magic: Isidore Athenes.

Isidore lived right next door to Eliander.

He not only took no issue with Eliander's identity, but also affectionately called him by his nickname, "Eli," and helped him in every way he could.

Eliander considered himself "slow-witted" and took a long time to learn even one spell.

Whenever that happened, Isidore would patiently teach him again and again until he got it.

He was always encouraging, too. "Eli, you're amazing."

Eliander felt a powerful desire.

He wanted to make Isidore proud of him someday.

*

Eliander never gave up trying to clear his family's name.

For that reason, he left without saying goodbye.

He risked his life to take part in the battle to defend the realm.

Nearly ten years of fighting forged a deadly aura in him.

Fresh from the battlefield, he was sent to teach at the Academy of Magic, where he had to manage a bunch of problem children.

That day, standing before the academy gates, he saw the person he had longed for beneath the wisteria tree.

In the end, all the words he had to say became just one sentence.

"Senior, it's been so long. I've missed you."

*

After the Blood Moon Movement several centuries ago, vampires were nearly wiped out.

Vampire blood was Eliander's greatest secret.

He never imagined Isidore would be the first to discover it.

Nor did he imagine that when the secret was exposed, the person he had longed for would willingly pull him into his arms and let him drink his blood.

It was also this "victim" who cornered him in a narrow passage and told him, word by word, with utter seriousness:

"Eli, you should know that whenever you want, I can expose my mark to you."

*

Eliander would never forget that afternoon.

The sun was shining brightly, streaming through the small window.

As he sat at his desk, he found the note tucked into his old notebook from his school days.

It read: "My eternal soul watches over your heart, though the night be lonely and the day burn like fire. *"

//

"Mark": A mage's mark is where the magic within their body is strongest. It is also their weakness, their vital point. If their mark is attacked, the mage will be gravely wounded.

Every mage's mark has a different design and location. Only someone they are closest to can know about it and touch it.

* The final line of the blurb quotes "Eternity" from A Season in Hell by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud.

Eli leaves the battlefield and becomes an academy teacher from the start

Mutual pining, with plenty of flashbacks in between

The romance and plot are roughly balanced

Theme: There will always be someone who sees the glimmer of light in the darkness