Chapter 2: A Clash of Cosmos: Challenging the Center

“The sun at the center?”

Nihir paused for a moment before responding.

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t be able to explain the motion of the planets at all. It completely contradicts the observations made over the past thousand years.”

“If we assume the sun is at the center, the planetary orbits could become much simpler. They could be explained as elliptical paths.”

“Elliptical? So sometimes they’d move farther from the sun and sometimes closer?”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t quite understand. Could you come up to the front and draw how you envision these orbits?”

Nihir’s expression wasn’t serious yet. She was merely looking at me as a student who’d thrown out a sharp but far-fetched idea.

The concept of placing the sun at the center was achieved by Copernicus in reality. And it was Johannes Kepler who developed it further, stating that the orbits were specifically elliptical.

In the end, astronomy needed a hundred years and two geniuses just to advance as far as the brief conversation I just had with Nihir. Naturally, no one would think a mere student could pull that off.

Stepping up to the blackboard, I reached out. I drew a few elliptical orbits from the sun to Saturn, placing the sun at the center. But suddenly, my arm felt heavy. Standing at the front of the lecture hall, I could see every student’s face.

Not a single one looked friendly. Their expressions said, ‘What’s this guy trying to do?’ My body suddenly felt as heavy as a brick. A sensation of standing alone on a vast plain washed over me. I knew what this was.

It was the feeling the pioneers of heliocentrism must have felt. A clear truth, but one only you know, while everyone else doubts you. In that fleeting moment, I realized. This approach wouldn’t enlighten these medieval minds.

‘Instead of presenting theories, I need to present evidence.’

The pioneers who changed the flat Earth to a spherical one must have presented countless pieces of evidence and debated endlessly. I glanced at Nihir. She was silently staring at the orbits I’d drawn. Something seemed to overlap behind her.

“What do you think?”

I asked, but Nihir still didn’t respond. She just stared at the elliptical orbits, her brow furrowed. She even traced them lightly with her delicate fingers.

For Nihir to understand this, she’d have to topple a mountain of ingrained prejudices. All I’d done was make her see that mountain. Whether she could knock it down was up to her.

Once one stone starts to fall, it would affect the others, causing them to crumble too. When even the massive stones lose their strength and collapse, the barrier of geocentrism would come crashing down.

“But if this is true, why are we standing on the ground? If the Earth isn’t the center of the universe…”

Sadly, Nihir was still trapped by medieval notions, unable to accept the new science. But the deep creases in her brow showed her inner turmoil.

‘Should I explain?’

The fact that an invisible force called gravity binds us all tightly to this rugged rock called Earth. That all the planets in the solar system are also bound by gravity.

But even if I explained, she wouldn’t understand. Not just Nihir, but anyone. You can’t make someone who believed the Earth was the center of the universe until just moments ago grasp heliocentrism and gravity in one go.

You have to expand their concepts step by step with evidence. For now, isn’t planting a seed of doubt enough?

“Professor, when’s the next lecture?”

Besides, the other students’ gazes weren’t kind. They didn’t even have the intellectual capacity to question like Nihir did. Snapping out of it, Nihir spoke.

“Oh, right, we need to continue the lecture. I got a bit distracted. Could you return to your seat, Student Aren?”

“Sure.”

“But have you studied celestial bodies before? I don’t know what this is, but it doesn’t seem like mere doodles.”

“Let’s just say I have.”

“Let’s talk about this later. I need to continue the lecture now.”

After that, Nihir began explaining again to the academy students why the Earth is spherical. Unlike the students whose eyes sparkled with awe, I started to feel sleepy listening to it. Do I really have to sit through this kind of university lecture?

A beautiful girl sat in the lecture hall.

Whenever she smiled, it was as if a floral fragrance spread through the air. Each time she flashed a smile, it melted the hearts of the male students.

Lilia exuded a presence unlike the other girls. Like a single rose blooming in a garden, her very existence turned the lecture hall into a vibrant spring day.

‘Why is Aren acting like that?’

Lilia’s cheeks were flushed red, her hands clenching and unclenching as if she were the one who’d experienced it. What gave Aren that kind of confidence?

His arrogant attitude, as if he were teaching the professor, made nearly all the students in the lecture hall look at him with hostility or snicker mockingly.

Professor Nihir wasn’t someone a mere student could show off in front of. She was called the continent’s greatest sage, having dedicated a hundred and forty years to research.

‘Did he think acting like that would make him look cool?’

Sigh. Thinking about the usual Aren, it wasn’t surprising. Growing up as the eldest son of a prestigious family, his arrogance seemed ingrained in his very being, more so than most.

‘He even confessed to me out of nowhere with that weird tone.’

It was as if a noble from a prestigious family like him was saying, ‘You, a fallen noble’s daughter, should feel honored by my confession.’

Lilia was a bit hurt by that, but she was also worried about Aren. Because Albrecht might do something to him.

From the day they met, Albrecht had fallen for Lilia and had since taken it upon himself to show intense devotion and protectiveness toward her. Even when she said it wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t listen.

‘I’ll talk to Aren. I’ll make sure he doesn’t say such arrogant things to you again.’ That’s what Albrecht had told Lilia yesterday. She asked if they’d fight, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

Still, she worried whether Aren had spoken arrogantly to Albrecht too. Albrecht was the eldest son of a ducal house, far more prestigious than Aren’s count family.

‘Oh, I hope they don’t fight because of me.’

A sigh escaped her troubled heart. Lilia clutched her head, aching with worry.

‘What’s that guy going on about?’

Albrecht propped his chin, recalling what Aren had just said. Of course, Albrecht didn’t have the capacity to deduce heliocentrism or the gravity that came with it.

Though he was considered talented with a sword and fairly intelligent, Albrecht’s intellect was only enough to grasp the spherical Earth Nihir had just explained. He couldn’t infer beyond that.

‘He’s probably up to some weird stunt again.’

Aren had always been arrogant. Maybe he was pulling a stunt to draw attention. Judging by everyone’s snickers, it seemed to have failed.

Albrecht clenched his fist tightly. As his muscular frame tensed, the air around him seemed to grow heavy. He didn’t trust Aren’s morning promise not to approach Lilia anymore.

That wasn’t in his character. From Aren’s usual arrogance, Albrecht could sense his twisted desires.

‘Aren likes Lilia.’

Just like Albrecht did. Judging by his haughty attitude, Aren seemed puzzled why a mere fallen noble’s daughter like Lilia didn’t follow him.

Albrecht couldn’t bear to see Aren taint the pure flower that was Lilia. His earlier behavior was clearly an attempt to catch Lilia’s attention by showing off with strange claims in front of Professor Nihir.

‘Foolish and pathetic.’

He was definitely someone to keep an eye on. For Lilia’s sake.

*

Nihir’s study was filled with books. Truths accumulated over centuries were recorded in the volumes densely packed on the shelves. The bookcases stretched from floor to ceiling, and books even littered the floor.

By the window stood a telescope, specially crafted for astronomical observations. She had probed the secrets of the heavens with it for ages. On the wall hung a star chart, with the Earth at its center.

On her desk lay a thick stack of papers. These were astronomical records created by her predecessors, long before she was born. Surely, this knowledge explained the movements of the celestial bodies.

But this morning, a student named Aren, usually unnoticeable, had brought up an entirely different theory about the universe. When she heard the idea of the sun being at the center, she dismissed it as absurd.

Aren usually didn’t pay attention in class and wasn’t considered a bright student.

‘Those ellipses…’

But when Aren drew those remarkably simple rings on the blackboard, she felt a shiver. If this were true, everything she knew would be false.

She wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but something didn’t sit right. The Earth-centered orbits were overly complex, while the sun-centered ones were elegantly simple. Isn’t that what truth is supposed to be?

There were still anomalies in planetary motion that geocentrism couldn’t explain. What if calculations showed the sun-centered model was correct?

“If that’s true… we’d have to revise all of astronomy.”

Nihir felt a chill down her spine. The fear that knowledge considered true for a thousand years could be overturned overnight gripped her. But she was a scholar.

She knew that sometimes old theories had to be discarded to embrace new truths. But this, really…