Chapter 126: Chapter 124
My soul nearly left my body.
The two figures launched toward us like heat-seeking missiles.
I barely had time to register who they were before both of them crashed straight into me.
"ACK—"
Our entire human hand-chain wobbled violently.
Ravian stumbled backward.
Vivienne cursed.
Stephano almost got dragged down with me because apparently we were spiritually and physically tethered now.
Two familiar voices exploded beside my ears.
"I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"
"ARE YOU HURT?!"
I blinked repeatedly as two people clung to me dramatically like I’d returned from war after ten years abroad.
"Can you two stop being clingy?" I complained while they helped pull me upright.
"My Lady, you grabbed the wrong person," Gawain said seriously. "Of course I’d be worried."
Fair enough.
He was my aide.
It was literally his job to stress over my terrible decisions.
What I didn’t understand was Sebastian.
I turned towards him suspiciously. "Seb. What about you?"
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly instead, glancing toward Stephano. "Did something happen while you were with him?"
I opened my mouth to say yes automatically when horrifying memories flashed through my brain.
Stephano clinging to me.
Stephano whining.
Stephano licking.
Stephano refusing to let go of my hand.
Stephano smacking my butt with his tail.
Absolutely not.
I shook my head immediately. "Nothing happened. Just the usual. We tried to kill each other."
Stephano looked deeply offended.
Gawain narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you sure, My Lady?"
"Yes, I’m sure."
He visibly relaxed before stepping closer and pulling me towards him protectively, only to stop because Stephano was still holding my hand.
The atmosphere instantly changed.
Gawain stared at our joined hands before looking at Stephano. "Can you let go now?"
"No," Stephano answered immediately.
I turned to him and nearly burst out laughing.
The man looked one second away from getting abandoned at an orphanage.
His eyes locked onto mine with silent desperation.
"We had a deal," he reminded me weakly.
’Ah yes.’
The completely fake deal he invented thirty minutes ago to explain why he refused to stop holding my hand like a traumatized cat.
Before I could say anything, Gawain and Sebastian exchanged a glance.
Gawain suddenly crouched beside me slightly.
"My Lady," he whispered calmly, "when I count to three, run as fast as you can."
I blinked. "What?"
"Just trust us."
I frowned suspiciously but nodded anyway.
Beside me, Stephano narrowed his eyes. "What are you two planning?"
"One..." Gawain suddenly grabbed Stephano’s left arm.
Stephano froze.
"Two..." Sebastian grabbed his other arm.
Stephano’s eyes widened. "What are you tw—"
"Three!"
Everything exploded into chaos.
Gawain and Sebastian yanked Stephano backward with all their strength while I instinctively bolted forward.
"YOU FU—" Stephano roared furiously.
Gawain calmly pulled out a syringe and stabbed it directly into Stephano’s thigh.
"What did you just inject him with?!" Vivienne asked in horror as she immediately dropped beside Stephano.
"Don’t worry," Gawain replied with terrifying calmness. "He’ll survive."
"He’s lucky that’s all he got," Sebastian added coldly.
The entire cave fell silent as the both of them walked past everyone to chase after Blanca who had already disappeared again.
Stephano swayed dangerously where he stood before glaring murderously at the retreating figures.
"I’m going to kill them..."
"You can barely stand," Ravian pointed out.
"That won’t stop me."
Vivienne quickly steadied Stephano before he collapsed face-first onto the cave floor.
Ravian instantly recognized the syringe for what it was.
A suppressor.
Which meant Stephano really had been in heat this entire time.
So that was why Stephano refused to let go of her.
But the more he thought about it, the less sense everything made.
He never smelled Blanca’s pheromones.
Not once.
The only scent lingering on her was Stephano’s, but that made sense considering the two of them had been glued together the entire time like emotionally unstable newlyweds.
Still...
If Blanca hadn’t released pheromones and if Stephano hadn’t slept with her, then how exactly had his heat calmed down?
Ravian glanced at Stephano again.
Was it actually possible for Stephano’s inner beast to calm down from something as simple as physical contact?
Just holding hands?
That sounded ridiculous.
And yet...
Stephano—someone notoriously violent during heat—had practically turned into a clingy emotional support disaster the second Blanca touched him.
A slow smile spread across his lips.
Blanca could calm them simply by holding them.
Even the first time he had danced with her and touched her hand, the violent static clawing beneath his skin had eased almost instantly.
At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it.
Well—no, that was a lie.
He had thought about it.
Far more than he should have.
His gaze drifted toward the dark tunnel where Blanca had disappeared.
Was that why everyone kept gravitating toward her without realizing it?
Why Stephano practically lost his mind every time she walked away?
Why Sebastian hovered around her constantly despite pretending to be indifferent?
Why Silvano who was usually reserved to strangers started being chatty to her?
And him—
Why he always found excuses to stay close to her?
Blanca probably didn’t even realize that they were slowly getting close to her.
This was absurd.
Months ago, they had all been hopelessly infatuated with Vivienne. The academy practically revolved around her existence. Men fought over her attention like starving animals over scraps.
Without any of them noticing, their attention had slowly shifted somewhere else.
To Blanca.
Messy, reckless, loud Blanca.
Blanca, who cursed people before thinking.
Blanca, who ran into danger headfirst.
Blanca, who somehow managed to make even the most unstable people relax around her.
A quiet laugh escaped him as his fingers curled tightly into his palm.
He was the first one who noticed her before anyone else did.
The one who saw through the ridiculous rumors, sharp tongue, and constant chaos surrounding her.
So why—
Why were the others becoming closer to her than he was?
Why did Stephano get to hold her like that?
Why did Silvano and Sebastian know her so well?
Why did she laugh so easily around them?
Meanwhile, he remained stuck in the same place he always was—
Watching from a distance.
His jaw tightened slightly.
For the first time in a very long while, Ravian felt something ugly twist beneath his calm expression.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
I could finally see the light.
Beautiful, glorious EXIT sign.
I almost cried.
After spending what felt like several business years trapped inside that cursed cave with emotionally unstable nobles and one aggressively clingy beastman, freedom had never looked so attractive.
I sprinted toward the exit at full speed.
"One more step," I gasped dramatically. "I’m finally free from these peop—"
WHAM!
Something slammed into my side so hard I got sent rolling across the ground.
OOF—!"
My body hit the ground hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs while someone pinned me flat on my back.
A hand immediately wrapped around my throat.
"Damn you, bitch! Just die already!"
I blinked up in shock. "...Miss Belle?"
She looked completely deranged.
Her hair was disheveled, eyes bloodshot, lip trembling, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in three business days.
Honestly, I want to relate but I’m in the middle of being strangled to death.
"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"
"ACK—!"
I drove my knee upward straight into her groin.
She let out a strangled noise somewhere between a scream and a dying goose before rolling off me in agony.
"Oh my god—lady, what is wrong with you?!" I coughed dramatically while scrambling to my feet.
Miss Belle staggered upright, clutching herself in pain before glaring at me with enough hatred to power a small city.
"Why did you have to be such a know-it-all?!" she screamed. "Because of you, I lost my job!"
"Wait..." I froze before pointing at myself. "Me?"
A grin spread across my face automatically.
"So that means I won the demo class?" I gasped.
Joy immediately overtook me.
"HAHAHAHA—!"
Miss Belle shrieked in rage and immediately summoned her soul weapon, a spear appearing in her hands before she lunged straight at me.
I barely dodged in time.
"IS THAT WHY YOU’RE VENTING YOUR ANGER ON ME?!" I yelled while stumbling backward.
"You ruined my reputation!" she screamed.
"Pretty sure you did that yourself!" I summoned my whip sword instantly.
Slash!
Clang!
The spear crashed against my blade hard enough to send sparks flying between us.
Miss Belle attacked wildly, every strike fueled entirely by rage.
Slash!
"You should be angry at the people who fired you!"
Clang!
"How is that the point?!" Bumble shrieked. "You embarrassed me in front of everyone!"
Slash!
"Actually," I corrected, "your own incompetence embarrassed you."
She lunged again furiously.
I flicked my wrist sharply.
The sword unraveled into its whip form, curling around her ankle before tightening instantly.
Miss Belle’s eyes widened before I yanked hard.
She lost balance immediately and crashed onto the ground with an undignified yelp.
I pointed my weapon at her dramatically while trying not to wheeze from exhaustion.
"Word of advice, Miss Belle." I smiled sweetly. "Before blaming other people for ruining your life, maybe stand in front of a mirror first and ask yourself this—"
I tilted my head.
"’Am I actually talented, or did everyone just tolerate me professionally?’"
The silence lasted exactly one second before she screamed in absolute fury and tried to stab me again.
I sidestepped just in time for several instructors to burst out from the exit area.
"MISS BELLE!"
"DROP THE WEAPON!"
"SUBDUE HER!"
Bumble barely had time to react before three instructors tackled her to the ground at once.
The scene instantly turned chaotic.
"LET ME GO!"
"Miss Belle, calm yourself!"
"SHE RUINED MY LIFE!"
"Ma’am, you are actively proving your point!"
Bumble thrashed violently while being restrained by what looked like half the academy staff. At one point, an instructor almost got kicked in the face.
"Why is it," I muttered "that help always arrives after someone almost dies?"
Meanwhile, the remaining instructors hurried toward me in alarm.
"Miss Frostine, are you injured?"
"Do you need a healer?"
"Did she poison you?"
"I’m fine," I assured them while dusting dirt off my uniform. "Really. I just have one last thing to do before I explain why my former instructor tried to murder me."
Without waiting for permission, I walked past them as my heartbeat slowly sped up.
Please.
Please let me be first.
After everything I suffered today, I deserved this.
I stepped across the line.
Immediately, the giant holographic board overhead flickered brightly.
1 — BLANCA FROSTINE
For a moment, my brain completely stopped functioning.
"YES!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "HAHAHAHA! WHO’S NUMBER ONE? ME!"
My voice echoed through the entire area.
All that suffering.
All that running.
All the emotional damage from Stephano clinging to me like a traumatized house cat.
Worth it.
Absolutely worth it.
Meanwhile, the entire area went silent as the instructors stared at me with different levels of concern.
Some looked horrified.
Some looked deeply concerned for my mental stability.
A few burst out laughing.
One instructor had his mouth hanging open like he genuinely couldn’t process what he was witnessing.
Meanwhile Bumble was still in the background screaming like a possessed spirit while being restrained by four people.
Despite all of that, I was in the middle of celebrating my ranking.
Dmitri dragged a hand down his face so slowly it looked painful. "...An instructor just tried to murder you," he said flatly.
"I noticed sir," I agreed proudly while pointing at the board. "But did you also notice I got first place?"
The surrounding instructors immediately lost composure.
Some started choking from laughter.
One of them turned around completely to hide his face.
Another was already crouching on the floor wheezing.
Meanwhile Dmitri looked one public incident away from resignation. "You are mentally exhausting."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a praise."
"Oh."
Some of the instructors burst out laughing at that.
Meanwhile Bumble nearly broke free again when she heard me laughing.
"YOU PSYCHOTIC LITTLE—!"
"Miss Belle please calm down," one instructor begged while trying not to get stabbed.
I looked at Dmitri innocently. "So... does attempted murder give bonus points?"
"...No."
"Aww."
