“It must, must be fake. I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, ahhh—!”
How could this be possible!
Waaah… my own husband turned into a girl and got kidnapped by some man I don’t even know?
How could something like this possibly happen to me!
Originally, the priestess had only planned to get Keti to quit the team and then sneak away alone, but now she was truly a little dizzy.
After a long while, she took several deep breaths before slowly regaining her composure.
However.
Obviously, such a terrifying reality was not something a few deep breaths could fix. It was already lucky that the purple-haired, jellyfish-style big sister hadn’t fainted on the spot!
So, the only reason Layla was able to recover at this moment was that her brain actively triggered a self-protection mechanism—in other words, she was frantically denying the suspicions brewing inside her heart just moments ago to keep herself temporarily calm.
Therefore—
Impossible!
For a long moment, Layla just shook her purple jellyfish head wildly like a rattle, then muttered to herself again and again:
“This… this paper has to be fake! Hmm… or maybe that brat White-haired Little Bitch is an agent she sent here, deliberately letting us see this so we’d suspect whether she really is Keti, and thus cover for the real Keti!”
“Hoo… what a sneaky move! Hey, where’s that brat gone? Damn it, how did he disappear just like that?!”
Snapping back to reality, Layla grew increasingly agitated and started frantically clawing at the air in front of her.
Damn it! How did that little master slip away just because someone wasn’t paying attention!
Sylvia, that idiot, couldn’t keep an eye on things?
As for the elf lady standing nearby… well, she had been a little distracted just now too.
But she hadn’t completely missed Layla’s words; it was just… the more she thought about it, the more Layla’s explanation felt so abstract.
“But… but this employment form bears the Magic Academy’s seal. It’s not easy to fake something like that.”
“Also… coming up with a plan that makes us suspect a completely different gender person is actually the same individual, all to cover for them, isn’t that a bit too cunning?”
“I don’t think a normal person could come up with something like that…”
“Uh…”
Layla’s mouth twitched at this slight rebuttal, but… she had to admit that her previous theory was pretty ridiculous.
So, the elf lady offered a new explanation right after.
“I wonder, could it be that the wicked woman stole Keti’s identity? Because she herself might be someone without any status, or even… possibly a dangerous demon tribe.”
“That would explain why the information here shows Keti’s name and occupation…”
“Hmm, makes sense!”
The purple-haired jellyfish big sister didn’t care if the reasoning was reasonable or not anymore.
The point was to convince themselves first that the White-haired Little Bitch absolutely could not be Keti, and definitely was not Keti!
Otherwise… otherwise—
There would really be a huge problem!
“Hoo… anyway, Sylvia, we have to firmly believe one thing right now: Keti would never choose to turn into a girl and be supported by a man like White-haired Little Bitch!”
“So, all those previous suspicions are fake, wrong! Keti could never be that guy!”
“Mm, um…”
Facing Layla’s reassurance, Sylvia quietly nodded, but she looked a bit uncertain.
After a moment, she took a deep breath and asked again:
“By the way, should we tell Alice about finding the clues related to Keti from Lulu? She knows Keti better than us, maybe she should come too…”
“Let’s not!”
The purple-haired jellyfish big sister shook her head silently, then nervously said:
“Bringing her in now would only complicate things. Let’s just leave it be for now. Ahem Also, I think what White-haired Little Bitch said might be true—maybe she really can’t reach Keti right now.”
“It’s no use continuing to check with her. How about… for the next two days we split up again and keep looking for other clues in the Imperial Capital?”
“Remember, no matter what, never, ever suspect that White-haired Little Bitch is Keti! There’s no need to look for her these days.”
“Absolutely, definitely don’t find him, don’t doubt yourself, it’s all fake! Got it?! Don’t let her little tricks distract us!”
“Mm… okay!”
With a nod from the elf girl, the priestess immediately smiled confidently to herself.
Hmph, that White-haired Little Bitch thinks she can fool me?
How naive.
How could I fall for such a cheap trick?
The gentle and handsome Keti is going to be my husband one day—there’s no way he’d turn into a girl! Hahaha…
In short, they would never fall for such a thing.
Layla and Sylvia definitely wouldn’t put all their attention on White-haired Little Bitch’s clumsy trick~!
Hahaha.
So—
***
The next day, bright and early at six in the morning, accompanied by the chirping of birds, a carefully dressed Layla stood in front of a certain teacher’s dormitory.
She looked at the green-haired elf girl beside her who had shockingly swapped out her usual mage’s robe for a pink dress.
For a moment…
It was a little awkward!
The two girls stared at each other, exchanging deep looks of disdain, silence, and awkwardness.
After a while, the priestess’s mouth twitched as she forced out a couple of awkward laughs before frowning and questioning:
“Sylvia, didn’t you say you were going to the Slums today to find information on Keti? Has the Magic Academy suddenly gone bankrupt? I could have sworn this place is also located in one of the fancy districts of the Imperial Capital~”
“Ugh… tsk…”
Caught red-handed, Sylvia pouted unhappily, then muttered coldly in a low voice:
“I don’t even know who told you to trust me. I would never come looking for that White-haired brat…”
“Ugh! I-I-I just spent all night thinking, maybe it’s better to try breaking through from White-haired Little Bitch’s side since there are no other good leads anywhere else…”
“You’re really not straightforward, huh? Hah, same here then… Fine, stop pretending. Since we’re here, stop trying to sneak snacks on your own and just knock. Today… I’m determined to get to the bottom of this!”
“Mm… it’s just… just to confirm, to confirm only. It definitely won’t be… really, right?”
Layla nervously swallowed, then knocked on the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sudden knocking woke the sleepy girl inside.
After a moment, Keti climbed out of bed and shouted toward the door:
“Who is it?”