That night, Teacher Sefina sat at her desk, spreading out a sheet of letter paper as she wrote a brief letter to Lisika in the royal capital.
The letter’s main purpose was to ask Lisika to use her channels and information network to investigate some background information about Kefi, especially the origins of her Old Staff.
In truth, the moment she saw that staff, Teacher Sefina had already guessed most of the answer, a complex emotion quietly spreading in her heart.
But she still needed more concrete evidence, needed Lisika to confirm it once more. It wasn’t just about satisfying her curiosity—there were matters from the past that she had to make clear.
So, Teacher Sefina sealed the letter, closed it with a special Magic Seal, then leaned back in her chair alone, tilting her head to gaze up at the ornate patterns on the ceiling.
In her wine-red eyes, thoughts drifted; no one could tell what she was thinking, and her expression grew somewhat distant.
After a moment of silence, her gaze fell upon another letter she had just received on the desk. It was a reply from Theresa.
She opened the envelope. Inside was only a single plain sheet, with just three simple words written in a familiar hand—
“I miss you.”
No extra greetings, no trivial updates—just these three straightforward, warm words.
Teacher Sefina looked at that familiar handwriting, and her previously tense lips couldn’t help but curve upwards a little, drawing out a faint, gentle smile.
Oh, she really is something.
Time slipped by quietly, and a few days passed. Today was the official day for announcing the results of the midterm exams.
A crowd of students gathered in front of the results board.
Unsurprisingly, Ellaria topped the list, ranking first in both written and practical exams, her total score nearly perfect, showing the solid knowledge and great strength befitting her status as Her Highness, the princess.
Kefi also performed excellently, ranking among the top in the class and steadily securing a spot in the top ten.
As for Mia, while she struggled a bit with the written portion—especially losing points on those novel question types—she more than made up for it with her outstanding practical score.
Her overall ranking was quite good too, landing her within the top twenty out of a class of a hundred. This result was enough to make her feel satisfied and overjoyed.
As the newly recruited teaching assistants under Teacher Sefina, Ellaria, Kefi, and Mia all gathered in Teacher Sefina’s office that morning to help with some post-exam paperwork and mark a few of the easier practice sheets.
However, Teacher Sefina herself wasn’t there. She’d been called to an impromptu meeting at the academy early that day.
Inside the office, Mia lazily pressed half her face against the cold desktop, idly swinging the red pen in her hand as she groaned, “Aah, it’s only been less than half an hour of grading—so why do I already feel this tired…?”
Kefi, unable to watch any longer, nudged her lightly with her elbow and reminded her, “Mia, be more serious. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest.”
But Mia only responded with a lazy “mm, mm,” her body as limp as if her bones had been taken out, unable to summon the energy to move her pen.
Compared to her, Ellaria—seated at another desk—maintained perfect focus from beginning to end. Her posture was impeccably straight, and her pen moved swiftly and smoothly across the pages.
She graded with both speed and accuracy, rarely speaking, fully displaying her rigor and efficiency.
Mia lifted her eyes, giving Kefi a pitiful look and pleading softly, “Kefi My dearest Kefi Can you help me grade a few? I think… I think I can’t handle all these…”
Kefi sighed helplessly at her friend’s shameless act, but in the end, her heart softened and she split the stack in front of Mia in half, resignedly helping her out.
“This is the last time, okay?”
Mia’s expression instantly brightened, and she smiled sheepishly, immediately saying with a grin, “I knew you’re the best, Kefi! I’ll go get some drinks for you guys!”
With that, she seemed suddenly reenergized, and hurried over to the magic fridge in the corner.
She expertly opened the fridge door, taking out three bottles of brightly colored juice that looked delicious just to look at.
Seeing this, Kefi hesitated a little and reminded her, “Mia, is it really okay for us to just take Teacher Sefina’s things like this…?”
Mia only grinned and waved her hand, unscrewing a bottle of juice and taking a big gulp before closing her eyes in satisfaction, “Don’t worry, don’t worry! Teacher Sefina said before that the snacks and drinks in the fridge are ours to use as assistants—it’s a little benefit for us. She won’t mind if we have a couple bottles of juice.”
The cold juice was perfectly sweet and tart, really tasty.
However… in her heart, she couldn’t help but compare, thinking that although this juice was delicious, it still couldn’t match the unique sweetness of Teacher Sefina’s blood.
A bold thought even flashed across her mind: I really want to take another bite of Teacher Sefina’s neck, or… maybe that thigh I didn’t get to taste before? Just too tempting.
Since Mia put it that way, Kefi didn’t argue further, taking the juice Mia handed over and softly thanking her.
Mia then scampered over to Ellaria’s desk, setting another bottle of juice by her hand and saying brightly, “Your Highness, you should try some too! The drinks Teacher Sefina makes are super tasty!”
Ellaria looked up from grading, glancing at Mia. She didn’t refuse, simply replied softly, “Thank you.”
Yet because of what Kefi just said—“Is it really okay to just take Teacher Sefina’s things”—her heart was pricked, and another worry was stirred up.
Because she remembered that in the drawer of her dorm room, there was still that pure white “piece of clothing” belonging to Teacher Sefina, which she hadn’t yet found the right opportunity to return.
Sometimes… sometimes at night, she would find herself taking it out, secretly breathing in the scent that had faded to nearly nothing—perhaps only a fragrance that existed in her imagination, she knew it was odd, wrong, maybe even a little bit hentai.
But she just couldn’t help craving that scent belonging to Teacher Sefina…
No, no! I can’t keep thinking about this! Ellaria shook her head fiercely inside, trying to banish these shameful and dirty thoughts.
As if to cover something up, she suddenly grabbed the juice and took two big gulps, the cold liquid calming her restless heart a little.
She forced herself to refocus all her attention on the assignments before her.
Next time! Next time she’d definitely return it. Definitely… probably… maybe… she would.
Ellaria told herself so, though that resolve didn’t sound all that certain.
So will she ever return it? Heh, guess and see~~
Meanwhile, in the academy’s conference room on the other side.
Someone was bowing their head, enduring a severe reprimand from a superior. The atmosphere was rather heavy.