Wendy felt like his soul was floating outside his body.
He was half-supported, half-carried by Asteria into the Central Dining Hall of the Central Academy.
The hall was magnificent, with an intricate magical star chart painted on the dome, huge floor-to-ceiling windows cutting the morning light into beams of light, and the air filled with the sweet aroma of baked bread and milk tea.
However, Wendy couldn’t appreciate any of it.
From the moment they stepped into the dining hall, the entire space seemed to have had its mute button pressed.
Hundreds of sharp, scorching gazes, mixed with all kinds of complex emotions, were nailed onto him all at once.
To be precise, they were nailed onto the hand Asteria had wrapped around his waist.
Wendy’s cheeks felt like they were on fire.
He could clearly hear the whispers around him.
“God, it’s really Prince Wendy… how could he be with that woman from Valoran…”
“Look at the way he walks—his legs are weak. He must have been… been bullied all night!”
“How dare that woman? This is the Central Academy! How dare she treat a prince like this in broad daylight!”
These words turned into countless tiny needles, pricking Wendy until he couldn’t sit still.
He just wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Asteria, however, acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
In a great mood, she pulled Wendy along and walked straight to a seat by the window, pressing him down to sit.
She leaned down, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, but just enough for the surrounding tables to hear clearly.
“What would you like to eat, my prince?”
Wendy kept his head low, wishing he could press his face into the plate.
He felt like he was about to faint from shame.
“Anything… anything’s fine…”
Asteria chuckled softly, then went to get two full plates of food and placed them in front of the two.
Wendy picked up his knife and fork and mechanically cut into a fried egg on his plate, not daring to lift his gaze even a little.
Just then, he felt something warm and delicate gently hook his ankle.
Wendy froze.
He didn’t need to look to know it was Asteria’s leg.
Under the table, that long, powerful leg was slowly sliding up along his calf, with a full, teasing intent.
Wendy’s breath caught in his throat, and his hand cutting the egg stopped.
He jerked his head up, shooting Asteria a silent protest with his eyes.
Asteria had been leisurely rolling a piece of bacon around her fork.
Meeting his furious and embarrassed glare, a malicious smile flickered in her green starlike eyes.
Her lips moved soundlessly.
Wendy read the two words.
— “Don’t move.”
A chill shot up from Wendy’s tailbone.
He had no doubt that if he dared to pull his foot back, the next second, Asteria’s leg would be wrapped around his waist.
By then, he would really have no face left to show anyone.
Wendy closed his eyes in despair, frozen in place, letting that mischievous foot set fires all over his leg.
The whispers around grew louder.
Many female students looked their way, their expressions filled with pain and anger.
But then, an even more heart-wrenching scene unfolded.
Asteria didn’t eat the bacon herself.
She held one end of the bacon in her mouth, then suddenly leaned forward, crossing half the table.
That breathtakingly beautiful face rapidly enlarged in Wendy’s field of vision.
Wendy’s thoughts abruptly shrank.
‘What… what is she trying to do?!’
Hiss—
A collective intake of breath sounded around them.
Under hundreds of gazes, Asteria precisely placed the other end of the bacon at Wendy’s lips.
The bacon still carried her warmth and a faint, delicate scent.
The gesture was obscenely intimate.
Wendy’s brain completely crashed, going blank.
Time seemed to slow down infinitely in that moment.
He could see the undisguised possessiveness in Asteria’s eyes, feel the gazes that seemed to pierce through him, and smell the tempting scent of her body so close.
‘Eat, or not eat?’
‘This was a choice that concerned his dignity.’
Yet Asteria’s expression told him he had no choice.
Wendy’s lips trembled slightly.
In the end, he humiliatingly, mechanically opened his mouth and gently bit the other end of the bacon.
The moment he bit down, Asteria’s tongue, as if inadvertently, lightly licked his lips.
Wendy felt his sanity explode completely.
Boom!
Just when the atmosphere in the dining hall had frozen to the extreme, and countless noble ladies were about to shatter with heartbreak and rush up to defend the prince’s dignity—
Bang!
The dining hall’s door was forcefully pushed open.
Crisp footsteps approached, very rhythmic.
Everyone turned to look.
A tall girl was leading a group of students, all wearing uniforms with “Discipline” armbands, storming in with an imposing air.
The girl at the front had a neat, short flaxen hair and a cold, clear face, with features as delicately carved as ice and snow.
Her figure was the polar opposite of Asteria’s—slender and straight, her chest as flat as a freshly ironed board.
What drew the most attention was the golden priest’s robe she wore, which had almost no wrinkles.
Wendy’s gaze paused on that golden robe for a moment.
He remembered that the Light Church’s priest robes had strict rank divisions.
Gray was for novices, white for full priests, red for bishops.
‘What did gold represent…?’
‘This color seemed to be even more revered than the position of some cardinals.’
‘And why was it appearing in the Central Academy?’
For a moment, Wendy felt the girl looked familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he had seen her.
At that moment, the girl ignored all the gazes in the dining hall and walked straight to the table where Asteria and Wendy were sitting, coming to a stop.
She swept her gaze over the half-eaten bacon between the two, her brow furrowing deeply.
Her voice was crisp and cold.
“Asteria Valoran.”
“You are suspected of indecent behavior in a public place, openly insulting a male student, and seriously violating the academy’s discipline.”
“Now, in the name of the Head of the Discipline Committee of the Central Academy, I order you to immediately stop your shameless actions and come with me to accept an investigation.”
Hearing that name, Asteria finally looked up.
She sized up the girl before her with interest, a playful smile curling at the corner of her lips.
“So it’s you with all the fire.”
“Looks like it’s Captain Vivian.”
She said slowly.
“What, you’re not working as the Captain of the Griffin Guard anymore? You’ve come to the academy to meddle?”
Vivian!
A bolt of lightning flashed through Wendy’s mind, and he instantly remembered.
It was her!
The captain of the Griffin Guard that had escorted him and Asteria from the Kingdom of Zhongting to the Central Academy!
The female paladin who had stared at him with a scrutinizing and wary gaze throughout the entire flight!
And now she was wearing a priest’s robe? Was she dual-classing?
Vivian ignored Asteria’s teasing.
She turned her gaze to Wendy, who was red-faced and wanted nothing more than to disappear on the spot.
Her tone unconsciously softened a little.
“Prince Wendy, please don’t be afraid.”
“The Central Academy will never tolerate any acts of coercion or humiliation against male students. Your dignity will be defended by the Discipline Committee.”
Wendy was completely dumbfounded.
‘Discipline Committee?’
‘Defending male dignity?’
He looked at the two women locked in a tense standoff before him, feeling his head double in size.
He could only force out an awkward but polite smile.
“Well… Head Vivian, I think there might be a misunderstanding.”
“Asteria… she was just showing affection in her own way…”
“If… if this way makes you feel it’s inappropriate, then we’ll be careful from now on and won’t continue…”
Before he could finish.
“Oh?”
Asteria suddenly folded her arms across her chest, accentuating her stunning curves even more.
She leaned back in her chair, tilting her head, her eyes dangerously narrowing as she looked at Vivian’s icy face.
“What if I say no?”