Initially, they thought they were hearing things, or had misheard.
But the shocking scene before them gave those two blurry words a terrifying sense of reality.
“Senior Sister?”
“Teacher?”
Mia and the others were the first to react.
Ellaria trembled slightly, staring at the scene before her in fear.
Sefina’s flushed face and intimate posture with Versie came into view. Sefina’s pale blue pupils suddenly contracted, her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. She just stared blankly at them.
The moment Sefina saw the three familiar faces, it felt like all the blood in her body had frozen solid, then came rushing back in a torrent, leaving her dizzy and reeling.
They saw it…
This state.
This disheveled appearance, held in a student’s arms, face flushed with shame—being clearly seen by her other students!
“How… how am I supposed to explain this?!”
“I couldn’t wash this clean even if I jumped into a river!”
She stood frozen in place, her wine-red eyes wide open. The air seemed to solidify, leaving only the silent shriek of humiliation echoing in Sefina’s mind.
Looking at the three young faces full of shock and bewilderment at the door, she felt the last shred of dignity she had as a teacher shatter into dust at this moment, scattering in the wind.
In this suffocating silence, Versie suddenly stirred.
She lifted her pretty face, her ice-blue eyes showing no trace of panic or embarrassment—only a natural ease, as if everything was perfectly normal, with a hint of languid playfulness from just waking up.
“Oh, you came to wake the teacher up?”
Versie’s voice was sweet and natural, as if this suggestive scene was the most ordinary thing in the world.
“I stayed over last night, but it seems there weren’t enough rooms, so I had no choice but to squeeze into one room with Teacher Sefina.”
Versie paused, as if recalling something, then revealed a slightly apologetic smile:
“Maybe I just have bad sleeping habits… as I slept, well… it turned out like this. I’m really sorry, did I startle you?”
As she spoke, she even patted Sefina’s shoulder reassuringly, as if proving this was truly just an ‘accident caused by bad sleeping posture.’
Mia, Ellaria, Kefi: “…”
The expressions on the three girls’ faces were extremely complicated, as if they wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words…
Was it… really like that?
Bad enough sleeping posture to hold someone in your arms, and make the teacher wear that kind of… that kind of humiliated and exasperated expression?
And that “darling” from earlier… was that also sleep-talk nonsense?
Reason told them this explanation was riddled with holes, but Senior Sister Versie’s incredibly natural attitude made it impossible for them to immediately question it.
After all, directly asking, “Senior Sister, are you and the teacher in that kind of relationship?” was too hard for them to say out loud. So the three fell into synchronized silence, their eyes darting around, unsure where to look.
Versie seemed completely oblivious to the delicate atmosphere. She very naturally threw off the blanket and sat up.
She didn’t care at all about her slightly disheveled pajamas. With graceful movements, she began changing out of her sleepwear into the fine casual clothes she had arrived in, speaking lightly as she did:
“Alright, alright, just a little misunderstanding. Don’t stand at the door, everyone. Let’s go have breakfast together? I saw there are ingredients in the kitchen. I’ll help prepare them.”
Versie’s performance—a true ‘masterclass in shamelessness’—stunned Sefina so much that she temporarily forgot her own embarrassment.
Seeing that Versie had already started getting dressed, she suddenly realized she couldn’t just lie there forever.
Adopting the ostrich strategy of ‘as long as I’m not embarrassed, it’s everyone else who should be,’ Sefina forcefully suppressed her racing heart and the heat on her face, trying to make her expression return to calm.
She sat up somewhat stiffly, avoiding the students’ probing gazes, and lowered her head to quickly tidy her equally disheveled pajamas.
Throughout the entire process, Sefina didn’t say a word, trying to brush the whole thing off with silence and an attitude of ‘this is no big deal.’
The three girls watched their teacher feign composure while her fingers trembled slightly as she fixed her clothes, then looked at Senior Sister Versie, who had already changed and was humming a tune as she prepared to head out, exchanging glances with each other.
The questions they wanted to ask circled in their throats a few times but were ultimately swallowed back down.
The senior sister’s explanation was far-fetched, but… what if?
Maybe… they really were overthinking it?
If it really was a misunderstanding, wouldn’t pressing further just embarrass the teacher even more?
Silence is golden.
So, the three of them very tacitly chose temporary amnesia.
“Um… Senior Sister, breakfast is pretty much ready. You don’t need to bother.”
Mia spoke up first, her voice still a bit unnatural.
“Y-yeah, Senior Sister doesn’t need to bother.”
Ellaria quickly chimed in.
“Mm.”
Kefi gave a slight nod.
A crisis that could have triggered a ‘massive upheaval in the sect’ was temporarily ‘resolved’ in an extremely bizarre way, thanks to Versie’s strong mental fortitude and Sefina’s ostrich strategy.
Well, it was only temporary.
That afternoon, Sefina practically fled with Feliel, leaving the villa together and heading for the Church.
Officially: to advance the investigation plan, they needed closer observation and infiltration.
But only Sefina herself knew that at least half the reason was—
She couldn’t stand being at home anymore!
The entire morning had been pure agony.
During breakfast, she could clearly feel three pairs of eyes that would drift toward her sporadically. Every time she looked up, they quickly darted away.
Mia had started to speak several times but stopped, Ellaria’s gaze held an indescribable curiosity, and even Kefi’s quiet stare seemed capable of piercing through her forced composure.
Versie, meanwhile, was acting as if nothing had happened. She even offered to teach them a pastry recipe popular on the western continent after the meal, all smiles and laughter, as if that embarrassing scene that morning had never occurred.
I can’t do this anymore. If I stay any longer, I’ll go crazy!
Sefina wailed internally.
She needed space, needed time for this damned embarrassment to cool down, and needed to pray that her three students would quickly forget what happened that morning, or at least accept Versie’s flawed explanation.
So, after briefly explaining things to Feliel, Sefina resolutely used ‘work needs’ as an excuse, dragged Feliel out the door, and decided to stay in the dormitory the Church provided for the next few days to conduct a ‘deep investigation.’
Hopefully… hopefully after Sefina spends a few days ‘undercover investigating’ at the Church and comes back, those three little ones will have forgotten the morning’s events…
Sefina prayed silently in her heart, though even she thought the hope was slim.
Ah, life truly is full of helplessness everywhere…