Even the pulse in her neck seemed ready to break free from its constraints and leap out.
“Teacher… is Teacher about to…”
‘That word’ revolved in Ellaria’s mind, but she had no way to say it out loud.
For a shy, adolescent girl, this was undoubtedly too advanced, completely exceeding the scope of what she could handle.
Ellaria stood dazed, looking at Teacher Sefina on the bed. Sefina’s face was as flushed as a sunset, and her body was still trembling slightly.
The way Teacher looked right now was a world apart from her usual cold and collected self. Her blurred, watery eyes and her tightly bitten lower lip made her look even more attractive than usual.
Furthermore, Teacher Sefina’s youthful pink dress was slightly messy from her writhing, making her look… very… very cute, to the point where one would want to pull her into their arms.
A battle between heaven and earth raged within Ellaria, and she froze completely.
On one side, reason was screaming: ‘She is your teacher, and you are in a teacher-student relationship!
This is an absolute line that cannot be crossed! Taking advantage of someone in their time of need is not the act of a proper person!’
On the other side, however, were the infatuation and admiration for her teacher that had long since sprouted in her heart, combined with the massive impact of the scene before her.
Which one would a normal person choose? In the face of such a strong visual impact and emotional whirlpool, how many people could maintain absolute rationality?
Ellaria clearly could not.
Her feet, as if pulled by invisible threads, moved uncontrollably toward the bedside, step by step.
Teacher Sefina’s trembling voice echoed in her ears, every syllable scratching at her heart like a feather.
‘Teacher’s face is so red. She must… also be very shy, and she must really need me…’
Ellaria thought chaotically, trying to find a shred of a justifiable excuse for the behavior she was about to commit.
She kicked off her shoes and knelt on the edge of the bed with somewhat clumsy movements. Then, as if driven by some sort of power, she crawled toward Teacher Sefina inch by inch.
Ellaria drew closer until her knees were straddling both sides of Sefina’s slender waist.
Sefina lay there completely defenseless, her burning body temperature and disordered breathing right in front of Ellaria.
“Mm — “
‘Teacher looks so cute…’
The inexperienced Ellaria’s mind went blank, leaving only instinct and snippets from romance novels she had read circling in her head.
‘What should I do now? Should there be… some kind of foreplay? Like… k — kissing?’
The thought startled her, and her own cheeks burned with an incredible heat.
‘But… but since it’s already come to this, a kiss shouldn’t be a big deal, right?’
‘It should be, probably, maybe, perhaps, right?’
Moreover, in her subconscious, she really did… want to be with Teacher…
‘Teacher’s thin lips must be fragrant and soft…’
Driven by an impulse, Ellaria turned red, held her breath, and lowered her head bit by bit, moving closer to Teacher Sefina’s unnaturally flushed face.
The distance between them grew closer, near enough to feel each other’s scorching breath on their skin, near enough to count Teacher’s slightly trembling eyelashes…
Just as their lips were almost touching, Ellaria seemed to hear a murmur escape from Teacher Sefina’s throat —
“Help… me… get the medicine…”
Ellaria felt the air freeze for a second, and the silence was somewhat awkward.
Of course, Ellaria was so embarrassed that her toes curled together.
‘Oh, so that was it! She didn’t want me to help her with *that*!’
AAAAAHHHHH!
It turned out that Sefina’s reason had been like a candle in the wind, swaying wildly between the tide of the magic tattoo backlash and the sharp pain brought by her Tenosynovitis.
Just now, the intense stinging in her fingers acted like a final shot of adrenaline, finally pulling back a sliver of clarity from the brink of total surrender.
This allowed Sefina to finally muster all her strength to put together a complete sentence.
“Ngh — !”
Sefina suddenly bit her lower lip, even tasting a hint of blood, using the sharper pain to maintain this hard-won, fleeting sanity.
With great difficulty, she raised her other hand and pointed to a drawer in the corner of the room.
There lay the perception weakening potion that Sefina had used before, which had been modified by Nona.
Although the side effects were much lighter than the original version, they still existed, leading to a short period of mana stagnation and sensory numbness.
Because of this, Sefina always used it as little as possible.
But at this moment, facing a magic tattoo backlash far beyond anything she had experienced before, it was the only way to quickly suppress it. In a moment of crisis, she couldn’t care about anything else.
Hearing Teacher clearly say “Help me get the medicine,” Ellaria felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over her from head to toe, instantly waking her up from her dangerous fantasy!
‘Heaven help me! What was I just thinking?! I almost did… did that kind of thing to Teacher while she was in trouble.’
Ellaria felt both ashamed and guilty, harshly condemning her impulse-driven self.
However, the situation was urgent, leaving her no time to overthink. She immediately jumped off the bed, practically scrambling to the drawer.
She rummaged through it in a flurry before finding the familiar small medicine bottle and shaking out one white pill.
She knelt back at Sefina’s side, carefully supporting Sefina’s burning head, and quickly yet gently fed the pill into her mouth.
The pill dissolved instantly. After about 15 seconds, Sefina’s breathing, which had been as rapid as a heavy gasp, finally began to steady.
Though it was still heavy, it was no longer on the verge of breaking. Her condition seemed to gradually recover a little bit.
The thick, inseparable daze in Sefina’s eyes also seemed to dissipate slightly, barely restoring a shred of clear reason.
However, Sefina’s body was still scorching hot, her skin tinged with a faint pink.
The intense effects of the magic tattoo backlash were far from over; the drug had only temporarily and forcibly suppressed her restless senses and some of her impulses.
She knew she had to… resolve this completely as soon as possible, otherwise, once the effects of the medicine wore off, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Seeing Teacher Sefina’s condition ease slightly, Ellaria finally let out a long sigh of relief, and her tense nerves relaxed.
But immediately afterward, she thought about her ridiculous misunderstanding and the behavior she had almost acted upon.
A massive wave of shyness and awkwardness surged in her heart again, making her lose the courage to look into Teacher’s eyes. Her cheeks were so red they looked like they might drip blood.
‘Ugh, this is so awkward. Will Teacher Sefina hold it against me… for that strange behavior just now?’ Ellaria was filled with anxiety, not knowing what to do next.
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