As night deepened, the train continued to move steadily under the power of magic crystals. The rhythmic friction between wheels and rails became the only background sound.
The lights inside the carriage had dimmed significantly. Most passengers had already fallen asleep, their heads resting against seatbacks or windows, breathing evenly.
Even Flovi, who had been maintaining a vigilant sitting posture the whole time, was now leaning back in her seat, seemingly asleep.
The novel lay open across her lap, while in her arms she tightly held a long object carefully wrapped in gray cloth—undoubtedly her sword.
Seeing that Flovi appeared to be sound asleep, Sefina glanced at the sequel novel marked “2” within easy reach.
In the end, her curiosity about the story’s continuation overcame that slight sense of embarrassment.
So she quietly stood up and, like a nimble little cat, slowly walked over to Flovi’s side.
Holding her breath, Sefina reached out, her fingertips carefully moving toward the open book on Flovi’s lap, trying to take it without disturbing her.
However, at the very moment her fingers touched the page—
Flovi’s tightly closed eyes snapped open. Almost by instinct, the long sword wrapped in cloth in her arms shot forward with precision and speed, pressing against Sefina’s slender, pale neck!
Sefina’s pupils shrank sharply at the sudden attack, and her body froze instantly.
When Flovi saw that the person in front of her was Sefina, the sharp killing intent in her eyes vanished at once, returning to her usual slightly absent-minded expression.
She immediately withdrew the sword and hugged it back into her arms, as if that lightning-fast counterattack had never happened.
“Is there some special situation, Master?” Flovi asked softly, her tone carrying a hint of confusion.
Her master had approached quietly and even tried to take the book—did that mean there were hidden enemies or something unusual?
She remembered her master’s instructions: unless necessary, do not initiate conversation.
Sefina was momentarily at a loss for words, the cold sensation from earlier still lingering at her neck.
She couldn’t possibly tell the truth—that she came to secretly take a yuri novel to read. That would be far too damaging to her image!
In her panic, Sefina awkwardly raised the sequel she had just grabbed, instinctively using it to cover most of her face, leaving only her pair of wine-red eyes faintly rippling with embarrassment visible.
Flovi’s gaze fell on the book cover, then shifted to her master’s rare expression—something like being caught in the act of doing something bad. A hint of realization seemed to flash across her slightly blank face.
She blinked, then, under Sefina’s incredulous gaze, Flovi very seriously gave her a thumbs-up. Her pale golden eyes conveyed a clear and unmistakable message—
Master, this book is indeed very good!
Sefina: “…”
Sefina felt the temperature of her cheeks skyrocketing. She practically fled, clutching the “hard-earned” sequel as she quickly returned to her seat, silently hoping that this unconventional maid wouldn’t form any overly ridiculous assumptions.
After calming herself down, Sefina finally opened the sequel.
Picking up from where the last book left off, after the student confessed to the teacher protagonist, the teacher only hesitated briefly before calmly accepting those feelings.
Sefina was a bit surprised at this. She had expected that, given the protagonist’s aloof teacher persona, there would be more back-and-forth tension. She hadn’t expected such a straightforward acceptance.
But upon recalling all the interactions and tacit understanding they had built up in the first book, it somehow felt natural.
The sequel mainly depicted the sweet daily interactions between the teacher protagonist and the student who had confessed.
Secretly holding hands, studying magic together, sharing personal thoughts, quietly growing close in hidden corners of the campus…
The contrast of the teacher being flustered by the student’s direct advances, her ears turning red while she tried to maintain composure, made one’s lips unconsciously curl upward.
Especially the way she maintained a cold exterior while privately revealing delicate and gentle emotions—this contrast was vividly and interestingly portrayed.
Sefina gradually became engrossed, time slipping away with the turning of pages.
Until… she reached a certain chapter.
This chapter began to shift toward a more private and intimate domain between the two.
The scene moved to a bedroom, and the writing became increasingly bold and lingering.
It described how the teacher protagonist, during intimate contact, tried to maintain the last trace of authority as a mentor, desperately suppressing breaths and soft sounds that didn’t belong to a “cold teacher,” while also wanting to care for her partner’s feelings and not dampen her enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, the student, one of the female leads, carried a desire to completely peel away the teacher’s calm exterior, wanting to see her most genuine self once all labels were stripped away.
In order to see a different side of the teacher, the student became more and more earnest, and their interactions grew increasingly intense, the scale gradually escalating…
In the end, amid the tide of emotion, the teacher protagonist gave up her futile restraint, setting aside her usual aloof, almost otherworldly demeanor, and became more and more immersed, enjoying this ultimate intimacy.
Reading this, Sefina felt her cheeks burn as if on fire.
It was her first time reading a novel with such descriptions… she hadn’t expected it to be so… so stimulating…
The first book had been so fresh and refined, centered on a teacher-student bond. How had the sequel become so direct and bold?
And for some reason, certain reactions and inner struggles of the teacher protagonist gave her a strange sense of familiarity, as if she were glimpsing a familiar shadow through the pages.
The more she read, the more embarrassed she felt, almost too shy to continue.
Just who wrote this book? The shift in writing style was far too abrupt!
Far away on the East Continent, in the dormitory district of Oselenka Academy—
Mia was bent over her desk, her quill pen flying rapidly across the paper.
When Kefi passed by, she noticed that Mia, for once, wasn’t eating snacks or fiddling with little trinkets, but was instead seriously “studying,” which felt rather unbelievable.
Curious, she leaned closer, only to realize that Mia didn’t seem to be writing homework or notes.
“Whoa! Mia, what are you doing?” Kefi asked softly.
Mia seemed startled and quickly covered the manuscript on the desk with her hands, a trace of panic flashing across her face.
“N-Nothing!”
Seeing her obvious attempt to hide something, Kefi grew even more curious and pressed on.
“What are you writing? Why so mysterious?”
Mia hesitated and stammered for a long time. Seeing she couldn’t hide it, she finally blushed and admitted softly:
“Actually… I’m writing a novel.”
“A novel?” Kefi blinked in surprise. “Didn’t expect you to have that hobby. Not bad!”
She couldn’t help but praise her, then asked:
“Have you submitted anything for publication?”
Mia nodded a little shyly.
“Yeah… one of them is currently being serialized in a magazine…”
Kefi felt genuinely happy for her and continued:
“But why did you suddenly start writing novels?”
Mia scratched her head. “Partly because I do like coming up with stories, and also… hehe, to earn some extra pocket money.”
Kefi smiled slightly and asked with interest, “So what kind of stories do you write? Can I take a look?”
“No! Absolutely not!”
Mia reacted extremely strongly, clutching the manuscript tightly to her chest and shaking her head like a rattle drum.
If Kefi found out that she had modeled her novel after Teacher Sefina, and… based on her detailed daily observations plus a lot of imagination—and drawing “inspiration” from various novels—had written quite a few blush-inducing intimate scenes…
Cough, cough, cough! Then she would truly suffer social death!
“Let me see!”
“No! Absolutely not!”
And so, the two once again began their familiar chase around the dormitory, their cheerful laughter temporarily dispelling the quiet of the night—and concealing the biggest secret in a certain young writer’s heart.