Chapter 168: A Soul-Piercing Question—Which Side to Stay With?

Those words were like daggers to the heart!

The way the crowd looked at the white-robed priestess changed completely, shifting from respect to suspicion and anger.

“Shut up! You glib-tongued liar!”

The priest apprentice who had been kicked over struggled to his feet, pointing at Wendy and howling, “Don’t believe him! He just hit me! He’s committing violence in public!”

Right then, a cold, emotionless female voice rang out from the back of the crowd.

“Quiet, everyone.”

The crowd seemed to be pushed aside by an invisible force, automatically creating a path.

A woman dressed in a black academy uniform with silver trim walked slowly forward, her posture as straight as a sword and her expression frigid.

A badge symbolizing the Academy Management Committee hung at her waist. Everywhere her gaze swept, people instinctively lowered their heads.

“Adeline is here!” someone whispered.

The newcomer was Adeline, a disciplinary officer from the Central Academy known for being impartial, selfless, and harshly strict.

The priest apprentice looked as if he had seen his savior.

He scrambled toward her to lodge his complaint.

“Officer Adeline! You have to help me! This Wendy… he openly assaulted a member of the clergy at the academy gates!”

Adeline didn’t even look at him.

Her gaze fell on Wendy, then turned to Laxana, asking coldly, “What happened?”

Laxana had been suppressed by anger for a long time.

She immediately recounted everything — how the priest apprentice had provoked them and used foul language to insult Astreia and Wendy.

After hearing the explanation, Adeline pronounced her judgment on the apprentice with a blank face.

“Publicly spreading unverified rumors, slander, and initiating provocation. Your charges are dismissed.”

With a wave of her hand, two academy guards immediately stepped forward, surrounding the pale-faced apprentice and the grim-looking high priestess.

“As for you, Priestess Cathy.”

Adeline turned her gaze toward Cathy.

“You are suspected of inciting conflict and creating a disturbance within the academy’s jurisdiction. In the name of the Academy Management Committee, please come with us for an investigation.”

Only after dealing with all of this did Adeline look back at Wendy.

However, there was no praise in her eyes, only scrutiny and warning.

“Prince Wendy, this is the Central Academy, not your private territory where you can act as you please. I do not care what you did in Sunset Fortress or the Kingdom of Valoran. But here, you must follow the regulations.”

Her words carried a bone-chilling coldness, as if she were implying Wendy was a bloodthirsty butcher.

Wendy would never accept such an attempt to smear his reputation.

He met Adeline’s gaze with a calm expression, though his tone was equally cold.

“Excellency, I believe you are mistaken about one thing.”

“My sword only slays enemies who invade my home. My mouth only states irrefutable facts.”

“If you believe that defending one’s honor and exposing lies is equivalent to ‘acting as one pleases,’ then I’m afraid your understanding of the word ‘regulation’ is in fundamental conflict with the legal spirit of human civilization!”

Wendy smiled slightly, but the smile held no warmth.

“Do I need to ask my friends from the Mage Association to come and discuss the definitions of the ‘Right to Honor’ and the crime of libel with you in depth?”

Adeline’s thin lips tightened, and her eyes were sharp enough to pierce through Wendy’s body.

She hadn’t expected this seemingly delicate prince to have such a sharp tongue.

In a single sentence, he had escalated the issue to the level of kingdom law and the Mage Association, turning the tables to question her professionalism.

After a long silence, Adeline didn’t say another word.

She let out a cold snort and turned to leave.

Her stride was so precise it felt as if it had been measured with a ruler.

Every step was exactly the same, carrying a suffocating sense of pressure.

Only after Adeline’s figure had completely disappeared did Laxana pat her chest exaggeratedly and let out a long breath.

“Oh my god! Wendy! You actually dared to talk to the ‘Iron Maiden’ Adeline like that!”

“Iron Maiden?”

Wendy blinked.

“Yeah!”

Laxana lowered her voice, speaking mysteriously.

“In her eyes, there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who have already committed a crime, and those who are about to. She walks around with her nose in the air; everyone avoids her if they can. You’re something else, getting into it with her on your very first day!”

Upon hearing this, Wendy’s expression changed, and he stamped his foot in regret.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

“It’s over, it’s all over. People like her might not have any real talent, but they’re definitely top-tier at making life difficult and finding faults!”

He grabbed Laxana’s sleeve, looking like he was about to cry.

“I’ve offended her deeply now. Life at the academy is going to be miserable!”

Looking at Wendy’s “deeply regretful” appearance, a hint of a smile finally flickered in Astreia’s emerald eyes.

She reached out.

With one arm, she pulled the “panicking” Wendy into her embrace, wrapping her arm tightly around his waist.

The prince’s cheek was instantly buried in a soft, warm place.

The refreshing fragrance unique to Astreia drifted into his nose, and a voice that provided an absolute sense of security came from above his head.

“Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m here.”

Tucked into her embrace, Wendy curled his lip helplessly where no one could see.

‘I only worked so hard to reason with them because I was afraid you’d just tear the whole academy down if you stepped in…’

But…

It smelled so good.

So soft…

So comfortable —

This bizarre enrollment disturbance had finally come to an end.

Laxana was no longer in the mood to wander, so she led the two of them through several busy streets to a quiet dormitory area.

Beautiful small buildings covered in ivy were scattered about in an orderly fashion, looking particularly pleasing under the afternoon sun.

“Ta-da! This is our dormitory area!”

Laxana pointed to a luxurious-looking building ahead and introduced it proudly.

“Special Admission Students get perks. You two can have an entire suite to yourselves! No need to squeeze in with anyone else!”

However, when she excitedly led the two to the registration desk, the smile on her face suddenly froze.

The woman in charge of the dormitory registration was as sturdy as a bear.

She pushed the reading glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Her gaze lingered on Astreia’s impressive curves for a second before moving to Wendy’s pretty face.

Finally, she slowly looked at Laxana.

“Miss Laxana, these two freshmen you brought…”

The woman pointed a thick finger at Astreia first.

“One is female.”

Then, her finger turned toward Wendy.

“The other…”

The woman’s gaze stayed on Wendy’s face for a full 3 seconds.

She glanced at Astreia’s arm, which was still wrapped around Wendy’s waist, her eyes filled with gossipy curiosity.

“Is male.”

She lowered her hand, opened the registration book, and tapped the desk with her pen, asking a question that struck at their very souls.

“So, here is the problem.”

“Which side are they supposed to stay on?”