Consciousness felt as if it were sinking into a warm, viscous seabed, or wrapped in a soft cocoon.
It was unclear how much time had passed before Wendy managed to claw back a sliver of awareness from the endless sensory storm.
The eerie pulse of the Embrace of the Sea Witch had stopped, but the two were still seamlessly encased within it.
The air was thin and scorching, every inch of skin pressed tightly together, indistinguishable from one another.
He could feel Laxana’s steady, deep breaths, the warmth gently brushing against his neck; he could also feel the smooth limbs still coiled around him like an octopus, clinging tightly.
Wendy didn’t dare move.
His body felt as if all strength had been drained from it—even lifting a finger seemed exhausting.
And more tiring than the physical exhaustion was the double “pleasure” brought by the mental sympathy, now transformed into double fatigue—even more draining than serving Astraea in her witch state.
At this moment, the prince had only one thought in his mind—sleep.
Sleep for three days and three nights.
No, better yet, thirty days and thirty nights.
“Hey.”
Miss Klein’s voice rang out beside the prince’s ear, carrying a lazy, husky tone from the aftermath.
“Fallen asleep?”
Wendy wanted to reply, “I’m dead,” but when he opened his mouth, all that came out were vague, unintelligible syllables.
“Hehe—”
The young lady laughed again, the vibration from her chest clearly transmitted to Wendy’s.
“Looks like you really enjoyed my birthday gift.”
Enjoyed?
I enjoyed a hammer!
Entering the Light Chamber for one second feels like coming out ten years older.
Wendy ranted internally—this thing was pure mental torture.
“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you.”
Laxana seemed to sense that the prince was nearing his limit and finally took pity on him.
Her hands fumbled through the slippery material, pressing somewhere.
Hum—
The Embrace of the Sea Witch encasing them gave a slight shudder, then collapsed like melting jelly, quickly becoming slack and sliding off.
Cool air rushed in instantly.
Wendy greedily took a deep breath, feeling like a drowning person who had finally surfaced, fully alive again.
That strange, azure creation, once detached from their bodies, writhed and shrank into a ball, obediently rolling back under the bed into the large wooden box, even closing the lid by itself.
It was incredibly intelligent!
However, Wendy sprawled on the soft bed, unwilling to move a single finger, his eyelids as heavy as lead weights, with no energy to study any of this.
Beside him, Laxana stretched with an extremely satisfied yawn, her graceful curves stunning in the moonlight.
The young lady curled up like a cat, naturally resting her head on Wendy’s arm, and casually draped a long, smooth leg over him.
“Good night.”
She whispered two words softly in his ear, and her breathing soon became steady and even.
Wendy: …
So I’m the only one who’s exhausted, huh!
Even a beast of burden isn’t this energetic!
The prince felt a mix of indignation and sorrow, but he couldn’t hold on any longer and eventually fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next day.
When the first rays of dawn filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting a golden patch of light in the room, Wendy slowly awoke.
He felt as if he had had a very, very long dream.
In the dream, he had turned into a small boat, tossed back and forth by giant waves in a vast blue ocean perpetually ravaged by storms…
His body still ached and felt weak, as if it had been run over by a dozen dragons.
He moved his stiff neck, and the first thing that came into view was a dazzling spread of golden hair, like a flowing waterfall of gold covering the entire pillow.
Laxana was still asleep.
Her face, usually tinged with nine parts tsundere, now showed a serene and beautiful sleeping expression.
Her long lashes cast a small, lovely shadow under her eyelids.
The air was filled with a complex scent.
There was his own crisp fragrance like a snow-covered pine forest; Laxana’s sweet scent like violet mixed with honey; and a unique, richer, more ambiguous odor that had fermented overnight.
The mad, boundary-pushing images from the previous night involuntarily flooded his mind.
Wendy’s face flushed, and he carefully tried to pull his arm out from under the young lady’s head.
But the moment he moved—
Those violet eyes snapped open, showing no trace of just-woken confusion, but gleaming with sharp alertness.
Clearly, she had been awake for a while, just pretending to sleep.
“Good morning, my… Your Highness~”
Laxana drawled, her voice soft and seductive, deliberately nuzzling into his chest.
Wendy’s body stiffened, feeling that the little strength he had regained was about to be drained again.
“G-get up. We’re students; we need to follow the academy’s schedule.”
“Oh?”
Laxana raised an eyebrow, not getting up but instead pressing herself even closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, her breath sweet and warm.
“But I’m so tired, I can’t move~”
“It’s all your fault… you were so rough last night.”
Wendy’s eye twitched violently.
Reversing black and white!
This was a complete reversal of the truth!
Who drained whom here?!
However, the empathy effect faithfully transmitted Laxana’s current feelings of smugness, teasing, and satisfaction without any deviation.
Wendy immediately lost his temper.
Whatever.
There’s no reasoning with a female hooligan.
He was about to force himself up when Laxana suddenly leaned into the hollow of his neck and sniffed lightly.
Then she lifted her head, revealing a triumphant smile.
“Smell this.”
“Smell what?”
“The scent on me.”
She deliberately pressed herself closer.
“Has it completely covered up the scent Astraea left behind?”
Those violet eyes sparkled with undisguised, brilliant light—the light of victory over a nemesis.
Wendy froze.
Only then did he realize that Laxana’s intense initiative last night was driven not just by desire.
It was more like a silent war—a declaration of “sovereignty.”
She wanted to completely erase every trace of Astraea from him, then brand him with a mark uniquely hers.
This woman…
Just as Wendy’s heart was a turmoil of mixed feelings, unsure how to respond—
Click.
A faint yet unmistakable sound of metal turning came from the direction of the door.
It was a key being inserted into the lock and turning!
The air in the room instantly froze.
Wendy and Laxana’s movements also froze simultaneously.
They stared with wide eyes, like two chickens with their necks gripped, slowly, inch by inch, turning their heads toward the door.
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