Editor : Amethyst00



That night.

The infirmary treatment room.

The third-year students from the Knight and Magic Departments were staying in the same room.

Reflecting the intensity of the mock battle, many students were wrapped in bandages here and there.

Some, exhausted, had already gone to bed early.

Others, who had things to do, were working with the small magic crystal lights next to their beds switched on.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed with arms folded, Eliana was deeply immersed in thought.

Though she was quite lost in thought, the other girls sharing the room didn't pay any attention to her.

Rustle, rustle—

On either side of Eliana, Chelsea was focused on reading a magic book, while Nella was humming and polishing her morning star with a clean cloth.

Eventually, Eliana raised her head, having reached a conclusion.

"Hey, you know what? I've come up with a brilliant idea."

"Mm, okay."

Chelsea responded without even looking up from her book.

"Aren't you curious? Right? Right?"

"Mm-hmm. Amazing."

"What the heck! That half-hearted response!"

Eliana flared up and threw her pillow at Chelsea.

But Chelsea, not even sparing it a glance, shifted her body just enough to dodge Eliana's attack.

Eliana's pillow flew past Chelsea and landed squarely on Celia's head as she was sleeping.

As soon as she saw that, Eliana quickly turned off her crystal lamp, lay down, and pulled the blanket over her head, pretending to sleep.

"Hey, Chelsea Lewellin. Why are you picking a fight?"

Celia's annoyed voice rang out, newly awakened.

'Oh, if I'm lucky, Chelsea might just take the blame and let this slide!'

Eliana thought gleefully to herself.

"Why are you picking a fight!"

"Pffft!"

Celia slammed the pillow onto Eliana's face through the blanket.

Eliana squirmed under the covers.

Chelsea quickly ran over and started smacking Eliana with her book.

"Chelsea, why are you hitting me?!"

"Because you tried to pin it on me."

The room erupted into a loud commotion.

Other students watching started to laugh out loud.

Eventually, Eliana managed to break free and, gasping for breath, shouted:

"Celia! That was too much, don't you think?!"

"You threw the pillow first."

"Still! That doesn't mean—! Aha!"

In the middle of protesting, Eliana's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"I get it now! That's why you're so cranky today!"

Celia gave her a look that said, What nonsense is she spouting now?, as Eliana jumped up on her bed and puffed out her chest.

"Today, Chloe and Abad looked unusually close, didn't they? You're jealous, aren't you?! I caught you!"

"Ahahahahahaha!"

At that moment, Chelsea burst into uncontrollable laughter.

She laughed so hard that even the sleeping students sat up in surprise.

Rolling on her bed clutching her stomach, Chelsea hiccuped and said:

"You think Celia is jealous because of my brother and Chloe? Eliana, that's the funniest thing you've ever said."

The other girls, now catching on, also started to giggle and chuckle.

Celia and Abad.

Lately, they'd been seen cooperating more, but their relationship was still the same.

While Celia and Chelsea bickered constantly, they weren't trying to outdo each other.

If Celia and Chelsea were friendly rivals—

Then, from an outsider's point of view, Celia and Abad were sworn enemies.

And now Eliana claimed that Celia was jealous because Chloe and Abad were getting close?

It was laughable.

"Heh! The great detective Eliana is always right! I got a real strong feeling about this!"

But Eliana stood by her theory with firm conviction.

Celia's eyes twitched at the sight.

'I need to do something about this girl.'

The truth was, her relationship with Abad had become a little strange lately.

They were still competing with each other, but somehow, she was becoming more aware of him.

And today, she'd felt an unfamiliar emotion.

Even Celia herself couldn't fully define how she felt.

In such a situation, having other people talk about her and Abad didn't sit well.

'If I lash out, it'll seem suspicious. Maybe I should just ignore it.'

As Celia was pondering this—

Eliana pointed her finger dramatically.

"Celia! Just admit your feelings! Love isn't something to be ashamed of!"

"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about."

Celia sighed and pressed her temples.

"Why won't you admit it! That you love Chloe!"

"……"

Celia froze.

The girls all blinked in confusion.

Eliana jumped off her bed and brushed her hair back like Celia.

With a smug face, she said

"You've been in the same class since your first year, right? At first, you saw Chloe as just a friend. But as you spent more time with her, this perfect honor student Chloe started to look like your ideal type. And then—bam! You awakened to forbidden love!"

Nod nod, Eliana nodded as if her theory was a masterpiece, striking a pensive pose with her hand on her chin.

"And then today, of all days, that annoying Abad started getting chummy with Chloe! So your emotions just exploded! How's my deduction?"

"Wow, that actually sounds pretty plausible."

Chelsea looked impressed.

"Now! Just be honest! I don't judge love! I love messy love triangles!"

Eliana's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Could be fun. Let's hear the truth."

Chelsea openly teased Celia.

Celia stared at the ceiling and let out a dry laugh. Then, eyes blazing, she shouted:

"Who's in love with who now?! You two are dead! Come here! I'll rip your heads off your necks!"

The room exploded with noise again.

The chaos only settled down when the infirmary's on-duty professor came by.

The three troublemakers were forced to write reflection letters in the infirmary.

Watching this, Nella asked

"So what was that brilliant idea you had earlier?"

"Took you long enough to ask."

Eliana pouted as she finished her letter and put away her writing tools.

"You're done already?"

"Pfft. I'm a pro at writing reflections. Got my own secret technique."

"Wow, what a brag."

Celia sighed as she scribbled hers.

"So? What's your genius idea?"

Eliana responded while looking at Nella curiously.

"The class rep said during the dorm war that it was okay to sneak into the other dorm and steal the flag, right?"

"Yeah."

"That means there's a secret route into the dorm."

"Uh-huh."

"Then doesn't that also mean there's a secret passage to the class rep's room?"

"Now that you mention it…"

"So we sneak in while he's sleeping."

Eliana lowered her voice.

"And then?"

Nella leaned in without realizing.

Chelsea and Celia also stopped writing and listened in.

Eliana grinned mischievously.

"While he's sleeping—"

"Yes?"

"We steal the praise stamp and run! Then we win the dorm war!"

"……"

"……"

The girls all looked dumbfounded.

"Oops! I just shared my top-secret plan with the Magic Department!"

Eliana clutched her head dramatically.

"I'm going to bed."

"You definitely got kicked in the head during the mock battle."

Celia glanced accusingly at Chelsea, who winced.

"She's always been like this."

"True. Sorry."

"Hey! How could you react so coldly after hearing my brilliant plan?!"

"You actually think that's a good idea?"

"There are so many secret passages in the clock tower dorms! One of them must lead to Leo's room!"

"Those passages change constantly."

"So what! There's a door that goes anywhere, so there must be one that leads to his room!"

"That's exactly why it's impossible, you dummy. You're studying magic, right?"

Chelsea gave her a genuinely pitying look.

Eliana shot up from her bed.

"Just watch! I'll sneak into the class rep's room!"

And with that, she ran out the infirmary door.

"There's a professor at the entrance though…"

"She's 100% getting caught."

Just as Nella and Celia said—

Creak—

Eliana returned shortly after.

But something was strange.

She was being carried by the scruff of her neck by a tiny fairy—Kiran.

Everyone blinked in shock.

Dangling in midair, Eliana dropped to the floor when Kiran let go.

Thud!

"Ow!"

She rubbed her sore bottom.

The very fairy the students were supposed to catch vanished in a blink.

"What the heck? Why'd that fairy bring you back?"

Chelsea asked urgently.

Then Eliana said

"Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"There's a private bathroom in the student council president's room?"

"What? How do you know that?"

"Because I just broke into it."

"What? Stop lying!"

"Believe it or not. Heehee."

Eliana grinned cryptically.

Chelsea's face stiffened.

"What did you see in there?"

Eliana smiled slyly.

"Secret."

"Hey! Tell me right now! What did you see?!"

Chelsea went wild, shouting.

And once again, the infirmary erupted into chaos.

The on-duty professor had to come back.

That night, Chelsea ended up writing reflection letters in the infirmary's discipline room until late into the night.

bl

"How did you get in?"

Leo, soaking in the bath, looked bewildered.

The private bathroom attached to his room.

A privilege of being the student council president.

As he was bathing, Eliana had suddenly entered. Even Leo was caught off guard.

The bathroom was large, and Eliana had appeared near the entrance.

He was already in the tub, so Eliana hadn't seen anything.

["Are students allowed in the student council room?"]

Elsie, floating on a bath bowl, asked with a puzzled look.

Leo answered nonchalantly

"Well, doors aren't one-way concepts. If you can go anywhere from the council room, that means you can enter it from anywhere, too."

In fact, Leo could access the council room from anywhere.

Students could too, if they found the right entrance.

The problem was that the entrances constantly changed.

"Someone could just randomly stumble in. Like Eliana just did."

This was part of the dorm's fundamental structure, so even Leo couldn't do much.

"Well, it's a really low probability, so it probably won't happen again."

["That Eliana girl sure is lucky."]

"Right? Sometimes even I can't predict her."

Leo laughed and shook his head.

bl

"You're opening the door?"

"Yeah. It's unfair for the students to fight while he just sits back and watches, don't you think? If they try sneaking into his room, he'll finally suffer a bit."

Lysinas grinned mischievously.

"If they try to steal the stamp by sneaking into the council room, he'll have a headache."

"Hmm… that's not part of the rules though."

Chen Xia looked slightly troubled, and Lysinas said.

"Do you know why rules are made?"

"To create a fair environment?"

"Wrong. They're made so people can exploit what's not explicitly forbidden."

'…So this is why Leo calls her a scammer.'

Watching Lysinas' twisted logic, Chen Xia could only recall Leo calling her a vicious swindler.

"Heh. Let's see how he reacts when students sneak into his room while he's sleeping. Time for some payback."

Feeling an almost personal grudge from Lysinas, Chen Xia couldn't help tilting her head.

'Did Leo seriously do something awful to her or what?'