"It seems... Principal Theresa has taken quite a liking to you, Lynelle."
After desperately fending off Theresa's attempts to drag her home for dinner, Lynelle noticed Welt was looking at her with a strange expression.
"But, if we don't count that earlier meeting when I was in a Corpse Husk state, this is literally the first time I've ever met Theresa!"
Lynelle was equally bewildered: "Is Theresa always this warm towards other students and teachers?"
"With students, generally yes. That's why she's become the academy's officially recognized healing-type mascot. But that's usually only with students she knows well..."
Welt's gaze sharpened: "Lynelle, tell me you didn't use your Herrscher of Corruption powers on her?"
"Ahem, I feel I should remind you—while I may not fully understand you youngsters' dating methods, using hypnosis or similar approaches is somewhat..."
"I absolutely did not!"
Lynelle's head shook like a rattle drum: "Sure, Theresa is really cute... but do I look like such an aggressive person to you?!"
"Besides, Theresa just said she was planning to go buy bitter melon from the convenience store! Why would I hypnotize her just to go back and eat bitter melon with her?"
"It must... it must be the effect of the Cecilia Stigma. Theresa must have sensed the aura of the Cecilia Stigma on me, which is why she subconsciously became so familiar with me. Yeah, that's definitely it."
"Uh... really now..."
Welt very much wanted to say that if that were truly the case, then why didn't Siegfried have the same reaction when he met you?
But seeing Lynelle's flustered and exasperated look, he wisely decided not to tease the girl further and instead went along with her reasoning.
"If that's true, then you'd better be careful."
"Careful? Careful of what..."
"Careful of Kiana."
Welt's tone suddenly became meaningful: "As everyone knows, staying in an all-girls school for too long inevitably leads to... some fascinating little changes in certain classmates' sexual orientations. And Kiana is... rather famous in that regard."
"If you're really producing this effect because of Cecilia's Stigma, then that maternal aura would definitely be an irresistible quality for Kiana."
"Uh, but..."
Lynelle tilted her head in confusion: "But if it's Kiana... considering my plan to get close to her anyway... maybe this isn't a bad thing?"
--+--
"Kiana, Kiana..."
Seeing the white-haired ball at the desk in front of her completely unresponsive to her calls, still drowsy from staying up late gaming last night, the gray-haired twin-drill duck couldn't help but make a (???) face.
Then, decisively, she took a pen and sharply poked the soft spot on the white-haired ball's waist.
"Idiot Kiana!"
"Eek!"
Startled awake from her dreams, Kiana let out a strange noise. Under the suppressed laughter of her surrounding classmates, she turned bright red and glared at Bronya behind her.
"What was that for!"
"Idiot Kiana, did you finish your history homework?"
"Nope."
Kiana scratched her head: "Didn't Mr. Welt take leave? If this history class isn't self-study, it'll be a substitute teacher. Why would I need to do the history homework?"
"Then Bronya has no choice but to give you some bad news."
Bronya wore an "as expected" expression and handed Kiana the terminal she'd just used to hack into the academic affairs system: "According to the internal data of the academic affairs system, Mr. Welt ended his leave last night and has returned to the academy."
"So... today's class should proceed as normal."
"!"
Kiana's face instantly turned pale: "Bronya, is this an April Fool's joke?"
"Idiot Kiana, April Fool's is still a full four months away."
"Mei! Save me!"
"Kiana, most of the history homework is just copying and memorizing..."
Mei, watching the two from the side, couldn't help but cover her mouth with a light laugh: "Even if I lent it to you to copy, you wouldn't finish in time."
"..."
Kiana erupted with deafening silence. Then, she simply flopped face-down onto the desk.
I'm done for!
However, Kiana had only been lying there for a moment before a piece of chalk flew down accurately from the lectern.
Ahem, classmates, before we begin, I have an announcement to make."
Welt, now standing at the podium, clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.
"Starting now, our class will have a new teaching assistant, or you could call her a counselor. She'll assist me with some teaching activities."
"Now, Miss Lynelle, please come in."
"Hi~, good morning!"
A young woman with soft pink hair slipped in through the doorway.
"Wow, there are so many cute girls here~ Hello everyone, my name is Lynelle. Starting today, I'll be serving as your teaching assistant!"
"Since I'm still an intern and haven't officially graduated yet, my schedule might be a bit irregular. I hope you'll all understand~"
"The new teacher seems... very lively..."
Watching the cute pink-haired girl interacting with students on the platform, Mei suddenly felt a strange sensation.
It was roughly the feeling of wanting to get closer, yet instinctively feeling that if she did, she'd be thoroughly teased.
One must remember, this version of Mei wasn't yet the "Confident Top," and the current Lynelle, having no experience being a teacher, had decisively chosen to activate Elysia's Simulated Stigma.
Even though Customer Service Kiana-chan said the Simulated Stigma was just a disguise with no actual power, after witnessing the terrifying effect the Cecilia Stigma had on Theresa, Lynelle didn't believe a word of that explanation.
The experimental results were quite clear: after activating both the Cecilia and Elysia Stigmas simultaneously, Lynelle had indeed promptly taken on a bit of "Elysia's color."
So, Mei's so-called premonition was quite accurate.
After all, a budget version of Miss Pink Elf meeting the "Kiana-Top, Mei-Bottom" era Mei... the outcome was rather predictable.
For the girls of St. Freya Academy at this level, even a high-quality imitation of Elysia was enough to dominate the entire field.
However...
Compared to Mei and Bronya, who merely felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, Kiana's situation seemed much more precarious.
The moment she saw Lynelle, several different emotions inexplicably surged in Kiana's heart.
There was affection originating from Sirin, a pull of closeness from Origin, and even a strange sense of attachment drawn by the Cecilia Stigma.
Although Kiana during this period constantly chattered about wanting to drink Mei's [untranslatable sound], the ignorant maiden found it difficult to distinguish these complex feelings—especially when more than one emotion was tangled within her heart.
Still, while Kiana couldn't identify what all these feelings represented, one thing she was sure of:
The charming, smiling pink-haired girl on the podium gave her a peculiar sense of... heart-fluttering attraction.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.