“Achoo—”
Veronica tightened her collar and rubbed her stiff face.
“...I keep getting an ominous premonition.”
It was as if... someone was aggressively digging up and stealing something precious of hers with a hoe.
“Lady Saintess? Is something wrong?” asked a freshman from the Arcane Department who was walking alongside her, sounding confused.
“It's nothing,” she replied with a perfect Saintess smile, skillfully handling the conversation.
This sudden pang in her heart... It had to be that guy!
Suffering through all the socializing and greetings at the freshman banquet, Veronica could only keep watching Lilian and Lynn out of the corner of her eye as they bantered at the dining table.
Ugh... That shameless pink-haired dumpling. Why was she sticking so close to him!
Just thinking about how that pink-haired girl had so easily obtained the attached keycard from that blockhead made Veronica fume with rage.
I was clearly here first!
Looking away from her fellow students, her expression instantly darkened.
A rival! A formidable rival indeed!
Although she was already a perfect Saintess, when it came to making that blockhead happy... she had to admit that Lilian was still a cut above her.
“But...” Veronica narrowed her eyes.
Although her enemy was devious, always ready to steal her home under the guise of being a personal maid, she wasn't fighting alone either!
'My good bestie Anna, quick, quick, save me!'
As the highly sought-after second princess of the empire, Nana must have plenty of experience dealing with this kind of thing. She just needed to give her a little advice...
Lost in her beautiful fantasy, she suddenly raised her head and looked toward the roof of the brick building across the street.
'Just now... did a petite white shadow flash past?'
She didn't sense any magic fluctuations. If it was pure physical technique, it would be far too fast... Was it just her imagination?
Veronica shook her head and stopped worrying about it. She clapped her hands, reaching a verdict in her brainstorming.
“One of these days, I'll invite Nana for a long-overdue tea party~”
Please, Nana! My best sister!
...
“What are you looking at?”
The unfriendly, cool voice trembled slightly, revealing its owner's unsettled state of mind.
“Student Lynn? This is complete sexual harassment, you know~”
“...I didn't even do anything.”
Lynn turned his head with difficulty, the tip of his nose almost brushing against the cold stone wall.
This secret passage hidden inside the lion statue's mouth was so narrow that it didn't seem meant for humans at all. Forget bending over; they couldn't even move while crouching. They had to use both hands and feet to crawl forward bit by bit.
Commonly known as—crawling through a dog hole.
When the mechanism opened earlier, Anna had apparently been hit by some sort of impulse, rushing in first without a second thought. Thus, this scene unfolded—one that could be described as a complete desecration of royal dignity.
The noble second princess of the Bauhinia Empire, a role model looked up to by thousands of young girls in the empire, and a living textbook of royal etiquette...
...was currently sticking her butt up in the air, crawling forward with all her might inside a pitch-black stone tunnel.
Nobility? None. Elegance? Nonexistent.
If the royal etiquette officer were to see this, they would probably clutch their heart on the spot and beg the ancestral kings for forgiveness overnight.
Anna was clearly aware of this as well. Her movements grew stiffer and stiffer, and her aqua-blue hair hung down at her sides, almost completely covering her blushing ears.
Why? Why did it have to be this posture!
And of all people, in front of this man!
“Ugh...” she groaned softly in frustration.
Since childhood, Anna Via had received the most rigorous royal etiquette education.
Whether ascending the grand stairs of a banquet hall, riding a gryphon to patrol the royal capital, or even drawing her sword to face enemies on the battlefield, her every move had to be flawless and impeccable.
Yet now, the dignified and elegant princess was in front of a man...
Crawling. Through. A. Dog. Hole!
“Can't you stay a bit further back?” her low, feminine voice asked through gritted teeth.
“I'd love to,” Lynn tried to back up.
Thud. His head bumped hard against the stone wall, and immediately after, the slope caused him to slide back down uncontrollably.
“Ah—!” Anna let out a sharp, brief cry.
Lynn's forehead bumped against her soft lower back.
“...”
In the dead silence, Lynn cleared his throat and spoke first. “It's fine, Sasha. It's really dark here, I can't see anything at all—”
Before he could finish, as if the careless designer had finally remembered to guide the intruders and rushed to make amends, the magic crystals embedded on both sides of the stone wall ahead suddenly lit up on their own.
Hum—
Soft white light instantly filled the entire secret passage, and everything previously hidden by the darkness was laid bare.
Because she was crawling on all fours, Anna's already somewhat tight aqua-blue dress had ridden up quite a bit.
The light hem of her dress was bunched up at her slender waist, revealing a stretch of long legs wrapped in white thigh-high stockings, as well as a glimpse of snow-white skin beneath her petticoat that peeked out with her movements.
Lynn's vision instantly lost focus.
“...”
Six sixty-six... I feel like this Master Kazer guy is targeting me on purpose!
From the sudden attack of the prank puppets at the start, to this secret passage now...
Isn't this light turning on a bit too inconsiderate?
The girl in front of him clearly sensed the sudden silence behind her as well.
She didn't turn around. She just froze in place, with only her fair ears visible beneath her hair turning a noticeable shade of red.
【Emotion Points +20】 【Emotion Points +20】...
Only the notifications of skyrocketing Emotion Points kept spamming his mind.
“Student Lynn,” her cool voice was terrifyingly calm.
“Yes?”
“Now... can you see clearly?”
“...”
Lynn quickly raised his head, staring straight at the stone wall without looking sideways.
“Miss Sasha, please have faith in the moral character of an upright noble.”
“My gaze has been fixed forward from the very beginning. I haven't overstepped in the slightest.”
“Oh?”
Anna turned her face slightly.
Her aqua-blue hair covered most of her expression, with only her ears, red enough to bleed, exposed under the light.
Tiny crackles of lightning also danced silently at her fingertips. But rather than anger, what surged in her heart first was actually a bizarre sense of guilt.
Little Pera...
Veronica's lively and cute face suddenly flashed in Anna's mind.
Along with her best friend's eyes that would secretly light up whenever she mentioned Lynn after returning from the North.
No, wait. She was currently sticking her... blocking Lynn in this extremely indecent posture.
And her skirt was... he even saw her skirt!
What was this? She was clearly doing this to test this man on behalf of little Pera, to expose his playboy and lecherous nature.
Why did her investigation lead her to a place like this instead?!
Anna's cheeks burned hotter and hotter. A complex mix of shame, anger, and guilt weighed heavily on her heart for no logical reason, utterly crushing her temper.
“Ugh...” A frustrated groan caught in her throat. She glared resentfully at Lynn, who had an entirely innocent look on his face.
She couldn't even blame this bastard, because she was the one who had rushed in first!
She bit her lip and stopped looking at the youth behind her, whose gaze was darting around.
Her pretty face was so red it looked as if it would bleed.
I'm... I'm sorry, Veronica!
Rate on N.U.
