Chapter 54
“…Professor Sillon?”
Gilliam asked from directly beneath her.
But Sillon could barely hear his voice.
Her own heartbeat thundered far too loudly in her ears.
He was right in front of her. Those honey-colored eyes that ensnared women with a casual glance.
‘I-it’s Everchess’s fault for being so bad…!’
Making an absurd excuse, Sillon tried to lean forward.
The distance between their faces was less than a few finger-widths.
If she leaned forward just a little, their lips would touch—
“What are you two doing!!”
“P-Professor Mella!?”
Sillon sprang up like a cat that had been electrocuted. She came back while I was busy! I took too long—I should’ve just done it already!
But, huh?
Why was Professor Mella’s voice coming from below instead of beside them?
“Professor Kadisha and Professor Sillon, honestly…!”
Professor Mella burst out, protesting.
From beneath Gilliam’s bed.
“??”
“???”
Her outfit was even more outrageous. She was wearing only a white coat over black lingerie.
She’d skipped every normal top and bottom that would go between her underwear and the coat.
But if they pointed out her clothes, Sillon—wearing a thin camisole nightdress—wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, so they let that part slide.
“P-Professor Mella, what were you doing down there?”
“…Healing.”
“What kind of healing in the world requires you to crawl under a cadet’s bed!?”
“Professor Sillon, he’s not a ‘cadet.’ He’s a ‘patient.’”
Sillon smiled sweetly.
“So what exactly were you doing? Was it some kind of healing that required such an unusual outfit, too?”
Translation: You were hiding there to pounce on Everchess tonight, weren’t you?
“That would be difficult to explain to someone without a talent for healing magic. But you seem to have been in a hurry, too, Professor Sillon. Coming before a cadet dressed in that nightdress?”
Translation: Aren’t you the one dressed like you’re openly trying to pounce on him?
Sillon smiled sweetly.
With only her lips.
“I suppose so. I’ve been getting on in years, so I seem to be getting a little forgetful lately.”
Translation: I need to get married, you crazy bitch.
“How strange. I’m only one year younger than you, Professor Sillon.”
Translation: Let’s not fight over age, shall we? There’s hardly any difference.
The two romance-fantasy women engaged in a deadly battle of nerves.
For an ordinary person in a romance fantasy, just watching would make their stomach ache and their heart clench with anxiety.
But.
“Yaaawn… Can I go to sleep now? I have a lot to do tomorrow, too.”
“….”
“….”
“Professors? What’s wrong?”
Mella wondered to herself. How was she supposed to interpret Gilliam’s words just now?
‘Having a lot to do tomorrow must be his way of hinting at other women, right?’
And saying he was going to sleep now meant—
‘If you’re going to do it, do it; if not, don’t. Make up your mind….’
In other words.
Stop bothering me. I have plenty of women besides you.
‘Ugh… Even so, we’re talking about a professor and a cadet. How can he be so rude….’
Mella shook her head.
‘No, were we the ones who crossed the line between professor and cadet first?’
If they ruined the teacher-student relationship first, then expected to be treated as teachers only when it suited them, they’d look pretty ridiculous.
Mella’s gaze met Sillon’s, who had reached the same conclusion.
“…Shall we step outside and talk for a moment?”
“G-good idea, Professor Mella.”
The two women went out into the hallway.
Because of their difference in height, Sillon looked up while Mella looked down.
One wore a thin camisole, the other only a coat over lingerie.
Mella got straight to the point.
“Should we just both have our way with him?”
“N-no, we shouldn’t!?”
Sillon cried out in surprise, then hurriedly added,
“I don’t want anything so vulgar! I’m truly looking for a life partner!”
“…If you seriously want a life partner, isn’t Everchess the least suitable man in the world?”
“That’s….”
Sillon was at a loss for words, then—
“I-if I soothe him with love, I’m sure Mr. Everchess will become a devoted family man!”
“….”
“Uuugh….”
“Professor Sillon, is your head full of flowers?”
“U-uuuuugh….”
Sillon lowered her head, unable to say anything.
Honestly, even she thought what she’d just said was nonsense.
Gilliam Everchess becoming a devoted husband who only had eyes for his wife?
It’d be quicker for a Saintess to walk the academy halls wearing a collar.
Wasn’t he such a bastard that the bride would have to say, ‘Thank you for looking only at me tonight!’ if he merely refrained from flirting with another woman at the wedding reception?
“T-to be honest….”
Sillon whispered.
“I didn’t expect Professor Kadisha to go that far… so I guess I got a little anxious….”
“I feel the same way, though….”
She was surprised.
Truly surprised.
Kadisha Flareheart.
That scene of the prickly professor, with her strong sense of justice, kneeling before Gilliam and giving him the right to command her.
The word shocking wasn’t enough.
Mella muttered inwardly.
‘…I felt the gap.’
No.
No, no.
‘I didn’t! I didn’t feel any gap at all.’
Mella lied to herself.
She was a genius, after all.
A genius had to be eccentric and do bizarre things; she couldn’t be overwhelmed by someone else’s eccentricity.
‘If Professor Kadisha did that… then I can do something even more extreme. I can.’
If it were the usual Mella, she would have asked herself, Is that really right?
But….
Mella, too, was feeling anxious because of Kadisha’s actions.
She was feeling jealous.
Everchess already had a whole bunch of other cadets around him, flirting with them and keeping them close. That was a fact.
But professors and cadets felt like they were in different leagues.
No matter how many female cadets Gilliam kept around him, she didn’t feel jealous. Or if she did, only a little.
But if Gilliam were to keep Kadisha—
Her fellow professor, as a woman.
There was no way she wouldn’t be intensely jealous.
It was okay to lose to the cadets.
But she couldn’t lose to a fellow professor.
It made no rational sense, but somehow that was how she felt.
Beside Mella and Sillon, lost in thought in the hallway, an unexpected woman’s voice rang out.
“What are you two doing?”
A voice combining elegance and coolness.
Its owner was none other than—
“Princess Elettra…?”
The Empire’s Second Princess was looking at them in her nightclothes.
Quite a shocking sight in many respects.
“Yes, I came to visit my ‘special friend,’ Gilliam Everchess. You’ll let me in, won’t you?”
“…Of course.”
But none of the three actually moved.
They only exchanged glances.
Elettra’s eyes swept over Sillon in her camisole, then Mella, wearing only a coat over her lingerie.
“It seems neither of you had time to get properly dressed?”
“…I suppose not.”
“…Yes, it was a little inappropriate.”
But then.
“Why are you dressed like that, Princess? The dormitory is quite a distance from here, isn’t it?”
Elettra’s outfit gave them absolutely no grounds to criticize her, either.
It was hard to describe in detail, but it was quite something.
“I did wear a coat while traveling here, of course.”
“Naturally. Otherwise, you’d have been reported.”
Her attire was the sort that could get one charged with insulting the imperial family if described in detail.
It was amazing how she managed to look so lewd while still covering all the right places.
“…Let’s go in.”
Elettra led the way. Mella and Sillon followed her.
‘I-is it happening now?’
Mella swallowed.
‘Am I really going to lose it tonight…?’
Her first experience.
Her.
Virginity.
To that delinquent cadet.
“Gilliam, I’m ba—”
Elettra drew back the curtain.
And froze.
“?”
Peeking in beside her, Mella and Sillon froze in exactly the same way.
Gilliam Everchess was asleep.
And not even snoring—he was sleeping soundly in a proper posture.
It wasn’t fake sleep. He was breathing deeply, the way people do when they’re fast asleep.
His features were already delicate, but now that he was so defenseless, he looked even more beautiful.
“….”
“….”
“….”
The three women were at a loss for words as they observed him.
They watched.
Savored the sight.
Mella muttered unconsciously.
“Fuck, that slutty bastard is so damn hot.”
An insult utterly unsuited to a romance-fantasy world.
But neither Sillon nor Elettra could react to it.
Because they were thinking exactly the same thing.
He gets us all worked up like this and then goes to sleep by himself? Is it even legal to rape him? Wasn’t this basically him asking for that kind of play?
Tension steadily mounted.
But then.
A certain physiological response common in men during deep sleep began.
It began to rise.
“?”
“??”
“!!”
Their reactions split.
Elettra, who had touched it once before and knew its size, was startled and covered her face.
But Mella and Sillon, who hadn’t expected it at all—
“…?”
“…??”
That thing was now.
What?
Huh?
Th-that’s what it is!?
It’s so—
big….
Huh?
Huh??
Why is it still….
Uh… huh?
You mean it wasn’t even fully hard yet???
That was all…
Uh…?
Something like that… it won’t fit… will it?
U-uh…?
We have to put that inside…?
R-really…?
Their faces were blank with shock.
With the two professors standing before her, their expressions foolish and devoid of intelligence,
‘…Hmph.’
Elettra couldn’t help feeling a strange sense of superiority.
She’d never wanted to feel superior over something like this, but that sense of superiority forcibly ravished her heart and made her feel good.
Even Elettra, feeling self-loathing and pleasure at the same time, couldn’t help making a strange expression.