Lanchester Academy. The weather was nice today—a good day for confessions.
Zervanie wore a wide-brimmed hat as she moved through the school, the hair at the nape of her neck already damp with sweat.
She had just stood at the entrance of Lanchester Academy for three hours.
She stood under a tree, intently watching every person who entered the school.
Logically, Felyn, as Adeline's assistant, should be a student at Lanchester Academy.
But where was he?
Felyn, you're not at Lanchester Academy at all. Where are you hiding?
Later, after asking a friend, she learned that because Lanchester Academy and Saint Andros Academy were jointly hosting the celebration, the two student councils were also cooperating.
So Felyn should be a student at Saint Andros Academy.
Could that young man she'd seen at the school last time have been Felyn? And who was that pink-haired girl beside him?
Soon, her doubts were answered, because she saw those two figures in the shade of the trees.
Felyn was boredly playing with grass on the ground, with several seal cards lying quietly beside him.
Viloti was still sitting beside him, also silent.
In today's seal arts class, the teacher had announced something.
Starting this week, the seal arts proficiency exam for Royal Capital admission would begin.
Since students would need to learn divine arts after entering the Royal Capital, they also needed to test students' ability to use seals.
The seal arts proficiency exam meant students in Seiwa would form teams of three and compete against teams formed by other students.
Winners who accumulated enough points could pass the Royal Capital admission seal arts application exam.
Teams weren't fixed—anyone could form teams freely, and only participants would receive points.
Felyn had always thought the Royal Capital seal arts exam was individual.
But for some reason this year it had changed to a three-person competition.
This was terrible—he had very few friends.
No one would want to team up with him.
Although Viloti had said she was willing to team up with him, she had already passed the Royal Capital exam, so logically there was no need for her to participate in this kind of battle.
He also didn't want to owe her a favor when he had no equivalent exchange to repay her kindness.
Among the students he knew, there were only Adeline, and Bernice.
Felyn didn't want too much involvement with the first one, leaving only Bernice.
She was the beautiful girl warrior who had almost defeated a demon with one strike, and also a Divine Child candidate of the Church.
With her around, he wouldn't need to worry about the competition at all—he could just lie back and collect points.
He just didn't know if Bernice would be willing to team up with him.
His relationship with her wasn't particularly close either.
Behind Felyn and Viloti, Zervanie hiding behind a tree was grinding her teeth in frustration.
That pink-haired girl would subtly move a little closer to Felyn whenever he wasn't paying attention.
In just a few minutes, she had gotten very close to Felyn.
The pink hair blown by the wind gently touched Felyn's cheek—she definitely wanted Felyn to inadvertently smell the fragrance of her hair!
Damn it!
Zervanie took off her hat, letting her silver-white hair fall like a waterfall.
She grasped a small bundle of hair and sniffed it at her nose.
Good, good—the fragrance from this morning's shampoo was still there.
I want Felyn to smell me too!
Then Felyn would have a change of heart!
After last night's incident, Zervanie had begun constantly recalling the past.
Getting along with Felyn, she did indeed feel very happy.
But it seemed she had indeed been a little too much willful.
Felyn must have gotten angry about this and left her.
If I'm not so demanding toward him, wouldn't that be fine? He'd definitely have a change of heart and marry me.
Felyn brushed Viloti's hair away from his face.
He had to admit her hair really did smell good.
It was like when the summer sun had baked the ground until it was smoking, and suddenly drinking cherry blossom juice fresh from an ice cellar.
Today's wind seemed to never stop, and Viloti's dancing hair kept floating around Felyn.
"Sorry, Felyn."
Viloti stole glances at Felyn's reaction.
"I have a hair tie here. Do you need to tie your hair up?" Felyn pulled a hair tie from his pocket and handed it to Viloti.
The moment Viloti's hands touched the hair tie, her eyes shifted.
Those hands slowly moved backward.
"Felyn, I don't know how to tie my hair."
She looked up at Felyn, her hands gripping her chest tightly, feeling somewhat anxious.
"Then I'll help you."
Felyn moved behind Viloti, completely unaware of Viloti's little scheme.
Viloti's fair nape was like a swan, gradually taking on a pink hue as Felyn approached.
He gently gathered Viloti's smooth long hair together, his fingertips inadvertently caressing Viloti's head.
Viloti squinted her eyes, feeling the sensation on her head. Although she knew this was just a false feeling, she was still very satisfied.
"Is a ponytail okay?"
"Mm-hmm."
He had always wanted to see what Viloti would look like with twin tails.
Twin tails were his obsession second only to maids.
He divided Viloti's hair in half, threading his fingers through the strands, combing each one neatly.
Viloti could feel Felyn's breath gently brushing past her ear.
Her ear tips quietly reddened as she listened to both her own heartbeat and Felyn's breathing.
"Done."
Felyn stepped back to admire his handiwork.
Viloti turned around, the twin tails swaying gently with her movement.
Her cold expression became gentle due to this very girlish hairstyle, like a budding flower finally blooming.
This cute girl appearance made her entire being radiate a contradictory charm.
Viloti had never tried such a hairstyle. Her face showed nervousness and anticipation, a blush quietly climbing up her cheeks.
"Does it look good?"
"It looks very good in my heart."
Felyn couldn't help but gently touch Viloti's hair.
Having an obedient beautiful girl who could be arranged however he pleased, Felyn suddenly felt a trace of guilt.
But it was quickly defeated by his rationality.
"Let me redo it for you."
Though the gap between a cold girl and twin tails was quite something, he should probably skip it.
Others would definitely ask: "Viloti, who did your hair for you?"
His little fetish would be known by the whole school again.
Getting too close to overly famous beautiful girls had this downside—everyone would know his every move.
"Felyn, my class needs to assemble."
After Felyn simply tied Viloti's hair into a single ponytail, she turned to look at Felyn, her hand gently stroking his shirt front.
"Then you should go quickly."
But Viloti didn't leave. Her fingers still stubbornly clung to Felyn.
"Wait... wait a little longer..."
She said quietly, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
"I won't leave. Go quickly."
Only after hearing Felyn's promise did Viloti let go of her hand. She slowly walked toward her class, occasionally looking back to see if Felyn would leave.
Felyn lay back on the grass, with only the azure sky remaining in his world.
Thoughts danced constantly in the air as he considered how to bring up the topic of teaming up with Bernice.
If she disagreed, who else could he find?
A strand of silver-white hair fell from above, gently brushing against his face.
The person Felyn didn't want to see had appeared.
"Miss Zervanie, how are you here?"
(End of Chapter)