## Chapter 187 – The Moment of Holding a Secret (4)
“Haa… haaa… huff… haaa…”
How much time had passed since then?
For a long time, she had writhed, struggling against the terrifying pleasure that washed over her.
But whatever had tormented her during that time had vanished like a ghost.
As if nothing had been there from the start.
Having regained her freedom and dignity as a human being, she could only sit alone on the toilet in the stall, leaning back against the wall.
“Cold…”
She could feel that her body had no strength left.
Annette tried to do something, but her arms trembled, and she struggled to lift the shirt she had thrown on the floor, placing it over her stomach as if to cover herself.
Only then did she feel the chill that had begun to envelop her body slightly subside.
Judging by the fact that the sun was already setting, it was likely that at least half a day had passed since then, given the short days of the current season.
Moreover, considering that she had passed out at some point, her eyes rolling back in her head from the pleasure, it could have been even longer.
“Ah… aah…”
Even in her choked state, she must have abused her throat so much that she felt a slight pain, and only a hoarse sound escaped.
Feeling thirsty, she realized she was severely dehydrated.
Biting her lip, Annette lowered her arms and began to pull up her other clothes, struggling to lift her upper body, which was leaning against the toilet tank, and began to dress.
After finally managing to put on her clothes, she opened the stall door and turned around. The door to the stall next to hers, the one Eloise had been in, was already open.
Just in case, Annette cautiously opened the door slightly, but all that remained was a toilet that had been vacated and had grown cold.
She thought she could faintly smell Eloise’s scent, but perhaps it was just her imagination.
She could no longer be sure of anything, nor could she understand anything.
‘What… what… happened… to me…?’
Was what she saw real?
Or had she just hallucinated?
Her body and mind were exhausted, but was this really evidence of what she had experienced?
‘Did I… see something that wasn’t there…?’
Unable to be sure of anything, Annette eventually dragged her tired body towards the sink.
Even as she did, she kept looking back, afraid that something might appear again. Annette picked up Marie’s books, which had been left where she had placed them.
“Haa… haa… Senpai… Teacher…”
Only then did she realize that there were people waiting for her at the training grounds. Taking one last look inside the women’s restroom, she began to walk back outside.
But she arrived at the training grounds, her legs wobbly and trembling, only to find the scene empty.
“I’m… late… I…”
Since the junior who had gone to get something from Marie hadn’t returned, they must have assumed something had happened and simply disbanded.
They had no obligation to wait for her for so long.
At best, a presumptuous junior who would be dealt with by her family.
A pathetic student who couldn’t do anything on her own and needed help.
A simple-minded disciple of someone who had pretended to be a mentor because she seemed easy to play with.
Annette’s lips twitched, and her head drooped.
Perhaps it was because of the shock and fatigue from what she thought she had experienced today.
Feeling her shoulders heavier than before, Annette dragged her slumped body out of the training grounds.
But.
“Junior? Took you long enough?
I thought you weren’t coming at all?”
“Oh? Where have you been rolling around?
What’s with your appearance? Why are you trembling?”
“Senpai… Nell Unni…”
Seeing the two of them as she passed through the training grounds’ gate, Annette swayed and called out to them in a low voice.
“She might not be feeling well. Come on.
We were just on our way back from the academy anyway.”
“Haa… haa… yes…?”
“It’s dinner. The teacher is buying, no less.
There’s no other chance to get a free meal unless it’s now. Isn’t that right?
After we eat this, it’s back to sparring.”
“Your cheeks are red. You need to warm up, you little thing!!
Girls need to be warm!!
What were you doing to end up like this?
Let’s go!! Let’s go!! It’s getting cold!!”
“Ah…”
Good people.
Seeing Lucia and Polcinella smiling gently at her and wiggling the paper bag in their arms, Annette unconsciously smiled with relief.
Slipping in between them and beginning to move her faltering steps, Annette gently tightened her grip on the books in her arms.
It was as if her heart, which had become strangely excited, would calm down a little if she did that.
Even the feeling that she would one day surpass these grateful people seemed like it would disappear as things were.
But despite that, a faint shadow of her pondering the events of earlier was being cast along with the curtain of night on Annette’s face, which was adorned with an undeniable smile.
“Ah, it’s been a while since we had fried rice, huh?
When I was on the front lines, you know?
There was this guy, Chao Xing, who was eating this, and I wondered what it was?
I thought it would taste bland, but…”
“Stop looking for your old days.
I didn’t buy coffee.”
“Hehe!!”
“Oh!! Did you laugh? Everyone in the neighborhood!!
The teacher is being insulted!! And the student is laughing!!
We couldn’t even imagine this back in my day!! The academy is doing well~!
I’m Polcinella, huh!? The front line bitch!!
If there’s any woman on the front lines who’s better than me, come out!!
Huh? Laughing? Hey!! Come here!! Just let me catch you!! Yaaah!!”
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‘Someday, I’ll give you this world.’
As much as Vivian was working hard, I was also putting in my own efforts.
‘It might be a little different in direction from Vivian, though…’
Unlike Vivian, who was aiming for the back alleys and preparing diligently for the future by practically living there.
Me, who literally had no feet to go anywhere and was basically a time billionaire.
The only place I could focus on was inevitably limited.
‘I need to increase what I can do at the academy.’
It just so happened that I fell into the academy’s flower bed, but when I thought about it, this place was definitely not bad.
What is the academy?
It’s a treasure trove of talent.
A place where promising talents who are looking to the future reside and develop their skills.
If Vivian is out there doing outside work, then I can do whatever I can inside here to help Vivian with what she wants to do.
Then the path and future we should take will become clear.
‘This makes me feel like I’ve become a wife supporting her husband…’
The problem was that it didn’t seem wrong when you just looked at the relationship itself.
Anyway, in that sense, what I was aiming for was the recruitment of new talent.
I couldn’t let Vivian dirty her hands alone in the back alleys when I was the one who had to struggle to survive.
I didn’t really want to drag other people in, but you have to know your place when you’re being stubborn.
‘The price of that stubbornness was my miserable past life.’
Trying to shake off the bitter feeling, I returned to the original topic and continued to think.
Currently, the places where I was exerting influence (?) in the academy were mainly two places.
One was my lair, and the other was the women’s restroom on the first floor of the Magic Engineering Building.
‘It’s too late to discover other places now…?
At least this case has to be resolved somehow within this…’
That meant that the women in the lair were already caught fish anyway.
Now in a position where I needed new fish, I naturally had no choice but to turn my attention to the Magic Engineering Building.
‘Is it fortunate that there are so many loyal customers?’
I originally thought that I would have to pull out after doing it once or twice because of the students who felt something was wrong.
Strangely, the female students in the Magic Engineering Building were making their own rules and using the women’s restroom well.
Even though it was vacation now, about ten people a day were visiting the restroom.
Thanks to that, I was able to collect some deficient nutrients, so the Magic Engineering Building’s women’s restroom was literally a place that steadily laid golden eggs for me.
‘Everyone seems to be used to pleasure now…
Then there might be a way to coax them…?’
But in many ways, the element of ‘coaxing’ had to be rejected.
‘If I mess up, it might be like cutting open the duck’s belly…’
I had been lucky so far to meet women who even understood me, a monster, but there was no guarantee that it would continue to be that way.
‘Practically… except for Carla, they were all forcibly violated…
Expecting them to change their minds later is too much to rely on luck…
The larger the scale of the women in the lair, the greater the probability and risk of betrayal.’
The world was wide, and there were many strange and bad people.
Vivian had changed for the better after experiencing a shocking incident, but she was originally an iljin who had collectively bullied a girl named Annette.
Among them, there was a possibility that some people would move not to change for the better and choose a new beginning like her, but simply for interest or resentment.
‘Do I have to use that…?’
The thought that the brainwashing tentacle I used to brainwash Aurora was prepared made my tentacle, which was slightly tempted, lean slightly to the side.
But using that was an act that would instill anxiety in Vivian, who trusted me.
After the Aurora incident, Vivian said that she understood my actions in words.
But as her surroundings became filled with brainwashed dolls whose brains had been tampered with, it was only natural that she would feel burdened.
‘If possible, solve it without that.
I’ll need my own plan for that…’
If it was dangerous to bring in many people, I could bring in a minimum number of people and concentrate on mental education and psychological understanding.
Then the range of targets I should aim for would be narrowed down, making it easier for me to move around.
‘Then… the problem is how to select the minimum number of people…’
The criteria were simple in a way.
Let’s say you can only choose one item from several items.
Then you just have to pick and choose the best item from those items.
‘The Magic Engineering Building’s sucker… no…
The person with the best conditions among the “customers”…’
People in the academy, that is, the school, are ultimately either students or teachers.
If both are the same mage, then the teacher would be the best choice in terms of mental and skill.
‘But… touching someone who’s a teacher…
There might be some risk after all…’
After all, I didn’t know anything about the ‘magic’ of this world, the elements like magic.
The level difference between an inexperienced student and a skilled teacher.
I didn’t even know how much skill an inexperienced student showed.
At best, I had only seen students use magic occasionally during special evaluations, and most of them were cut off at the entrance by Rhea, who was hard-carrying alone.
‘There’s time…
Let’s approach it carefully.’
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