"I..."

Agnes tasted despair for the first time.

Trapped in this sealed classroom, Lenna had shattered her spirit—a blow no less brutal than a dump truck head-on collision. This suffocating agony would scar a lifetime.

A slight tremor ran through Agnes’s delicate frame. Her face was paper-white. She knew exactly how the Academy would react once the truth surfaced.

Cover-ups. Threats. Bribes. Twisting right into wrong. Swallowing shame to survive...

Forcing a victim to apologize to her assailant—to recant and blame herself. Truly, the filthy deed of a prestigious imperial magic academy.

It’s rotten. All of it.

This filthy, man-eating prison disguised as a school!

"Bring it on..." Agnes murmured, eyes downcast. "I won’t fear your den of vipers..."

"Professor?" Lenna’s lips curled as she stepped closer, waving a hand before Agnes’s vacant stare. "Don’t surrender hope so fast. Believe in yourself. You can do it!"

The villain’s encouragement reeked of mockery.

"So you’re laughing at me, Lenna? You’ve won."

Agnes glanced down. Clinging fiercely to her thigh was a tiny golden Fox Maiden, tail rigid with effort.

She gave a bitter chuckle. "Hmph. Your sister?"

"......" Lenna’s smile froze abruptly.

Admit it? Deny it? She couldn’t decide.

Lingling, however, gazed up with hopeful eyes, fluffy fox ears perked high.

"I think I’ve seen all I need, Lenna," Agnes said sharply. She’d caught the flicker of helplessness in Lenna’s eyes—gone in a second—and the thick awkwardness in the air. "You two had a fight? Cold war? Lovers? You’re a bit young for that..."

"Tch. Shut up," Lenna snapped.

Agnes pressed her advantage. "Flustered?"

"......"

"Why did you fight? Tell me, sister." Curiosity sparked in Agnes as she watched Lenna’s rare, childlike vulnerability. Even the invincible had weak spots. If she probed deeper, she might unravel Lenna’s schemes—and escape this nightmare. Though what exactly Lenna plotted remained unclear...

"None of your business. It’s family," Lenna retorted, her tone shifting unnaturally fast.

"But guiding students through emotional crises is a teacher’s duty," Agnes insisted, her voice soft as a mother catching fireflies on a summer night. Her gentle gaze drifted to Angela in her nun’s habit, sighing at the girl’s crestfallen expression. "Complicated indeed..."

*Tch. Complicated how?*

*What exactly are you imagining?*

Lenna rolled her eyes skyward. Yet Agnes seized the opening, thrusting another verbal jab:

"Youth plays fast and loose, but restraint matters. How can you enjoy one partner at home while seeking midnight trysts elsewhere? Two-timing never ends well..."

In Agnes’s mind, Lingling was the neglected little wife, pitiful and alone. Angela? Lenna’s new fling. The two had collided, the wronged wife confronting the mistress—only to be coldly discarded by Lenna with a slap each.

If so, everything made perfect sense!

Lenna, heartbroken, had slept through a crucial class. Then she’d humiliated the opportunistic faculty to vent her rage. Now, she’d set her sights on Agnes’s body—desperate to forget those two failed romances...

*No! Absolutely not!*

A respected professor couldn’t be overthrown by her own student!

How immoral!

Agnes bit her lower lip. A flush spread across her porcelain skin, stunningly vivid.

"What nonsense are you spinning in that head of yours?" Lenna had lost all patience. She summoned the golden Fox Maiden with a flick of her finger.

*Snap!*

"Ow!" Lingling clutched her forehead, shooting Lenna a wounded look.

"Your doing."

Exasperation dripped from Lenna’s voice, though a trace of fondness lingered beneath.

"W-wahh... Young Miss, don’t ignore Lingling! Lingling will obey you from now on..."

"Go away. Shoo."

Lenna waved her off. Lingling tumbled straight into Angela’s arms. A gentle hand stroked the fox ears; another encircled the small waist.

Lingling sobbed pitifully. "Sister Angela, say something! If Young Miss softens, she won’t abandon us..."

"I... Never mind."

Angela finally spoke. Her eyes were hollow, like a wife cast out by a cruel husband.

"I don’t dare hope for more."

She’d meant she only wished to avoid the devil’s grasp—to escape yesterday’s torment. But her ambiguous words struck Agnes differently.

Combined with Lingling’s plea, Angela’s testimony sealed it: Lenna was a fickle little flirt.

*Disgusting! A cheater! A player!*

Devouring what’s in her bowl while eyeing the pot. Treasuring neither girl. Forcing two betrayed beauties to unite against her.

No more excuses.

Agnes despised emotional infidelity—man or woman, cheating was unforgivable!

Time for a stern lecture. Time for punishment!

Agnes’s eyes gleamed. A half-formed plan stirred in her mind.

"You’re Lingling, right?"

"Eh? Y-yes, Professor." Though timid, Lingling felt drawn to Agnes’s warmth.

"Good. Do you want to reconcile with your Young Miss?" Agnes coaxed gently. This Fox Maiden was Lenna’s weak spot—a precise strike might work.

But first...

A chilling aura shot up Agnes’s spine, freezing her blood.

She forced her gaze to Lenna. Leaning against the wall, Lenna smiled coldly, silent.

Angela remained mute too. Since meeting Lenna in the hallway, the usually bubbly idol had turned withdrawn—nothing like her pure, energetic persona.

*She used to greet me so sweetly!*

*What happened...?*

Ah. Heartbreak’s devastation. Love truly was terrifying.

As a lifelong single, Agnes had been pursued before—but it always fizzled. Her current motto? *Why date young? Focus on teaching! Level up your career, and beauties will flock to you.*

*Sound logic. Mhm.*

"Lenna? Are you listening?" Agnes asked carefully, fearing one wrong word might send her to meet her maker.

Dying young was absolutely *not* on her agenda!

"......"

"I’d like a private word with your little maid. You don’t mind...?"

Perfect. Lenna’s glare could’ve stripped flesh from bone. Those piercing eyes seemed to burn away Agnes’s clothes, leaving only a glistening, jade-like body for Lenna’s taking.

Agnes swallowed hard.

Seniority meant nothing here. Even her professional rank was useless against Lenna’s might.

Stripped of her two greatest strengths, Agnes felt unprecedented pressure.

And the worst part?

No one had ever told her Lenna was a sixth-tier Necromancer.