The poison reached its full strength. Carlisle’s eyes closed, and he lost consciousness.

Sherry, who’d been in his arms, hit the ground hard and grimaced in pain. She’d temporarily lost all her magic, and she was barely in better shape than Carlisle. At least she was still conscious, but even moving her body was difficult.

The only good news was that the purple spell-rope binding her hands vanished when Carlisle passed out. She was free!

She lay there for a while, resting, and slowly got a little strength back. Just as she was preparing to struggle to her feet and get away from the edge of the woods, footsteps from nearby made her heart jump.

If someone found Carlisle unconscious now, they’d surely report it to an instructor. And in her current state, there was no way she could escape in time. Getting caught was inevitable!

Besides, she wasn’t a student at the academy. Carlisle might be taken to the academy infirmary, but she’d be sent to the Inquisition for harsh discipline and interrogation.

She had to make sure the newcomer didn’t notice anything unusual about Carlisle!

The light footsteps told her the newcomer was a female student. She also realized they were near a path by the lake, a favorite spot for couples sneaking off together at night.

The grass beneath the trees wasn’t very tall. It was almost impossible to avoid making a sound while using the gloom to hide from the newcomer’s sight.

If she was bound to be seen anyway, then she might as well…

In a flash of inspiration, Sherry struggled to her feet, turned around, and sat astride Carlisle.

“Who’s there?”

The noise at the edge of the woods caught the female student’s attention. She stopped, then slowly approached.

Walking alone at night was dangerous anywhere. Instructors patrolled the academy after dark, so nothing terrible usually happened—but you could never be too careful.

After all, if a criminal knew a few unusual spells, even an instructor might not be able to handle them.

The main reason she’d chosen this path was that so many couples came here. Criminals generally wouldn’t dare act in a crowded place, and that gave her a little peace of mind.

As it turned out, she was lucky. The noise hadn’t come from a bandit or criminal, but from a sweet couple lying on the ground.

In the dim moonlight, the girl’s pink hair looked dusted with white. Her slender waist and pale legs caught the student’s eye. She couldn’t make out the girl’s features, but somehow she felt sure the girl’s face wouldn’t disappoint.

But it was only after she looked away from the girl’s appearance that she began to realize what she was doing…

The girl’s waist rocked gently, and her black skirt swayed up and down. She braced her hands in front of her as a weak, breathy moan lingered among the trees.

Good grief—the girl wasn’t sitting on the grass. There was a male student lying beneath her!

She was sitting on his hips, rocking her waist!

Her skirt spread like a flower. It covered half the male student’s trousers, but somehow that only made it easier to imagine what was going on.

What would it look like if she lifted her skirt?

A faint rustle of clothing—or a comet crashing fiercely into a valley?

The student’s face flushed red in an instant. She turned her head away, trying not to look at the girl’s indecent behavior.

The sight was simply too much for her.

Couples often came here to be affectionate, but she’d never seen anything so brazen!

They actually dared to enjoy themselves out in the open, without caring that someone might find them! The girl was so pretty, yet who’d have thought she’d be so shameless in private!

The student was a good girl who devoted herself to studying spells. When had she ever seen anything so shocking? She covered her eyes with both hands, leaving a narrow gap between her fingers so she could watch the girl’s movements.

She… looked exhausted, as if she’d run out of strength.

It seemed the girl and boy had already been at it many times before she arrived.

As if she knew someone was watching, the girl relaxed and let her weight carry her down onto him.

“Mmm, big brother, faster~”

Her voice was weak and sweet, like a girl pleading with a guy after she’d worn herself out.

The student pressed her fingers together and didn’t dare look again. A rosy flush spread across her ears, bright even beneath the bleak moonlight.

C-could she really end up like that girl one day?

Her mind filled with flustering fantasies. She could no longer bring herself to keep watching, so she covered her face and hurried away.

Caught up in the shocking sight before her, she never noticed that the boy beneath the girl had his eyes tightly shut and was unconscious.

Once the danger had passed, Sherry collapsed onto Carlisle’s chest and panted heavily.

Only she knew that those earlier moans hadn’t been sounds of pleasure. Her bruised, swollen backside had been hitting the boy’s hard body again and again. Just managing not to cry out in pain had taken everything she had.

The student had seen all that and still hadn’t left right away. She’d even stood there watching for a while! Sherry had no idea how she’d endured it.

But if she hadn’t done that, the student would very likely have noticed Carlisle beneath her and reported him to an instructor!

She’d have been done for!

As time passed, she slowly regained the tiniest bit of strength. Lying on the boy’s warm chest, she reached for the ring on his hand and tried to pry it off.

But even unconscious, Carlisle’s hands were clenched tight. The gap in their strength meant that, for now, the weakened Sherry couldn’t pull the ring off his finger.

A searchlight came on in the distance, where the student had come from.

The academy students knew this was a place for secret trysts, and the instructors knew it too. Saint Perrod didn’t interfere with students dating, but it did forbid them from doing certain shameless things in parts of the academy.

Saint Perrod was a world-renowned academy. It couldn’t afford to have anything that might damage its reputation.

Instructors were the ones who carried searchlights at night. They used them to search the grounds and to remind affectionate couples to leave early.

The instructors didn’t want to play the villain, either. Catching a couple was awkward for everyone, and narrow-minded people might hold a grudge against them afterward.

Sherry understood how they felt, but she was in terrible shape. She could escape on her own, but she couldn’t take Carlisle with her.

She might be greedy and not exactly brimming with morals, but she knew a thing or two about repaying a kindness. When Carlisle escaped the sewer with her, he could’ve left her to face the Hawk-Beaked Man alone. She’d remember what he’d done for her.

Still, gratitude was gratitude, and grudges were grudges. She’d remember him spanking her for the rest of her life—and she’d definitely get revenge!

The light drew closer. After one last look at the ring she couldn’t remove and Carlisle, whom she couldn’t drag away, Sherry struggled up from his body. Limping and swaying her hips, she headed deeper into the woods.

What a shame about her ring. For now, she’d have to leave it with him.

But she’d get it back.

Definitely!