The female teacher looked at the black-haired girl who kept her head low and remained silent.
Figuring that she had been sufficiently admonished, she decided not to press further.
But just as she was about to speak, the girl in front of her moved first.
Her head drooped even lower, and her body began to tremble slightly.
“Waaah~”
The female teacher: ’What?’
’Is she actually crying from fear? I only scared her a little—why such a strong reaction? Are all noble young ladies these days this fragile?’
Yet before the female teacher could even offer comfort, the girl’s reaction intensified.
“Boo-hoo… I, I really wasn’t lying! Please, please don’t throw me in jail!”
At this, even the other teachers, who had been happily watching the drama unfold, panicked.
“Oh no, what do we do now?”
“How should I know? I don’t even have a girlfriend—how could I possibly know how to console a girl?”
“Don’t look at me. I may be old, but I’ve never had a granddaughter either.”
After a useless round of passing the buck, the teachers silently turned their gazes to the culprit who had caused all this.
Feeling the stares from her colleagues prickling at her scalp, the female teacher found herself embarrassed too.
’What good does it do for you to look at me like that?’
She had never comforted a child before, let alone a “child” who claimed to be twenty years old!
Still, since she had made the mess, she couldn’t just let the little girl keep crying.
So she cleared her throat and offered an out:
“Ahem… Little miss, don’t be afraid. Big sister here was just asking routine questions. All you have to do is explain the situation truthfully.”
Hearing this, the girl’s sobs did indeed stop. But before the female teacher could sigh in relief, the girl moved again.
She cried even harder.
She buried her entire face on the desk and began wailing outright, sounding utterly miserable.
“Great, she’s crying even harder now.”
“Probably touched a sore spot. Every family has its troubles.”
“The noble circles run deep. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many strange rumors, even forcing a girl to disguise herself as a boy…”
The tea-sipping teachers had already started concocting an elaborate high-society noble drama in their heads.
Listening to her colleagues’ increasingly wild speculations, even the usually calm and composed female teacher began to doubt herself, her expression nearly cracking.
’…Could I actually be some low-EQ villain?’
To prevent the situation from worsening further, she decisively shut her mouth. Heaven knows one more word might trigger another landmine from this girl. It was better to let her cry it out.
’…But now that I’ve calmed down, something feels off.’
This little girl, who had faced a room full of stern teachers, answered fluently, and even slammed the table to argue, could she really crumble into tears just because of a few empty threats?
It was hard not to suspect she was putting on a show.
Meanwhile, Sevitis, who was “sobbing uncontrollably” face-down on the desk, stole a glance from under the cover of her arms.
Of course she was faking it. As long as she could remember, she had never cried a day in her life.
She had kept her head low earlier deliberately to prepare.
Good thing there was a desk in front of her to block the view, or the teachers would have seen her snow-white thighs already bruised and bloody from pinching.
This was the plan she had long devised to deal with questions about her identity.
After sneaking a few glances and sensing the atmosphere had built up enough, Sevitis felt it was time for the next step.
So, covering her reddened eyes with both hands, she slowly lifted her head, putting on a fragile, on-the-verge-of-tears expression.
To make her acting more convincing, she even threw in a few hiccups. Then, in a trembling voice, she began to narrate the “tragic life story” she had prepared long ago.
“So you’re saying… you really are the heir of the Adams Family, but you were separated at birth due to an accident, grew up in an orphanage suffering?”
“Then a wicked woman bullied you from childhood until the Old Duke found you five years ago and rescued you from that misery?”
“But because that woman threatened you when you left, telling you not to let her see you at Kantaier Academy, you begged the Old Duke to keep your real gender hidden to avoid her harassment?”
Sevitis nodded earnestly, her red-rimmed eyes brimming with sincerity.
The female teacher tapped the desk with her fingertips thoughtfully. The story sounded a bit outlandish, but it held together logically. And the girl’s reaction didn’t seem fake.
Maybe she had been too suspicious.
“What a strong and hardworking girl.”
“Yeah, who is that evil woman who bullied her?”
“Little miss, just tell us her name! With us here, we’ll make sure you get justice.”
The teachers all rushed to defend Sevitis, and a few sentimental ones were already wiping away tears.
Of course, this tragic, pitiful backstory wasn’t true—but it wasn’t entirely false either. Lies needed to be half-truths to be believable.
As for the evil woman who bullied her in the story, that went without saying.
She wished the teachers would directly cancel Eulalia’s enrollment, but she knew that was impossible. Actually going after that woman would risk exposing the lie.
So Sevitis wiped her tears and shook her head obediently.
“It’s okay, teachers. You don’t need to worry about me. All that happened years ago. And… as academy teachers, if you targeted someone over my personal issues, it would affect your reputations.”
“Boo-hoo… what a wonderful child!”
“She’s suffered so much, and yet she’s still thinking about us!”
“So noble! Come on, why don’t you let the little girl off? Is your heart made of stone? You don’t even react?”
The white-haired old teacher was already crying, turning to scold the female teacher. In an instant, every teacher firmly sided with Sevitis.
Facing her fired-up colleagues, the female teacher felt a bit helpless.
She wasn’t unreasonable by nature. She had only meant to scare the girl a little.
Now that the child had explained everything so clearly, she had no reason to keep pushing.
Besides, time was running short. It was best to end it here.
“Well then…”
“Please don’t blame this auntie. She was just doing her job.” Sevitis interrupted suddenly.
Auntie? The female teacher rubbed her ears, wondering if she had misheard.
Sevitis maintained a pitiful, understanding look on the surface, but inwardly she was smirking coldly.
’Ha, want to let it go that easily? You think I didn’t notice you were deliberately picking on me just now? You bully me and then try to brush it off? Dream on!’
If she didn’t get back at her, her name wasn’t Sevitis!
When she had been crying with her head down earlier, she had sneaked a peek at the female teacher’s info panel and spotted her weakness.
But the weakness displayed was so out of character that she almost burst out laughing.
That didn’t matter. What mattered was that now she could use that weakness to counterattack.
“After all, this auntie is already a mature adult of a certain age. Naturally, she has to follow the rules strictly. I can understand that.”
Sevitis blinked, slowly uttering these seemingly innocuous words.
The surrounding teachers didn’t notice anything wrong. After all, compared to this little girl who barely reached five feet, some of them could be her grandfather.
Not only did they find nothing offensive, they thought she was all the more mature and heartbreaking.
Only the female teacher, the one directly targeted, froze for a moment before maintaining her cold facade on the surface.
’Heh, I’m professionally trained. No matter what emergency arises, I can keep absolute calm. Being called an auntie is nothing. How could two random words from a little girl rattle me…’
Okay, she was rattled.
Sevitis barely held in her laughter until her ribs hurt.
Though the female teacher looked calm on the outside, Sevitis could detect cracks in her subtle expressions.
Since that was the case, she would double down!
Didn’t she like insinuating earlier that Sevitis had a flat chest and was short? Fine, let’s fight fire with fire—full-on magical bombardment!
“After all, Auntie has devoted all her time to her teaching career. She probably hasn’t settled down and started a family yet, so it’s perfectly normal that she can’t understand a child’s feelings, right~”
At this, the female teacher’s unshakeable iceberg face could no longer hold. Now she was absolutely certain: this little brat was doing it on purpose.
She didn’t know how the kid had hit every single one of her sore spots, but she was definitely getting back at her.
Fine. If she wanted a fight, she wouldn’t be the one to back down. It seemed this newly reclaimed noble young lady hadn’t yet learned the harshness of the adult world.
No matter. Today, big sister would personally teach her a lesson.
The female teacher quickly composed herself. She glanced at her wristwatch, then put on a helpless, regretful expression.
“I’m very sorry, little miss. Big sister would love to help you complete your registration.”
“But unfortunately, by the time you came in, registration had already closed. In order to ‘do my job by the book,’ I’m afraid you’ll have to come back next year.” She even emphasized those four words.
’Wow, this old hag is shameless. She really can’t take a loss.’ Sevitis screamed inwardly.
She was actually using that against her! The most infuriating part was that Sevitis couldn’t refute it.
She had been flying up in the sky and had no idea what time it was.
Whether she was late or not, it was entirely up to this watch-wearing old woman to decide.
Was she just going to take the loss?
Unless…
Sevitis’s eyes darted, landing on the male teacher on the opposite side who was also wearing a watch. An idea formed.
“Oh! Is that really the case?” Sevitis’s expression instantly shifted as she turned to him. “This young and handsome big brother~”
The male teacher looked around blankly, then pointed at himself in disbelief.
“Huh? Little miss, are you talking to me?”
“Of course! Aren’t you the one here who fits the description of ‘young and handsome big brother’ the best?” Sevitis barely suppressed her nausea and repeated it.
Hearing this, the male teacher blushed, scratched the back of his head, and laughed giddily.
“Haha, ahaha! Little miss, you flatter me… You sure know how to judge people.”
’Holy crap, this punk actually dared to admit it? Too shameless!’
The surrounding teachers silently condemned him in their hearts.
Seeing he had taken the bait, Sevitis pressed on.
“Then, big brother, is registration really closed like this auntie said? But if I have to come back next year, I’ll be too old and lose my eligibility…”
Sevitis blinked, once again pinching her still-bleeding thigh without a sound, and stared at the male teacher with tear-filled eyes.
After hearing that, the male teacher immediately straightened his face. He checked his watch, then thought hard.
Sitting nearby, the female teacher’s expression began to twitch, her brow furrowing.
“Is that so? Then you’d better think very carefully,” she said, forcing a smile and raising an eyebrow.
The female teacher wanted to grab this idiot by the ear and make him understand the consequences, but she couldn’t warn him outright in front of everyone.
Was this fool really going to be so charmed by a few words from this brat that he’d turn against her?
She had only agreed to tonight’s date because of his persistent and sincere pursuit.
The male teacher rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, glanced at the female teacher’s heated gaze, and had a flash of insight. He seemed to understand.
So he nodded confidently, puffed out his chest, and assured her.
The female teacher let out a long sigh of relief. ’At least this idiot has some brains. Good, he gets it.’
Then the next second…
“I object! The timing is indeed problematic!”
The male teacher stood up and said with righteous indignation.
“I’ve been carefully timing it. While the gate did start closing at the usual deadline…”
“But at normal speed, the gate would have fully closed exactly at the deadline. However, we accelerated the closing to block her.”
“That means, by the time the gate closed, registration hadn’t expired yet, and she was already inside the school grounds!”
Under the female teacher’s gradually dimming eyes, the male teacher reached his conclusion.
“Therefore, according to academy regulations, the moment she entered the gate counts as successful registration.”
Hearing this, the surrounding teachers nodded in agreement.
“He has a point.”
“Actually, come to think of it, the academy handbook does have that rule.”
Listening to the chorus of agreement from her colleagues, the female teacher fell silent. A vein bulged on her brow, and she forced out a kind smile.
“Heh… hehe, since that’s the rule, then do as you say. Process her enrollment.”
Sevitis clasped her hands together, her face full of gratitude.
“Really? That’s wonderful! Thank you all so much, teachers.”
Then she tilted her head slightly, turning her gaze to the female teacher who was nearly exploding with rage.
Sevitis’s smile remained, but a small fang appeared at the corner of her mouth, and a victorious glint flashed in her eyes.
“And especially, I’d like to thank this…”
“Old. Aunt. Le.”
“…!”
Crack.
Her fist was clenched. Did she even need her teaching license? Could she just pound this annoying brat to death?
The female teacher’s psychological defenses completely collapsed at that moment.
…
A few minutes later, after finishing her registration procedures, Sevitis hummed a tune and limped away.
The male teacher immediately sidled up to the female teacher, seeking credit.
“So? How’d I do? I saw your look and understood immediately.”
“I knew it—you couldn’t save face in front of everyone, but you didn’t want to ruin the girl’s future, so you subtly hinted for me to come to her rescue, right? I’ve got your back!”
The male teacher proudly wiped his nose.
The female teacher turned to look at him, her face blooming into a radiant smile.
“Mm. You did very well.”
Hearing her praise, the male teacher rubbed his hands excitedly. “So, about our date tonight?”
“Oh, the date…” The female teacher acted as if she had just remembered, then her expression instantly dropped.
“Go date that green-tea brat.”
“Pervert lolicon.”
With that, she flipped her hair and walked away without looking back.
Leaving the male teacher standing alone in the wind, utterly bewildered.