“Kada.”
The sound of the bathroom door lock falling into place was like music to Ange’s ears.
She leaned back against the cold door panel, gasping violently for breath, as if she had just struggled back from the brink of drowning.
The Magic Mark on her lower abdomen was burning furiously, like countless ants gnawing away at her sanity.
Itching and emptiness intertwined into a blazing inferno, threatening to consume the last shreds of her reason.
I can’t… Not much longer…
Her trembling hands fumbled desperately with the buttons and zipper below her waist, her movements clumsy and frantic with the torment of desire.
She only needed to release the flood that was about to break through— even a moment’s relief would do…
Just as she pulled her pants down to her knees, preparing for the next step, a sudden chill of being watched pierced her senses.
She instinctively looked up.
Above the bathroom wall, outside the small vent window, a pair of eyes burning with fiery hues, full of undisguised mockery and scrutiny, stared at her unblinking.
Huayin…
Ange’s blood almost instantly ran backwards, shame surging to her head as she yanked her pants back up in a flash, nearly tearing the fabric with the speed.
She scrambled to tidy her clothes, trying to cover that patch of skin beneath which the Magic Mark was burning as if it would glow, her face so red it looked like it could drip blood, her voice low and trembling with anger and shock.
“Huayin! You… What are you doing here?!”
Outside the window, Huayin seemed quite pleased by Ange’s panic.
She adjusted her posture to lie more comfortably, her bold, radiant face sharply outlined in the cramped window.
She opened her mouth, her tone lazy and clearly teasing.
“Just coming to see how our great former Number One Demon Hunter handles her… needs under the gaze of her own Student.”
She deliberately paused, her voice full of malicious amusement.
“Why stop now? Go on, didn’t you say you couldn’t hold it anymore? Isn’t it more exciting to do it right in front of me?”
“You… What nonsense are you spouting?!” Ange’s whole body shook with anger—half from shame, half from the pain of forcibly suppressing her desire.
Her legs were so weak she could barely stand, having to grip the sink for support, her knuckles whitening from the effort.
“Huayin, just go! I’m begging you! Once… once the Egg’s results come out, I’ll make it up to you! I swear!”
“Make it up to me?” Huayin sneered, as if hearing a hilarious joke.
“Of course you have to, but, Teacher, aren’t you misunderstanding something?”
Her voice suddenly turned cold, full of force that brooked no argument.
“I’m the victim here. So how you make it up to me, what compensation, that’s up to me to decide. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
Ange was speechless.
She was clearly in the wrong here; she had no way to retort.
She could only grit her teeth, forcing out a few words between them.
“…No problem.”
“Good,” Huayin smiled in satisfaction.
“Then, my first demand is…”
Her gaze, like a poisonous thorn, swept over Ange’s tense body.
“Do it.”
“Now.”
“Let me watch.”
“Are you insane?!” Ange blurted out, her cheeks so hot she could fry an egg.
To do something this private in front of another, especially Huayin, with whom she’d just shared such intimacy and who had such a complicated relationship with her—this was even harder to bear than challenging a High Demon single-handedly!
“I’m not insane,” Huayin’s voice carried a strange, almost obsessive seriousness.
“Either you do it in front of me, and let me see even a little shame on your face—let me see you feel embarrassed—or you can keep fighting it, and end up losing control like last time… and go looking for some other solution.” Her eyes grew sharp.
“Which will you choose?”
“Damn you! Stupid Phoenix! If you hadn’t stopped me from going to the bathroom yesterday, would I be like this?!”
Time seemed to thicken and slow, each second stretching along with the searing of the Magic Mark and the unraveling of her sanity.
Sweat soaked her silver hair, clinging to her temples and cheeks.
Her whole body trembled fiercely, locked in a silent, furious battle.
In the end, the fear of losing control overwhelmed all shame.
“…Turn around,” Ange’s voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, trembling with humiliation.
Huayin raised her eyebrows, a little surprised, but obeyed, averting her gaze from directly facing Ange.
Ange bit her lip hard, nearly drawing blood, and with painstaking slowness, turned her back to the tiny vent window.
The effort drained all her strength, exposing her most vulnerable, most helpless side to those fiery-red eyes behind her.
She closed her eyes, and with trembling hands, once again reached for…
But just as she was about to succumb to this humiliating self-solution—
There came a faint rustling behind her, the sound of clothes brushing and the metallic window frame bending under stress.
Ange spun around, her pupils contracting sharply!
She saw Huayin—this little brat—using the extraordinary physical ability granted by her Phoenix blood, wriggling in through the tiny vent window, something no ordinary adult could possibly do.
Her red-soled high heels dropped in first, then her waist and shoulders, and she landed lightly on the cold tile floor behind Ange.
The already cramped bathroom instantly became suffocating with her intrusion; even the air seemed to freeze.
Ange’s face turned deathly pale, all color draining away.
She shrank back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her spine slamming into the cold tiled wall with a muffled bang.
“Get out! Huayin! Get out right now! That’s a Teacher’s order!” Her voice was sharp, completely panicked.
Huayin merely dusted off any possible dirt from her clothes, standing upright with complete ease.
She looked around this shabby little private space of Ange’s, her playful smile growing even deeper, while her eyes, like a raptor that had found its prey, locked onto Ange.
“Nope~” she said, gently, but with total resolve.
She took a step forward, her scorching presence seemingly pressing in.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
“I want to watch you.”
“With my own eyes.”
“You brat—!”