Chapter 47: Caught in the Act

The midday sun slanted through the lattice windows of the side hall, cutting neat squares of light on the floor.

Dust danced in the sunlight.

Onyxia was standing outside the bedroom door, constantly wiping her fingers.

After a heart-to-heart talk with Celia, followed by several rounds of punitive physical exercise, Celia had finally returned to the bathroom she had been longing for.

Just as she was savoring the moment in the bedroom, she heard a knock at the door.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Who is it? What’s the matter?”

After a second of silence, a reply came from outside the door.

“It’s me.”

The voice was very soft, with a cautious tone.

But no matter how careful she was, after hearing her voice, Onyxia’s expression changed.

She walked over and pulled the door open.

Outside the door, only Olivia was there, holding a gift box.

Onyxia did not move aside from the doorway.

She just stood there blocking it, her eyes resting on the Dragon Princess’s face, expressionless.

“What business do you have, Princess?”

Olivia opened her mouth, then closed it, and took a deep breath.

“I’m here to apologize.”

She pushed the gift box forward.

“What happened this morning, I went too far. I shouldn’t have treated her like that, and especially shouldn’t have let it end like that. I went back and thought about it for a long time, and I felt I had to explain myself in person and apologize.”

Onyxia glanced down at the gift box but didn’t take it.

“You don’t need to explain to me. Celia already told me.”

Olivia looked up.

“She told me everything—why you came here, the matter of the stockings, and the System.”

Olivia opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back.

A few seconds of silence.

“So I know you didn’t mean it. Celia has already accepted my punishment. As for you,” Onyxia continued, “knowing is one thing, accepting is another.”

“So go back, Princess. This place is not the Dragon clan, but my home. As the mistress of this house, I do not welcome your arrival.”

With that, she took a step back and prepared to close the door.

“Wait.”

Olivia reached out and blocked the door from closing.

Onyxia’s eyes narrowed.

“Princess, what are you doing?”

“I’m not going back.”

Olivia looked up at her.

In those eyes, there was none of the morning’s cunning, nor the previous caution.

Instead, there was a… strange determination.

“I know you don’t welcome me,” Olivia continued.

“And I know what I did this morning was too much. But I can’t leave.”

“Why?”

Onyxia’s voice grew colder.

She felt that Olivia was up to something bad here.

Olivia fell silent.

Her gaze drifted behind Onyxia, toward the bathroom door inside the bedroom, where the sound of water was still running.

Celia was in there.

She remembered the foot trembling in her hand that morning, those dazed eyes, that flushed face, the repeated pleas for mercy, and the final violent shudder.

This was the first time in her life she had ever met such a fascinating person.

Her ears began to burn again.

But she quickly suppressed that feeling.

Onyxia subtly blocked her probing gaze.

Olivia snapped back to attention and began to state her reason.

“Because of the System.”

“I need to observe her System.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sister Veronica said that System hosts are very rare, and each System is different, all gifts from the gods.”

Olivia’s tone turned serious.

“Celia is the only System we can observe right now. We need to figure out what’s going on. It’s the Dragon clan’s duty, and also the task Sister Veronica gave me.”

“I don’t agree.”

“But!!”

“No buts.”

Onyxia cut her off.

“Celia is not your experiment. Whether she’s willing to be observed is up to her. But before she comes out…”

Before she could finish, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Both of them fell silent at the same time.

Onyxia’s ears twitched.

She instinctively glanced behind her.

From behind the door came rustling sounds—Celia was drying herself and wrapping a bathrobe.

She turned back to look at Olivia.

“You leave now.”

“I won’t.”

“You…!”

click

The bathroom door handle turned.

Onyxia’s heart skipped a beat.

She didn’t have time to kick her out anymore, so she quickly turned around, trying to block the view from the doorway with her body, while speaking instinctively.

“Celia, don’t come out.”

But it was too late.

The bathroom door was already open.

Celia stood at the door wrapped in a bathrobe, her silver hair wet on her shoulders, the ends still dripping.

The robe was tied carelessly, the collar hanging loose, revealing a large expanse of skin below her collarbone.

That skin was covered in dense, varied red marks, spreading from her collarbone down to her chest, and further down where the robe hid, more could be faintly seen.

Several days of excessive exercise had left her feeling groggy and her senses dulled.

This taught us one thing—don’t overdo it.

Celia hadn’t heard the shout from outside.

She also clearly hadn’t expected two people at the door.

Her eyes first landed on Onyxia’s face, with a post-bath laziness, then her gaze passed over Onyxia and saw Olivia, who was a head shorter behind her.

Their eyes met exactly.

Met those vertical pupils that were fixed unblinkingly on her chest.

Celia froze.

Olivia also froze.

The three of them stood frozen in place.

The midday sun shone in from the window at the end of the corridor, dust floating slowly in the light beam.

Silence.

Dead silence.

If it were any other Dark Elf, she would have taken off her robe and invited the two of them in for three hundred rounds.

But this wasn’t that. This was Celia.

Celia’s face, in a visibly rapid progression, flushed from cheeks to ears, from ears to neck, and from neck to that mark-covered chest.

“What are you doing here!”

She fumbled to pull her collar together, but the more she fumbled, the more those red marks appeared and disappeared between the tugging of the robe, even more glaring.

Onyxia stepped forward, using her body to block Celia completely behind her.

“Close your eyes quickly.”

This remark was directed at no one in particular, but Olivia didn’t close her eyes. Celia, however, did.

Olivia stood still, her gaze still falling on the figure behind Onyxia, of which only half a shoulder was visible.

Her own ears also turned red in secret.

She spoke while covering her ears like stealing a bell.

“…I didn’t see anything.”

Only then did Onyxia grind her teeth and force out a sentence.

“You—you get out!!”