After the lunch break ended, the Academy resumed its afternoon classes.
“Huh? Why is my book on the desk? I’m sure I put it in my desk pocket,” Alice carefully recalled the scene when she left this morning.
“Who, who knows? Ahahaha.”
Liyakade beside her looked nervous, spreading her book open and standing it upright on the desk like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Alice seemed to vaguely see the fine sweat beading on Liyakade’s forehead.
Alice glanced at Liyakade suspiciously, feeling that Liyakade was hiding something.
“Ahem, class is about to start. Pay attention.”
Liyakade pretended nothing had happened and seriously flipped through the textbook standing before her.
Alice still felt something was off, but she decided to focus on the lesson. She carefully opened the page the Mage Teacher was discussing and concentrated on taking notes.
Soon enough, Alice discovered something was wrong.
Someone had written these words in neat handwriting.
Liyakade glanced at Alice and silently prayed that Alice’s reaction would determine whether she could continue to get by in this Academy.
Alice flipped further; it still said, and she kept going back several pages…
“Bang—”
“Li, Miss Liyakade!!!”
Alice stopped on a certain page. As she slowly finished reading the text, her cheeks grew redder and redder.
By the end, Alice suddenly exploded in anger, her face like a ripe red apple, raising the book and striking toward Liyakade.
“Ouch!”
Liyakade rubbed her head in pain. She never imagined she’d be hit not only by the villainous noble daughter but also by the protagonist.
“Wh-what’s wrong? Why are you suddenly hitting me? And why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?”
“You… you’re still asking me that!?”
Alice’s gaze avoided Liyakade, not daring to meet her eyes.
“I never thought Miss Liyakade could be this kind of person! Shameless! Obscene!!!”
“Quiet down!”
Hearing the commotion from the back row, all the classmates turned toward them. On the podium, the Mage Teacher threw a piece of chalk with precision, striking Liyakade squarely between the eyebrows, causing her to stagger back slightly.
I’m not your buddy, so why is even the teacher against me?
“You two! How long have you been talking down there? Out! Go stand outside for punishment!”
“Wuu…”
In the classroom, the Mage Teacher tirelessly continued the lecture, while in the corridor, Alice and Liyakade silently pressed against the wall, standing there.
Alice’s little face was still flushed, occasionally glancing at Liyakade, while Liyakade stood as steady as a mountain, like a meditating monk. Unable to contain her feelings any longer, Alice was the first to speak.
“Miss Liyakade, wh-what exactly was that? A prank, right?”
Alice felt a wave of shame just recalling what was written in the book. If she only read the first half, she would have thought it was a love letter, but the further she read, the more wrong it felt.
The later parts drifted into fantasies and delusions, and at the end of the passage, it was explicitly marked—Written by Liyakade, just in case Alice forgot who the author was.
Alice admitted she did have a slight fondness for Liyakade, but they hadn’t known each other long enough to be close, and being together was far too soon. Moreover… this was Forbidden Love, and not only that, even scenes of the Fruit of Temptation were described.
To write such things in someone else’s book, Liyakade was truly something else.
So the only reasonable explanation Alice could think of was that it was a prank.
“Ahem, I… I don’t know. It should be a prank,” Liyakade finally dropped her poker face, fingers nervously twisting in front of her.
Hearing Liyakade’s confirmation, Alice felt a hollow emptiness in her heart, and the strange fluttering sensation mostly subsided.
“Maybe… it started as a prank, but then… I got carried away, more and more immersed, thinking about how great it would be if things went like that. Ahem Nothing, nothing.”
“Pervert! Pervert!”
Alice’s face flushed red again.
Actually, at first, Liyakade hadn’t decided what to write and simply wrote. Then she thought that if she wanted Alice to realize someone had scribbled on her book, Alice would have to show some emotional reaction.
So she came up with writing a love letter—if a girl confessed to Alice directly in her own book, Alice would surely panic.
After all, this was Forbidden Love. To amplify Alice’s reaction and let those watching her see her panic, Liyakade even added some risqué content.
Unexpectedly, once she started writing, Liyakade couldn’t stop. By the end, she had even gotten somewhat… affected. Even now, looking back at those words, Liyakade felt embarrassed.
However, she was very satisfied with Alice’s reaction. Although she didn’t understand why Alice didn’t look particularly angry, in the eyes of others, Alice had been arguing and even fighting with her in class. This was sure to satisfy the Mage Teacher.
“To leave something like this in someone’s book! Miss Liyakade! Pervert! This book is ruined, I can’t keep it!”
“Cough cough, I’m sorry,” Liyakade clasped her hands apologetically with a forced smile.
“I’ll trade you my book and make up the notes. Please forgive me.”
“No!”
Alice turned her head away, refusing.
“That would be too easy on Miss Liyakade. I want to keep this book! As evidence of Miss Liyakade’s perversion and filth!”
“Ah?”
Liyakade looked as if she’d been struck by lightning. “Wh-why would you do that?”
Although Liyakade hadn’t written anything about insulting or cursing Alice like in the Original Work, the impact of these risqué words might even be greater.
“Miss Liyakade! You don’t want everyone to find out you write r18 stories about yourself as the protagonist, do you?”
“I swear, what do I have to do to get you to let me go!”
Liyakade panicked. She had never heard that there were Japanese Netizens in this game. If this got exposed, her already poor reputation would be utterly ruined.
“Then you, you write another one!”
Alice shyly added, “Just the first half—the confession part! Make it formal!”
“Hmm… ah?”
Still not fully processing, Liyakade stared dumbfounded at Alice, who was blushing but seemed to be summoning all her strength to meet Liyakade’s eyes.
This is turning bad.
Liyakade suddenly realized this had become a completely unpredictable Destined Stage.