I walked back to the academy with Titania, leading her to her dormitory.
“Bye, Leon,” she said, giving me a shy smile. “Um, see you later.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you.” I replied. With a final wave of her hand, she turned and walked toward her dormitory, her smile lingering. I watched her until she disappeared inside.
After that, I headed to the academy gates and made my way to the parking lot. There, I spotted Professor Rose leaning against her car, clad in a thick trench coat.
“Hello,” I said as I approached. “Have you been waiting long?”
“Yes,” she replied with a curt nod, her eyes narrowing with a piercing, no-nonsense glare. “Now get in.” She pointed toward her car, the command clear in her tone.
I slid into the backseat of Professor Rose’s car, but she stopped me with a sharp command.
“Up front,” she ordered, her voice clipped and impatient.
I moved to the front seat, feeling the weight of her disapproval. Her eyes were a storm of irritation, and it was clear she was far from pleased. I wondered why she wanted me up front with her. Just last night, she’d been dodging my calls. Maybe the gravity of the situation made it impossible for her to keep her distance.
Professor Rose slid into the driver’s seat, the car’s engine roared to life, and we were off. She said nothing, her focus on the road ahead.
The silence in the car was suffocating, an almost tangible weight pressing down on us. The only sounds were the low growl of the engine and the rhythmic thud of the tires against the pavement.
“Looks like your assumption was spot on,” I said, breaking the thick silence hanging between us. “The Eclipse really was behind those kidnappings, huh?”
She didn’t respond, her eyes locked on the road, her expression cold and unreadable.
“The men I interrogated were tight-lipped,” I went on, “They were so fanatically loyal to the Eclipse that even under duress, they wouldn’t reveal a thing about their leader. It must be some seriously potent hypnosis that’s got them like this.”
Even when they were inches from death, they didn’t crack. I offered them a lifeline, a way out, but they kept their mouths shut like they were under some unbreakable spell. It showed just how deeply Sesillian had drilled his influence into them, turning them into silent puppets. And to make them that loyal, even to the point of dying, was no small feat. That man… terrifyingly evil for someone who gets railed by men in the ass.
“I do remember them chanting something,” I said, trying to cut through the thick silence between us. “I’m going to tell you what it was—it might help in tracking them down.”
Despite my effort, she remained silent, her attention seemingly elsewhere or perhaps deliberately ignoring me.
“Are you listening, Professor Rose?” I asked.
In response, she slammed on the brakes, the car screeching sharply as it jolted to a stop. She turned to face me, her eyes burning with fierce anger.
“Leon,” she demanded, her voice seething with intensity, “What am I to you?”
Her question was charged with such raw fury that it demanded a response. But I was struck dumb, unable to answer. My relationship with Rose was a complex, tangled mess—was it right to call us partners, lovers, or just teacher and student?
It was already a mess since she thought she was having an affair with a man who already had a girlfriend, but things spiraled further when she found out I was involved with other women—women she knew, some as friends, others as acquaintances. To her, it must’ve seemed like I was just collecting women like trophies in my personal harem.
“You really can’t answer, can you?” she hissed, her voice shaky with frustration. “If you don’t tell me what’s actually going on, I swear I might lose it. I really might lose it. I mean, I can’t believe I just fucked you, knowing you have a girlfriend, and now I find out you’re fucking other women too? And not just any women—Gabrielle and Irene!”
She thought my relationship with Titania was untouchable. No way I’d risk cheating on her, not when she was a princess and future queen. If I ever crossed that line, execution would be a real threat. That’s why she said we’d be putting ourselves in danger if we ever slept together. But now we had. All we could do was keep it a secret so she wouldn’t face the fallout and just deal with the guilt of having been with a man already in a relationship.
“Answer me, Leon…” she demanded, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Did you really sleep with them? Do you really have relationships with both of them? I never got a clear answer from you. Irene and Gabrielle didn’t say anything, but the way they looked at me confirmed it. I want to hear it from you.”
She fixed me with a steely, unyielding gaze.
I nodded in response.
“Say something,” she insisted, her eyes growing colder. She wanted more than just a nod; she needed me to confirm it with my own words. But I remained silent. “I said say it!” she shouted, pulling her arm back and then thrusting it towards my face.
I activated my Guardian to block the incoming attack. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Wha…? The Guardian? Why do you have that…? And… what? I thought you were skillless, Leon?” she stammered, staring at her hand that had just tried to punch me, before locking eyes with me again.
I ignored her question, my voice steady as I admitted, “I’m in a sexual relationship with both Professor Irene and Professor Gabrielle.”
Her eyes shot wide open, the realization hitting her like a punch to the gut. “So you really are…” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Then, the man driving Irene crazy… was you.”
“Yeah, it was me. But I didn’t mean to ignore her. I was just keeping my promise,” I said calmly, watching her expression shift between anger and hurt.
She looked at me with disbelief, and then a bitter chuckle escaped her lips.
“Hehehehe… I can’t believe this…” she said as she continued driving. “I really thought you were my Prince Charming, Leon. But I was wrong. You’re nothing but a scum.”
Scum. Yeah, I was that. Akane had told me the same thing before. That I was scum. I slept with plenty of women back in my old world too. When Akane found out, she said I was a scum. I didn’t really understand what she meant back then. And even now… I probably still don’t.
