The first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning was Presia’s face, fast asleep.
If I had been a man, it might have been an awkward situation due to the early hour, but fortunately, being a woman, such an issue did not arise.
I tried my best to carefully extract myself from Presia, who was snugly nestled in my arms, so as not to wake her, but it seemed my efforts were futile as she woke up, rubbing one eye sleepily.
“Elle?”
Presia called out to me with a voice still heavy with sleep.
“It’s still early. Go back to sleep for a while.”
When I peeked through the curtains, I could see the sun just rising far away, casting a morning glow.
“But… Aren’t you going back to your room now?”
“Well, yes. I do have plans today, so I need to get ready to go out after heading back.”
Presia, still seated on the bed and looking at me, had a sleepy expression in her eyes.
Since it was my fault she woke up, it felt right to help her go back to sleep.
I approached Presia, gently laying her back on the sofa, then pulled the blanket up to cover her.
Presia, who must have still been quite tired and not intending to hold onto me, quietly followed my movements and laid down, looking up at me.
“You wandered around so much yesterday, you must be exhausted. Sleep well.”
I raised my hand and softly stroked her hair, once, then again.
Presia then turned her head slightly, pressing her face against my hand as if she were a cat.
Instead, I stopped stroking, and her face began softly caressing my hand.
Watching our little boss exhibit such cute behavior, I couldn’t help but feel my lips tugging upward.
“Come on. No more tantrums. Go back to sleep. Your eyes are already closing and you’re struggling to stay awake.”
“No… I can still stay awake…”
However, her voice began to weaken, and her movements gradually slowed.
I briefly removed my hand from her cheek and brushed her bangs aside once more.
Click
Just as my mother used to do when I couldn’t sleep because I was scared of the dark, I lightly kissed her forehead where her bangs had been swept aside.
Thump
I unconsciously performed the action, but fortunately, she didn’t seem unpleasant about it.
Instead, she smiled shyly, then raised the blanket she had tightly held in her hand to cover her face just below her eyes.
“Yeah. Now I think I can sleep…”
Fortunately, it seemed effective, as Presia’s previously defiant attitude was now completely reversed.
Indeed, just as I sat there watching, her steady snores soon began.
After ensuring Presia had fallen back into a sound sleep, I headed back to the dormitory room.
As soon as I returned to the dormitory, I was caught by the supervisor at the entrance.
However, thankfully, thanks to my friends who had received the bear’s note on my behalf and had pleaded my case with the supervisor, I only received a little lecture instead of any points deducted.
It was almost time for the morning training, though everyone should still be sleeping, so I gently turned the doorknob when I reached the door.
I turned the doorknob slowly, so slowly that the sound of it barely made any noise, and pushed the door gently, ensuring no sound could escape.
Thanks to the dormitory’s good maintenance, the hinges didn’t creak, and the door slowly opened.
The room was quite dark with the lights off as they had probably slept with the curtains closed, so I relied on the light seeping from the gap in the slightly opened door as I entered carefully.
I closed the door as silently as possible to avoid making any noise and tiptoed lightly, lifting my heels to avoid making footsteps, as I approached my bed.
First into view was my bed, closest to the door.
On the bed, where it should have been empty, was Anne, who had kicked her blanket off and her sleepwear slightly up, exposing her belly, drooling as she slept soundly.
Phew, fortunately, she didn’t wake up from my entry.
Really, if an assassin couldn’t do something like this properly, then they’d deserve to die.
Since the room was so dark, it was hard to confirm if Selian and Yuli were still asleep, but they were likely sleeping soundly much like Anne.
Satisfied, I headed toward the bathroom.
Still, the room was so pitch-black that despite adapting from a bright area outside to the dark room, it was nearly impossible to see much of anything.
Yet, turning on the light would disturb my sleeping friends, so I recalled the room’s layout and felt around carefully with my hands, inching my way forward.
I touched the bedframe ahead, moved past it, then found the table near the bed and continued forward.
I should be near the sofa now. Then the bathroom is…
Squelch
?
A different, familiar yet unfamiliar texture that wasn’t the cushiony sofa.
I examined what my hands had felt and followed its form upward with my eyes.
“Kyaa!”
As I fell onto the floor with a thud, an odd scream escaped my mouth, but that was nothing compared to the immense shock I felt.
Amidst the pitch-black darkness, two ghostly glowing eyes looked down at me as I crawled halfway toward the sofa.
Only then did I realize I was touching someone’s thigh.
Embarrassed, I tried to get up, but then noticed another pair of non-green eyes looking down at me.
“Kyaa!”
Bang!
Startled again, I leapt backward like a spring, only to end up bumping my head against the bedpost.
“Ouch…”
As I cradled my aching head and writhed in pain on the floor, a click sounded as the light switch was turned on, illuminating the entire room.
Although I had been outside in the bright light earlier and couldn’t see in the dark room, I now couldn’t open my eyes against the sudden brightness.
However, the moment the light came on, the only sound in the room was Anne’s deep snore. An awkward silence filled the room.
Slowly reopening my eyes, adjusting to the bright room, I hesitantly spoke.
…
“Hehehe….”
I still massaged my throbbing head with one hand, awkwardly smiling at the two people staring down at me.
“Ugh… Good morning…”
A pleasant yawn followed by Anne’s voice as a greeting.
A faint rustling sound indicated she was getting up from bed.
“Yuli, what time is it…? Oh?”
“Hey, good morning. Good morning.”
“You’re here, El. What’s going on?”
Apparently detained after passing the memo I had asked for earlier, Anne, who had been rubbing her eyes while sitting on the bed with the bear in her arms, noticed me kneeling on the floor and greeted me.
“Ahaha… Well, it’s that…”
“Tsk!”
As I tried to explain the situation to Anne, the sound of someone clicking their tongue made me instinctively raise my hands to my ears.
“Hmm… I’m preparing for the tournament, so I’ll head to take a shower first.”
However, it seemed Anne’s interest lasted just there as she yawned and walked toward the bathroom.
Save me Anne! Please rescue me from this situation!
As I silently screamed for rescue in my mind, naturally my silent cries didn’t reach her, and she entered the bathroom without a second glance.
Instead, as Anne entered the bathroom, the bear she had let go of jumped down under the bed.
Alright bear! You’re the only one who can save me!
The bear, with a cute waddle, approached the door and, with a surprising jump, turned the doorknob and opened it.
As the bear squeezed through the gap of the half-opened door, it briefly looked back at me, lifted its hand as a goodbye gesture, and left.
No! That’s not a goodbye gesture! You’re supposed to save me here!
“El? Should we add another 10 minutes?”
“No, no!”
At Selian’s cool voice and the realization that no one was going to save me, I quickly raised my hands again.
“We were concerned about El and couldn’t sleep… It seems El had a great sleep though?”
“Hmm…”
Yuli, approaching me, smiled while poking my thigh lightly as if to confirm.
Even though my legs were already tingling from kneeling for a while, Yuli’s light prodding sent goosebumps all over my body.
But Yuli didn’t seem satisfied with just one poke and continued to prod my thigh repeatedly.
Oh my God! There’s a demon here!
“Hmm… Please stop…”
An unfamiliar torture I had never experienced during my assassin days.
Despite my pleading, Yuli didn’t stop, enjoying the act of prodding my thigh with her fingers.
If only I could reinforce my body with aura, it would be less unbearable, but every time I tried to move aura, Sword Master Selian would warn me with that tongue clicking sound.
“Hmm…”
In the end, all I could do was endure Yuli’s relentless torment under Selian’s watchful eyes.
