Chapter 266: Interlude – Reunion
The day before the new semester began, my party members, who had scattered during winter break, gathered together in the party house for the first time in over a month. One would think that a reunion after being apart for so long would be warm and heartwarming, but that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, what unfolded was an atmosphere so tense it felt like someone would draw a blade at any moment.
Iris interrogated me. “Alright then. Why don’t you start talking? What exactly happened over winter break?”
“Uh, well.” I tried to recall everything that had happened during the break. The very first incident was definitely meeting that person. “I met Lineage’s mother.”
Iris’s and Yurina’s eyes widened in shock.
“Sister Laneige’s mother?”
“W-wait. If it’s Sister Laneige’s mother, you mean the Archbishop of Frost, right?”
“Th-that... maybe I’m misremembering, but Sister Laneige’s mother, wasn’t she, you know.”
“That’s right,” I replied.
The Archbishop of Frost had died long ago.
Senior Sophia frowned, clearly unable to process it. “You’re not trying to tell us the dead came back to life, are you?”
I confirmed her suspicions. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“No, that’s...”
“It was the work of the Prophet of Eternity.”
Calmly, I recounted everything that had happened that day. As the story unfolded, the expressions around me shifted between shock, fury, and grief. Iris, Yurina, and Senior Sophia surrounded Laneige and pressed her for answers.
“Sister Laneige, if something like that happened, you should have contacted us.”
“Y-yeah! Training or not, we would’ve dropped everything and rushed over!”
“Why didn’t you contact us at all? From the sound of it, this happened not long after winter break started.”
Laneige, who had been sitting on the sofa quietly nibbling on some sweet bean jelly that Berald had brought, flinched at the sudden attention. She trembled like a small rodent caught in a storm.
Stuttering, she explained, “I-if I contacted you, since everyone was training so hard, I thought I’d just be a burden. S-so, I didn’t.”
Iris frowned in frustration. “A burden? What do you think we are? We would never consider something like that a burden!”
Due to the unmistakable sincerity in her scolding voice, a faint smile formed on Laneige’s lips. She turned to look at me, her eyes brimming with affection. “It’s o-okay. Instead, Dale comforted me a lot.”
“Comforted?” In stark contrast, Iris’s expression grew rigid. “Oh? And how exactly did Dale comfort you?”
“Th-that’s...” Laneige fidgeted, lips trembling, then clenched her fists tightly and cried out, “I-I can’t say.”
She covered her face with her hands and shook her head furiously. Her reaction made it painfully obvious without her having to say a word, and a heavy silence fell over the room.
Iris turned to me. “Dale.”
“Y-yes?”
“Let me get this straight. While Sister Laneige was in shock from losing her mother again, you used ‘comforting her’ as a convenient excuse to put your hands on her?”
“No, that’s not...”
To be precise, she was the one who put her hands on me.
“Disgusting!”
The look of contempt directed at me was brutal. It was unfair.
“Haah. Well, fine. Sister Laneige was the only one who hadn’t progressed with you yet anyway.” Iris let out a sigh and brushed her hair back. Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she glared at me. “Now then. What about the Empress?”
“That’s...”
“I heard from Sister Laneige that the Empress, the one who once proposed taking you as her consort, actually came to the academy. Is that true?”
“I-it’s true, but...”
“Oh?” Iris crossed her legs beside me, resting her hand lightly on her thigh as she narrowed her eyes. “What exactly happened between you and that Empress?”
“Nothing happened.”
Laneige suddenly shot to her feet. “I’ll explain!”
Planting a hand on her hip, she proudly announced everything that had occurred between Empress Camellia and me. “Dale followed the Empress’s command, dressed up suuuuper handsomely, and received a reward!”
“What?”
Hold on, Ms. Laneige. I think you skipped a lot of context there.
“Look! This is the picture!”
Laneige activated her Hero Watch and showed everyone a photo of me from when I was in disguise. Thanks to Jules’s magic, I looked like the third-generation heir of a wealthy republic conglomerate.
Wait. Why does she even have that picture?
Laneige continued, “Hehe! I went to Jules and threaten— I mean, persuaded him to give it to me!”
Iris and Yurina stared at the photo in utter disbelief.
“Dale, just what...”
“Wait. This is a misunderstanding,” I explained.
“A misunderstanding? What kind? That you received the Empress’s command?”
“No, that part is true.”
“Then is it true that you dressed up handsomely, when you don’t even dress up a little for our dates?”
“I-I mean, that did happen.”
“And that you received a reward from the Empress?”
“That too.”
“Then what exactly is the misunderstanding?”
No. This is seriously unfair.
“Oh? And I heard you even went to visit Professor Baldwin while she was in closed-door training?”
“Ah, y-yeah. I actually just parted ways with Professor Baldwin and came straight here.”
“Hm. From what I heard, you went to see her several days ago. What exactly were you doing for those several days?”
Iris smiled sweetly as she slipped her thumb between her index and middle fingers in a crude gesture. “You can answer honestly. You did it, didn’t you?”
S-Saintess, that hand gesture is extremely vulgar.
“So, if we summarize everything Dale did over winter break...” The warmth slowly drained from Iris’s eyes. “You comforted Sister Laneige, received a reward from Empress Camellia, and enjoyed a secret rendezvous with Professor Baldwin?”
“Well, how do I put this?” I muttered.
A lot of context was skipped there. But when she put it out like that, it was not technically wrong.
“Heh heh heh.” The dry laugh slipping from Iris’s lips sent a chill down my spine. “Let’s postpone the cheerful reunion party for later. Would everyone mind giving us a moment?”
She turned toward the other party members in the lounge, smiling with a bright, crescent-eyed expression. Yet the murderous aura in her gaze made them nod silently and rise from their seats. All except one.
Yurina jumped up from her seat and shouted, “I-Iris! I have something to talk to Dale about too!”
“Yurina, tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester!”
“Ah!” Iris let out a quiet sigh, as if conceding.
“Fine then. Yurina, you can stay too. I imagine.” She glanced at me through narrowed eyes. “We both have plenty of things to discuss with Dale.”
I shut my mouth, sensing the danger ahead. Dear Saintess, you’re terrifying.
Laneige raised her hand eagerly, eyes sparkling. “A-ah, then me too!”
“Sister Laneige, you spent the entire break with Dale, didn’t you?”
“Ugh!”
“And alone, at that.”
“Th-that’s....”
“You know what I’m about to say, don’t you?”
“H-hiing.” After stomping and looking at me helplessly, Laneige finally let out a deep sigh and nodded. “O-okay. Then, s-see you tomorrow, Dale... if you can.”
She added the last in a softer voice, with an ominous implication, before turning away. The lounge door closed, leaving only Iris, Yurina, and me behind.
Iris was the one who broke the awkward silence that had settled in the room. “Well then. One month, no, it’s already been over a month, hasn’t it?”
She rose to her feet with a faint smile. “Do you have any idea how much I wanted to see you, Dale?”
“I-I wanted to see you too,” I quickly replied.
“Oh? For someone who missed me so much, you certainly kept yourself busy touching this woman and that woman.”
“Ugh!”
“Well, fine. I was the one who decided we’d spend a month apart to focus on training.”
“Sorry!”
“Hehe. So you do feel guilty after all?” Smiling prettily, Iris turned to Yurina. “By the way, Yurina, did you bring what I asked for?”
“Y-yeah. I brought it, but you’re not planning to wear it now, are you?”
“If not now, then when?”
“But...” Yurina glanced at Iris and me, cheeks flushed. “Haah! F-fine.”
Iris turned to me. “Dale, wait here for a moment. We’ll go change.”
The two of them left the lounge. For five long minutes, I sat there, half anxious, half curious about what they would return wearing. Finally, the lounge door opened carefully. When they stepped inside, a shocking scene unfolded.
“Ah.”
Before me were Iris, wearing white stockings and nothing but a garter belt, and Yurina, in black stockings with a garter belt. I had seen Yurina dressed like that once before, but seeing the two of them together wasn’t just twice as overwhelming; it was exponentially more destructive.
“Well? Yurina told me you liked this very much last time, so I prepared it.”
“I-I did try to stop her,” Yurina mumbled, averting her gaze, face burning red.
Iris approached me with a sultry smile, while Yurina shyly avoided eye contact. People said that sweet and salt together was the perfect combination. It seemed to be true. The contrast between the two women made my heart pound violently.
“Originally, I wanted to show you when we were alone somewhere romantic.” Iris leaned in close, her heated breath brushing against my cheek. There was no hiding the excitement in that breath. “But after finally seeing you again, I couldn’t hold back.”
“E-erm, M-me too.” Yurina, hesitating only briefly, leaned against my other side and wrapped her arms around me. “While you were gone, I endured a lot.”
Her moist eyes lifted toward me. The two of them pressed close from either side. Through the thin layer of fabric, I could feel the softness of their skin, and their heated whispers tickled my ears.
Ha! My God! How many men in the world can possibly keep their composure in a situation like this? And judging by their expressions, this doesn’t look like something that’ll end in just one night.
Tomorrow was the first day of the new semester. I couldn’t skip the very first day of the semester. For a fleeting moment, the image of my bottom-ranked report card flashed before my eyes.
Ah! Whatever. What’s the worst that can happen if I miss just one day?