The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

A woman was making her way somewhere with a quiet, measured stride.

She had caught Lee Ye-eun's eye during the festival where the Thornwood Cross had carried out their terrorist attack, and in the aftermath — as the clan was reorganized and put back in order — Lee Ye-eun had personally picked her out as a new aide.

When Lee Ye-eun became clan head, Shin Woo-seok, her closest aide up until then, found his own workload steadily growing, and so someone else was needed to attend to her personally.

"......"

She vaguely understood that wasn't the only reason, though.

Her main duties were to wait on Lee Ye-eun, run her errands, and serve as her personal secretary.

Lee Ye-eun had never liked being waited on by others, and perhaps because of that, there had been a fair number of people who took petty jabs at her for keeping only Shin Woo-seok by her side, spreading nasty rumors about it behind her back. But once she became clan head, she'd seemed to take notice of those whispers — she'd appointed new aides, including her, and naturally rotated Shin Woo-seok over to outside work, and the rumors had dried up.

On the face of it, you could chalk it up to Lee Ye-eun acting in keeping with her position as clan head. But as she'd said, she knew well enough that wasn't the whole story.

The other reason was none other than the existence of the younger brother who had so suddenly appeared in her life. Yu Ji-hyeok, his name was — wasn't it?

And while she'd long been famous for putting up an iron wall against men, lately she'd been holding the line even more thoroughly than before. So much so that she now even avoided being alone with Shin Woo-seok of all people.

It was the kind of behavior that almost looked like —

"Please handle these carefully. The clan head asked for them specifically."

She turned and called back to the people carrying her load. It was a deliberately staged remark, to push the thought she'd just been having out of her head.

She knew better than anyone that Lee Ye-eun was her mistress. And she also knew that a good attendant buries her mistress's hidden secrets deep and pretends they aren't there.

But still....

The curiosity that kept rising up in her showed no sign of fading.

Lee Ye-eun returning to the clan's territory yesterday, with no warning. A handful of people following her in. Lee Ye-eun and her companions disappearing into a special forest accessible only to members of the main family — meaning, in effect, only Lee Ye-eun. Lee Ye-eun issuing a stern order that no one besides the people she'd brought with her was to set foot in the forest. And, on top of all that, the items Lee Ye-eun had asked to be delivered as quickly as possible.

She glanced back once more.

The items Lee Ye-eun had requested were cheap, for the most part, but there was enough of them to need several people to carry. She tilted her head slightly.

What Lee Ye-eun had asked for — cleaning brushes and tools, pet bath supplies, abrasive compounds and polishing agents — had no common thread between them at all.

Is she planning on opening a general store or something...?

"...Out like a light, our little Ji-hyeok."

Lee Ye-eun sat perched on a chair, watching Yu Ji-hyeok where he lay curled up in the clearing, sleeping soundly. He was still in dragon form.

She let her eyes wander over the area. Some were sitting and resting like she was, others were dozing, and others were just staring blankly at Yu Ji-hyeok. Everyone was taking a break in their own way.

She closed her eyes and drew in a long, deep breath of the forest's scent.

"Haaah...."

...When Yu Ji-hyeok hadn't changed back to his usual form, a noticeable ripple of unease had run through the group.

Why couldn't he change back? Don't tell me he's going to have to live the rest of his life like this? — That sort of talk had even come up.

But while everyone else was caught off guard, Minerva had calmly examined Yu Ji-hyeok's state and quickly identified the cause. The reason, as it turned out, was something none of them would have thought of in a hundred years.

In short: he was in this state because he was about to molt.

A dragon grows in response to powerful events or causes. Squeezing out mana to one's absolute limit, or fighting a battle for one's life — most of the time it's something external like that.

The problem was....

Minerva, whose expression hadn't changed even when Yu Ji-hyeok failed to revert, had spoken with no small amount of bewilderment on her face.

When a dragon is still a hatchling — that is, still young — it must be helped through molting by a parent, a guardian, or at the very least a companion. To do it alone takes a great deal of time. And in such a case, the dragon falls into a deep sleep. ...Just as I once did in my time. And looking at him now, I would say he is in the same state as I was.

When they asked how long it might take, Minerva said they should be prepared to wait, at the outside, for years.

Naturally that wasn't something they could wait through, so they decided to take a different route — they would help Yu Ji-hyeok molt themselves.

There was much to prepare for that.

To begin with, to keep him from being exposed to the outside world, they brought him to the World Tree's territory — specifically to a special forest where only members of the main family could grant or deny entry.

Jin Ye-seul and Minerva worked together to move him through the shadows in transit.

To the members of the Ten Powerhouses who had come to help, Lee Ye-eun had stepped forward herself and made an excuse, saying Yu Ji-hyeok had been wounded in the fight and that, as a member of the World Tree clan, he'd been sent on ahead to their lands for treatment by special means.

...And then there's that.

The crystal floating around Han Su-yeong.

After the lich was killed, the moment it touched Han Su-yeong's hand it had started drifting around her as if it had a will of its own. Hovering slowly around her like a satellite in orbit, it was impossible to ignore even if you tried.

Set aside the fact that it had shrunk from human-sized to about the size of a baseball — the strange traces of mana seeping out of the crystal itself were profoundly uncomfortable for Lee Ye-eun, as a member of the World Tree clan.

"Ugh, this is a lot."

While she was quietly sorting through her thoughts, Choi Hyun-woo appeared, panting, with an armload of supplies. He'd lost the bet, so he'd been the one making trips out to the edge of the forest and back, over and over. He set down the cleaning brushes and boxes he'd been carrying and muttered.

"I'm never drawing straws again as long as I live."

"Then why'd you suggest it in the first place? Don't you know the person who brings up something like this is always the one who gets stuck with it?"

Han Su-yeong snickered and started helping him with the items he'd brought. The others moved to lend a hand as well, and Lee Ye-eun rose from her seat too.

"So, how are we supposed to do this again?"

Lee Yu-na asked the question with a spray bottle in one hand and a cloth in the other. Minerva, examining a cleaning brush with what looked like genuine curiosity, answered:

"If we ease the way for him to break out of the scales that wrap him like a shell, this will be over quickly. Inject mana into the spot and he'll shake free in a few days. Three or four at the very most."

"Can't we just crack it open from the outside for him? Sure, a dragon's scales are hard, but honestly, everyone here could manage if we put our minds to it."

"Now that would be a disaster of an idea."

Minerva, raising a cleaning brush as if to mark her decision, answered Jin Ye-seul's question.

"What dost thou suppose would happen if thou, seeing a butterfly struggle, broke its cocoon for it? Understand it in the same way. ...Add to that — that he would go so far as to molt is something I never foresaw. There is no sense in making waves needlessly. Who knows what side effects might follow."

"So what's the connection between helping him molt and... this?"

Choi Hyun-woo looked at the cleaning supplies, the pet-grooming products, the abrasives and polishing agents.

"We must soften his scales so they break apart more easily. As we would for any other hatchling."

Minerva said.

"The natural way to help a hatchling break free from its scales is to lick the hatchling's body all over, top to bottom. Intentional abrasion of the surface, to spare the hatchling its strength, with the right stimulation to spur its awakening. Had I been able to return to my true form, this would be a matter I could have handled with ease all on mine own. But that is not where we find ourselves, is it?"

Saying it utterly without embarrassment, Minerva looked at Yu Ji-hyeok with an expression brimming with what looked very much like regret.

"It need not all be scrubbed at thoroughly. Apply the abrasive and the polish at the joints and segments and rub a few times — that will be enough. After that, channel in the mana we have prepared, and the matter is done."

So saying, she kicked off her shoes as if they were a nuisance. Then she went to tear off the hem of her dress — and paused, glancing over at Choi Hyun-woo. With a small nod, she instead settled for knotting up her clothing roughly, and called her preparations done.

She couldn't very well bare her skin to any man besides him.

She breathed out through her nose and began gathering up her tools. Watching her, the rest of the group adjusted their own clothes to make movement easier and picked up their own supplies.

"...Wow."

Lee Yu-na could feel her mind going blank as she stared up at the dragon, which looked even bigger up close. Back when I had that part-time cleaning job and had to clean an entire gym by myself, it wasn't even half this bad, she thought.

"Oof."

Choi Hyun-woo, who'd shed his shirt for a short-sleeved tee, slung a cleaning brush over his shoulder and looked up at Yu Ji-hyeok.

"I barely clean my own room. Now I'm out here giving a dragon a bath."

And not one of them had any prior experience with this either.

...They finished a full seven hours after they'd first started scrubbing.

Yu Ji-hyeok returned to his usual form roughly a full day after that.

"Aw, Natalia, what are you doing? You look like you're having so much fun."

"~~~~~!!!"

A muffled scream rang out in response to the giggling. As the loud clatter of chains rattled in the air, Belluna, who'd been laughing under her breath, blew a soft whoosh of air as if to tell her to settle down.

When the cold breeze brushed against her face, Natalia's features twisted into the ugliest of snarls.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Look, I'll take the blindfold off, all right?"

So saying, Belluna untied the cloth that had been covering Natalia's eyes — Natalia, whose entire body was bound up in chains and leather straps.

From behind the blindfold, eyes dyed red as if soaked in blood glared murderously at Belluna.

"Hey, Natalia. So how does it feel — getting absolutely walloped by the daughter you ignored and abused, and ending up tied down like this? Hm? What are you feeling right now?"

"~~~~!!!"

At Belluna's mockery, Natalia thrashed her body wildly, as if she'd tear Belluna's throat out with her teeth that very instant. But silver stakes pinned her down at every angle, the rest of her was held firmly in place, and a gag had even been fastened in her mouth, so her thrashing amounted to no more than meaningless flailing.

"Wow, I know they treat you like a True Ancestor, but this is honestly a bit much. Even I couldn't get out of all this."

Both of her arms had been wrenched up and back, with silver stakes driven through them at close intervals. Each stake was linked to a chain, so even someone with formidable strength would be utterly pinned with no way to move. As if that weren't enough, the room she was held in had been worked over with every kind of magical preparation and protective barrier, and a faint smoke that scattered any kind of power drifted gently through the air. And since she could use abilities that bewitched people, her eyes had been covered too, and just to be safe, that gag had been put in her mouth. The sight was, honestly, a little pitiful — that was Belluna's unguarded impression of it.

Only a little, mind.

"~~~~~!"

"Mm-mm, you have to stay still if you want to be a good girl."

Belluna lifted Natalia's chin with one finger, forcing her to meet her eyes. When Natalia turned her head away in disgust, Belluna tightened her grip and caught her face.

"Guess why I went to all this trouble to come here? Despite the risk of being found out and all."

"......"

"It can't be that I came to help you out, right?"

Belluna gave a wicked little grin and quietly whispered into Natalia's ear.

"Want me to tell you?"

Natalia didn't react at all. Her eyes were closed, as if she couldn't even be bothered to engage.

At the sight, Belluna giggled.

"Revenge, Natalia."

"......?"

In that instant, Natalia felt a chill as if she'd been thrown stark naked into the Arctic.

"On you, on the rest of Milited's children, and on that piece of garbage Milited."

The eerie quality in Belluna's voice made her flinch and open her eyes. There, right in front of her, was Belluna, still smiling.

"Landshi — did you all really think I didn't know he killed him? Oh, what was it — 'died in an accident while investigating Venus's seal'? Did you genuinely think a clumsy lie like that would slip past me?"

At the words, Natalia's body stiffened despite herself.

Belluna smiled as she went on.

"How lightly you all must have taken me. Do you have any idea how hard it's been, holding back the urge to tear every one of you apart with my own hands?"

She trailed her finger softly along Natalia's cheek.

"Yes, my foolish, beautiful Natalia... you must be thinking it now. Then why on earth did I keep quiet all this time? Why did I cooperate with you all?"

Belluna tapped Natalia's cheek with her finger, tap, tap, and murmured in a lazy voice.

"I lost the most precious thing I had. Because of you all."

So I'll do the same — take the most precious thing from you. That's what real revenge is.

At the quiet words she murmured, Natalia found herself holding her breath without realizing it.

"It wasn't until I saw that crystal that I finally understood what your whole plan actually was. Yes, that's right... you can look forward to it. What I'm about to do."

With that, Belluna lifted the blindfold.

"Well, by then, whatever happens won't really concern you anymore... actually, the real reason I came here was that this was the last chance I'd ever get to talk to the original you."

"......?"

With a series of small click, click sounds, Belluna fastened the blindfold halfway and whispered something into Natalia's ear.

The moment Natalia heard her whisper, her eyes flew wide open. Then she began twisting her body in a frenzy and let out frantic, muffled screams.

"Mph!? Mmph! Hmmph!"

Watching the sight with deep satisfaction, Belluna pulled the blindfold firmly into place, then planted a kiss right in the middle of Natalia's forehead with a soft peck.

"Bye then, Natalia. The next time we meet, you'll be wearing a different face."

Click.

With a small metallic sound, the lock snapped shut hard.

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