Volume 1, Chapter 3 – A Persona Is Crucial

After hearing Vice Principal Mara allow her to leave, Stella finally breathed a sigh of relief. She left the Mirror of Desire, now already shattered into pieces, behind and sat down in the only empty seat in the auditorium.

The surrounding succubi were packed closely together, filling the air with all sorts of expensive fragrances. Clearly, everyone who remained after the magic mirror’s screening was the “cream of the crop” ¹ The absolute best, highest quality, or most excellent people or things in a specific group. among succubi. At the very least, they were succubi from families with recognizable names, not some third-rate mixed-bloods.

The moment Stella came over, they immediately began sizing her up. The way they looked at her was like they were admiring some luxury item inside a display cabinet, making her extremely uncomfortable.

Things really had taken a sharp turn for the worse, Stella thought.

If she had to describe the feeling, it was probably like entering an exam hall full of passion and determination, only to vomit all over the test paper.

At least she had barely managed to bluff her way through. That alone was an enormous relief.

“Huh?”

Stella noticed that at some point, a girl had taken the seat beside her.

She raised her eyes and looked the other girl over.

Crimson curls pinned up without a single strand out of place, an extravagant obsidian crown ornament, alluring blood-red lips, a trace of eerie, scorching crimson in her eyes, and bat wings elegantly folded beneath a meticulously tailored black dress.

Of all people, it just had to be the young succubus lady she had encountered earlier, Cheryl Valentine.

‘What rotten luck.’

Stella had no idea how she had offended her. Or perhaps Cheryl’s Tyrannical Queen trait simply meant she had been born with a love for stirring up trouble for no reason.

“Hello.” Cheryl took the initiative to greet her.

“Oh, mm, hello.”

Stella had originally intended to brush her off casually, but then…

Cheryl lightly tapped Stella’s desk.

“You were feeling guilty just now, weren’t you?”

Her crimson hair swayed as Cheryl stared at Stella with a mocking smile.

“In the eight hundred years of Lilith Academy’s history, it has never accepted mongrel demons of unknown bloodlines. Yet I can’t sense even the slightest bloodline trait of a high-ranking succubus from you, nor have I ever heard your family name anywhere in the Demon Realm. I want to know whether your abstinence trait might actually mean you can’t even release the most basic seduction magic?”

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The surrounding succubus students immediately became excited. Stella genuinely felt as though they were a crowd of thrilled spectators watching someone about to be beheaded.

Cheryl’s provocation had come completely out of nowhere, and it directly targeted Stella’s bloodline and abilities.

In this situation, she couldn’t show the slightest trace of panic or anger, nor could she try to explain herself. Any of those responses would be interpreted as guilt.

Stella raised her head and glanced toward the faculty platform. The other professors were sipping wine, completely indifferent to what was happening. Vice Principal Mara, meanwhile, watched with an amused expression and showed no intention of stopping it, seemingly tacitly permitting the challenge.

When it rains, it pours.

Stella lightly tugged at her sleeve as she tried to remember the spy guidelines she had crammed at the last minute.

But the beginning was gone, the middle was gone, and she’d forgotten the end too…

Anyway, persona came first.

The persona they had originally planned for her definitely couldn’t be used anymore.

‘What persona had the Demon Realm just shoved onto me again?’

‘Oh, right. Ultimate Tsundere and Abstinence…’

Stella took a deep breath, turned around, and put on an icy expression that seemed utterly impervious to attack.

“What a low-level question.”

Stella’s gaze did not linger on Cheryl for even two seconds. She merely swept her eyes over her, her voice carrying extreme impatience.

“If all that pride in your bloodline can do is leave you stuck at the childish stage of raising doubts…”

Stella’s voice grew lower and lower.

“…then please don’t waste my time, mongrel demon.”

She smiled with a hint of innocent sweetness.

A succubus student near the front said in disbelief. “She… she actually dared call the eldest daughter of the Valentine family a mongrel demon?”

“That completely superior, utterly dismissive arrogance…” Another succubus murmured.

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Rage surged through Cheryl Valentine’s heart, and she only barely managed to suppress it at the last possible moment. As the daughter of a prestigious Demon Realm family, she had never been humiliated with such a lowly term before.

That gaze which swept over her as though she were nothing more than dust felt like a cold, razor-sharp whip lashing brutally across her pride.

Except it didn’t hurt.

Instead, it sent such an intense shiver down her spine that her body nearly went numb.

She clenched the hem of her skirt, her breathing becoming disordered at that very moment.

Something was wrong. This feeling of being suppressed, of being looked down upon from above…

“You dare humiliate me…”

Cheryl lowered her gaze to avoid looking at Stella and cursed in as quiet a voice as she could manage.

“Humiliate you? No.”

Stella’s beautifully shaped lips parted as she denied it without hesitation.

“Besides, I merely returned the words you said to me earlier. If you don’t want me to exercise my privileges today, then please behave yourself.”

As though she had no further interest in paying Cheryl any attention, Stella quickly looked away from her and fixed her gaze on the food in front of her.

White milk sauce dripped over bright red veal.

She scooped up a piece of beef that had been cooked until soft and tender and placed it into her small mouth. Her petite cheeks puffed out, and a happy smile bloomed across her face.

“My dear Tyrannical Queen.”

Stella’s voice remained calm, yet the words pierced straight into the vital point with the sharpness of a dagger.

The second trick to being a spy.

Always remain calm.

Needless to say, the atmosphere at the scene froze completely.

“She doesn’t even see me as an opponent…”

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Cheryl’s face had turned especially pale. She was so humiliated that she hardly knew where she was anymore, her fingers clenching into fists and then loosening again.

Up on the platform, Vice Principal Mara elegantly swirled the blood-red wine in her glass.

“Oh… just look at this child.” Mara murmured softly, her breathing slightly quickened.

She was far too pleased.

As for the other students below, they had already erupted into chaos, though they only dared exchange glances and whisper in lowered voices.

Under countless complicated gazes, Stella elegantly set down her spoon.

She gently wiped away the tiny trace of milk sauce at the corner of her mouth, her movements perfectly composed.

“I’ve finished my meal. Good night, everyone.”

She slowly rose, gave a slight curtsy toward the platform, then walked out of the hall at a steady pace as though nothing had happened, heading for the private dormitory that belonged to her.

—————

The private dormitory Vice Principal Mara had arranged for her was located in one of the towers belonging to the House of Domination. After passing through the common room and climbing the spiral staircase all the way to the highest floor, she finally found her room.

Stella looked around. This so-called private dormitory was outrageously luxurious. The floor was covered in the hide of some unknown magical beast, so soft beneath her feet that it felt like walking on clouds. Inside was an enormous round bed covered in dark red velvet bedding, with a half-transparent black lace canopy hanging above it. Inverted-cross decorations hung from the walls, while the bookshelves held titles like One Hundred Techniques of Seduction and Basic Whipping Techniques. Her luggage had already been delivered upstairs.

The heavy door closed behind her, cutting off every gaze from outside. Stella instantly deflated. She raised a hand and made the sign of the cross over her chest, thanking the Lord for letting her survive the opening ceremony.

“First day, still not exposed. Praise the Lord.”

She stepped around the luggage on the floor, went straight into the bedroom, threw herself onto the bed, and pulled the blanket over her head.

“I’m finished. What the hell did I just do…”

Stella hugged a pillow and rolled around while wailing.

‘Holy Light above, had I just personally destroyed any chance of living peacefully in the Demon Realm for the next few years?’

There would be no end to the trouble coming for her now.

That Tyrannical Queen definitely wasn’t going to swallow this humiliation.

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A catastrophic start!

But when someone challenged and questioned her in front of a crowd of succubi, she had no choice except to force herself to fight back. She couldn’t withstand any close scrutiny at all. Her cover would be blown in minutes.

In front of her was the demand to rank at the top of every subject, and behind her was the trouble caused by the Tyrannical Queen…

Great. She was dead either way.

Just as Stella was about to clutch her head and cry, something suddenly slammed heavily into the pitch-black floor-to-ceiling window.

Thump!

Stella jolted in fright and poked her head out from under the blanket.

A long-eared owl was crouched on the windowsill, a pure white envelope tied beneath its crooked neck.

Stella slowly walked over to the window and opened it.

“The Inquisitor’s messenger?”

The handwriting on the letter came into view.

【——To Miss Stella von Einzbern】

Translator Note

Is this what people would call a moe gap~? ><

She looks so cold in public, but her mind is completely contradictory.

A tsundere, indeed xD