Volume 1, Chapter 48 – Principal Gehenna?

Stella was terrified.

If she hadn’t reacted in time just now, Cheryl might really have torn her apart alive.

Although she was a Saintess with a strong heart, capable of calmly facing setbacks and appreciating the subtleties of life, she was completely hopeless when it came to fighting.

When had her past life ever involved all this fighting and killing? If she had that much spare time, she might as well memorize a few more volumes of scripture in the library so she could crush ten thousand people in the exam hall.

Not a single succubus was easy to deal with.

Every single one of them had nearly cost her her life.

Still shaken, Stella stared at the bloodflame protecting her.

The fierce flames blazed brightly, fanned higher by the wind as they surged freely around her.

Thankfully, she had been one step ahead.

Stella glanced at Cheryl.

Cheryl stood where she was. Neither the flying dust nor the lingering smell of blood seemed to disturb her. She merely stared blankly at the mass of flames.

Stella had no idea what exactly this bloodflame was, but it seemed she really had managed to intimidate Cheryl with it?

Stella thought it over. This seemed like a good opportunity to end the duel.

After all, Cheryl looked completely unguarded, and for once, she had gone quiet.

In any case, before she went crazy again, Stella should find some way to restrain her first so Cheryl wouldn’t catch her off guard and launch another sneak attack.

Stella remembered the dark cursecraft Remedios had taught her.

Although its effects were a little indecent, Bone Joy, Heart Dance had the advantage of being safe, painless, and capable of instantly paralyzing someone.

Come to think of it, Remedios seemed to have mentioned that dark cursecraft was strictly forbidden under the student regulations in order to prevent the children of nobles from slaughtering one another. It was a taboo among taboos.

But since Stella had special privileges granted by the Vice Principal, it should be fine.

‘Sorry, eldest young lady.’

Don’t blame her for being underhanded. Even if this made you die of social embarrassment, that was still better than Stella dying for real!

Stella backed away several steps and raised her hand, pointing a fingertip at the dazed Cheryl. Golden-crimson magical power wound around her fingertip in accordance with her will.

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Cheryl’s eyelashes trembled as she sank into thought over this unprecedented development.

‘Golden-crimson bloodflame…’

Cheryl had only ever seen this color once before. At the end of the Valentine family’s pitch-black, gloomy corridor hung a portrait of the first generation, concealed beneath black gauze.

The elders of the family had once warned her that what flowed through the veins of the current Valentine family was merely diluted dark crimson, settled sludge.

Only the first generation, only that Primordial Succubus who had rivaled the sun in brilliance, possessed blood that burned with a golden-crimson radiance as dazzling as the solar disc.

The color of origin.

A tyrannical radiance capable of tearing open the eternal night of the Demon Realm, where the sun had nearly vanished.

“Atavism… No, pureblood.”

Cheryl murmured to herself.

Before Stella’s golden-crimson flames, the crimson magical power inside Cheryl that she had always taken such pride in was like a subject encountering its sovereign, instinctively wanting to bow its head and retreat.

Pure, supreme.

There was absolutely no way Stella was some ordinary mongrel demon illegitimate daughter. Cheryl had mocked illegitimate daughters countless times before, because most of them possessed mottled bloodlines. They were inferior products born from the family head’s indulgence, defective goods tainted with the blood of lower monsters or even humans.

Their blood was a murky black-red, filled with nauseating impurities.

But Stella was completely different.

This degree of bloodline purity…

Stella Darkfallen… No.

She should be called Stella Valentine.

Cheryl raised her eyes and met Stella’s gaze.

“Stella, you…”

Just who are you?

However, Stella gave her no chance to ask.

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“Bone Joy, Heart Dance.”

Stella beat her to it and spoke the incantation.

Golden-crimson light struck Cheryl.

Cheryl instantly froze.

An indescribable sensation exploded through her in an instant.

‘…Itchy. So itchy.’

“Pfft… ngh!” Cheryl abruptly covered her mouth. The dignity of an eldest young lady made her try to grit her teeth and endure it, but she couldn’t hold it back at all.

“Ha… haha…! No!”

Cheryl’s face flushed bright red.

“Stop… hahaha! No…!”

She rolled around on the ground.

The hem of her exquisite lace dress became covered in dirt. Her chin, normally held proudly high, was now pressed against the ground, while both hands desperately clawed at the gravel beneath her.

Was this Stella’s true humiliation of her, the legitimate heir, as an illegitimate daughter?

To strip away every last shred of her dignity and force her to experience instinctive shame.

What a… wicked declaration that was unmistakably Valentine.

A declaration of her return to Cheryl, to the family head, to the entire Valentine family, and even to the whole Demon Realm.

Cheryl didn’t want to laugh.

It would absolutely become a disgrace to the Valentine family, and even more so, a humiliating loss of composure before the entire Academy’s teachers and students.

But the laughter was completely beyond her control, and tears began pouring out.

“Hahahaha… stop… please… grant me pain… instead of this… hahahaha, sob…”

Huge tears rolled down Cheryl’s cheeks, making her look both ridiculous and miserable.

“Hahahahaha… kill me… haha… let me die… hahahaha!”

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Cheryl writhed on the ground.

The referee finally reacted, flapping her wings and landing at the edge of the arena. She stared at the eldest young lady rolling around on the ground, her eyelid twitching.

The legendary mental torment?

This really was killing someone and destroying their heart along with them.

Stella finally breathed a sigh of relief as well. As far as she was concerned, this duel had finally reached its end. Although plenty of trouble had happened, she had still managed to muddle her way through.

Stella lowered her eyes and glanced at Cheryl, who was laughing ridiculously where she lay.

After being humiliated by Stella this badly, the eldest young lady of the Valentine family surely wouldn’t have the face to trouble her again after this duel, right?

After all, being tickled until you cried in front of a huge crowd was so humiliating that, if it were Stella, she probably would have bought a standing ticket that very night, hoisted the train onto her shoulders, and fled.

‘Phew.’

‘This troublesome matter was finally over for now.’

‘Now I could go back and sleep.’

“Three.”

The referee raised her hand.

“Two.”

The succubi around them began making a racket and joined the countdown.

Stella was already preparing to dispel the spell the instant the countdown ended, then quietly slip away.

“One…”

Before the final sound of the countdown had even faded…

The noisy voices stopped abruptly, and every succubus fell silent.

Stella keenly sensed that something was wrong.

She instinctively raised her head and followed everyone’s gaze.

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On the elevated platform, Vice Principal Mara and the professors who had originally been seated had somehow all risen to their feet. Every one of them was staring directly behind Stella.

Stella blinked, then turned around as well.

At some point, a succubus had appeared beside her.

She was not tall. In fact, she could even be described as petite.

Yet the first thing Stella noticed was the pair of demon horns and bat wings that were completely disproportionate to her small frame.

She wore a robe that was obviously ill-fitting. Her long, pale-purple hair had been left untended, simply draped across her shoulders and down her back, its ends curling slightly.

Her pale golden eyes were half-lidded. There was no killing intent and no fluctuation of magical power.

‘The… the legendary Principal Gehenna?’

When had she arrived?

Gehenna slowly opened her mouth, her tone languid.

“Are you using Heart-Piercing Bone-Gouging on my student?”

Translator Note

Oof. She is screwed xD

Anyway, so she carries the blood of Primordial Succubus…?

But she has S-rank Holy Light aptitude…

Uh… Are her parents a Saintess and a Demon King or something?

In the beginning I could understand if they’re just misunderstood about her. But her display of skill didn’t make sense if she is not a real demon.

What do you guys think?