Volume 2, Chapter 8 – Who Dumped Whom, Exactly?

Stella stood frozen in place.

For a moment, she did not know whether to advance or retreat.

From the looks of things, Principal Gehenna seemed to have told Professor Katerina about her ‘origins.’

That made sense. Since she had chosen to promote Katerina to Vice Principal, it was only reasonable to tell her a little about Stella’s circumstances.

Stella remembered that Principal Gehenna had previously said she had entrusted another professor with teaching her. Judging from the situation now, there was a very high chance that professor was Katerina.

It was just… what exactly was the little surprise the Principal had mentioned?

Stella studied Professor Katerina and saw three parts resentment, three parts nostalgia, and four parts reproach in her eyes.

Mm…

Maybe this was it.

‘Professor, just what did you go through back then to give me the overwhelming impression that you were completely loved and abandoned by someone?’

With things turning out like this, Stella felt that her interpersonal relationships had become just a tiny bit complicated.

There were all kinds of relationships in the world. Although they were all bonds of one kind or another, the moment she piled all of hers together, she immediately discovered that they had become a hopelessly tangled knot.

She was the Pale Young Mistress acknowledged by Mara.

Her cheap mom was the public enemy of the Demon Realm.

Her dear Principal was the enemy who had killed her mom.

The Vice Principal was apparently her mom’s ex.

Love, hatred, romance, grudges, all tangled together. This whole bunch of succubi had truly mastered the art of making things complicated. Why did they live such exhausting lives?

Although being the Pale Daughter was a black mark someone else had forcibly slapped onto her, Stella still felt a headache coming on when she tried to sort it all out.

And most importantly, she actually had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this whole bunch of extraordinary succubi who had been tangled up with one another for a hundred years!

Anyway, time to perform the traditional specialty… play dead.

“Mother?” Stella tilted her head slightly, her silver hair falling to one side as she deliberately put on just the right amount of confusion. “Do you mean… Lady Valentine? I’ve never had the fortune of meeting her.”

“Never met her. Of course you haven’t.”

Professor Katerina steadied her breathing, and the loss of composure on her face quickly disappeared.

She gave a cold snort, and a trace of scrutiny entered the gaze she directed at Stella.

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“Gehenna said you were different, but clearly, I don’t think so. Still, if you want to keep pretending to be an ignorant illegitimate daughter, then carry on with your act.”

Then, she raised the thick parchment scroll in her hand.

Smack.

The scroll struck Stella on the forehead, neither lightly nor heavily.

“Ow…”

Stella instinctively covered her forehead.

But it was not over yet.

Smack, smack, smack.

Katerina remained expressionless, flicking her wrist in a steady rhythm.

Smack, smack, smack.

Seven times in total.

“——Today’s lesson ends here.”

After finishing, she swept her black robe around and strode straight toward the classroom door.

Katerina deliberately stopped at the doorway and fixed her gaze on Stella.

“Thanks to our… exceptionally gifted Assistant Stella, everyone here has accomplished absolutely nothing today. I hope that when ghosts burn your skin in the middle of the night, you’ll still remember that it was the illustrious Stella who deprived you of the chance to learn how to save yourselves.”

The door slammed shut behind Katerina.

Stella blinked blankly.

‘Wait, she’s just leaving like that?’

What was that supposed to be?

Simple corporal punishment? Or some kind of personal venting?

Forget hitting her, why did it have to be exactly seven times? Would one more or one less have killed her?

“What an eye-opening experience, truly eye-opening, President.” The instant Professor Katerina left, Dorothy immediately crowded over. “Only a great and pure demon such as yourself could disregard the power of Holy Light. It isn’t merely talent, President. This is absolutely a revelation.”

“You’ve already shown us what the purest of demons should be like. Those other lowly demons can’t compare with you at all. Now I’ll have plenty of promotional material to write.”

Stella was speechless.

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‘No, that wasn’t it.’

‘I had just… taken a hot bath in my own Holy Light…’

“I’m going to the washroom.”

Stella only wanted to get farther away from her increasingly fanatical Propaganda Officer.

Standing next to someone like this was genuinely difficult for her to handle.

No matter how she looked at it, Dorothy was far too fanatical.

Stella sighed and quickly walked out of the classroom.

Her head felt a little dizzy, and she wanted to calm down.

Besides, what was Katerina trying to do by knocking her on the head before leaving?

She could not figure it out.

“So who exactly dumped who back then…”

Stella pushed open the oak door of a secluded washroom and tiredly rubbed her temples.

The place was rather old. The relief carvings on the ceiling had already peeled away, exposing the pitch-black brick and stone beneath. A potion lamp in the corner flickered, stretching her shadow unnaturally long.

Stella walked to the sink and turned on the faucet carved in the shape of a gargoyle’s head.

Splash.

Stella cupped cold water in her hands and splashed it onto her face. The icy sensation cleared her head considerably.

Just then, the bell atop the tower rang.

Dong——

Dong——

The deep bell tolls reverberated through the air. The Sixth Watch, Bathory Watch, which governed discipline and criminal law, had arrived. Converted into Human Realm time, it was noon, when sunlight was at its strongest. But in the Demon Realm, the Sixth Watch usually signified the time of oaths and punishment.

For Stella, that meant mealtime.

Since it was time to eat, she might as well go get some food first.

‘Wait…’

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Her meal card seemed to have been completely drained by Lainia, and Lainia also seemed to have been detained there washing dishes to pay off the debt.

What was she supposed to do about that?

Stella’s head started hurting again.

‘Forget it.’

She would wait until Lainia finished washing the dishes, then go pick her up. Who asked Stella to be so kindhearted that she could not bear to see a colleague suffer? Otherwise, it would end with two clerics washing dishes side by side in a succubus cafeteria. That would be far too humiliating.

But then what was she going to do about dinner?

Was she supposed to borrow money from Cheryl?

Mm… that was not impossible.

Dong——

The echo of the bell had yet to fade when Stella heard a strange sound.

It was very faint, like someone whispering.

“The time has come…”

“Purify, purify, purify.”

Stella’s movements paused.

“Heretics, heretics… this place is crawling with heretics.”

Stella raised her eyes and let droplets of water slide down her cheeks as she stared into the mirror.

Yet in the brief span of that moment, a girl had suddenly appeared in the place that had originally been empty. Her reflection in the mirror looked like a lake shrouded in thin mist, her features indistinct, hazy yet beautiful.

Stella froze for a moment.

She had not heard any footsteps of someone coming inside.

“Who are you?”

Stella turned her head to look behind her, but saw nothing.

She swallowed and turned back toward the mirror.

The mirror’s surface was calm as still water.

There was only herself inside it.

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“…An illusion?”

Stella rubbed her eyes and checked again.

There really was nothing in the mirror anymore.

“I must’ve gotten dizzy from being stuffed full of Katerina’s Holy Art scrolls just now,” she muttered.

Stella gave the once-again tranquil mirror one final glance, then quickly left the washroom.

However, the instant she stepped through the doorway, a black shadow immediately darted out.

“President!”

“Dorothy? You still haven’t left?” Stella looked at Dorothy in confusion. She was crouching beside the door.

“President, didn’t we already agree on this? We’re holding the Lionheart Society banquet during the Sixth Watch today.” Dorothy tilted her head. “Everything is ready. As you instructed, the Lionheart Society’s long table has been laid out, the specialty delicacies from Malias have been prepared, and the crimson Abyssal wine has been chilled. Including me, all twelve members are present and accounted for. We’re only waiting for you to personally raise the curtain on the transformation of the Demon Realm.”

“Please, this way!”

Stella stared at her.

‘Wait, I had only said to prepare some food. Why did it sound like they were preparing some kind of heretical ritual when Dorothy said it?’

‘Forget it.’

Nothing in heaven or earth mattered more than eating.

Since the Principal was paying the bill for her anyway, she might as well go fill her stomach first.

As for dissolving the club…

She could think up some gentler wording after she finished gnawing on some flatbread.

Translator Note

Ohhh! There’s a real ghost?!

And anyway, Six Watch is noon in the Human Realm… So if we assume each Watch is 3 hours and 25 minutes, then maybe First Watch is around 7 PM?