Volume 2, Chapter 11 – Seen a Ghost

She was screwed.

Before this, she might still have been able to explain everything away as food poisoning. But now that the stern and troublesome Professor Katerina had caught her red-handed at the scene, she was practically a criminal caught in the act.

If it had been anyone else, she might have been able to muddle through with an explanation. But of all people, it had to be Katerina.

The former lover who had supposedly been abandoned after being toyed with by Stella’s bargain-bin mother, the Pale Lord, and had turned love into hatred, harboring some inexplicable grudge against her.

Stella’s vision went dark.

Could there possibly be a more hellish development than this?

Her current situation was basically like secretly beating up her stepsister at home and preparing to destroy the evidence, only for the door to open and her stepmother’s romantic rival to be standing there with a teaching pointer in hand.

This was already beyond the question of whether she could explain herself or not.

Right in front of Professor Katerina, she had thoroughly provided ironclad evidence that she was ruthless, harmed her fellow students, and had inherited her mother’s tyrannical bloodline…

Even though she didn’t share so much as half a drop of blood with the Pale Lord who had once turned the Demon Realm upside down, at this point, even if she jumped into the River Styx, she probably wouldn’t be able to wash away the stink clinging to her.

“N-No… Professor, it isn’t what you think. I can explain.”

Stella spoke in a soft, timid voice.

“It isn’t what I think?”

Katerina didn’t even bother listening to the rest of Stella’s defense. She lowered her eyes and swept her gaze over the student lying closest to her.

It was Patolize, the Prefect of the House of Domination and also her most prized potion apprentice.

At that moment, Patolize’s eyes were rolled back, purple foam hanging from the corner of her mouth. The Holy Communion Dorothy had prepared had clearly put her through quite an ordeal.

In order to earn a passing grade in Katerina’s potion class, which had a failure rate as high as seventy percent, Patolize had long since sampled all manner of herbs.

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Normally, she chewed unpurified mandrake roots like snacks and drank failed alchemical concoctions like water. Her stomach lining was as tough as dragonhide, and there were more antibodies flowing through her veins than magical power.

Yet now, Patolize, who normally boasted that no poison could affect her, looked as though someone had forcibly poured an entire bottle of concentrated Abyssal corrosive solution down her throat. She was completely delirious.

“Even Patolize couldn’t withstand it?” Katerina murmured softly.

She dabbed a little of the purple residue from the corner of Patolize’s mouth and brought it close to her nose.

“Fork-tailed dragon spinal fluid as the base… an extremely domineering neurocorrosive agent.”

“Manticore poison glands as the catalyst… used to burn through the original magical power circuits.”

“That rusty, sickly-sweet smell…” Katerina’s eyes narrowed slightly. “The tongue of an albino vampire banshee.”

She recognized the formula.

Apostle Brew.

A formula left behind by “someone” long ago, intended to completely reconstruct the magical power circuits of its test subjects and thereby create demon apostles of extraordinary talent.

Its mortality rate was as high as ninety percent.

If you failed to endure it, you became a lump of rotten flesh. If you endured it, you became what was known as an Apostle.

“I was wondering why the manuscript I kept in my office disappeared not long ago. I thought I was just catching a petty thief. I didn’t expect to uncover the whole den.”

Katerina tossed aside the handkerchief she had used to wipe her hand. She turned around, her deep-set black eyes locking onto Stella.

“You stole the Apostle Brew to purge your incompetent followers and thereby refine the loyalty of your ranks… or was it simply because you wanted to enjoy the pleasure of controlling life and death?”

Katerina gave a soft laugh.

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“What a clumsy imitation. The only difference between you and your mother is that she would elegantly wipe her hands clean after killing someone, while you leave the entire floor in a mess.”

“N-No, that’s not it. Professor, please listen to me. This was just a meal, and I wasn’t the one who stole it either…”

Stella weakly waved her hands.

This misunderstanding had already spiraled completely out of control.

She really had only wanted to treat everyone to a meal!

Sure, the food had been a little poisonous and the wine a little strong, but fundamentally, it was… it was…

Alright, fundamentally, she really had been poisoning them.

“I don’t care about the process, Stella Darkfallen.” Katerina cut her off. “Although Lilith School doesn’t prohibit conflict between students and even encourages survival of the fittest, rendering twelve students unconscious at once has already crossed the limits permitted by school regulations.”

“And that arrogant attitude of yours, treating lives as though they were nothing but weeds, truly makes me uncomfortable.”

Katerina seized Stella by the wrist.

“Come with me.”

“W-Where are we going?” Stella asked weakly.

“The Academic Affairs Office,” Katerina said coldly. “I’m not interested in cleaning up the mess you made. Since you’re Gehenna’s disciple, then she can come take you back.”

“I’m sure that Principal, who’s been worked into the ground these past few days, will be absolutely delighted to see this wonderful gift her dear disciple has prepared for her.”

Stella’s vision went dark.

Calling her guardian?

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If she remembered correctly, Principal Gehenna was currently reporting to the Nexus Council. She had already been on the verge of going berserk from overtime. If Master found out that Stella had caused a poisoning incident involving her classmates…

Stella could already imagine Gehenna’s kindly smile.

That so-called special training to become a king would probably turn directly into special training to become a ghost.

“What about them?” Stella pointed at the members inside the clubroom, making one final attempt to struggle.

“No need to worry about them for now. They’re all as good as dead.”

Katerina dragged her toward the exit.

She knew far too well what the outcome of this potion would be.

Many years ago, she had personally witnessed hundreds of failed specimens. The demons who couldn’t survive the rejection reaction didn’t die quietly. Instead, they melted like candles.

Their bones softened, their skin peeled away, and their magical power circuits ran rampant through their bodies, boiling their internal organs until, in the end, they became writhing puddles of rotten sludge, leaving desperate claw marks across the floor.

And the culprit, a silver-haired woman no different from Stella, had merely evaluated them as necessary sacrifices.

No one could survive.

At least, without taking the neutralizing agent beforehand, directly swallowing such a large dose of the undiluted solution could only end with them dissolving into puddles of pus.

However, just as the two of them were about to step through the doorway, a coughing sound came from behind.

“…Ugh… cough…”

Katerina stopped in her tracks.

Stella froze as well.

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The two turned their heads at the same time.

Among the “corpses” sprawled across the floor, one trembling hand slowly rose and tightly grabbed a table leg.

Immediately afterward, a disheveled figure staggered upright from the floor.

It was Dorothy.

She stood alone amid the circle of “corpses.” Her figure was terrifying, like a fairy born from a hellflower nurtured by blood.

“President, I did it!”

Dorothy shouted, revealing two fangs that seemed to have become even sharper.

Stella: “…”

Katerina: “…”

The two of them looked as though they had seen a ghost.

Translator Note

HAHAHAH Dorothy is such an innocent girl xD