“Senior, what did you say? I’ll allow you to take that back~”
Liweida’s expression instantly changed. She forced a smile, but her eyes held a murderous glint.
Duente remained calm. He stroked Liweida’s head, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, “This is part of the plan.”
Liweida’s ears turned red instantly. She shivered, went limp, and collapsed into Duente’s arms.
Fuermina smiled teasingly and said, “How sweet~ Even I, your teacher, am getting jealous~”
Fuermili walked to another sickbed, lay down, covered herself with the blanket, and said, “Remember to drink the potion. If you need a pill, tell me in advance. I’ll hand-grind one for you when I wake up.”
Then she quickly fell asleep.
“She’s always this sleepy?” Duente asked.
“Not really. She usually does experiments. Probably since the lab got blown up these past two days, she has nothing to do, so she can only sleep,” Fuermina replied.
Liweida cooed, “Senior, pet me some more…”
Duente decisively pushed her aside, then stood up and left the bed.
“The priority now is to deal with Selina. Liweida, rest here. I need your strength.”
Liweida looked reluctant. “Eh? No way! Senior is going on a date with another woman. Of course I have to keep a close eye on things!”
Fuermina’s smile froze. She pointed at herself and said, “This student, at least call me teacher. How am I ‘another woman’?”
Liweida shrank into the blankets, leaving only her eyes visible. She stared at Fuermina with a resentful gaze.
“I can tell you have bad intentions toward Senior, but I have to listen to him. So annoying.”
“If you’re annoyed, take it out on your Senior. He agreed to me right in front of you. Why are you glaring at me?”
“It’s your fault!”
Fuermina was at a loss. ‘Are all students nowadays this assertive? Or is it just her?’
Duente had never seen this side of Liweida before. After all, since they were kids, she had always been cheerful and sunny in front of him. He rarely saw her with negative emotions. However, Duente didn’t plan to say much now, since he needed to use Fuermina to counter Selina.
“Student Duente, your next class is Combat Technique. The original teacher had to take leave, so I’m substituting. Please go back to the classroom and inform the students~”
Duente agreed readily: “Okay, I’ll head back to the classroom first.”
He set the Blue Potion on the bedside table without any intention of drinking it.
“See you next class.”
With that, he turned and walked toward the door of the Health Room.
Fuermina blinked. “You’re leaving just like that? I wanted to chat a bit more.”
“We’ll talk slowly in class.”
“Senior! Wait for me!” Liweida jumped off the bed and shot a threatening glare at Fuermina as she left.
Fuermina thought this little girl was a bit scary.
The Combat Technique class was held in Training Ground 3. The students were already in position, boys on one side, girls on the other. When Fuermina pushed open the door, the noisy training ground fell silent immediately.
She had taken off her white lab coat and changed into a black training uniform. Her purple hair was tied up high, and her beautiful purple eyes were full of charm. She looked eye-catching but not seductive. A few boys in the back rows were already exchanging glances, all wearing infatuated expressions, starting to drool. Even the girls in the front rows couldn’t help stealing extra glances at the overwhelmingly beautiful teacher.
“Your teacher is on leave today. I’ll be substituting.”
Fuermina swept her gaze across the class, then fixed it on Duente.
“Pair up and do basic sparring.”
She pointed at Duente. “Duente, come over here and demonstrate with me.”
The whole class turned their gazes toward him. The boys let out a chorus of boos, all sarcastic and snide.
“It’s him again!”
“Why is it always him!”
“Doesn’t he already have Ailisi? How did he end up with the Health Room teacher?”
Duente walked to the center of the training ground, expressionless. Cool, saying nothing.
Fuermina pulled two training short swords from the weapon rack. She tossed one to him and weighed the other in her hand.
“First, a basic demonstration of offense and defense. You attack, I defend.”
Duente gripped the sword and lowered his stance. Last time when he was ambushed at night, all his attacks had been deflected by her. He was well aware of the gap between them. He charged forward, thrusting straight at Fuermina’s right shoulder.
She sidestepped, her left hand catching his wrist, using the momentum to pull him into her striking range.
“Good speed, but obviously not using full power.”
She deliberately leaned close to Duente’s ear and whispered, “Neither soaring high nor settling low. How cute.”
Her breath brushed against Duente’s ear. He was caught off guard and shuddered.
Fuermina locked Duente’s arm. Her fingers traced down from his forearm to his elbow, as if correcting his posture, or… was she caressing him?
“Is this the teacher’s goal? If you want to observe me, you don’t have to be so roundabout.”
“Oh my, you really don’t get the mood,” Fuermina whispered. “The teacher is very interested in you.”
The boys in the class were green with envy. Someone even shouted, “Teacher! Let me! I’ll demonstrate with you!”
Fuermina reversed her grip, locking Duente so he couldn’t move. She said to the students, “When the teacher is demonstrating, you must be quiet. This technique is a grapple. It’s very effective against opponents with obvious openings. Like this—”
She tightened her hold on Duente, pressing her chest against his back. Duente only felt a soft warmth. The sensation was very pleasant. Not only did he not feel caught, but he found it comfortable to lean against her.
Fuermina teased deliberately, “How was the teacher’s demonstration? Would you like to try grappling me too?”
On a equipment box in the corner of the training ground sat a black-haired girl wearing a school uniform jacket. She held a book in her hands, but it was upside down. It was none other than Liweida, who had secretly followed. Her gaze crossed over the top edge of the book, fixed intently on Fuermina, a smile on her face, but the pages in her hands were already crumpled.
On this side of the training ground, among the girls’ group, Ailisi stood holding a training short sword, motionless, staring blankly at Fuermina and Duente.
The girl she was supposed to spar with asked, “Ailisi? What’s wrong? Why are you so distracted?”
‘If only I were Fuermina.’
“An opening.”
Taking advantage of Fuermina’s momentary distraction, Duente executed a “cicada shedding its shell,” leaving his gym shirt behind and escaping from her hold, bare-chested.
Fuermina teased, “Ah, the prey that was right in my hand got away~”
She was about to continue flirting when the door to the training ground was pushed open.
Selina stood at the entrance.
She walked into the training ground, the sound of her combat boots striking the floor echoing closer and closer. Her gaze swept over Liweida in the corner, then over Fuermina in the middle of the training ground, and finally landed on Duente.
Duente stood still, still holding the training short sword.
Selina kept approaching. The students didn’t even dare to breathe loudly. She didn’t look very calm. A smile was on her face, but it was clearly a knife hidden behind a smile.
“Duente, I’ve heard all about what happened today. And at noon, you seemed to disappear for a while. You’ve got quite the nerve, huh?”