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The Ordeal of Saint Teresalo (Part 1)

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*****

One afternoon.

Inside a certain hidden room within the Royal Academy... Teresalo’s face was twitching with sheer nervousness.

Before her stood three young men, prostrate on the ground, pressing their foreheads against the floor.

(Why—just why are the sons of Marquises and Dukes bowing their heads to me?!)

There they were: Lord Zumiano in the lead, followed by Lord Tsurgis and Lord Schizolda.

Moreover, they were performing *dogeza*. Lord Schizolda was the son of the Chancellor and likely possessed rights of succession to the throne.

Teresalo, who was nothing more than the daughter of a lowly upstart Baronial house that had risen from the merchant class, felt like she was about to faint.

She had been summoned out of the blue, only to be met with this situation. Furthermore, standing beside them with her fists triumphantly on her hips and her modest yet shapely chest puffed out, was Lady Wellmy.

She was as adorable and beautiful as ever, but she was currently radiating a mysterious, overwhelming aura of authority.

「Um... may I ask... exactly why are everyone's heads bowed to me?」

「For an apology, of course!」

Wellmy snorted and looked down at the three men with a look of utter disdain.

「B-but... they are high-ranking nobles—the heirs to their respective houses, aren't they...?」

「They almost stole your maidenly purity! This is the bare minimum, and since the King and their parents have already approved it, it's perfectly fine! Besides, they're all serving as my guards now!」

Teresalo couldn't bring herself to ask exactly what had happened to lead to this desperate-sounding explanation from Lady Wellmy, so she simply replied with a faint, 「I see...」

「An apology to Lady Teresalo, hm? In that case, should I join the line too?」

「Please don't! Besides, Lord Seifahrt, you already apologized to me ages ago!」

Teresalo immediately rejected the suggestion from the voice beside her. The man resting his chin on his hand was Lord Seifahrt, whose expression had become incomparably softer than back when he had been pursuing her.

Lord Seifahrt, who had apparently been invited as part of the party being apologized to, had contacted her via letter almost immediately after the "Sacred Art of Enchantment" was broken.

Even though they were in the same school and could have met instantly, he had reached out to Sophoyl through Lady Wellmy first, saying 「She must be frightened.」 Because of that, Sophoyl was also present.

Sophoyl had been incredibly displeased, radiating a murderous aura from behind his narrowed eyes, but after learning that Lord Seifahrt had merely been manipulated... and thanks to Teresalo’s efforts to soothe him... he had somehow managed to suppress his rage.

The annulment of her engagement to Sophoyl was proving difficult to resolve due to the interference of high-ranking power players, so they had not yet been able to officially re-engage.

However, after sharing their experiences and feelings with one another, they had managed to return to being a couple. Lord Seifahrt was now considerate enough to maintain a respectful distance from Teresalo at school.

...When she had mentioned that her relationship with Sophoyl had actually moved forward because they could finally say what they really felt, and that 「Maybe this was for the best after all,」 Lord Seifahrt had looked at her in exasperation and told her, 「You are far too kind-hearted.」

「Actually, since we're inside the school, why are you all here as if it's perfectly natural...?」

「Eh? Because Leo gave us permission.」

(Your Highness!!! What on earth are you doing?!)

Teresalo screamed inside her head.

After all, even Sophoyl was here in his knight’s uniform. He was standing like a guardian deity behind the prostrate trio of masterminds, arms crossed and radiating an aura that suggested he might draw his sword at any second.

The place they were currently in was the space prepared by Crown Prince Leonir—who had already graduated—for the sake of Lady Iola... a room known as the "Salon."

「That reminds me, Teresalo. You and Seifahrt walked right into this room, but did you already know where it was?」

(Never mind that, please make them stop prostrating!)

Teresalo screamed internally at Lady Wellmy while answering the question.

「Ah, I... I was a member of the Salon...」

「...Oh?」

Suddenly, the atmosphere around Lady Wellmy turned cold. Her jewel-like vermilion eyes narrowed into thin slits, harboring a dangerous light.

「Eek?!」

「Is that so, Teresalo...? So while I was spending tedious hours with Irvine, you were here, spending a *delightful* time with my dear sister...」

「Ahhh, um, um, um...」

Teresalo realized she had made a complete slip of the tongue. Her head went white. She regretted it instantly, knowing that the topic of Lady Iola was a "tiger's tail" that should never be stepped on, but it was too late.

「So that's why you were so friendly when you first spoke to Leo? Hmmm, I see...」

Teresalo gripped her chest in terror, her body stiffening as her eyes darted around for an escape. Lady Wellmy then used a fingertip—painted the same color as her eyes—to gently tilt Teresalo’s chin upward.

Though they were nearly the same height, she seemed to loom over her. There was a sadistic pressure in that smile—a smile where only the eyes weren't laughing—that made Teresalo want to instinctively cry out, "My Queen!"

(I-it's like Lord Eides's aura has possessed her!)

Teresalo broke into a cold sweat, recalling the face of the Magus Lord, whose atmosphere changed entirely depending on whether Lady Wellmy was by his side.

「I wonder if it would have been better if I hadn't saved you back then...?」

「W-Wellmy-oneesama! I am so, so very grateful that you saved me!」

Closing her eyes and trembling, those words tumbled out of her as a reflex.

Suddenly, Lady Wellmy seemed to stop moving.

Teresalo opened her eyes cautiously to find Wellmy staring intensely at her face.

「Teresalo.」

「Yes...」

「Say that again?」

「I am grateful to Wellmy-oneesama for saving me!」

The moment she said it, the intimidation drained out of Wellmy’s face as if it had never been there. Instead, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she gazed at Teresalo with moist, almost rapturous eyes.

Teresalo found herself mesmerized by that expression—so sensual and yet somehow sorrowful that it made her heart pound even as a woman—until Wellmy let out a long, soft sigh.

「Somehow... that feels incredibly good...」

「Eh...?」

「Teresalo. From now on, you shall call me 'Oneesama'...」

「I understand! Oneesama!」

As Teresalo answered her, Lord Seifahrt remarked from the side with an impressed tone.

「I see, so this is what they call 'spectating yuri'... Lady Wellmy is awakening to a new fetish. No, she probably had the talent for it all along...」

Watching the chaos unfold, Sophoyl finally seemed to lose his patience. He let out a sigh and spoke in a low, heavy voice.

「Could we please move on to the main topic now?」

*****

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