How to Steal the Mage's Woman [21]

"Today was truly enjoyable."

As the last student finished the exam, the dean stood up and smiled at the students.

"Although I came here due to an unfortunate incident, I was glad to witness the students' passion."

"E-Everyone, let's give the dean a round of applause!"

Seriously, why does everything have to end with applause…?

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! 

However, there was no sign of dissatisfaction on the students' faces.

Even though he hadn't done anything particularly special, just staying for a short while seemed to have elevated their respect for him.

"Well, since you've all worked hard on the exam today, I hope you rest well."

"Th-then, I'll be going too…."

The dean gracefully exited the classroom amidst applause, and the assistant professor quickly followed behind.

As soon as the two left, the classroom buzzed with chatter about the dean.

With such an aura, it was impossible not to be influenced.

'Truly befitting the man who brought about an era of peace.'

[Guardian, Louis is heading this way.]

'Well, he's probably going to Luna.'

Just as I predicted, Louis completely ignored me and went straight to Luna.

Louis's expression looked deeply troubled.

Lately, things haven't been going his way, so it's no wonder he's in a bad state…

Slapped by the professor, and now Luna's cold shoulder…

'CEO, isn't this all thanks to my achievements~?'

[...I'm truly impressed by your incredible skills.]

Yeah, right.

Don't stay silent, don't…

Louis, standing in front of Luna's desk, forced a smile and spoke.

"Luna, I need to talk to you about the club. Can we talk for a moment?"

"Huh? Didn't you quit the club?"

"…How do you know that?"

"Ah…"

Luna suddenly looked at me, realizing her mistake.

The incident of Louis' expulsion happened yesterday in the clubroom.

Luna and I found out about Louis' expulsion while experiencing a… close moment inside the cabinet.

Actually, she could've just said she heard it from Professor Sonya and left it at that.

The problem was that Luna made that "oops" face and looked at me.

Louis saw that…

Seeing me and Luna, Louis frowned and spoke to her again.

"…Luna, let's talk for a moment."

"If it's a long conversation, can't we do it after club activities?"

Louis sighed and relaxed his expression.

"Sigh… Alright. Then after club activities…"

"Ah! Sorry. I have plans after club activities. Can we do it tomorrow?"

"…"

Louis covered his forehead with his right hand and bowed his head.

But Luna's next move was the highlight.

"Let's hurry to the clubroom."

"Huh? Right now?"

Luna seemed to be in a rush, trying to drag me to the clubroom.

However, Luna's plan didn't come to fruition.

Louis grabbed Luna's wrist and looked at her with a pleading expression.

"…Luna, please, let's talk…"

"...Sigh… Alright."

"…"

Even though Louis got the answer he wanted from Luna, his expression didn't lighten up at all.

I stood up and said to Luna,

"I'll head to the clubroom first."

"…Alright."

Luna pouted and quickly turned to leave the classroom.

Fortunately, Louis didn't see Luna's expression and glared at me before quickly following her.

"Geez, getting upset over something so trivial…"

[Are you feeling down?]

"…No? I'm feeling great."

I chuckled, thinking about Luna's pouting face, tidied up my desk, and headed to the clubroom alone.

***

"Ah, no!"

Luna almost screamed as soon as she woke up in the morning.

Last night, she had been so engrossed in her first attempt at self-pleasure that she fell into a deep sleep, which was the root of the problem.

She hadn't changed her clothes and was still in her uniform when the sunlight hit her.

As usual, she woke up to the morning sunlight streaming through the window, but this time the sun was already high in the sky.

She was conflicted the moment she woke up.

Should she go to the classroom in this messy state, or take the time to prepare properly even if it meant being late?

But the conclusion came quickly.

"This isn't the time to wash up!"

As soon as she burst out of the door into the hallway, one thought popped into her head.

"Underwear! Ugh!"

Luna panicked at the word that slipped out of her mouth, quickly covering it with her hand and glancing around the hallway.

Fortunately, no one was around.

"Phew…"

Even though no one heard her, the situation didn't improve.

She was now wearing the same underwear she had… well, used last night, and the thought made her soul feel like it was leaving her body.

She vividly remembered what she had done while wearing that underwear.

She could endure not washing up, and she could endure her clothes being a mess.

Those two things weren't a big deal for Luna, who usually didn't care about others' opinions.

She thought she could just tidy up and be fine.

But the mere thought of going to class in that underwear filled her with guilt.

Even though the other person would never know, her mind was filled with the thought of being a woman who had done something indecent in front of a man.

But her sense of responsibility won out.

Luna repeated to herself as she hurried towards the classroom.

'They won't know, they won't know, they won't know, they won't….'

She suppressed her guilt and arrived at the classroom.

But as soon as she arrived, the only person she saw was Seong Suho.

All the other students had already left.

'It's the sub-elemental class….'

Remembering the timetable she had received earlier, she walked to her seat.

After catching her breath, Luna pretended not to know and asked Seong Suho, who was staring at her blankly.

"Um… today's class…"

"Ah, it's the auxiliary class, so everyone's moved. You should hurry too."

"Then, let's go together…"

"No, I have something else to do, so I'll stay. You go ahead."

"…Okay."

She secretly resented him.

'Would it kill you to go with me….'

A sense of gloom she had never felt before enveloped her emotions.

But that gloom quickly disappeared.

The location of the auxiliary classroom was erased from the board.

Panicked, Luna covered her mouth, unsure of what to do.

Suho, who was next to her, asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Well… the location of the auxiliary classroom…"

"Huh?"

As he turned to look at the board, Luna bowed her head and this time blamed herself.

'…How stupid. What am I doing? When I first entered this school, I vowed to succeed no matter what….'

Luna began to berate herself.

She felt like she had become a foolish woman swayed by a man.

'It's not his fault… I'm the one who's stupid….'

Luna felt tears welling up.

Just as the tears were about to fall, a gentle voice from Suho reached her ears.

"Third floor, Lutel classroom."

"…Huh?"

"You need to go to the third floor, Lutel classroom."

"Ah…. Could it be…."

Luna looked at his confident expression and became certain.

'Could it be that he's telling me the classroom….'

From Luna's perspective, there was no other reason for Suho to stay behind.

'I don't even know what his auxiliary class is….'

Luna only found out that Suho's main attribute was wind after asking him.

But he had stayed behind to tell her about her auxiliary class, just in case.

Suho asked about Luna's muttering.

"What did you say?"

"…Nothing, thank you."

Luna quickly tried to leave after saying that to Suho.

She thought she should leave quickly so Suho wouldn't be late because of her.

But as soon as she turned around, Suho suddenly grabbed her arm.

Luna felt a shiver run through her body and let out a near-scream.

"Wh-what are you doing!"

Luna saw the hand Suho had grabbed.

She remembered what she had done with that hand last night.

The image of what she had done with that hand flashed vividly in her mind.

'N-no way! Did he figure it out!?'

As she panicked, fearing that he might have found out, Suho replied.

"Ah, sorry. Why are you screaming…?"

"Y-You suddenly grabbed me…"

"Your button came undone."

"Huh?"

For a moment, her mind went blank as she stared at the button he was fixing on her sleeve.

Just one second.

To her, that one second felt like an hour.

It was Suho who brought her soul back.

"You're going to be late."

"Ah!"

Luna snapped out of it at the word "late" and turned to run to the auxiliary classroom.

Before leaving the classroom, she glanced back at Suho.

"Thank you."

And ran towards the auxiliary classroom, glancing at her sleeve the entire way.

***

Barely avoiding being late, Luna focused on the auxiliary class and then returned to the original classroom.

She found Suho lying on his desk, having returned before her.

But he was fidgeting uncomfortably on the desk.

Luna could clearly sense something was off.

'…Is he hurt? Why is he in so much pain?'

It was completely different from his usual demeanour.

Worried, Luna asked him,

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Why?"

To her, Suho looked like he was struggling to even answer.

"You look tired."

Luna was genuinely concerned for him.

But his answer was something she couldn't understand.

"Ah, I inhaled too much dust, so I'm feeling stuffy."

"…Dust?"

"Yeah, that's a thing."

"…"

Luna was starting to get annoyed.

It always felt like she was the one reaching out, and Suho seemed indifferent.

But the conversation ended there.

The assistant professor in charge of the magic circles class had entered.

'Sigh… I really hate this class.'

She could somehow endure the assistant professor's creepy behaviour.

But the relief she felt when Suho intervened was indescribable.

Luna hoped Suho would save her again, but at the same time, she didn't want him to see her in such a humiliating situation.

The exam began, and Louis was the first to step forward and demonstrate his magic circle.

Luna was amazed as she watched Louis' magic circle.

'To think he's improved this much in just a few weeks… He's really amazing.'

It was hard to believe, even as his childhood friend, that he had grown so much in just three weeks.

But Luna quickly pushed aside her thoughts about Louis' skills and wanted to change his behaviour.

Having known Louis for so long, he felt like a younger brother to her.

Not the kind of younger brother who fights and bickers, but the kind who needs to be taken care of.

But lately, he had become really annoying.

Now that she had a man she liked, it felt like her little brother was constantly getting in the way.

'Sigh… Should I tell Louis to give me some space….'

In Luna's heart, her love life had taken precedence over Louis' feelings.

As Luna was pondering how to deal with Louis, her name was called from the podium.

"Luna Stadtfeld."

"Yes."

Luna slowly walked to the podium.

She silently prayed.

'Please… please don't do anything…'

As soon as she stood on the podium, she tried to quickly draw the magic circle without waiting for the signal.

But at that moment, the assistant professor's unpleasant voice came from behind.

"Wait."

The assistant professor said that and began to scrutinize Luna's body.

'Sigh… Here we go again.'

She wanted to punch that face that was looking her up and down with a disgusting expression.

It was the first time Luna had ever wanted to hit someone.

She made eye contact with Suho.

His angry expression was clearly visible even from here.

Luna turned her head to avoid looking at him.

'Please don't look….'

Just as the assistant professor touched Luna's collar—

Bang!

A loud sound of a desk being slammed echoed.

Luna instantly looked towards Suho.

It wasn't him who had slammed the desk.

But from his expression, it was clear what he was about to do.

'A magic circle?'

She wasn't sure exactly where he was looking, but it was clear he was staring at the podium.

And then, a pig-like squeal erupted from the side.

"Kyaaaak!"

The assistant professor tried to grab Luna as he fell, but fortunately, she managed to avoid his hand.

Thud!

The assistant professor started screaming at someone.

But Luna was numb to the surrounding noise, her eyes fixed on one person.

Only Suho, who was pretending to be nonchalant, was in her sight.

***

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