Why...?! WHY DID I DO ALL THAT?!

No.

It wasn't my fault.

It was that wildcat.

She... somehow had to have manipulated me. Yes. That was the only possible logical explanation.

Bang!

My fist slammed into the dormitory wall with enough force to make the entire structure tremble slightly. Small cracks spread around my knuckles.

I stared at the damage for a few seconds.

"That's... that's new..."

But it wasn't important.

What mattered was understanding what the hell had happened in the infirmary.

I'd had episodes before. Delirium. Hunger. Violent attacks that I preferred to pretend had never happened. Even as a child, when this cursed blood awakened inside me, I had embarrassing moments... But never anything like that.

Never.

So... what was the explanation for that situation!?

I'd never felt such a desperate need.

So intense.

So... humiliating.

I clenched my teeth.

The memory returned without my permission.

The scent of that commoner's blood.

Warm.

Sweet.

Thick.

The way it slid down my throat still seemed to linger inside my body, as if my tongue remembered every second.

Ah... No... No!

I buried my face in my hands.

"Get a hold of yourself..." I muttered through gritted teeth. "Stop acting like an animal in heat..."

My own comment made me freeze.

"...A-Ahem. I mean... hungry."

Yes. That. Hunger. Nothing else. Because what happened in the infirmary couldn't have been anything else.

It didn't matter how fast my heart raced when I remembered her small trembling gasps.

Or how she shuddered beneath me.

Or the way her fingers clutched the sheets when I sank my fangs into her neck.

No.

It meant nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"Tch..."

I clicked my tongue in irritation as I paced across the room.

Then I stopped.

"Damn it... why do I feel so light...?"

I hated admitting it. But ever since I left the infirmary... the truth was that my body felt far too good.

Too good.

The fatigue was gone.

The constant ache in my muscles had vanished.

Even the suffocating pressure I always carried in my chest seemed to have dissipated.

No.

More than that...

"I feel... stronger..."

I slowly opened and closed my hands.

Once.

Then again.

I could perceive every fiber of muscle tightening beneath my skin. The tendons, the blood vessels contracting and relaxing. Every movement felt absurdly clear. As if my entire body had awakened after remaining asleep for years.

"What the hell..."

This is strange... something like this has never happened before...

I brought both hands together in front of me.

Immediately, dark symbols spread across the backs of my hands like black roots. Esoteric diagrams appeared one after another, glowing with an intense crimson light before beginning to rotate slowly.

"Valak."

A crimson aura erupted around my fingers.

My eyes widened slightly.

The pressure gathering at the tips of my black nails was absurd. Brutal. Much denser than before.

If I fired Piercing Blood right now... I'd probably punch through this entire room.

My breathing stopped for a moment.

It made no sense.

I'd trained for days until I nearly destroyed my body and never achieved a breakthrough like this.

Then... why now?

And the answer came on its own.

Kathryn's neck.

Her vulnerable expression.

The warmth of her skin.

The blood slowly sliding across my tongue.

My heart slammed hard against my chest.

"No."

I immediately shook my head.

"No. No, no, no..."

It was impossible.

That commoner's blood couldn't have strengthened me.

That wasn't logical.

It couldn't work like that.

But the more I tried to deny it... the more I remembered how good it felt.

The warmth.

The closeness.

The way my entire body seemed to melt when I held her beneath me.

I clutched my head with both hands.

"AGH! ADELHEID!"

The name came out filled with frustration.

And something worse.

Something I didn't want to analyze too closely.

I took several deep breaths until I forced myself to regain my composure.

Enough.

I wasn't going to think about that anymore.

I needed a distraction.

I needed to focus on something useful before I went insane.

So I called Fisalia and asked her to meet me in my dormitory.

It would be better to continue discussing the plan to expel that commoner from the academy.

Yes.

That was the right thing to do.

Definitely the right thing to do.

...Then why did my tongue still remember her taste?

---

Oh... she's in a terrible mood.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw Carlotta's expression. Her brow was slightly furrowed and her lips were pressed into a thin line, as though she were making a monumental effort not to break something in front of me.

Usually, she hid her emotions well. After all, she was a daughter of the Wiebke Family. Elegant. Untouchable. Perfect.

But there were moments... small moments... when the mask cracked.

And this was one of them.

Oh... she's in a terrible mood.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw the awful grimace of disgust on Carlotta's face.

The last time I'd seen her this upset, we must have been around twelve years old. She'd punched a wall after losing control of her powers in front of an instructor. I remember she spent hours locked away afterward, refusing to speak to anyone.

I suppose some habits never change.

Though I have to admit I'm a little surprised. After so many years without speaking to each other, I thought she'd have learned to control those outbursts better.

Life is funny like that, I guess.

Now, the real question was...

Should I ask why she was so upset?

Nah. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. It surely had something to do with that commoner.

What I was curious about was what the hell that alley cat had done to make Carlotta's contempt toward her multiply to such a degree.

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

Carlotta shot me an icy look.

"Look like I want to?"

"I was just asking..."

She let out an irritated sigh and rubbed a hand over her face.

"Ah... sorry. Let's just say I'll never look at the infirmary the same way again."

I blinked.

"What?"

Carlotta looked away, and for a moment I noticed something strange.

Embarrassment.

Not mild discomfort. Genuine embarrassment.

The tips of her ears were red.

"...That cat assaulted me in the infirmary..."

"You lost me already."

I said it with complete honesty.

Assaulted her? What did that even mean?

But then...

Infirmary...

...Oh.

Oh no.

An unpleasant feeling slowly settled in my stomach.

"I don't know how it happened, but that idiot fell on top of me while I was heading to the infirmary. Then... things happened. Things I'd rather bury at the bottom of my mind and history itself. I'll just say one thing... dear Fisalia, beware of that crafty cat."

"Uh... okay..."

I had no idea what exactly had happened, but it must have been absurdly humiliating for Carlotta to be acting like this.

...And that made me feel a tiny bit guilty.

Just a tiny bit.

Why?

Because technically, I think it was my fault Carlotta ended up with Adelheid.

When I saw Auren running with his face completely red, covering his lips as if trying to hide something... it could only mean one thing.

That disgusting cat had either tried to kiss him or, worse, actually kissed him.

Just imagining it sent an unpleasant sting through my chest.

So I decided to act.

When I saw Adelheid heading toward the stadium stairs, I cast a spell to wet the ground. The idea was pretty simple: make her break something when she fell.

I know perfectly well that went against the plans Carlotta and I had prepared.

But honestly, my pride couldn't let her walk away unpunished after getting that close to Auren.

I never imagined things would end up like this.

Although, well... I don't intend to apologize too much.

Yes, I feel a little bad for causing Carlotta to go through such a horrible experience.

But not enough.

In fact, a part of me even found it funny that someone had managed to put the proud Carlotta Wiebke into such a miserable and confused state.

Of course, I'd never say that out loud.

So I simply tilted my head and calmly asked:

"...And what's the plan now? Do you still want to go through with faking your death, or...?"

---