Suddenly, the door was swung open. And almost simultaneously, both Ria and I turned towards the door.

"Oh, Sylvia! We were just talking about you!", Ria waved.

Sylvia, who had just walked in with a thick-looking cast on her right arm, sat down next to Ria.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, Sylvia suddenly spoke up.

"Ria, can you leave us alone for a bit?"

In response, Ria immediately stood up and walked out of the room without even glancing back at us.

CLANK—!

We stared at each other awkwardly, before Sylvia broke the silence yet again.

"Theodore, I'm... sorry", Sylvia hung her head down low in shame. "Because of my selfishness, you're in the state you're in right now. I know this probably won't be enough but—"

She then turned her head up and looked straight at me. Her lavender-blue eyes glistened as small tears rolled down her cheeks. "—I'll do anything you tell me to!"

Although this seemingly heartfelt and sincere apology coming from the absolute beauty that was Sylvia might have tugged on other people's heartstrings, it didn't for me, as I was absolutely horrified.

'NO! WHY ME!?'

In the novel, Sylvia was an... extremely petty dragon. As such, I knew for certain that she wouldn't apologize to someone like me, much less offer to compensate for the troubles.

Thus, I came to a conclusion that—

'She's threatening me...'

—She was indirectly warning me not to divulge the information that she was a Halfling to anyone.

That was the only plausible explanation. Well, at least it was more plausible than her actually feeling guilty and really wanting to make up for me.

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, I spoke. "Haha! Y- You don't need to worry, Sylvia. I've already forgotten all about it!"

Still acting as if she was feeling guilty, Sylvia looked at me with a shaken gaze. "B- But it's still my fault that you're hurt! So it's only fair that I c- compensate you"

'Ah, so it's like that!', I patted myself on the back for being able to discern her intentions right away.

She was probably not trusting my words since I agreed to her demand too easily without even seeking anything in return.

To be honest, if I were in her shoes, I'd also be very suspicious.

'Well... if she insists...'

I could use this chance to my advantage and somewhat mend my relationship with the future Duchess.

As such, after some heavy consideration, I turned to the sly Sylvia and stated my demands.

"Alright then, I want to propose a deal"

"A deal...?", Sylvia tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes. I'll help you suppress your Eyes"

Instantly, her gaze turned scary. An immense pressure bore down onto my shoulders, suffocating me.

Realizing her mistake, Sylvia quickly calmed down.

She then looked at me skeptically, and asked in a shaken voice. "T- Truly? Y- You're not m- messing with me because you're m- mad at me, a- are you?"

She looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment.

'Hook, line, and sinker!'

"I'm dead serious", I mustered up the most sincere voice I could. "We can even sign a Mana contract if you don't trust me"

Staring at me for a bit, Sylvia quickly shook her head. "No, we don't need to. The least I can do right now is trust you after all"

Her gaze looked a little bit sad as she said that.

'Seriously, I'll have to ask her to teach me how to act sometimes'

"Thank you for your trust", I said respectfully.

As to why I decided to help her suppress her Eyes? Well, she would be able to control her Eyes in a few weeks anyways, so me helping her suppressing her Eyes before that would make her have a favorable impression of me.

'At least more favorable than literally punching the shit out of her and calling her existence a crime...'

And the way in which I would be helping her was... basically a joke the author added years after Sylvia managed to control her Eyes just to mock her.

Seriously, she just needed to walk for 2 hours to the East of the Capital and clear a <F> ranked dungeon to suppress her Eyes.

And more importantly—

'Her Eyes got nothing to do with how she joined Arthur's harem anyways'

—I wouldn't disturb the plotline too much even if I did so.

Pausing my thoughts there, I gestured for Sylvia, who looked as if she wanted to say something, to speak.

"So, what's my end of the deal?", her cheeks then reddened a bit. "Like I said before, it can be a- a- anything..."

'Meaning 'Don't overstep your boundaries'... Understood!'

I wasn't too worried, as my requests weren't that absurd anyways.

"I only asks of you 2 things", I raised two fingers up, which was very redundant now that I think about it. "Introduce me to a Grandmaster blacksmith, and come to my dorm everyday to—"

I then casted a soundproofing spell so that what I was about to say next wouldn't escape the room.

<[Silence]>

"—Infuse my Wyvern egg with your Water mana"

After telling her what I wanted to say, I cancelled the spell.

Sylvia stared at me with confusion as she was still trying to process what I had just said. "Did I hear you wrong? Are you aware that having s—"

"Yes", I interrupted her. "Avaron forbids doing it, I know. That's why we have to be secretive about it"

Weighting her options for literally a fraction of a second, Sylvia immediately tried to shake my hand.

However, upon realizing that her right arm was in a cast and thus very unsuitable for hand-shaking, Sylvia blushed in shame and quickly switched to her left hand.

"G- Glad to do business with you..."

-WHAT THE FUCK!?

THUD—!

***

'What a... benevolent person', Sylvia thought as she stared at Theodore.

Even after she gave him that many grave injuries, he didn't seem to be mad at her.

In fact, he even immediately told her that he had already forgotten about all of the pain that she caused him, be it physical or mental pain.

However, all of that just served to amplify Sylvia's guilt even further.

'...I can't believe I did that to such a nice person'

She was feeling like shit right now.

As such, she was determined to compensate him.

'E- Even if it costs my body!'

Thus, she looked at Theodore straight in his eyes, albeit shakily, and spoke. "B- But it's still my fault that you're hurt! So it's only fair that I compensate you"

Theodore then fell into deliberations.

'He's probably thinking of requests that wouldn't trouble me much...', Sylvia as she gave Theodore a warm look, not that he noticed it though.

Eventually, Theodore woke up from his thoughts and stated his requests. "Alright then, I want to propose a deal"

"A deal?"

'W- What? H- How could such a person exist?'

Sylvia was extremely moved. Not only did he forgive her almost immediately, he even proposed to make a deal with her, instead of taking things from her one-sidedly.

"Yes. I'll help you suppress your Eyes"

Hearing this, Sylvia's eyes couldn't help but to grow cold.

'Do he think I'm a fool?'

After all, even with all of her father's resources at her disposal, she still couldn't find a way to suppress her Eyes.

However, she soon calmed down.

'That's right, how could someone like him lie to me? Plus—'

Sadness then flashed briefly through her eyes. '—Even if he was making fun of me.... I deserves it'

Thus, barely able to contain her nervousness and excitement, she turned to Theodore again. "T- Truly? Y- You're not m- messing with me because you're m- mad at me, a- are you?"

Sure, if Theodore had laughed at her revealed that he was just lying to her right there, she might have broken down into tears. However, as if unconcerned by humiliating herself in front of Theodore, Sylvia waited expectantly for his answer.

"I'm dead serious. We can even sign a Mana contract if you don't trust me"

Spotting no falsities in his words, Sylvia sighed in relief.

'I- I can't believe I doubted him!'

Guilt began to overtake her emotions again. However, out of respect for Theodore, she temporarily shook such feelings away and focused on the matter at hand.

"No, we don't need to. The least I can do right now is trust you after all"

"Thank you for your trust"

"So, what's my end of the deal?", Sylvia's cheeks then reddened a bit at the thought of him possibly requesting her to do indecent things.

'No! Get a hold of yourself, Sylvia Ecertold! E- Even if he asked me to do such things, I'd still comply!'

"Like I said before, it can be a- a- anything..."

"I only asks of you 2 things. Introduce me to a Grandmaster blacksmith, and come to my dorm everyday to—"

His second request made her cheeks flushed a bit. However, she soon calmed down as she heard the rest of it.

"—Infuse my Wyvern egg with your Water mana"

However, such calmness only lasted for a split second, before she fell into confusion again.

"Did I hear you wrong? Are you aware that having s—"

"Yes", his dull gray reptilian eyes firmly stared at her. "Avaron forbids doing it, I know. That's why we have to be secretive about it"

What Theodore had just requested of her was considered 'Experimenting with Monsters', which was a taboo in every academies of the Empire.

It was so frowned upon, in fact, that the Imperial crown prince Gabriel would have gotten expelled from Kirion for breaking the taboo if it wasn't for his followers taking the blame for him.

However, Sylvia was still determined to fulfill Theodore's requests to the utmost of her capabilities. As such, she quickly shook his hand and sealed the deal.

Admittedly, it would have been a lot less awkward if she had remembered that her right hand was unusable.

"G- Glad to do business with you..."
***

Ria was standing outside of the infirmary, listening in to Theodore and Sylvia's conversation.

'Hehahaha! There's no way I'm letting my innocent Sylvia stay alone with that guy!'

Their conversation was going like any normal conversations would. Though, it was a little bit weird in the parts where Sylvia basically begged Theodore to tell her his demands.

'What kind of witchcraft did he use to seduce Sylvia?', Ria frowned.

However, things took a turn for the worse when Theodore stated what he wanted Sylvia to do.

-Introduce me to a Grandmaster blacksmith—

'What a weird request... but it's acceptable I guess'

- —and come to my dorm everyday to—

It was then that all sound coming from the room was suddenly cut off.

However, just hearing that last part was enough to make Ria's frown deepen.

'Come to his room? Surely he isn't so innocent as to only want to do homework with her and not anything else, right...?'

It was then that Ria could hear Theodore and Sylvia talk again.

-Did I hear you wrong? Are you aware that having s—

'Having s...? Did she want to say 'sex' ?', Ria's mind automatically drifted to the worst possible situation.

"Yes. Avaron forbids doing it, I know. That's why we have to be secretive about it"

'It starts with 's' and Avaron bans students from doing it... he's definitely talking about 'sex'! That pervert!'

She knew something was wrong from the moment she walked into Theodore staring at his gray bird with an intimate gaze.

'That bastard probably wanted to fuck Sylvia with her [S - Polymorph] undone!'

Now it all made sense. Theodore had a... Wings fetish. And possibly a Reptile fetish too.

'That has to be the case!'

Despite that, Ria wasn't too terribly worried, as—

'There's no way Sylvia would accept such an absurd deal'

—She had faith in her best friend.

Straining her ears even harder, Ria grinned as she anticipated to hear the loud sound of the hard slap Sylvia would give Theodore.

'Hehahahaha! And then he will run out of the room with teary eyes, vowing to one day conquer Sylv—'

-G- Glad to do business with you...

"WHAT THE FUCK!?", Ria screamed in absolute shock.

The shock was so great, in fact, that she fell to the ground, butt first.

THUD—!

'SHIT! THEY DEFINITELY HEARD ME JUST NOW!'

Not wanting to be found in this awkward situation, and not really being able to face Sylvia right now, Ria quickly scrambled off the ground and ran away.
...

Having successfully escaped the infirmary without being detected, Ria walked around the schoolyard while being deep in thoughts.

"That bastard!", Ria gritted her teeth. "Just how did he corrupt Sylvia!?"

After a few more minutes of intense but useless thinking, Ria groaned in frustration and gave up on trying to resolve the situation herself.

"Fucking forget it! I'll just let my darling Noah handle this!"

The corners of her lips then curved up into a grin.

"Hehahaha! You'll regret seducing his sister once Noah gets involved, Theodore Gray!"

Ria then smiled to herself creepily as she thought about the ways in which Noah could make Theodore suffer.

Plit—! plat—!

However, that joyful thought session of hers was interrupted by a wet sensation on her nose.

"Huh?"

She looked up to the cloudy sky.

"It's raining?"
***

<<Dorm room F1 - 2>>

"Reporting, your highness"

In response, Eleanor gestured for Kasumi to continue without saying anything.
...

"I see, so that's what happened", Eleanor muttered as she fell into thoughts.

Normally, Eleanor herself would have been the one to kill the tree, and she would make Ria, who just happened to always be there in every regressions, take all the credits.

'That's certainly an interesting way to kill it... Luckily there's no incidents in which Ria would die in the near future but... I'd better increase her protection just in case'

Eleanor then turned her gaze towards Kasumi, who was still kneeling on the ground.

"Kasumi", she said with a grin. "What do you think of Theodore Gray?"

Pausing for a moment to collect her thought, Kasumi lets out a very unprofessional sigh. "Your highness, may I have permission to use some profane languages? I believe that only such offensive words would be sufficient to describe the target"

Amused, Eleanor spoke. "You can use whatever words you want"

Kasumi then answered almost immediately. "He's an asshole, a jerk, a cynical bastard. And more importantly, he's a borderline psychopath"

After all, Theodore let Brian die and killed Ria without a single speck of hesitation.

Granted, he might have known that Ria could revive. However, no sane person could do it in such a gruesome way. And he didn't even flinch when she looked back at him with an expression full of hate and betrayal either.

'Which means he's already used to such gazes... what a scary person', Kasumi thought with a shudder.

After hearing Kasumi's description, a small chuckle came out of Eleanor's mouth. "That seems about right"

Plit—! Plat—! Plit—! Plat—! Plit—! Plat—!...

Suddenly, the distinct sound of rain could be heard.

Eleanor gazed out of the window, only to see that the sky was full of dark clouds.

"So it's already that time, huh?", Eleanor muttered.

She then turned towards Kasumi and spoke with a serious tone. "Kasumi, tell the others to lessen Sylvia Ecertold' protection"

Bowing respectfully, Kasumi melted into the shadows without even questioning Eleanor's orders this time.

Gazing at the window once more, Eleanor lets out a sigh.

"Sorry Sylvia, seems like you'll still have to go through it in this regression after all"