A few minutes ago,
"Hmm... hmm..." Dora humd with a slightly jolly expression as she walked along the corridor.
The workers paused mid swing, surprised to see Dora looking almost cheerful. Even the professors walking by exchanged looks, whispering under their breath.
Dora rarely displayed joy so openly.
Just what happened to her?
Dora, on the other hand, smirked inwardly. Her lips tingled with the lingering taste she had just taken from him, a sensation so intoxicating she nearly trembled at the mory.
As much as she hated to admit it, the mont had pushed her dangerously close to losing control. If she had unleashed even a fraction of her true form, she would have taken Aether right there on the floor and ridden him until he broke... He might not have survived it!!
Thank goodness he blacked out after that single climax.
His body simply shut down to save itself.
Dora shook her head with a pitiful expression. "He is really weak... he needs to get stronger, it seems." Her voice held a strange mixture of disappointnt and amusent.
The image of Aether collapsing beneath her, his expression completely defeated as if all his tricks and sly arrogance had evaporated, flashed across her mind.
It thrilled her more than anything.
Seeing the man who always acted haughty and sharp... reduced to nothing beneath her fingers... nothing but a shivering ss who couldn’t even resist her touch.
"That’s why I told him not to play with a fox." Dora snorted with an amused expression, though a gentler smile softened the corners of her mouth.
He needed more control... Much more!
She had left the mont she sensed Delphine approaching her office.
Knowing Delphine would find Aether still dazed and vulnerable. Dora hoped they would finally talk instead of running from each other, pretending their problems didn’t exist.
Avoidance solved nothing.
"I suppose she might have chosen what she wanted," Dora muttered thoughtfully. She entered the quieter corridor leading to Delphine’s office, her footsteps echoing lightly.
She knew Delphine must have dragged Aether inside to talk... and considering how much ti had passed... a decision was likely already made.
Whether it was good or bad, Dora had no idea.
"He might be doing sothing naughty to her~" Dora chuckled to herself, her mischievous nature bubbling up.
The thought of opening the door right now tempted her deeply. The look on their faces would be priceless. Horror mixed with embarrassnt. Especially Aether, who almost died from a single climax yet sohow ended up in another woman’s office right after.
She would never let him forget that.
She would be teasing him forever.
But then...
"Well, she might be crying too," Dora muttered softly... her steps slowed for a mont, hesitation flickering across her face.
The possibility weighed on her... Delphine might be devastated, hiding in her office and crying alone, where no one would see.
Dora sighed quietly. Whatever the outco was... she needed to be there for Delphine. She owed her that much.
Delphine was the only person who had stood by her side, no matter how exhausting the work beca, no matter how many nights Dora pushed herself past her limits. Delphine had remained a constant.
A good professor, A good Friend... and a genuinely good woman.
As she stepped into the corridor,
Just then,
"P-Principal!"
Dora turned back, her expression sharpening as she saw the old woman who used to work as a healer in the infirmary.
The nurse’s grey hair stuck to her forehead from sweat, her breath uneven.
Dora frowned... What was she doing here, of all places?
The old woman hurried toward her with a fearful expression. "P-Principal, I-I need to tell you sothing important!"
Dora’s gaze narrowed as she took in the old nurse’s tired, panicked face. It looked as if she had run the entire way without stopping.
"Important? What could it be?"
The old woman glanced around anxiously, her eyes darting to every shadow as if she expected sothing to jump out. She swallowed hard, her throat trembling with the motion. Then, in a whisper barely audible, she said,
"I... I think I know who it was..."
Dora frowned. "What are you talking about?"
The old nurse gulped again, fear twisting her expression. "About the academy getting destroyed... You said I was the one who planted the bombs, right?"
Dora humd thoughtfully. "Yes, but you ntioned you didn’t know, and you lost your mories during that ti, right? Like a ghost possessed your body or sothing?"
The old woman nodded quickly, her fingers trembling. "Yes, I did... but now... I rembered a few things."
"Now?" Dora blinked in surprise.
The old nurse nodded again, this ti with a serious, almost haunted expression. She leaned closer, lowering her voice even more as she looked around with growing worry. "I... I need to talk to you alone... please."
Dora frowned. "But we are..."
"Please, not here..." The old nurse’s voice cracked as she stared at the corners of the hall, as if soone—or sothing—was watching her.
Seeing her reaction, Dora’s frown deepened. Sothing about this felt wrong.
What was happening to her?
If the old nurse truly rembered sothing, then Dora might finally uncover what had happened that day. Whether it was a ghost’s involvent... or sothing else entirely... sothing that had been trying to act through her.
If it was danger, she really needed to take care of it... even though she had never seen it with her own eyes.
Dora sighed as she glanced toward the end of the corridor... Delphine’s office.
"Well, let’s go to my office then," Dora said softly as she turned to leave the corridor. But her ears twitched; sothing faint brushed her hearing... almost like a scream?
Her step halted. Instinct made her turn back toward Delphine’s corridor, but then the old nurse tilted her head and called out, "Principal?"
Dora blinked and glanced at the old nurse before shaking her head. "Nothing..." She forced herself to turn away and continued walking toward her office corridor.
But she knew she had heard a scream. Maybe Aether and Delphine were still fighting.
Maybe it wasn’t the best ti to interfere between two people who needed to face each other.
Coming to her office, Dora sat behind her desk and motioned for the old nurse to sit. "Now tell ."
The old nurse gulped and looked around with a hesitant expression.
Dora frowned. "Now what?"
The old nurse’s shoulders trembled as she pointed toward the mirror. Dora followed her gesture and stared at the glass surface with a confused expression. "What?"
The old nurse shook her head, her face pale, her eyes twitching with fear as if she expected her own reflection to move.
Dora sighed and asked again, firr this ti,
"Tell what’s so important that you want to talk about?"
"I... I think I found what happened to ," the old nurse whispered, her voice shaking. "I told you I saw myself smirking in the mirror, right? After that, I forgot everything, right?"
Dora nodded slowly, her focus sharpening.
The old nurse swallowed hard. "W-Well... I rembered what happened after that... I rembered vividly... like I was seeing through that thing that controlled ."
Dora leaned forward, frowning. "Okay..."
The old nurse drew in a shaky breath. "I... I... know who put the bombs... in the facility."
"Who?"
The old nurse gulped even more fearfully, her fingers gripping the edge of her chair.
"T-The ghost!"
Dora, who had been leaning forward with curiosity, froze. Her expression flattened into a completely deadpan stare.
"... Oh? You don’t say."
Seeing Dora had an unbelievable expression, the old nurse spoke again with a trembling but serious tone, "Please... believe , Principal. I saw it with my own eyes... it’s the ghost that put those things... it wasn’t ... it never was..."
Her voice cracked near the end, fear gripping her throat.
Dora’s frown deepened. "You an the rumoured ghost once believed to be harmless... trying to kill everyone here?"
The old nurse nodded furiously, almost desperately, as if begging Dora to understand.
Dora stared at her in troubled silence.
Why would it try to kill them all?
What the hell would even push a ghost to do sothing like that?
What possible reason?
Just then, she rembered... Master Snape had said he once contacted the ghost.
Dora’s frown sharpened as if she were connecting threads, "Maybe... they’re working together?" she muttered under her breath, voice heavy with unease.
"Huh?" The old nurse tilted her head.
Dora looked directly at her and asked with a serious tone, "Tell ... did you see it clearly? Any visible evidence. Man or woman? Elf or human? Anything that could identify what it is?"
The old nurse gulped hard. She glanced toward the mirror again, as though the reflection itself frightened her. Her hands trembled as she spoke,
"I... I am not sure. When it possessed ... There were flashes... Images! They weren’t clear at first, but I kept seeing them, like broken mories forced into my head. Back and forth... so fast it hurt."
Dora leaned forward slowly.
The nurse’s voice quivered. "Among those images... it wore our academy’s uniform. And... and I think it worked as a caretaker. Soone who watched over the children."
Dora’s eyes widened in mild surprise. A student? A caretaker?
"Anything else?" Dora asked.
The old nurse blinked rapidly, trying to recall, her fingers digging into her own sleeves. "I don’t know... I’m sorry... please forgive ." Her voice broke into guilt and frustration. She wasn’t lying... she felt useless.
She just wanted to clear her na. She never wanted to harm the children she loved.
Dora softened, letting out a slow breath before offering a small smile. "It’s fine... You already gave enough details. I will look into this. You may leave now."
"R-Really?" The old nurse trembled, her face brightening with fragile hope.
Dora nodded kindly. "I know it is really hard for you... But don’t worry. You can rest easy. I’m not leaving my hardworking healer that easily."
The old nurse’s lips quivered before she smiled gently, eyes shimring with gratitude. "I am really honoured, Principal..."
Dora nodded once more as the old nurse slowly walked toward the door. She opened it, ready to step outside—
"Oh?!"
But then she halted her steps and turned back, said with realised expression, "Right! I rember now... it was close to the disciple of yours. What’s his na...."
"Victor?" Dora’s mouth parted in shock.
The old nurse nodded, "Yeah, yeah... He is close to it-"
But suddenly, the door was pushed inward, and Liora entered the room with a serious, urgent expression.
Her breath was uneven, as if she had been running.
"Where is Delphine?" Liora asked sharply.
"Huh?" Dora blinked.
****
anwhile...
A place covered in nothing but darkness... a suffocating void where even the idea of light felt foreign.
"Arrh!"
A groaning sound echoed through the black space, bouncing endlessly with no walls to stop it.
Followed by another whisper—
"D-Del?"
A frightened voice, shaking, lost in the pitch-black nothingness.
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