Chapter 628: Interrupting Spellcasting

“Your Majesty.”

“Professor Prang, you’ve worked hard.”

Celicia stepped down from the carriage, and what entered her eyes was the Saint Maria Academy campus she had once been extremely familiar with.

The gate was still that same gate. The enormous characters carved into the mountain stone were vigorous and powerful—said to have been personally written by the First King a thousand years ago.

The academy was still the academy, only within a single holiday, Celicia’s identity had undergone an earthshaking change. Back then, even if she was a princess, here she had only been an ordinary student of the academy—but now, it had already reached the point where a professor had to come personally to receive her.

“The students haven’t enrolled yet?”

Celicia’s cool gaze swept over the place. Amid the verdant greenery, it was quiet and secluded, lacking a bit of liveliness.

“The students have already enrolled. It’s just that we staggered it with the day Your Majesty came to visit, to avoid chaos.”

Professor Prang answered respectfully, and there was also a hint of emotion in his brows and eyes.

“...Right. From now on, when I come to the academy, it can only be to visit.”

Celicia waved a hand, signaling for the Royal Knights behind her not to follow, then walked into the campus together with Professor Prang.

“What about the people from the kingdom?”

“They’ve already sent a letter, stating they’ll come tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow... they really can’t wait.”

“They’re so confident—looks like that seventeenth prince really isn’t simple.”

Professor Prang stroked his beard. As one of his old rivals, he understood Hertz’s temperament quite well.

He had once pressed Hertz down so hard he couldn’t lift his head, and this time, for him to be so confident, it definitely wasn’t some momentary hot-blooded impulse frying his brain—it meant he had something to rely on.

“You say that... Professor Prang, do you have no confidence?” Celicia’s willow brows lifted slightly.

“Haha, Your Majesty doesn’t need to ask me that.”

Professor Prang laughed. “The one from your household is going to be one of the main forces next. You should ask him.”

“Hmph.”

Mentioning that person who had suddenly vanished again, Celicia immediately gave a cold snort through her nose and asked,

“He’s back at the academy?”

“He’s back.”

Professor Prang coughed twice, lowered his voice, and said,

“Does Your Majesty want to go find him? Although girls can’t enter the men’s dormitory, Your Majesty, you—”

“Why would I go find him?”

Celicia cut Professor Prang off coldly and, without looking back, headed in the completely opposite direction.

“I came to the academy to handle proper business. It’s all the better if he doesn’t come and interfere.”

“...”

Professor Prang froze for a moment. Watching Celicia’s aloof back, he then stroked his beard and shook his head helplessly.

...

...

“Hm? Celicia came to the academy?”

In the dorm, Ariel, who had been cultivating, got the news and immediately sprang up with a jolt.

“Great, my chance has come!!”

“Aren’t you being a little too impatient?”

In the swaying candlelight, a hazy figure rose beside Ariel.

“I heard those kingdom people won’t come until tomorrow. Why not prepare today first?”

“Come on, Teacher, you just don’t get it!”

Ariel put her hands on her hips and said confidently, “Volunteering first and being passively brought on stage—how could that be the same? Precisely because the exchange meet doesn’t start until tomorrow, I’m going to go tell Celicia my resolve today! That way I can leave a deeper impression on her!”

“Will that work?” Ariel’s teacher asked doubtfully.

“Of course it’ll work!”

Ariel crooked the corner of her mouth and gave a dashing grin.

“Based on my rich romantic experience, the prerequisite for making a beauty’s heart flutter is carving your own mark right on her heart. And only once you carve the mark first does everything after that become perfectly natural!”

“Is that so?”

Ariel’s teacher’s gaze was a little strange. This disciple of hers often claimed she was rich in romantic experience, but up to now, the crystal palace she swore she’d build didn’t even have a foundation.

The only one that had looked like she was about to win, in the end she not only failed to boil the frog with warm water, she even got snatched away. And now she was confident again...

“Don’t worry. This time, I’m completely different from before. I’m going to move faster than that Muen Campbell. I absolutely won’t make the same mistake I did with Liya again—hesitating too much and giving him the chance to steal her away!”

Mentioning that bastard Muen Campbell made Ariel simmer with anger, but once she thought about how she was about to beat him, take revenge, and even have a chance to snatch Liya back later, she couldn’t help lifting her chest, her mood turning bright.

That’s right. A true strong person is never knocked down!

This time was her perfect chance to turn the tables!

...

...

The student council office.

Celicia dismissed all attendants and pushed the door open alone.

The familiar door opened. Endless motes of dust floated. Clear spring sunlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, leaving a trace of time on the desk where she had worked for so long.

A few months had passed. No one else had moved into this student council office yet, so it had sat unused for months. The flowers in the vase on the desk had already withered, leaving only limp, dried yellow remnants of branches and leaves.

Celicia’s palm lightly brushed over everything in the room. A gentle wind like snow swept in from outside the door, stirring up dust all over the floor.

She pushed the window open, as if returning here after every holiday, and swept away all filth.

Rustle...

There was the sound of footsteps stepping on fallen leaves. Celicia subconsciously lowered her gaze, but what she saw wasn’t that familiar figure. It was the newly enrolled students, brimming with youthful vigor, sprinting past beneath the shade of the green plane-tree grove.

It somehow felt... like a very long time had passed.

Celicia sighed faintly, then shook her head and smiled. After that, she sat down in the seat she had occupied for so long.

She didn’t handle official affairs, because there was nothing left in this academy that required her personal attention. She simply flipped open a book at random, then her slender fingers began tapping lightly on the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ desktop, like the gentle ticking of a clock hand.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap-tap-tap-tap.

Until the sound of her tapping was clearly growing a little impatient...

Knock knock.

The door was suddenly knocked.

“Who is it?”

Celicia didn’t even lift her head as she asked.

Knock knock. Knock knock knock. Knock knock knock knock.

No one answered, but the knocking continued, and it was very rhythmic.

Like a wandering singer on the street playing a frivolous song—if Celicia didn’t respond, it would just keep going.

“Come in.”

No one knew how long it was before Celicia finally lifted her head. Her voice was still cold, but her fingers were no longer tapping on the desk.

Then the door opened, and what entered her sight was... a bouquet of flowers.

That bouquet was in extravagant bloom, a riot of colors—clearly many varieties of flowers carefully arranged together.

But Celicia found it oddly familiar.

“You’re going to use something you casually picked from the flowerbed downstairs to fob me off?” Celicia’s gaze turned even colder.

“How could you call it fobbing you off?”

Muen poked half his smiling face out from behind the flowers and said with utmost sincerity,

“These are all ones I carefully chose. Every single one is the prettiest, most spirited one in the flowerbed—just like my feelings for Your Majesty.”

“But in the end, you picked them from the flowerbed.”

Celicia laced her fingers together and said with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “Do you know the academy doesn’t allow people to pick the flowers from the flowerbeds at will? And you dare commit a violation of school rules right in front of me, the student council president. Go on, tell me—how should I punish you?”

“Student council president, are we really going to play that PL... ahem... that kind of small matter? Let’s forget the punishment.”

Muen coughed twice. Without making a sound, he had already closed in on Celicia’s desk. His upper body leaned across the long table as he stared at Celicia.

“Actually, besides the flowers, I also prepared another gift.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Celicia looked into Muen’s deep azure eyes—eyes that, if you weren’t careful, could make you sink right in—and asked with interest,

“I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

“Of course.”

Muen was very confident. He placed the bouquet before Celicia.

“Come on. Stare at the flowers.”

“Heh. Playing these tricks to keep me in suspense?”

Celicia let out a snort. She looked down on this kind of little trick, but her gaze still obediently fell on the bouquet.

“Keep your eyes on them, and then...”

Muen abruptly yanked the bouquet to the side, his movement sharp. Celicia’s gaze reflexively shifted to the side with it.

And then, in that instant, she suddenly felt that familiar presence draw close. Scorching heat—like flame—easily captured her lips.

Muen launched a sneak attack when she wasn’t prepared. A trace of smugness surfaced in his eyes. Celicia froze for a beat, then immediately bit down on the little thief who dared to ambush her, wrapping both arms around his waist, wanting to slowly seize back the initiative, and then impose an even harsher punishment.

Lips and tongues tangled fiercely. The struggle for control played out again and again within that tiny space, ** sounds echoing through the quiet, empty room.

They finally parted.

Muen licked his lips, where there was already the faint hint of a sweet, rusty taste, and smiled.

“How’s my gift?”

Celicia’s cheeks were gradually flushing, yet her chin tipped up, cold and proud.

“Average.”

“Why is it still average?”

Muen casually stuck the bouquet into the vase. With a twist of his body, he swung himself over the desk and leaned in close before Celicia.

Their foreheads touched.

“Since it’s all average, can I take that to mean it’s pretty good?”

“No.”

“Then what counts as good?”

“You guess.”

“That’s a difficult problem.”

One of Muen’s arms wrapped around Celicia’s slim waist that you could circle with one hand, while the other hand was already sliding over her smooth thigh.

Feeling that exquisite touch, Muen couldn’t help praising it in his heart... worthy of Her Majesty the Empress—even the quality of her black stockings looked a touch more noble.

“What were you doing just now?”

Muen breathed in Celicia’s sweet scent and asked with a casual smile.

“Nothing.”

Celicia smiled too. “I was just playing a game where I tap my fingers one thousand times, and if you still didn’t show up, I’d freeze you into an ice sculpture and put you on display for the entire school to admire tomorrow.”

“...That game is way too terrifying, isn’t it?”

Muen hurriedly caught Celicia’s small hand. “Just kidding, right?”

“You tell me.”

Celicia replied with a smiling hum. “Do you think I’m kidding?”

Muen shivered, and even his powerful body trembled with it. But he pressed even closer to Celicia, lightly rubbing against her smooth skin.

“Then since I made it in time, what reward do I get?”

“Reward? It seems the punishment still hasn’t started yet.”

“How about both? I like them all.”

Muen lifted her lightly, letting Celicia lean back against the high chair as he slowly pressed down with her. His fingers had already deftly hooked the ties of Celicia’s dress.

“Not here.”

Celicia’s brows drew together slightly, but she didn’t refuse with her body at all—if anything, she even lifted her thigh a little as if inviting him.

Muen chuckled. “What’s wrong with here? The chair’s so soft, and it’s so quiet.”

“What if someone comes...”

“You’re Her Majesty. Who would dare come bother you?”

Looking at Celicia’s gaze, gradually melting like rippling water, Muen’s heart burned hotter and hotter. At last he couldn’t bear that desire, lowered his head, and captured that sweetness again, about to taste her slowly...

Knock knock knock.

Suddenly, someone knocked.

A restrained voice, at the most ill-timed moment, pierced through the door and drilled into their ears.

“Celicia... no, Your Majesty, are you in there?”

The owner of that voice, Ariel, was outside the door, and she couldn’t hide her excitement as she called out,

“I have something I want to tell you. Can you let me come in?”