The air didn’t just tense.
It compressed.
Vivianne felt it instantly, her instincts screaming before her mind caught up. The magic pressure rolling off Evelina wasn’t aggressive, but it was heavy, like standing too close to a sleeping dragon.
"...Ah," Vivianne said dumbly.
That was all she managed before instinctively taking a step back.
Evelina didn’t move.
She simply stared.
Her crimson eyes slid from Vivianne... to the dagger launcher on my wrist... to the training scars etched into the courtyard stone... and finally, to me.
Slowly.
Painfully.
"...Explain," she said.
One word, no raised voice, no magical flare.
Far more dangerous than either.
"She’s my student," I replied calmly. "Training session."
Vivianne nodded a bit too fast. "Y-Yes! Just training! Physical conditioning, spell reaction drills, close-range adaptation—"
Evelina raised a hand.
Vivianne stopped talking immediately, like someone had pressed a mute button.
She had heard all about the gossip of her and Cael being together, but she chose not to believe it; there was no way the one and only Evelina herself would have chosen a lover.
But...
Now she was proven wrong, very wrong...
"...Student," Evelina repeated, tasting the word. "So you bring students to your estate now?"
"It was either this or have the academy gossip," I shrugged. "I had no other choice, to be honest."
Her eye twitched.
That... was not the right answer.
Vivianne swallowed hard. She could feel it now; this wasn’t just hostility directed at her.
It was possessiveness, ownership, something so fitting for Evelina, but at the same time not.
"You," Evelina said, finally looking back at Vivianne. "Name."
"V-Vivianne Crestwood!"
"Crestwood," Evelina echoed. "So you’re the council girl."
"...Yes, Lady D’Arclight."
Vivianne bowed, deep, proper, perfectly trained. Evelina was ranked higher than her; one wrong move, and her entire family will have to deal with the backlash of disrespecting a D’Arclight.
Evelina looked unimpressed.
"And you," Evelina continued, eyes narrowing, "decided it was acceptable to monopolize my servant’s time... sweat all over him... in his own estate?"
Vivianne’s face went red.
"I-I didn’t—!"
[Abyssal Spear]
"Begone."
With a click of her tongue, she unleashed a human-sized lance that tore through the air with an explosive shockwave, sending her hair streaming back from the force.
She was planning to take out Vivianne.
Here, and now.
"Wait...!"
[Profaned Gluttony]
I stepped between them, thrusting my palm forward as a huge mass of purple energy erupted from it, shaping itself into a gaping mouth that collided with the spear, trying to devour it.
"Y-You stopped it!?"
Evelina was taken aback; her hair started to float from the sheer magical pressure erupting from her very being, to the point that even the demonic energy within her was starting to leak out.
"How dare you!?"
[Profaned Fireball—crack—
"This is a misunderstanding!"
I yelled out, stopping her from casting another spell. I needed to defuse this situation and stop this misunderstanding.
But... something tells me this wasn’t just a misunderstanding.
She just didn’t want to share me with anyone else at all.
TAP!
[Profaned Step]
"H-Huh!?"
"I’ll handle things here."
I teleported Vivianne away from my estate and back into the academy to deal with Evelina alone. While I was definitely stronger, fighting her was definitely the last thing I wanted.
Hurting her was never an option for me.
I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
"You insolent...!" Evelina’s magical pressure immediately dissipated the moment Vivianne disappeared; she no longer had a reason to attack.
But... that didn’t mean I was completely out of trouble yet.
"I leave you alone for a few days," Evelina continued, stepping closer with each word, heels clicking against the stone, "and here you are bringing other girls to your estate!"
Her presence pressed down on me like gravity itself.
Not hostile anymore.
Worse.
Jealous.
"I didn’t bring her willingly," I replied carefully. "Progress would stall if we stayed in the academy."
"That doesn’t make it better."
"I only trained her."
"That’s also not better."
I sighed. This was going exactly how I feared.
"She’s a student. One of Kevin’s recommendations. Nothing more, and I would have refused if I could, but she asked for help from another student I owed, I couldn’t refuse."
Evelina stopped just an arm’s length away.
Close enough that I could see the faint glow of sealed demonic energy beneath her skin, pulsing slowly, like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to a human.
Her eyes searched my face.
Not for lies.
She already knew I wouldn’t lie to her, and even if I could, she could just easily touch me and dive straight into my mind for answers anyway.
"...Did she touch you?" she asked flatly.
"No."
"Did you allow her to?"
"No."
"Did you think about allowing her to?"
I blinked.
"...No?"
Her shoulders relaxed by the smallest margin.
Barely noticeable, but I felt it.
"Hmph." She turned away, folding her arms. "Then explain why she looked so proud standing next to you."
"...That’s your problem?"
She shot me a glare sharp enough to cut stone.
"That girl looked at you like you were something precious," Evelina snapped. "I don’t like that."
"You know I would never—"
"I know you would never..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose; even she was confused at her own emotions.
She had never felt such strange and powerful emotions well up inside her before, to a man no less, even her own family members don’t elicit this much reaction from her.
"...I belong to you," I answered without hesitation to cut the silence between us.
That did it.
The pressure vanished from her completely.
And Evelina froze.
Then her ears, very subtly, turned red.
"...Good," she muttered, looking away. "Never... and I mean never, interact with her again unless you ask permission from me."
I couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at my lips.
She was more possessive and prone to jealousy than I thought. You’d never expect such an ice queen like her to have a side like this.
But... It’s not like there are thousands of me out in the world; her wariness of someone else stealing me made sense.
Even if I know it would never happen.
"She’s gone, don’t worry," I added. "Back to the academy. I won’t train her here anymore."
That earned me a sideways glance.
"...You won’t?"
"No," I said honestly. "I didn’t think you’d like it; her training was already complete anyway."
She hesitated, but was also a bit irritated at my mention of her training being complete.
Then, quietly, she spoke.
"I don’t."
Silence settled between us, no longer heavy, just... charged.
And more importantly, she had just realized the commotion she had made in front of all my servants, who were watching from the sidelines.
"I can’t believe that just happened..."
Her face started to turn red, her emotions switching from one to another in a near instant, like a switch.
Then she glared at the servants who were watching, both those who were visible and those who thought they could hide their presence from her.
She didn’t even need to say anything; her presence alone was enough to shut them all up.
"I’ll make sure they don’t speak about this."
"As you should." She crossed her arms.