Greg, walking ahead, failed to notice the girl's sudden dejection or the complicated thoughts running through her mind. He simply continued, his tone quite matter-of-fact:
"As you know, my reputation at the Academy is... well, pretty terrible. Infamous, you could say. If someone saw us together, whatever we were doing, it could invite unnecessary speculation and gossip. That might reflect badly on you girls. So it's always better to keep a low profile and stay out of sight."
"!!!"
Sylvia stopped dead in her tracks, if only for a brief instant.
She raised her head and stared blankly at Greg's back in the dim light.
Moonlight filtered through the leaves, scattering dappled patches of light over his shoulders.
A rush of warmth, mingling surprise, gratitude, and some indescribable flutter of emotion, surged into her cheeks. Her fair skin instantly flushed a vivid red, contrasting sharply with the smooth pink hair cascading down her back.
The things that had happened earlier had already changed Sylvia's opinion of Greg. She thought he might not be as awful as the rumors claimed, and might even be a decent upperclassman.
But she had never imagined that Greg was far more... thoughtful, far kinder, even... gentler than she had supposed.
He was doing something right, even risky-investigating the abnormalities in the Dungeon and rescuing students who might be trapped. Yet he made no show of it at all. Instead, he took the initiative to consider their reputations, preferring to inconvenience himself rather than expose them to possible gossip.
"How could someone be... this good..."
Sylvia whispered those words in her heart, feeling as though something had gently bumped against it and inexplicably thrown its rhythm off by a beat.
An unfamiliar emotion quietly took root in her heart and began to spread.
While Sylvia was still immersed in that feeling, her mind somewhat blank, Greg stopped without warning. At the same time, he swiftly turned, caught her wrist, and gently but firmly pulled her into the shadow of a dense clump of ornamental shrubs beside them.
"G-Greg!?"
Caught completely off guard, Sylvia gave a low cry, but he had already drawn her into a dim corner screened by branches and leaves.
The distance between them suddenly vanished. She could almost feel the warmth coming from his body, mingled with the scent of grass and dust. When she looked up, her gaze met his amber eyes, which seemed especially deep in the darkness.
With him so close, she instantly held her breath. Her cheeks grew hotter, and for a moment she could not even form a complete sentence.
"Quiet. There are people on the path ahead."
Greg explained in a hushed voice, "We'll wait for them to pass, or go around. Let's try not to be seen."
Sylvia cautiously followed his gaze.
Sure enough, several girls were lingering at a junction on the main path leading to the Dungeon entrance. They seemed to be talking, their eyes occasionally sweeping their surroundings as though searching for something or someone.
Greg's heart lurched at the sight, and he was grateful he had been alert enough.
Sylvia, meanwhile, fully understood his strategy of keeping a low profile.
So she raised no objections.
Using the night and the Academy's landscaping as cover, the two carefully avoided the girls who seemed to be searching for something. Like two shadows melting into the darkness, they took a winding route toward the Dungeon entrance.
At first, Sylvia felt an instinctive discomfort and slight resistance to all this sneaking around.
She had always been a well-behaved child who followed the rules, as well as a devout saintess candidate of the Church of Light. Never mind wandering around at night or hiding-she had hardly ever broken even the most minor school rule.
But soon, a strange feeling unlike anything she had ever known quietly seized her.
As she and Greg pressed against a cold wall, holding their breath and listening intently, the footsteps and chatter of several girls nearby passed them and gradually faded into the distance.
Her heart pounded in her chest, carrying a faint tremor of nervousness, but above all, a thrilling sense of excitement.
It was like an adventure.
Under the Academy's night sky, while everyone else followed their usual routines, she was secretly doing something rather against the rules in corners no one could see.
Especially when she thought that those people might discover her doing something "bad," she no longer felt resistant. Instead, the possibility took on a different hue, one that made her cheeks grow slightly warm.
She seemed to have... discovered just a little of the fun of being a "bad girl."
Secretly doing something wrong within sight of other people...
For some reason, that feeling began to excite her.
Walking ahead of her, terrified of being caught by those girls and landing in even greater trouble, Greg had no idea that tonight's excursion seemed to have quietly cracked open a little door to some unfamiliar realm within the devout, obedient heart of the seemingly pure and innocent pink-haired saintess candidate behind him.
A sudden incident had thrown the girls' dormitory building into an uproar. Voices, footsteps, and occasional startled cries rose and mingled in the corridors.
Yet amid all that commotion, one dormitory room remained utterly silent.
Moonlight passed through sheer curtains, casting a cool, gentle glow inside.
Unlike other girls' rooms, which were commonly crowded with personal decorations, books, and little trinkets, this room was tidy in a way that betrayed no individuality.
The furniture consisted of the most basic standard furnishings, arranged with meticulous precision. Apart from the necessary stationery and a desk lamp, the desktop was bare.
The bed was perfectly smooth, without a single wrinkle, as though no one ever used it.
The entire space was clean and bright, yet exceptionally empty and restrained, lacking the warm, lived-in feeling of a girl's room.
A blonde girl sat quietly at the desk.
Her long hair, like flowing molten gold, gleamed faintly beneath the mingled light of the moon and desk lamp, meticulously gathered behind her head.
Her face was as exquisite as a portrait painstakingly crafted by a master. Her skin was fair, and every line of her features was exactly right, combining into a flawless beauty.
With her eyelids slightly lowered, she focused her blue eyes on the documents spread before her. The quill in her hand moved smoothly across the page. Her expression was intent and serene, as though the commotion outside had been shut away in another world.
"Knock, knock."
A soft knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," the girl said, her voice calm and even, without looking up.
The door opened silently. A woman in a neat maid's uniform, with tidy, short black hair, respectfully entered the room. She stopped a few steps from the desk and bowed slightly.
"What happened outside?" The blonde girl kept writing, as though merely asking in passing.
"My lady."
The maid's voice was steady and clear. "It appears a male intruder slipped into the girls' dormitory area. He escaped, however. The dormitory supervisor and the teachers on patrol are currently organizing a search."
"A male... intruded here?"
A trace of genuine confusion passed distinctly through the girl's blue eyes, as though she could not understand the logic behind such an act at all.
To her, sneaking into the Academy's heavily guarded girls' dormitory meant taking an enormous risk, yet she could see no corresponding benefit...
Could he have intended to steal something?
She soon shook her head gently, clearly unwilling to waste her attention on something so incomprehensible and insignificant.
Her gaze returned to the documents, and her tone resumed its matter-of-fact calm. "How are things progressing over there?"
The maid lowered her head a little farther. Her voice remained steady, but carried a barely perceptible gravity. "All contact with them has been lost... in the deeper reaches of the first floor."
"Tap."
A faint sound rang out.
The nib of the quill that had been moving so smoothly in the girl's hand stopped abruptly against the paper, leaving a tiny dot of ink.
Before you continue