Chapter 24: The Contract and the Morning After

A moment later, the contract was complete.

Aeliana flipped the parchment around and showed Noah what was written on it.

The terms were simple. It basically said: “Noah must obey every order from Aeliana and never betray her. Violators will suffer eternal diarrhea.”

Noah nervously leaned in to look. When she saw the last few words, she froze for two seconds, lips moving as if she wanted to say something but stopped.

It was just a servitude clause, and already fairly merciful.

She signed her elegant name on the paper, then handed it to the ninja kneeling in dogeza before her.

“Uuu…”

Even though she was beyond unwilling, she still signed the master-servant contract that marked her shame.

The parchment gave off a soft pale gold light. Noah felt as if an invisible thread had burrowed from the pen tip into her body and lightly wrapped around her heart.

“I’ll contact you through the contract from now on. Go.”

Aeliana waved her hand, and the two parted ways.

Noah climbed up from the ground, rubbed her numb knees, and watched Aeliana’s back disappear into the morning light at the warehouse entrance.

“…Eternal diarrhea?” she repeated quietly, tilting her head. The expression on her face was hard to describe.

It was about seven in the morning. Less than two hours remained until the first class.

Morning light had fully spread, and the town streets were starting to come alive.

The bakery owner was opening the shop. A few stray cats crouched on the wall licking their paws. In the distance came the sound of carriage wheels rolling over the stone road.

“Miss, buy a loaf of bread for breakfast!”

She didn’t pay attention to the street vendor’s calls.

Having been with Leon for so long, if she couldn’t get back in time, her identity as Aeliana would probably be exposed.

Besides, missing the first class of the term would be too suspicious.

After parting with Noah, she headed straight for the academy.

‘Leon and Stella should be safe by now.’

No one had been hurt, but the other side’s intentions were still unclear.

At first she thought a blasphemer had infiltrated the academy and taken Stella, but now it seemed the two incidents were probably unrelated.

And the fact that the other party could avoid the academy’s protective barrier to enter was truly puzzling.

Maybe that person was some teacher or student inside the academy.

With no clues or leads, she could only wait for the other side to slip up again.

She shook her head and pushed the tangled thoughts aside for now. Her steps quickened. Every so often she used a blink spell to keep her route straight back to the dorm.

The snow inside the academy was still thick. Would classes be canceled in this situation…?

The snow from last night had been cleared by students and teachers along several passable paths. Ice crystals hung from the branches, glittering in the morning light.

After being up all night, Aeliana was close to her limit. She wanted nothing more than to sleep properly in her dorm.

The dorm area soon came into view. The neat rows of buildings were covered in white snow. Anyone walking across it would surely leave dark holes of footprints.

She canceled her transformation. The moment the purple glow dispersed, her height changed, her shoulders widened, and her bones made faint clicking sounds.

He stepped onto the edge of the windowsill, swung one leg into the room first, then landed quietly. His boots made almost no sound on the wooden floor.

Seeing that his door was still shut, he let out a breath of relief.

Mia probably hadn’t noticed that he’d been gone from the dorm all night.

“Mm! Master! You’re back…”

When Vero saw Aelian return, she cried out happily.

The cry scared Aelian badly. He hurried over and covered Vero’s mouth.

“You little radish, keep it down!”

Vero in his hands stopped making noise, but she looked terribly aggrieved.

After the ice-seal domain was lifted, Vero returned to normal. Now she looked lively and energetic.

“Master… Vero slept for so long, and had such an interesting dream! Vero dreamed of lots of nymphs like Vero…”

The radish root clung to Aelian’s shoulder and chattered quietly in his ear.

Her voice was soft and slurred from just waking. When she got excited, she patted his shoulder lightly with a small root tendril.

The content was mostly about her bizarre dream, something about gathering around a big tree, many companions, and so on. He listened to it all like a story, though he wasn’t sure how much he’d remember.

Aelian changed out of his Lolita dress and took a quick shower in the bathroom. Just as he was about to get into bed for a short nap, there was a knock at the door.

He answered first, then put on his uniform before opening the door.

“Morning, Mia.”

Even though his eyes were ringed black like a panda’s, he still had to act energetic.

Such was the dedication and persistence of a veteran actor.

Aelian had no idea that the girl in front of him had already discovered he wasn’t in the dorm last night.

Mia replied with a subtle expression and tone:

“Morning, Aelian. How did you rest last night?”

She tilted her head, her pale gold eyes narrowing slightly, the curve of her lips just right.

He hadn’t rested well at all… or rather, he hadn’t rested at all.

“Mm-hm… I slept very comfortably.”

He said that, but he didn’t dare raise his head to look the beautiful girl in the eye.

This was what a guilty conscience looked like.

Mia occasionally stole glances behind Aelian. The bedding was still neat, with no sign of having been turned over.

“Want to get breakfast together? Class is about to start.”

The girl extended the invitation to Aelian.

‘Damn… I planned to sleep until ten minutes before class, but I can’t turn down an invitation from a beautiful girl!’

“Sure! Let’s go.”

Aelian said, pretending to be relaxed.

The two left together. The breakfast shop was near the teaching building.

The cold morning wind hit him in the face, making him shiver. Mia walked beside him, her long golden hair giving off a soft sheen in the morning light. His silver hair was already tied up, unlike Mia’s loose long hair.

Or rather, male nobles in this world liked to grow their hair long and tie it back. It showed they had the leisure and ease to tend long hair every day.

Commoners mostly wore their hair short, buzz-cut short. Even women rarely had long hair. First, it was inconvenient to manage. Second, it got in the way during work.

At this hour, the breakfast shop was packed. They had even set up a few tables outside in the cold wind.

Probably students and teachers who had early classes.

Breakfast here was completely different from his past life. There were no fried dough sticks, sesame flatbreads, steamed buns, spicy soup, wontons, or thin noodle soup.

He chewed his honey bread and missed the breakfasts from his past life.

Maybe he should put some thought into copying the foods from his past life…

If he could open a breakfast shop in the academy, he’d make Noah the poster girl, pay her a wage with zero profit share, and keep all the profits himself.

The scene formed in his head: that idiot ninja in a white apron standing behind the steamer, her purple ponytail wrapped in a headscarf, hurriedly packing buns for classmates, a lost expression on her face that said, “Why am I here?”

He looked again at the tasteless bread in his hand.

Selling breakfast items like buns and soy milk should earn quite a bit.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible the idea seemed.

After eating, the two headed for the teaching building.

A muddy path had been trampled through the snow. The sun had fully risen, glaring white off the snow. Sand had been spread on the steps in front of the teaching building to prevent slipping.

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