Chapter 259: Klein’s Punishment

Lia stood in the dining room, watching Klein’s back disappear around the bend of the staircase, feeling the air around her grow thick and heavy.

He rarely spoke in that tone.

Lia silently followed him.

The stairs of the mage tower spiraled upwards, and her steps made no sound.

Without Adèle’s chattering, the tower was frighteningly quiet.

The quieter it was, the louder the drumbeat in her heart became.

The door to Klein’s study was not closed.

He stood with his back to the doorway, in front of the massive black oak desk, his figure stretched long by the light cast from the magic lamps.

Lia stopped at the doorway, not entering immediately.

“Come in,” Klein’s voice came through clearly.

Lia steeled herself and walked in, closing the door behind her.

She saw a parchment scroll lying on the desk next to Klein’s hand.

The familiar style was none other than Adèle’s graduation thesis.

‘It’s over.’

Lia’s heart plummeted, and her last shred of hope was extinguished.

He really was here to call her to account.

Klein turned around, his blue eyes appearing exceptionally deep under the lamplight.

He looked at her quietly, and his scrutinizing gaze made her feel as if she had been stripped bare, all her secrets laid out for him to see.

“I…” Lia had just started to speak, trying to explain something.

“You helped her.”

Klein stated it directly.

“No!” Lia retorted almost subconsciously, her voice a little higher than usual. “This is the result of Senior Adèle’s own hard work! She’s very talented!”

The moment she said it, she regretted it.

The words had come out too fast, too rushed, reeking of a clumsy attempt to cover things up.

She guiltily averted her gaze, no longer daring to meet Klein’s eyes.

Klein seemed entirely unsurprised by her reaction.

He picked up the thesis from the table and slowly opened it.

“Is that so?” his tone was even. “Then, Miss Farrien, why don’t you explain this.”

His long, slender finger tapped on a certain page of the thesis.

“Based on orbital hybridization theory, explaining the magic-resistant properties of the new alloy.”

Klein enunciated each word clearly, then raised his eyes, his sharp gaze locking onto Lia. “Do you think this line of thought is something Adèle, who spends all her time engrossed in studying metal alloy ratios, could come up with?”

Lia’s breath caught in her throat.

Orbital hybridization theory… that was a concept she had casually mentioned to help Adèle understand atomic bonding.

She never thought Adèle would write it directly into her thesis!

‘That traitor!’

“Maybe… maybe she read it in some ancient text?” Lia started spouting nonsense, even she herself found the excuse pale and ridiculous.

“An ancient text?” The corner of Klein’s mouth seemed to curve for a moment, but it was too fast to be certain. “Which ancient text? Does it also happen to mention ‘electron transition’ and ‘atomic resonance’?”

He flipped to another page, pointing to two other terms written there.

Lia was left completely speechless.

These were not terms Adèle, who focused solely on the properties of elements, would have thought of.

Klein watched her face turn from white to red, and then from red back to white, the amusement in the depths of his eyes growing stronger.

He seemed to be enjoying her predicament, like a cat that, having caught a mouse, doesn’t eat it right away but savors its helpless struggle.

His gaze made Lia’s scalp tingle, and she decided she might as well throw caution to the wind.

“Yes, I taught her a method for thinking about problems,” she admitted, her neck stiff. “But she conducted the experiments for this thesis herself, and she collected the data herself! I only provided the line of thought, that doesn’t count as cheating!”

“Oh?” Klein raised an eyebrow. “So, you think you’re quite justified?”

“I…”

“As her mentor, the graduation standard I set was to discover an unprecedented phenomenon or propose a brand-new theory,” Klein said slowly. “The theoretical framework for Adèle’s thesis was provided by you. Tell me, is that not breaking the rules?”

Lia bit her lip, unable to retort.

From Klein’s perspective, this was indeed a violation of the rules he had set.

She hung her head like a criminal awaiting sentencing, already bracing for the worst possible outcome.

A long silence fell in the study.

Just as Lia felt her neck was about to stiffen completely, Klein finally spoke again.

“Since you broke the rules, you must accept the punishment.”

Lia closed her eyes in resignation.

However, the scolding she expected never came. She only heard a faint magical fluctuation.

She opened her eyes in confusion, only to see Klein take something out of his spatial ring.

A black, velvet box.

That box… looked a little familiar.

Lia froze.

As she watched, Klein opened the box.

Lying quietly inside was a black evening gown.

The silk-like dark shadow gauze flowed with a deep luster under the light. Its backless design and fishtail hem exuded an ultimate sexiness and magnificence.

It was the “Queen of the Night.”

Lia’s brain instantly shut down.

What was going on? Was this a carrot after the stick? No, that didn’t feel right. This whole situation felt wrong.

“As punishment for you breaking the rules and attempting to argue your way out of it…”

Klein pushed the box in front of her, his voice laced with a suppressed amusement that sounded low and dangerous.

“For the next few days, inside the tower, you can only wear this.”

Lia felt all the blood in her body rush to her head.

Her cheeks instantly turned a shade of crimson that could rival a cooked shrimp.

She snapped her head up, staring at Klein in disbelief.

Did… did he know what he was saying?!

Making her walk around the mage tower wearing this evening gown that was practically equivalent to wearing nothing? What kind of punishment was this!

This was clearly… clearly…

L-Lia was a mixture of embarrassed and angry, and for a moment, she couldn’t find the words to describe this absurd behavior.

Klein leaned casually against the desk, his arms crossed, looking down at her.

His eyes were full of taunting and an unyielding meaning, as if to say: You have no choice.

“You’re… shameless!” Lia managed to squeeze out two words through gritted teeth after a long pause.

“You can refuse,” Klein said slowly. “In that case, we can re-discuss Adèle’s graduation eligibility, as well as the matter of your, an ‘Honorary Professor’s,’ academic integrity.”

A blatant threat!

Lia trembled with anger.

She glared at him, and he gazed back at her.

After a staring contest that lasted a full thirty seconds, Lia was defeated.

She snatched the black velvet box and held it tightly in her arms, as if it were a hot potato.

“You just wait!” she spat out a completely non-threatening threat, then turned and fled.

She didn’t dare to look at Klein for even a second longer as she bolted out of the study at top speed, slamming the door heavily behind her.

“Bang!”

The loud slam of the door echoed in the quiet tower.

In the study, Klein looked at the closed door, the serious expression on his face finally crumbling.

First, the corners of his mouth turned up uncontrollably, and finally, he couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a low, pleased laugh.

The laughter echoed in the empty study, filled with a sense of triumph.

He had waited for this day for a very long time.

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