I Kidnapped the Hero's Women-Chapter 268: Opening (2)

"Thud."

Count Vermont placed his large hand on Yuri's head, slowly starting to stroke it.

The students’ gazes were focused entirely on Aslan's ring finger.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

To be exact, they were fixated on the beautiful ring that adorned his ring finger.

"That...?"

They then looked back at the ring on Yuri’s finger, and once again at the Count’s ring.

The students’ eyes grew wider as they alternated between the two rings.

No way...

No matter how many times I looked, it was the same ring.

So, Yuri’s benefactor and fiancé is Count Vermont...?

"Ah!? Yuri's fiancé is actually Vermont...! Mmph!?"

"What is this kid saying? Haha. Sorry, Count, looks like this one is a bit out of their mind after the start of the semester."

Aslan pressed his finger to his lips in silence, and the students quickly clasped their mouths shut in surprise.

He had kept the fact that he was Yuri’s fiancé a secret from her, huh...

What would happen if one were to blurt out Count Vermont’s secret?

Just imagining it sent a shiver down my spine.

The students swore silently to themselves that they would take this newfound information to their graves.

"Then, should we step out, Yuri...?"

"Where are you all going suddenly?"

"Engaged... Ah, no, I meant, have a good time with the Count..."

"..."

The students, slowly backing away, eventually vanished, seemingly running off.

Yuri, left alone with Aslan, turned around with an annoyed expression.

Aslan forced a smile, hurriedly hiding the hand with the ring behind his back.

"Did you come wearing that ring?"

"What do you mean, a ring?"

"The engagement ring. Who wears an engagement ring casually, if it's not for showing it off? Take it off! Quickly!"

"You too, aren’t you wearing a ring?"

"Ugh...!"

With a rustling sound, Yuri quickly hid her hand inside her sleeve, her face turning bright red.

"This... this is... I forgot to take it off!"

"I see. I forgot to take it off too. I’ll probably keep forgetting from now on."

"Ugh...!"

Yuri gritted her teeth as she looked up at Aslan’s shameless face.

I knew it! She made the engagement ring small and light so she could wear it all the time!

It was clear she wanted to show off the fact that she was engaged to everyone.

But if I pointed that out, it would be like spitting in my own face for wearing the ring.

Yuri had no choice but to keep quiet.

"To think I’ve fallen for such a shameless person..."

"Do you have a problem with that? It's still just an engagement, so if you want, we can break it off anytime, no strings attached."

"How could we break off an engagement after receiving the ring?"

"There’s nothing stopping us. I won’t demand anything in return. So if you really hate me, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’ll let you go without any regrets, because I love you even if you hate me."

"Ugh..."

If she didn’t choose to break the engagement, it would basically be like confessing "I really like you and want to marry you," twice.

"So, what’s your choice?"

"Ugh... I... I can’t break the engagement..."

"I was waiting for that answer."

I never expected he’d be so persistent when teasing her after proposing.

Yuri’s face turned bright red, and she couldn’t even respond, her lips trembling when Aslan approached her quickly.

"Ah!?"

Aslan stepped closer to Yuri, his hand brushing over her shoulder before wrapping around her back.

Now? Here? Really!?

Yuri’s pupils started to shake uncontrollably.

"Now, you’re thinking, huh? It was easy to predict, though."

"Ah!?"

At that moment, Aslan pulled out a recorder from Yuri's bag.

Realizing what had happened, Yuri quickly grabbed the recorder back, but it was already useless, shattered by dark magic.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

All the audio recordings of Aslan confessing that he was "the dark man" had been deleted.

"Follow me. Since Charlotte’s here, let’s have a meal together in the student cafeteria."

"Ugh... okay..."

Yuri, dragging her feet, followed Aslan.

Watching this, Yulia thought to herself:

When I grow up, I shouldn’t become someone like that...

"So, how have things been recently?"

"It’s been really tough... My hair’s all falling out... My head is constantly throbbing, and I get random headaches..."

"Ah, I wasn’t really asking about that. I meant how are the kids doing at the academy?"

"..."

Aslan interrupted the dean coldly, and the dean gave him a reluctant look.

"Didn’t the kids tell you? Oh, I see, they must be at that age where they refuse to talk and grow distant, huh?"

"No, that's not it. I’ve heard they’re doing well, but I wanted to hear it directly from a third party."

"..."

Although Aslan had heard all sorts of things from Charlotte and Yuri — about what happened in the academy, how the lessons were going, and how the tests went — he still wanted to hear from the victim’s perspective, like someone {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} who enjoys hearing both praise and insults after a brilliant performance in a game.

The dean was visibly nervous, knowing Aslan could read him clearly.

"Yuri is still acing all her subjects. I thought she’d take it easy this year with fewer classes, but no, she’s still pushing herself."

"Hmm. And Charlotte?"

"Charlotte... Honestly, I don’t know. Even the spiritology professors can’t figure her out. She challenges every existing theory, doing things that spirits would hate, but strangely enough, they follow her around. It’s a mystery..."

It seemed that Charlotte was training spirits the same way one would train animals, using a Sparta-like approach.

According to spiritology, one would usually need to put in a lot of effort to gain the spirits' favor, but Charlotte was dominating them through force, a spectacle no one had ever seen before.

It was clear Charlotte was opening up new horizons in spiritology.

I couldn’t help but feel satisfied that she was contributing to the advancement of academia.

"As for Yuri... She’s teaching a class in dark magic. I thought it was a joke, but when I went to check, she really was teaching. The professor, frustrated from being corrected by Yuri so many times, shouted for her to teach, and she’s been running the class for two weeks now. At this rate, we might have to pay her a salary."

That wasn’t a surprise.

The field of dark magic was still under active research, with so much unknown.

The department had been hastily opened, so of course, the professor would lack expertise.

But if they accepted Yuri’s help, the curriculum would improve quickly.

Yuri didn’t stop there, though; as a research assistant, she was contributing to the imperial academy’s dark magic research.

Wait, was she a new student or a professor? Aslan started to get confused.

"Hmm. Alright. I see you’ve been working hard."

"By the way... I heard Yuri is engaged to her benefactor. Is that true?"

"Yes, it’s true."

"Well, that could expose your identity. Please be careful, Count."

"Oh, my identity was discovered a long time ago, so you don’t have to worry."

"...Yes?"

Aslan casually waved his ring-wearing hand.

The dean stood frozen, stunned.

"What? It’s been discovered already?"

"But Yuri’s still exchanging letters with the dark man... If her identity’s already out, why is she still corresponding with him?"

"I see... understood."

There were too many things that didn’t make sense.

But asking more questions would only lead to even more confusing answers, so the dean decided to let it go.

It was probably just some strange power struggle between Count Vermont and Yuri...

"Hmm...?"

Meanwhile, as Aslan left the dean’s office, he noticed a commotion outside.

Imperial palace officials were busy posting something on the bulletin board, and a crowd had gathered, murmuring.

"Sylvia, what’s going on?"

"Yes, I just checked. It’s an official notice about the Emperor’s coronation."

"Coronation? Why suddenly a coronation?"

"The Emperor wasn’t an adult when the succession took place, so the real power was immediately in their hands, but the coronation will be held now that they’ve reached adulthood."

"Ah. So, the Empress is an adult now... wait, what?"

After hearing Sylvia’s explanation, Aslan’s expression froze.

The Empress was only just becoming an adult?

Did that mean she wasn’t an adult before...?

Cold sweat began to pour down Aslan’s forehead.