Chapter 2573: Chapter 794: Prey and Hunter

Zheng Qing watched Jiang Yu’s figure disappear at the end of the dining table, and sighed softly.

Then he turned around.

Immediately, he was startled.

What appeared before his eyes were elaborate hats, close at hand.

The witches wore tilted hats adorned with flowers, constantly repeating the process of ’sprouting-budding-blooming’ in the dim light. On the brim of some hats stood orioles, larks, or thrushes, stretching their necks and singing melodious tunes.

"Hi~!"

"Good evening, Zheng Qing... or do you prefer being called Teacher?"

Two slightly unfamiliar witches appeared at his left and right, greeting him almost simultaneously. The witch on the left had slightly darker skin, with hair between golden and white, her gaze intense; the witch on the right had sleek black hair, looking brave and strong, yet her words carried a hint of teasing.

"Oh... hello, hello to you both... good evening."

Zheng Qing’s gaze slid over six or seven witches from left to right, surprised they were greeting him, while trying hard to control his gaze from falling on impolite places: "Just call me Zheng Qing, no need to call me Teacher."

Then he looked uneasily in the direction Jiang Yu had disappeared, silently hoping she would come back soon.

"Good evening, Vivian."

The black-haired witch seemed oblivious to the warlock’s awkwardness and had no intention of introducing herself, directly greeting the pink-robed witch on Zheng Qing’s other side.

Zheng Qing noticed Vivian’s face seemed as if she had eaten something unpleasant.

"Good evening, Betsey."

Having an understanding of the character facing her, the pink-robed witch barely squeezed out a smile, raised her goblet of fruit wine, her gaze landed on the red-haired witch next to Betsey, slightly raising her eyebrows: "Good evening, Jessica... glad to see you."

"Me, me too, Vivian..." Feeling the warlock’s gaze fall on her, the red-haired witch’s cheeks instantly turned as red as her hair, stammering, looking as if she might faint at any moment.

Which left Zheng Qing bewildered.

"Jessica is not very good at socializing."

The other slightly darker-skinned witch read the room, timely chiming in, and handed a glass of light red fruit wine to Zheng Qing: "...Try this, cherry wine produced at Louise’s estate, tastes really good."

She pointed to the slightly shorter witch beside her.

"Louise Cody, nice to meet you." The short witch nervously clinked glasses with Zheng Qing, her skin pale, pupils deep green, yet her conversation was natural, giving a generous impression.

She was the only one among them to proactively introduce her name.

Vivian, meanwhile, stared at the cherry wine in Zheng Qing’s hand, blinked a few times, and glanced at the unconcerned Balash — well enough, this little wretch was quite adept at exploiting opportunities!

"Thank you."

Zheng Qing politely clinked glasses with the darker-skinned witch, taking a sip: "It does taste very good... are you also a student at the First University?"

She seemed unfamiliar to him.

"This is Balash Sasan, a third-year student at Atlas Academy, currently serving as the director of the campus newspaper’s ethics review committee." Vivian leaned closer to Zheng Qing, seemingly trying to occupy the void left by Jiang Yu’s departure, while teasing: "...given your current situation, it seems quite necessary to get along well with her."

Without missing a beat, Zheng Qing turned, lightly clinking his glass with the pink-robed witch before immediately turning back.

"Oh? Balash Sasan... I know you!"

He emphasized in a slightly exaggerated tone, raising his glass to Balash: "Xin Fat Man... I mean, Sinn Bana Schmidt-Bayer, do you know him? He mentioned you, during the freshman hunting party, you had loaned him a flying carpet which was a great help to us. I always thought..."

Zheng Qing’s voice abruptly stopped.

Because he just remembered, he had always thought Balash was a warlock. But such conjecture was certainly inappropriate to voice now.

"Always thought what?"

Betsey stepped forward, hooking Vivian’s arm, elegantly yet firmly pulling her away from Zheng Qing, smilingly chiming in: "Thought Sasan and Xin were boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Balash squinted slightly.

Zheng Qing awkwardly smiled, not bothering to refute.

Balash lifted her hand, gently touching the thrush singing on her hat brim, looking relaxed: "No need to be so formal, I have a lot of dealings with Xin, and usually call him Xin Fat Man. You can call me Sister Sasan... besides, as far as I know, Xin Fat Man is currently dating Linda Barnes... are you feeling a bit cold? Coincidentally, I’ve prepared a shawl."

Before she finished speaking, a swath of orange gauze darted out from her sleeve, gently draping over Betsey Black’s shoulders, sliding like a snake past her neck, concealing her voluminous bosom.

While Balash spoke, Betsey Black standing slightly to the front side of Zheng Qing naturally adjusted her neckline’s angle, drawing frequent side glances from the sole warlock present.

The appearance of the gauze made Zheng Qing cough lightly out of embarrassment.

"Do you like the ball tonight?"

Louise Cody did not let the awkward atmosphere linger, deftly changing the topic, half tilting her head to look at Zheng Qing — compared to other dominant competitors, she had chosen a completely different path. As a witch not of high status, her biggest advantage was being able to be humble, not clumsily imitating the demeanor of those high-born witches, but showing her own docile posture as much as possible.

Many warlocks who had long interacted with noble witches liked this temperament.

Balash watched her dance partner’s distinctly coy expression, the smile on her face lingering, though her gaze had cooled slightly when looking at Louise.

"Like it, very much."

Zheng Qing insincerely raised his glass of fruit wine, feeling the muscles in his face become sore from the strained smile, longing only to escape this suffocating place soon.

"I heard you attended last Christmas’s Under the Moon ball?"

The witch standing with Vivian took up the conversation smoothly, arms crossed in front of her chest as if in prayer, her face filled with admiration: "...Then you must be a skilled dancer, right?"

Louise, feeling annoyed, glared at Anna Winter, who was of similar stature to herself — the prelude she had laid down was taken over by someone else, nothing more vexing could happen.

But reality is like this.

Amongst a group of sharp-witted, highly skilled witches, being slightly slow on tempo meant losing the initiative.

Zheng Qing ultimately remained somewhat clear-headed.

"I’m really sorry," he nodded politely yet regrettably, his face full of remorse: "Actually, I’m not very good at dancing... at balls, it’s always someone else leading me."