Reincarnated as the Weakest Shadow Queen in the Academy-Chapter 35: Confession (2)

Summer pursed her lips, the sandwich sauce glimmering as it smeared across the surface.

Then, she glared at the collapsed documents. No dents, no flashes, not even a move in the air.

But Ciel watched keenly as the dragon’s eyes remained unmoving. She clearly seemed conflicted.

With a big munch, Ciel hummed as her mouth was stuffed full of fresh veggies and bread.

The pause stretched. But eventually, Summer’s arm stretched.

"<Dissipate>."

A flame reached the scattered papers, yet never burned the pages, except snuffing out the orb inside.

It then flickered out with a wave. Summer then turned to Ciel with a serious look.

"It would seem I’m hypocritical for ignoring you." Summer then sighed. "My apologies."

Ciel froze, then shook her head.

The one who peeked just now, even if she couldn’t know how, must be one of Summer’s trusted staff, whom even Summer hesitated to cut ties with.

Recalling her casual banter with Melisra, Ciel frowned a little.

It displeased her somehow. That Summer’s kindness extended to others.

Shaking off the thought, Ciel asked.

"Was there a self-evolutionary skill that allowed one’s upgrade over time?"

The dragon frowned. Yet despite being confused at Ciel’s sudden inquiry, she cupped her chin, pondering.

The serious look, from the principal herself, was surprisingly cute in Ciel’s eyes.

"There is," Summer answered. "Innate skills, often born with or trained into existence, that boosted one’s talents."

"And," Ciel smirked confidently. "What about one that allowed one to control and accelerate one’s growth?"

Summer’s chewing lips twisted, then she gulped. "Even the versatile faes never reached that far. I failed to recall an example."

"Well..." Ciel’s tone trailed off teasingly. "I’m talking as if one could learn skills on the fly, or receive rewards for doing certain accomplishments."

Ciel held up her arm. With a move of her mind-

[ Reward, Rare Item Box x1, collected. ]

A dull white square-like object, with its top surface marked with a letter ’R’, flashed into existence on her palm.

She chuckled as Summer’s eyes widened visibly.

"See?" Her palm stretched to Summer. "Don’t you think this is a wonderfully...eerie ability?"

The dragon found no words, her confidence conceding for the first time in years.

Teleport skill. Inventory skill. Perhaps a warped combination of techniques. Summer’s mind made assumptions, then dug deeper to explore every possibility.

But a product of trust, formed between Summer and Ciel, had incurred another conclusion.

That she shouldn’t overthink. That she should listen more to Ciel. That she was willing to believe this was an ’unknown’, compared to her almost millennia of experiences.

As a result, Summer nodded. "Tell me more details."

And for a moment, Ciel’s eyes found the need to pause, and just admired the trust in Summer’s expression.

A smile bloomed at her lips as she explained, not realising how far she had gone from her former self.

Ciel confessed to almost everything. Omitting the details of her monstrous reincarnation and millennia of slaughters, Ciel told of the System’s transcendental feats.

As the sandwiches were reduced into crumbs on their fingers and lips, Summer eventually let out a gasp.

"A panel that made Shadebeast a human, granting a choice to choose a race, skill, and even rewards..." The principal muttered. "Utterly unbelievable, though..."

She eyed Ciel, who tilted her head innocently.

Summer’s arms folded to her chest. "So are you claiming to keep your form human, you have to do what this...System asked you to?"

The tiny queen blinked, her hands clutching the block tighter. "Quite the contrary. The System never forces me with any consequences, though it did claim itself as the ’Queen’s Bane System’."

"Consequence, is it?" Summer’s frown grew deeper. "Indeed. It proves lacking if you’re willing to divulge it, to me of all people."

Ciel hung her head as Summer interrogated. Was it too early after all?

The spellbind at her wrist pulsed with her drumming heartbeat, unsure if she had made the right choice.

She tried to ask. "I didn’t mean to anger you."

Summer let out a deep huff. "I’m not angry, no."

The Principal then closed in on Ciel, her student, her enemy, and her source of irritation.

Their faces were inches apart.

Ciel could make out Summer’s every feature. Long eyelashes, a sharp nose, and even lips full of bread crumbs.

She jolted as a heat blew across her cheek. A second later, only then did her mind register it as the dragon’s hot breath.

"Ciel." Summer remained stern amidst the tension. "I’m the principal of the Shadowhunter Academy. I hunt shadebeasts, and with your confession? That made you only more threatening, not trustworthy."

Ciel only mouthed out a simple retort, knowing Summer’s implication.

"You wouldn’t kill me."

Summer scoffed. "Why?"

"I..." Ciel’s voice trailed off.

Then, her small hand cradled the dragon’s shoulders, nudging it backward to draw distance.

Her heaving chest, for a moment, finally found the space it needed to breathe.

She continued. "Because I simply felt you wouldn’t?"

Ciel believed Summer could assist her in fulfilling the System’s quest and more. That’s all.

But as a creature that regained emotions just almost a week ago, she failed to realise Summer was in a similar state.

The dragon, almost a thousand years old by now, had grown emotionally numb over the years.

Yet for a Queen that cast such an ’abundance’ of trust and ignored her own safety-

"Hic!"

The dragon’s rationality spiraled out of control.

Summer pressed Ciel down again to the mattress, her expression flushed with a hint of madness.

The block tumbled away to the floor, a reward by the System cast aside carelessly.

Within Summer’s pupils, only Ciel’s small, trembling figure lay.

A shadebeast, a poor liar, and a survivalist, despite not cherishing her own life.

She needed to warn her. That was all Summer could think about.

Because a bad dragon like her didn’t deserve Ciel’s ’trust’.

Her gaze lingered on Ciel’s exposed neck. The pajama’s thin fabric wrapped Ciel’s skin nicely, yet failed to hide one of the most vulnerable parts.

What an oversight of her gift.

"You’ll pay for your naivety."

Yet the hypocrisy, ridiculous as it was, slipped through Summer’s mutterance.

Ciel, observant as she was, discerned with a shuddering gasp.

Instinctively, her chin tilted, offering the throat for Miss dragon. Her Miss dragon.

The former shadebeast wanted to finish what they couldn’t last night.

Summer went utterly frozen, her figure looming over Ciel, a silent guardian turning predator.

Yet the urge compelled. The dragon leaned in, lips ghosting Ciel’s neck.

The fangs protruded and grazed the skin, threatening to sink in.

"Peekabooo...! Hm?"

Until a loud, bombastic entry intruded on the silence, trailing off into a confused stammer.

They turned to the door, smashed open by a lone witch.

Her short hair was a sakura pink. She wore a deep blue witch hat paired with a dull blouse, shrouded by a magnificent, abyssal blue dress, one would see in a noble’s banquet.

Yet her dazed, white eyes, quivering with a hint of excitement, were anything but noble-like.

When the witch barged in, viewing from afar how Summer’s figure pressed sharply onto Ciel, their accentuated curves only fueled her numerous imaginations.

Only one stood out at last.

"The-the principal is snacking on a student!"

She shouted while turning on her heels, an attempt to run away while ignoring Summer’s audible grumble.