The professor’s desk, made of solid hardwood, shook as if it might break apart.

Professor Kane twisted his expression into something feral, like he might tear me to pieces right then and there. “You! You call that a solution?”

I shrugged casually. “A solution? I’m just stating the facts as they are.”

Professor Kane ground his teeth, scowling. “Do you think anyone would believe that? Huh? Pretty much everyone in this academy knows you’ve been glued to Laneige lately!”

“Then I’ll just say I kept her close so I could torment her.”

“You!”

“In the end, it’s not about what the truth is, is it?”

The truth never mattered. Only what looked like the truth ever did.

Professor Kane’s gaze sank low. “In that case, you will be the one punished.”

“I’m aware.”

“Your reputation will take a hit among those who don’t know the full story.”

“I don’t think I have any reputation left to lose,” I calmly replied.

“I can probably prevent expulsion, but you’ll still face heavy disciplinary action.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Professor Kane pressed his fingers to his forehead, as though I were giving him a migraine. “You’ll receive at least two separate penalties at once, which means that regardless of your test results, you’ll get a score of zero for this semester.”

“Ah!”

That stung quite a bit. So much for thinking I’d still have one chance left even if I got punished again. Considering the severity of the incident, they probably wouldn’t settle for just one slap on the wrist.

“Well, it can’t be helped,” I said.

Honestly, I desperately wanted to shake off the curse of constantly being at the bottom of the rankings. But letting Laneige get expelled? There was no world where I would sit back and watch that happen.

Professor Kane let out a deep sigh. “You really are...”

“So? Can you help me?”

Of course, taking punishment on behalf of someone else wasn’t simple. If anyone could dodge penalties just by saying, “Someone else made me do it,” people would exploit it to no end. However, if Professor Kane himself stepped up as a witness, things would change.

The professor closed his eyes, pondering it. Then he clicked his tongue, opened a drawer, and pulled out a sheet of paper. “It’s a statement form. Submit it by tomorrow.”

“Thank you!”

He flapped his hands at me as though swatting away an annoying insect. “Beat it. I don’t even want to look at you. Get out.”

Suppressing a laugh, I took the document and turned to leave.

The professor’s voice came from behind. “Dale.”

“Yes?”

With a face like that of a starving beast snarling at prey, he said, “I’ll try to keep this incident from leaking out any further.”

I barely managed to swallow a laugh as I walked away. Honestly, he really didn’t match or act the way he looked.

***

A few days passed after Laneige’s unauthorized withdrawal incident. She and I headed toward the mountain behind the academy, where we usually trained.

Laneige stretched out her hand, face taut with tension. “Hoo!”

A fierce blizzard gathered in her palm, and snowflakes swirled wildly. On the freezing ground, a single pure-white frost flower bloomed.

“Freeze!” she shouted.

The white flower burst open, scattering snowflakes around her. At first glance, it looked like a chaotic burst, but every flake she sent out struck only its intended target, freezing each one solid.

Laneige looked back at me nervously. “W-what do you think?”

I nodded with a satisfied smile. “Perfect.”

Her control over her Blessing had skyrocketed, completely incomparable to how it was before. While its raw power was still weaker than what I had seen in my previous life, the precision and control were nearly flawless, far better than the indiscriminate freezing she caused the last time around.

Laneige grinned shyly, clearly feeling the difference herself. “Hehe! Thank goodness. With this, I-I won’t become the Witch of the Night, right?”

I nodded softly. “Of course not. And even if your Blessing goes out of control again, I’ll help you. No matter what.”

Laneige nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Dale.”

“Alright, let’s continue training.”

“W-wait. Before that...” She held out a neatly folded white shirt. “Here. T-the shirt I said I’d wash for you.”

I had completely forgotten about it. “Oh, right.”

As I looked at the shirt, I was surprised. “Wow! How many times did you wash this? It looks brand new.”

“I-I scrubbed it really hard! It... it was my fault!”

Chuckling, I accepted the shirt. “You keep saying it was your fault, but it was just a bit of spilled soup.”

Laneige clenched her fists tightly and said, “Um, Dale.”

“Hmm?”

Her voice was steady, her eyes filled with firm determination. “I-I won’t run away anymore. No matter how hard things get, no matter how painful, I won’t run anymore. So, you don’t have to keep training with me from now on.”

“Laneige.”

“I can do it on my own now. Even without you.”

The memory of the first time I met her flashed through my mind. She had curled in on herself like a frightened child, trembling in the cold. A girl who had desperately clung to the warmth of others—that was what she used to be, but now she had grown strong enough to stand on her own two feet. Was this what parents felt when their good-for-nothing kid, who spent all day loafing around, finally got a job?

An indescribable warmth filled my chest.

Laneige said, “Still, it’s strange.”

“What is?”

She tilted her head, genuinely confused. “The academy hasn’t said anything. I thought... I thought I would get scolded really badly.”

I replied, “Well, maybe since you came back the same day, they decided to overlook it?”

“You think so?”

I quickly changed the subject and tried to resume practice. “Don’t worry about that stuff. Let’s just finish training.”

But Laneige stopped me in my tracks. “Ah, Dale. Sorry, but do you mind if I head back a little early today?”

“Huh? Why?”

Laneige scratched her cheek awkwardly, smiling stiffly. “I-I have something I need to do.”

I had no idea what that meant, but I nodded. “Well, alright. Let’s wrap up early then.”

We headed back toward the academy. The moment we arrived there, Laneige said, “T-then I’ll go first!”

She sprinted off somewhere at full speed. Watching her figure grow smaller in the distance, I shrugged.

“Well, I guess things turned out well after all,” I muttered.

Thanks to this whole incident, Laneige had learned to control the Blessing of the Frost on her own, and I had even gotten a little more information about the hero who was secretly working with Mephisto. It had also probably given her some confidence.

I could still recall the moment she had tried to control her Blessing’s power by herself without relying on me. It was something Laneige never could’ve done before. Her arms had turned blue and necrotic, yet she forced herself to take control on her own. It made me smile unconsciously.

Maybe now she’ll stop being overly clingy toward me.

With that hopeful thought, I headed back to the dorms.

***

Laneige closed the door behind her and set down the envelope she was carrying. “Heheheehehe.”

She stared at it and grinned like a lovesick idiot. “Let’s see.”

Like she were handling a priceless treasure, Laneige carefully pulled the contents out. Inside the envelope were high-quality printed photographs of Dale.

Spreading the photos over the table, she let out a blissful scream. “Kyaaaaaaaa! S-seeing them like this... It’s totally different from looking through the Hero Watch.”

These were the best shots from the “Dale Collection” she had painstakingly curated. Every single one was chosen with obsessive precision.

Laneige picked up one of the photos and approached the wall. “Okay, then...”

Humming, she began taping the photos onto the wall. Then she continued to the ceiling, then the floor, until the entire room was covered in pictures of Dale.

“Hehehe. Dale, I love you so much.”

Photos of Dale smiling, eating, chatting—everything was pasted all over the room. But among them, one stood out to her.

“Ahh, yes. This is the best one.”

Her favorite was the photo of Dale right after he came out of the hot spring, towel around his neck, hair half-damp, and the loosely tied robe revealing his solid chest muscles. Laneige gulped and gently traced her fingers over Dale’s chest in the photo, almost entranced. It was just a picture, and yet, she could swear she felt warmth under her fingertips.

“Hehe. Thank goodness I saved this.”

From the bottom of her heart, Laneige silently thanked Iris for helping her get the photo.

“And lastly...”

She picked up Dale’s shirt, the same one he had given her to wash. There was still a faint stain from the soup, but that didn’t matter in the slightest.

“Hup.”

She wrapped the shirt around a spare pillow. Then she attached a small picture of Dale’s face to the tip of the pillow.

“Finished!”

She squealed again at the sight of the makeshift Dale doll. “Aahh! D-Dale. Don’t look at me like that, you’re making me embarrassed.”

Wriggling and fidgeting in front of the Dale doll, Laneige eventually bolted into the shower in a fluster. “I-I’ll wash up real quick, Dale!”

After washing every corner of her body, she changed into pajamas and lay down in bed. She buried her face deep into the shirt and inhaled. Dale’s scent wrapped around her like a warm embrace. Laneige wriggled and shifted under the blankets, body heating up. A breathy moan escaped her lips, warming the cold room like a rising flame.

It was a warm winter night indeed.