The next day.

The Little Swan was dozing off in class.

The nightmare from last night had drained her of energy.

It took her a great effort to make it to the end of the class.

"Lumi, ugh, I'm so tired!"

Lumi consoled her from the side:

"Hang in there, Your Highness. Though you didn't do anything this morning, it must have been exhausting."

The Little Swan put her hands on her hips and said:

"Isn't it because of that nightmare last night? I couldn't sleep well and only managed to doze off while hugging you!"

At the mention of this, the corners of Lumi's mouth twitched slightly.

Last night, the Little Swan had cried and fussed, insisting on having Lumi sleep with her.

Lumi couldn't resist, so she agreed.

The result was that throughout the night, she was wrapped up like in an octopus embrace and could hardly move, almost becoming numb.

Yet now, it seemed that despite this, she still didn't have a good dream last night.

Lumi reminisced about the Little Swan's bed from last night.

Cold and damp, anyone who didn't know better would wonder what had happened there.

The head maid was shocked and asked the Little Swan what she had done to the bed.

The Little Swan sheepishly said:

"I actually had a nightmare that scared me awake, and I sweated a lot."

Then Lumi asked her what the nightmare was about, but the Little Swan would then dodge the topic, saying something like "nightmares are a girl's secret."

「I must be overthinking it. Her Highness Olivia doesn't seem to understand the matters between men and women yet, so it shouldn't be that kind of behavior」

Of course, Lumi kept her thoughts to herself.

——Mainly because she felt that even if she mentioned it, the Little Swan wouldn't have a concept of it.

So Lumi decisively changed the topic:

"Your Highness, you asked me to remind you to buy a small cake after lunch today."

"Oh, right, I completely forgot about that!"

The Little Swan beamed with a happy smile.

Today, she would fulfill all the conditions to open the Saint Louis Secret Chamber, and as soon as she had a bite of the small cake, the chamber would be unlocked.

When they arrived at the dining hall, they spotted Louis and Alice sitting there.

The two were in a heated competition, oblivious to the strange looks others cast their way.

With each crossing of the knives and forks, accompanied by a faint clink of metal, some could spot sparks flying off the utensils.

Olivia approached them, curious about what seemed like a fun activity:

"What are you two playing?"

Louis, with a look as deep as water:

"We're engaged in a match of dignity."

Alice grinned somewhat viciously:

"That's right, it's about who gets the last strawberry on the cake."

The Little Swan couldn't help thinking how peculiar they were, so she swung her magic staff lightly.

Using the Mage's Hand to retrieve the strawberry from the plate, she popped it into her mouth:

"It's average, not too sweet."

The Little Swan grinned without showing her teeth.

"Oli~via~"

Along with a voice filled with resentment, Alice caught the Little Swan who was trying to escape.

After a round of tussling and the Little Swan's cries of "No, I can't breathe," Lumi managed to free her.

The strawberries were trivial; the main issue was that Alice felt their showdown with Louis had been interrupted.

The head maid glanced at the "deep and unfathomable" Alice, then turned to fetch the Little Swan the strawberry cake she wanted.

"Aren't you two training today?"

Alice replied:

"We're taking a break today, getting into the right mindset for the next phase of training."

Louis added:

"Actually, it's because the students who are going to visit Tunisia are now preparing for the final round of practice."

"The two of us are pre-selected, so we don't need to participate, and currently have nothing else to do but sit here eating cake."

"By the way, Olivia, I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time at the library recently. Have you met Grace?"

The Little Swan nodded and said:

"Yes, I saw her borrowing books there and even greeted her!"

The soft and doughy Grace, it was her first time meeting her.

Previously, Sister Wang had mentioned that Louis arranged for Grace to enter the Saint Louis Academy, which she found hard to believe.

Who could have imagined that someone who sent Louis to the guillotine in a past life would become his acquaintance in this one?

Just as she thought about this, Lumi came over.

Following behind Lumi was Grace, looking shy in her new nun's uniform.

"Oh? Grace, why are you here?"

"Mr. Louis, it was Miss Alice who told me to come."

Grace instinctively averted her gaze, timidly saying:

"Is, is it a bad match?"

Louis glanced up and chuckled:

"Not at all, if this were back home, you'd be the beloved character wherever you went."

With white hair and red eyes in a nun's outfit, even as an old lover of anime culture, he found it fascinating.

Hearing Louis's words, Grace paused, then sneakily glanced up without a word, her expression slightly bewildered yet extremely adorable.

But she quickly lowered her head again.

Because Louis, in a jesting tone, said:

"This outfit suits you well, almost as much as my beautiful fiancée does."

In a very soft voice, Grace said:

"About the help you needed earlier..."

Louis replied with an "Ah":

"No rush. Mainly keeping it as a backup, just in case."

Only then did Grace smile.

She was afraid she wouldn't be able to assist Mr. Caesar at all.

"Sit, sit, sit, let's have some strawberry cake together."

With visions of her little treasure chest full after securing the treasure, the Little Swan waved her hand grandly, having Lumi serve a slice of strawberry cake to everyone.

「Great Treasure!」

「Great Treasure!」

「Gosh, it's Lainer!」

Just as Olivia was humming a little tune in her mind.

Suddenly.

Louis was overcome with an indescribable chill.

Maintaining his state of hunting perception, he instinctively looked up.

The next moment, a tremendous crash sounded from above the open-air dining hall.

Accompanied by the shattering of ceiling glass and the students' screams, the dining hall's tranquility was abruptly shattered.

The very next moment, the head maid sitting directly below sprang into action.

Her surging blood energy soared to the sky, instantly transforming into a massive barrier that shattered the falling glass.

However, at that moment, Louis suddenly noticed that the world reflecting in his eyes seemed to have slowed down.

He saw the Little Swan's dark eyes.

He saw Alice's furrowed brows.

He saw Grace's bewildered gaze.

He saw the head maid's furious expression.

Above them, the light of dawn poured over the shattered glass, refracting a magnificent brilliance.

At that moment, he realized something.

「Oh crap, it's the Ninth Level Martial Skill of the Steel Soul Stream, Time Stop!」

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