I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

The following evening, Arthur reached the advanced faculty wing at the time written in Elena’s note.

Most of the corridor doors were already closed. Arthur wore his academy uniform and the plain support band Brunhilda had given him. Inside his coat were Beatrice’s short case summary and two small sealed vials. Tolan had divided the mineral sample before Arthur left the guild, leaving one portion for Elena and one for the Obsidian Hand.

Arthur knocked on Elena’s private workroom door.

The locking ward released a moment later. Elena opened the door in a fitted blouse, dark skirt, and tailored faculty coat. She looked once along the empty corridor before allowing him inside.

Elena locked the door behind him. The old mine report was already open on her desk beside a piece of ordinary ore and a small light crystal. A reading couch occupied the wall opposite the inner changing room.

Arthur placed Tolan’s vial on the desk. Beside it, Elena had already arranged a piece of clean, ordinary ore and a copy of the old mine report she had pulled from the archives after receiving his note.

Elena took the first vial and placed it beside the clean ore.

She brought the light crystal near the ordinary stone. Its glow remained steady. When she moved it toward Tolan’s sample, the light fluttered and bent away from the dark powder.

Elena repeated the comparison before setting the crystal down.

”Something altered the mana inside this material,” she said. ”That confirms Beatrice’s suspicion, but it does not tell us where the ore came from.”

Arthur studied the two samples. The difference was obvious even without Elena explaining every detail.

Similar damage could appear in minerals from separate mines if both had been exposed to the same process. It was also possible that different causes produced the same visible distortion. The new shipment and the closed mine were connected by a pattern, not yet by proof.

Elena intended to request the missing supplier pages and route maps from the archive. Arthur mentioned Rusk, but she refused to approach him with only one spoiled shipment and an old medical report.

”We trace the records first,” she said. ”Then we decide who needs to answer questions.”

Arthur placed the second vial back inside his coat and left the first on her desk. Elena locked her portion in a drawer with Beatrice’s summary.

Elena closed the drawer, but Arthur remained beside the desk.

She noticed before returning to her report. ”Was there something else?”

Arthur reminded her of the mana-control demonstration from several weeks earlier. She had pinned his mana in front of the class, proved her point, and ended the lesson before he could answer the challenge.

”You came here to discuss contaminated ore,” Elena said, though she had already stepped closer.

”You ordered me to come alone.”

Elena straightened the front of his coat as though correcting his uniform. Her hand remained against his chest after the fabric was smooth.

Arthur did not reach for her. He held her gaze and waited.

Elena’s fingers tightened around his lapel. She pulled him down and kissed him before the silence could stretch any further.

Elena kept one hand at the back of Arthur’s neck as the kiss deepened. Her grip held him bent toward her until he answered with enough force to make her take one step back.

Arthur eased the coat from her shoulders and laid it across the nearby chair. Elena opened his coat in return, pushed his shirt apart, and guided him backward until his knees struck the reading couch.

She settled across his lap with her skirt gathered above her knees. The slow pressure of her hips against his erection was controlled at first, almost taunting, but the rhythm grew less measured when Arthur opened her blouse and cupped her breasts.

Elena caught his lower lip between her teeth when his thumbs passed over her nipples. She continued moving against him while reaching between them to open his trousers.

Her hand closed around his cock. Instead of letting Arthur search beneath her skirt, she caught his wrist and directed his fingers exactly where she wanted them.

Arthur rubbed her clitoris until the smooth movement of her hips began to falter. He slid two fingers into her pussy only after she pressed down against his hand, then kept the same rhythm while she stroked him.

Elena fought to maintain the calm expression she wore in class. It lasted until Arthur curled his fingers and tightened the pressure of his thumb. Her thighs closed around his hips, and she buried her face against his shoulder as the orgasm moved through her.

Elena remained against him until her breathing settled, then rose from his lap and crossed to the changing-room cabinet.

She drank a contraceptive draught where Arthur could see her, placed the empty vial beside the washbasin, and removed her underwear before returning. The garment joined her coat on the chair.

Arthur shifted farther back on the couch as Elena climbed over him again. She positioned his cock herself and lowered her hips gradually. The first stretch made her pause with both hands braced against his chest, but she stayed in control until she had taken him fully.

For several moments, she allowed only the movement she created. Arthur kept his hands at her hips until she began meeting the pressure of his grip rather than resisting it.

Elena used the back of the couch for leverage and established a slow rhythm. When she finally told him to move, Arthur began meeting each downward motion with his hips while rubbing her clitoris between them.

Her pace broke first. She tightened around him, stopped with him buried inside her, and held herself there while the second orgasm passed through her in slower, stronger waves.

Elena stayed on his lap until her breathing steadied. When Arthur asked whether the lesson was finished, she gave him the same cool look she used on students who answered too confidently.

”One correct answer does not complete a lesson.”

She rose, carried the report and mineral vial safely to the far side of the desk, and bent over the cleared edge.

The invitation required no further explanation.

Arthur moved behind her and entered her again. Elena braced herself on her forearms, setting the first rhythm through short instructions and the movement of her hips.

He followed until she looked back and told him to stop treating her carefully.

Arthur gripped her hips and drove into her harder. One hand remained at her waist while the other reached beneath her skirt to rub her clitoris. Elena’s instructions became shorter, then disappeared entirely as her body tightened around him.

Her third orgasm left her trembling against the desk. Arthur slowed, but Elena reached back and caught his wrist.

”Inside.”

He remained still long enough for her to repeat it. When she pushed back against him, Arthur obeyed, holding her hips close as he came.

Arthur waited until Elena’s grip loosened before withdrawing. They used the washbasin in the changing room, passing the towels between them without trying to fill the silence with jokes.

Elena cleaned the edge of the desk while Arthur collected their clothing. He helped her button the blouse she had opened earlier, and she returned the favor by straightening his collar once he had fastened his shirt.

By the time Elena sat behind the desk again, the report had been returned to its place and the sample was locked away.

She reminded Arthur that neither the investigation nor what had happened afterward would change their conduct in public. Her classes would remain her classes, and he would receive no special treatment.

Arthur fastened his coat. ”I can keep two secrets.”

Elena looked at the coat he had buttoned incorrectly and reached across the desk to fix it.

”Begin with your uniform.”

Arthur glanced down at the corrected buttons but wisely chose not to defend himself.

Arthur reached the door before Elena called him back.

The academy’s Founders’ Fair, she explained, would use decorative stone and alchemy supplies purchased from several outside sellers. The delivery crews were expected later that week.

Elena did not want accusations, confrontations, or Arthur following merchants through the city. She wanted crate numbers, supplier marks, and anything that could be checked against the archive records.

Arthur reached the door before Elena called him back.

The academy’s Founders’ Fair, she explained, would use decorative stone, alchemy supplies, and demonstration materials purchased from several outside sellers. The first delivery crews were expected later that week, long before the public entered the grounds.

Elena did not want accusations, confrontations, or Arthur following merchants through the city. She wanted crate numbers, supplier marks, payment seals, and anything else that could be checked against the old freight records.

Arthur rested one hand on the door latch while considering the assignment. Watching deliveries sounded simple. In practice, it meant spending several afternoons pretending not to inspect every cart that entered the academy.

”You are asking me to behave inconspicuously.”

”I am asking you to observe before creating a public incident.”

”That sounds less achievable.”

Elena returned her attention to the mine report, though the faint movement at the corner of her mouth suggested that her professional composure had not completely recovered.

Arthur opened the door, then paused.

”If I find something?”

”You bring it to me. Privately.”

Her eyes remained on the page, but the meaning of the final word extended well beyond the investigation.

Arthur stepped into the corridor with the guild’s remaining sample sealed inside his coat.

Behind him, Elena added, ”And Vance?”

He looked back.

”Next time, button your shirt correctly before leaving my workroom.”

Arthur glanced down, found the mismatched buttons, and quietly closed the door before attempting a reply.