Chapter 98: Nyx’s Condition

Because the medical facility and cafeteria were both located on the fourth floor, plenty of students caught sight of Shani sprinting past, clutching a night panther cub to her chest, turning the sight into immediate breakfast gossip.

Noella and Jeryon, who had already taken their seats in the cafeteria, instinctively stood up upon hearing the murmuring students. They exchanged a single glance before walking out together.

Just outside the cafeteria doors, they ran into Kiran and Sonny, who were locked in a heated debate.

"Don’t overreact. Shani’s probably already at the cafeteria," Sonny said, trying to reassure her.

"Shani always tells me whenever she goes down first! There’s no way she’d just ditch me like this," Kiran protested.

"Maybe she was just really hungry," Sonny argued back.

Then, their eyes met.

Noticing the somber expressions on Jeryon and Noella’s faces, and the fact that the two were exiting the cafeteria rather than entering it, alarm bells immediately rang in Kiran’s head.

"Where are you two going?" she demanded.

"The medical facility. It seems Shani and Nyx are there," Noella answered, trying to keep her composure.

"Shani and Nyx?!" Sonny gasped in panic.

If Nyx, who barely ever left the room, had been rushed to the medical facility first thing in the morning, something terrible must have happened.

Sonny turned to check Kiran’s reaction, only to find her spot empty. She had already bolted toward the medical facility.

The three of them didn’t waste another second talking and sprinted after her.

By the time Kiran burst inside, she saw Shani talking with a medical engineer.

"Nyx will need a week inside a healing pod to mend her physical injuries. Mentally, Nyx is holding up fine."

"You and your partner can conduct thirty-minute regulation sessions daily to maintain Nyx mental stability and accelerate physical healing," the doctor explained.

Shani exhaled a sigh of relief, though worry still lingered in her eyes.

"Shani!" Kiran cried out with tear-filled eyes, practically throwing herself at Shani to pull her into a tight hug.

Shani was taken aback, especially when she saw her three other friends rushing in behind Kiran, all wearing identical expressions of deep concern.

Tears welled up in Shani’s eyes, not from sorrow, but because she felt grounded back in this present life after feeling as though she had been dragged back into the dark nightmare of her past.

The doctor recognized both Shani and Prince Jeryon, though this was his first time learning that their baby beast was a Night Panther.

Nyx’s checkups had always been conducted at private clinics outside, so he had no prior records on Nyx.

That was common enough for students with access to elite specialists, even though he himself, as a medical engineer specializing in baby beasts at Grand Academy, was hardly second-rate.

"Nyx is remarkably resilient for a baby beast still in her adolescent stage. Physical injuries this severe would paralyze, or even kill, another baby beast."

"Nyx mental fortitude is also incredible. Nyx isn’t exhibiting severe trauma despite the pain," the doctor praised, not to curry favor with Prince Jeryon, but because he believed the parents deserved to know.

Shani had already suspected Nyx was different from ordinary baby beasts, though she had lacked a direct benchmark. The doctor’s words validated her suspicions.

Jeryon, however, was fixated on something else entirely. The phrase "injuries this severe..." echoed relentlessly in his mind.

A suffocating, menacing pressure radiated from his body, immediately picked up by Noella and Sonny beside him.

Both of them could tell that if someone else had inflicted this harm on Nyx, whoever it was would receive no mercy.

Seeing Jeryon’s dark gaze, Shani knew she couldn’t hide what had transpired. She led the four of them to a quiet corner away from the doctor and explained Vivienne’s harassment.

Jeryon’s hands clenched into tight fists, his expression darkening even further.

Her three other friends were equally stunned and enraged, had Vivienne been standing before them right now, they likely would have retaliated on the spot.

"What do you plan to do, Shan?" Noella asked, holding back her own urge to intervene out of respect for Shani’s decision.

"I won’t let Vivienne off the hook," Shani replied in a low voice.

...

Shani still attended the morning class, though her mind was clearly elsewhere. Her group members, Kiran, Sonny, and even the brilliant Noella, were equally distracted.

As the instructor for Feed Concoction Class, Iris noticed her students’ unusual behavior.

However, as the main instructor of Class 4, she had already been informed of what happened to Nyx and immediately understood the cause of their distraction.

She decided to let it slide just this once. After all, as an owner of baby beasts herself, she knew firsthand the agonizing worry when something happened to one’s baby beast.

After class, Iris approached their table.

"Shani, who hurt your baby beast?" Iris asked without beating around the bush, intending to take action to protect her student’s baby beast.

Shani wasn’t surprised that Iris wanted to protect them, that was a main instructor’s duty. What did surprise her was that Iris didn’t even ask for the details or sequence of events.

Upon further reflection, however, Shani understood. To beastmen, a baby beast was immensely precious, often valued far above low-ranked beastmen.

"Vivienne Ashbourne from Class 1," Shani answered decisively.

Iris was visibly stunned. She was one of the few who had known from the start that Shani’s baby beast was a Night Panther, which meant Shani was tied to the Ashbourne bloodline.

And now the perpetrator was an Ashbourne as well?

Her surprise lasted only a moment before she composed herself. "I will make sure you and Nyx receive justice."

Shani gave a grateful nod.

Meanwhile, as Shani and Iris were speaking, Sonny was glued to his smartwatch, scrolling through the academy forum to see what topics were trending.

"The Ashbournes have gone completely mad!" he suddenly yelled, halting all surrounding conversations as every pair of eyes in the room snapped toward him.

"The Ashbournes were already crazy. You don’t need to scream about it," Kiran grumbled, rubbing her ear.

"No! Look at this... There’s a post on the forum leaking proof that Shani is an Ashbourne, and claiming House Ashbourne secretly helped Shani dispose of Nora on her behalf!"

...