Chapter 283: Even sagging is better than having nothing to show in the first place

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Roy, Ikki!"

Spotting the two boys waiting by the academy gates, Alice quickened his pace.

Alice had clearly put a massive amount of effort into his appearance today.

He was dressed in a pristine, tailored coat and wore a classic bowler hat.

With his tall frame and flawless posture, his first impression was that of a perfect, highly refined English gentleman from a bygone era.

"Well, Ikki? How do I look today?" Alice asked the moment he reached them, doing a small twirl to show off his outfit.

"Ah... hahahaha..." Ikki laughed dryly.

He could only answer helplessly.

"You definitely look a bit different from your usual self. Very gentlemanly."

"I struggled for hours in front of the mirror before finally deciding on this ensemble."

Alice smiled sweetly.

"After all, this is my first official date with you, Ikki. I couldn't afford to lose face!"

"Um... we're just hanging out as a group. There's no face to lose. Alice, you're taking this way too seriously," Ikki's expression grew stiff, desperately trying to de-escalate the situation.

Suddenly, the ambient temperature died down.

An oppressive aura filled the air, so cold it felt as if winter had arrived early.

The person responsible for this drastic climate shift was none other than Shizuku.

Shizuku stood just behind Alice's left shoulder.

She wore a sweet, flawless smile on her face but the atmospheric pressure surrounding her was terrifyingly low.

This coldness wasn't a metaphor... it was a literal, physical drop in temperature.

As a Blazer whose Noble Art specialized in Water Manipulation, her magical prowess was enough to freeze the moisture in the air simply by leaking her aura.

"Shizuku... why are you here?" Ikki blinked in surprise.

"I happened to bump into Alice and Stella on the way here," Shizuku said.

She perfectly restrained the raging jealousy in her heart, offering her brother a completely innocent smile.

"I just arrived at the academy yesterday, so I'm not familiar with the environment here yet."

"When I heard you were all planning to go into the city..."

Shizuku's tone suddenly softened adopting a pitiful highly endearing pitch.

"Onii-sama, you know I rarely ever left the main estate before."

"This is my first time studying so far away from home. I don't know anyone here except you."

"So, I was hoping to take this opportunity to ask Onii-sama to show me around the city and help me get familiar with the area."

Her logic was airtight.

There were no loopholes in her reasoning.

"Would I be bothering you?" Shizuku asked, looking up at Ikki with large puppy eyes.

"Hmph! A certain someone's shame is nonexistent." Stella sneered from the side.

Although Shizuku's excuse was perfectly reasonable on the surface, Stella knew exactly what her true motive was.

The pitiful expression Shizuku had been maintaining fractured for a split second.

The corner of her eye twitched involuntarily.

She shot Stella a glare before rapidly suppressing the emotion.

"It's fine! We're just going out to buy a few things and hang out. The more the merrier," Ikki laughed awkwardly, desperately trying to play the peacemaker.

"Roy-kun, what do you think of Stella today?" Alice covered his mouth.

"Stella worked even harder than I did getting ready this morning."

Roy shifted his gaze to Stella and didn't hold back his praise.

"Stella, you look so beautiful."

"I-Is that so?" Hearing Roy's direct compliment, Stella blushed.

She looked down shyly.

At the same time, she breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Spending an hour agonizing in front of the mirror hadn't been in vain.

Today, Stella had swapped her standard Hagun Academy uniform for a beautifully tailored white dress, paired with a stylish knit jacket.

Although the outfit was relatively simple, it perfectly highlighted her charm while simultaneously accentuating her well developed curves.

She wore a touch of light makeup on her already flawless face...just enough to enhance her natural beauty.

To put it bluntly, if Stella walked down the street looking like this, she was guaranteed to snap the neck of every passing guy.

Standing next to her, Shizuku stared at Stella with burning mixture of jealousy and unwillingness.

She had only intercepted Alice and Stella by pure chance.

Once she learned they were heading into the city with Ikki and Roy, she had rushed after them in panic.

She hadn't had a single second to dress up, meaning she was still wearing her standard school uniform.

Standing next to the breathtakingly styled Stella, Shizuku felt painfully underdressed.

"What a stupid woman," Shizuku muttered under her breath.

"Getting so dizzy over a casual compliment from a boy."

"She truly is a princess, putting her ignorance on full display."

"Well, that's certainly better than a certain someone," Stella smiled triumphantly.

Having secured Roy's praise, she was in a fantastic mood and ready for a fight.

"If we walk down the street together, passersby might mistake a certain someone for a junior high student... or maybe even an elementary schooler," Stella chuckled delivering a devastating lethal blow.

"You Bit-ch!"

Shizuku nearly exploded on the spot.

She couldn't even maintain her fake, sweet smile anymore.

Her face twitched violently as she returned a highly dangerous frigid smile.

"Who knows? I'm a high school student, after all. I wouldn't know anything about elementary schoolers."

Shizuku then casually shifted her emerald eyes toward Stella's chest, her gaze filled with toxic mockery.

The tailored dress made Stella's impressive bust even more prominent.

"Instead, I've heard that some girls who overdevelop at a young age eventually end up severely sagging." Shizuku sighed.

"I wonder if all that drooping, useless fat will eventually make a certain someone deeply regret carrying such a heavy unsightly burden?"

"Don't you agree, Stella-san?"

"Is that right? Well, even sagging is better than having nothing to show in the first place," Stella snorted softly, crossing her arms to emphasize her assets.

"Besides, I have the highest magical capacity in the world, and I maintain a rigorous exercise regimen."

"The situation you described will never happen to me!"

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