Chap 64-It’s Okay

 

“…Ugh.”

Lifting my heavy eyelids, a slightly unfamiliar scene greeted me.

Cracked walls, old wallpaper stained yellow here and there.

The piercing smell was the musty odor unique to old buildings.

In the end, I was kicked out of my original dorm.

At the disciplinary committee, the professors only knew that Elise had unilaterally attacked me, but they didn’t know exactly what I had done to provoke her.

Without investigating properly, they threw me into the punishment chamber.

Then, without thinking, they tried to put me back in my original dorm, but Elise opposed it, testifying that I had sexually harassed her…

Thanks to that, I received aggravated punishment.

One of the results was living in this abandoned dorm, located in a remote area farthest from the academy building.

A haunted house-level room where dust flew everywhere, and it would be a blessing if rats didn’t appear.

Originally, I almost had to leave the dorm altogether and live on my own outside, but fortunately, the headmaster stopped it there.

There was no dorm supervisor and no one to manage it, so it was free, but there were just as many inconveniences.

I had to clean myself, the heating was completely broken, and of course, there was no hot water.

It was a very uncomfortable environment in many ways.

That wasn’t the only punishment I received.

‘…What time is it?’

I got up from the creaking bed and looked at the old clock on the table.

The hands pointed to 6 o’clock.

Considering that the first class was at 9 o’clock, it was a rather early wake-up.

At this time, I would usually still be wandering in dreamland.

Nevertheless, I quickly got up and started washing.

“Ah, cold!”

As expected, when I turned on the faucet, ice-cold water poured out.

The coldness completely washed away the remaining sleepiness.

It felt like all my senses were heightened.

It was a little disappointing that the cold wasn’t unbearable since it wasn’t quite the start of autumn.

I would have felt better if the weather was cold enough to sting my skin.

After showering and roughly drying my damp body and hair with a towel, I looked at the clock, and it was already almost 7 o’clock.

“Ah, I’m late!”

I quickly put on my uniform and left the room.

One of the most inconvenient things after becoming a woman was the time it took to dry my hair.

Of course, there was no such thing as a hair dryer in this crappy world, and even though I cut it short because it was stuffy, it took forever to dry naturally.

In my original dorm, there was a magical drying tool that I could quickly dry my hair with…

There was no way I could have such a luxurious item now.

“Haa…”

As I walked quickly to the main building, I recalled yesterday’s events, and I couldn’t help but sigh.

‘How did I collect those demerit points…’

My precious 11 demerit points.

The punishment chamber I had been so looking forward to.

All of that had gone up in smoke.

I vaguely knew what my senior was thinking…

But I was still disappointed.

Due to this incident, it seemed like I really had to be quiet, very quiet, for a while.

If I got disciplined again here, I would be expelled without any excuses.

“Haa…”

I sighed once more.

As I approached the main building, I saw the light seeping out from the duty room.

I took a deep breath and went inside.

As expected, the professor on duty today was waiting for me inside.

As soon as he saw me, he glared at me with a cold expression and said.

“You’re late, Yeon Bennet.”

“…I’m sorry.”

I lowered my head.

It was not good to be disliked right now.

“The cleaning tools are in the corner over there, so start quickly without complaining.”

The professor pointed to one side with his hand.

“Yes…”

Cleaning tools were piled up in one corner of the duty room.

I picked up a broom, a mop, and a bucket and headed to the women’s restroom.

The new punishment I received this time was to clean the entire women’s restroom of this large main building alone for a semester.

The main building was so big that I would have to go to the academy two hours earlier every day to finish cleaning all the restrooms before class started.

“Sigh…”

I started cleaning with a sigh.

Wiping the toilets, sweeping the floor, polishing the mirrors. It was a simple repetitive task, but it was more physically demanding than I thought.

A little later, I had barely finished cleaning one toilet stall, but my whole body was soaked in sweat.

Sweat dripped from my forehead, and my uniform shirt clung damply to my back.

‘At this rate, there’s no point in waking up early to wash… It’s so uncomfortable…’

I wiped the sweat and headed to the second restroom.

…

As a result of continuing to clean, sweat poured down like rain, and my arms and legs ached, but I couldn’t stop.

Time passed quickly as I conquered each restroom one by one.

How much time had passed?

When only the last toilet stall remained, I patted my stiff back and muttered.

“Hoo… Is this the last one?”

I picked up the broom and mop again and started cleaning.

Whether it was because the time to go to the academy was approaching, there were more and more students’ footsteps and murmuring sounds in the hallway.

And the number of students going in and out of the restroom also increased.

They glanced at me as they passed by, having discovered me cleaning.

Some eyes held curiosity, some held contempt, and some held a sense of satisfaction.

I secretly savored their various gazes.

The notorious Lady of the Bennett Dukedom, now no different from a lowly cleaner.

This also felt somewhat miserable and humiliating, so I felt secretly good.

‘Well, the punishment chamber is gone… but this might be okay in its own way?’

Maybe cleaning while receiving these gazes every morning is quite…

Thwack-

It was at that moment.

Someone spat right in front of me, where I was diligently wiping the floor.

When I looked up, a female student with a face I had never seen before was looking down at me with her arms crossed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lady. I didn’t realize you were there.”

The female student who spat didn’t look sorry at all, but rather mocked me.

“Why apologize for something like that? Please understand, Lady. You smell so similar to the restroom that I didn’t realize you were there.”

Another female student next to her giggled and chimed in.

“But my spit is probably much cleaner than the Lady who was caught doing dirty things, so please be grateful and clean it up well?”

The female student who spat first sneered again and left the restroom with her friends.

[SYSTEM]

Unique Ability ‘Masochist’ is activated.

‘…Ah.’

Crude and blatant insults.

At that moment, I felt a hot heat rising from my lower abdomen.

“Haa…”

Hold on, hold on.

‘…But why are you activating on your own again! Don’t like it, please!’

I cried out inwardly.

This damn ability really didn’t care about time or place.

Even for me, getting excited in this situation is a bit…

My remaining dignity as a human being…

I desperately suppressed the urge to get excited and nonchalantly wiped the spit on the floor with a mop.

Yeah, it’s okay.

This is nothing.

But the moment I looked up at the mirror, I despaired.

In the mirror, my face was slightly flushed without my knowledge, and my eyes were shining with a strange heat.

‘No! This isn’t it! I’m not an incurable Masochist…’

Just as I was shaking my head violently and desperately trying to deny reality.

Squeak-

The sound of the restroom door opening again was heard, and a new presence was felt.

When I looked towards the door, Elise was standing there, an unexpected figure.

She was looking at me with a slightly surprised expression.

I had definitely seen her in the same room last night, but strangely, it felt like I hadn’t seen her in a very long time.

‘…More than that, the curse? Is she okay? She didn’t get another strange curse from somewhere in the meantime, did she?’

Without realizing it, I began to carefully examine the area around Elise’s heart with a worried mind.

In case the energy of the curse remained in her heart.

Seeing me like that, Elise’s face instantly hardened coldly, and she made a face as if she had seen something disgusting.

Then, she strode towards me.

“…Why, what. Getting horny again?”

First of all, I no longer felt the same ominous energy of the curse as yesterday around her heart.

It seemed to be completely lifted.

And there was no sign of her getting a new curse either.

‘…That’s a relief.’

“Are you going to touch me again like yesterday? With those dirty hands?”

Elise looked down at me with a contemptuous expression and said.

Not wanting to upset Elise any further, I lowered my head without saying a word and started wiping the floor again.

“Ha.”

Elise burst into laughter as she looked at me like that.

“So disgusting, really.”

Bang!

She muttered those words with a disgusted expression and slammed the restroom door shut and left.

I stared blankly at the door where she had disappeared for a long time.

And very slowly, I turned my head and faced myself in the mirror.

Flushed cheeks, slightly unfocused eyes, and… thankfully, the corners of my lips were slightly raised.

“…….”

Yeah.

I like being treated like this.

It’s okay.

Really.