Chapter 1 - I am a professor. Not a war hero.
Chapter 1 - I am a professor. Not a war hero.
Rewinding time, it was the late afternoon of the day Klaus finished lunch with an elf woman.
'You.'
Natasha recalled the human who had openly told her, right beside her, that he wanted her.
A mere human, that disgusting, lowly piece of trash, daring to spout such nonsense to an elf, and in front of her, a member of the Belarus Family at that.
If that human had been an ordinary man or an ordinary professor, she would have torn his mouth open right then and there.
Even if it meant being expelled from the Academy, she would have done it.
However....
"Klaus. The war hero who made the greatest contribution in the Continental War."
Even the Human Nobles, who were busy treating commoners like dogs, were terrified of him.
A human whom even the demons, wrapped in their sense of superiority, called a devil and feared.
That human named Klaus is that very man.
Although those foolish Human Nobles, out of jealousy, had practically chased him out by forcing his retirement, many in the East and West were still keeping a close eye on the man named Klaus.
Even in the elf world, where there was a strong undercurrent of subtly looking down on humans, there was talk that Klaus was a completely different existence and had to be recruited to their side.
And on the day the entrance ceremony for the Continental Academy was held.
Upon hearing the news that the war hero had joined this Continental Academy as a professor, Natasha made a decision.
To drag that man into the elf world, into her family, and secure a firm position.
If she succeeded in bringing him over, not only the Belarus Family but she herself would gain tremendous advantages!
So, completely ignoring the gazes of other students, Natasha approached the tragic war hero who had been betrayed by his country and chased to the Academy, getting close, very close.
If she took this man to her family, her standing would become absolutely unshakable.
Thinking this, she offered the best terms she could to lure him in.
However, Klaus showed a lukewarm reaction.
Just as Natasha was struggling to hide her anxiety inside at that reaction, he set a condition.
'I want you. Natasha Belarus. You becoming mine. That is my condition.'
If only he weren't a war hero, that damn war hero!
I wouldn't have to endure this after suffering such humiliation!
"Damn it! You fucking human!!"
He'd give her three days? He'd give her time to think?
He's a madman. Unless he was insane, no mere human trash would do something as crazy as setting her, a member of not just any family but the Belarus Family, as a condition.
This wasn't just rejecting her offer; it was no different from mocking and despising her.
He couldn't possibly not know how important marriage is in the elf world.
Unlike humans who buy and sell women, he must know exactly that elf society is based on a matriarchy, yet he made such a provocation!
'Should I kill him?'
For a brief moment, that thought crossed her mind.
She huffed and puffed, contemplating whether to carry it out immediately, but soon Natasha shook her head.
She had once met an elf who had fought in the war with him for a while.
When she asked her to talk about that person named Klaus, she sighed first, tried to say something, but then shut her mouth, scratched her forehead, and clearly showed signs of being troubled.
At Natasha's insistence, the elf finally answered, but the content was quite chilling.
Elves ignore, loathe, and ridicule humans.
Such tendencies appear even more strongly in warriors.
Yet, the evaluation that elf warrior gave about the human named Klaus was the exact opposite of the evaluation elves usually gave about humans.
'The Academy's President Ruskal is a human acknowledged not only by the human kingdom but also by us elves, those beast-bastard beastmen, and the demon idiots. Someone like that wouldn't have hired a professor for combat magic lectures carelessly. Above all, even the demons didn't treat him as just a commander who was good at leading.'
She is an elf; she is not a foolish human, nor a beastman who rushes in like a wild animal, nor a demon who trips over their own arrogance.
Therefore, she had no intention of doing something foolish like rushing in just because she was insulted when there was no solid information and no possibility of winning.
Anyway, she could pressure him using other methods, not just force.
'I'll have to ask my family to find some weakness to annoy him.'
In the end, he is also human, so there must be a gap.
In fact, hadn't even those stupid humans found a gap in the war hero Klaus, dug into it, and eventually made him leave?
Thinking that she would definitely bring him to the elf world, Natasha decided to take a rest.
Without even noticing the flame that was wriggling inside her and preparing to slowly ignite.
'...W-what.'
Eventually, that flame ignited during the night and took root in a corner of Natasha.
Feeling something strange with her elf intuition, she opened her eyes at dawn and realized that a corner of her chest kept burning, and something difficult to express in words was wriggling and tickling her.
'Is it a cold? Why does my body feel so hot?'
Perhaps if Natasha had magic skills comparable to Klaus, she might have noticed that the mana inside her was finely fluctuating and shaking her.
But unfortunately, she was a woman with more talent for swordsmanship than magic.
Naturally, she couldn't perceive the changes in her body at all, and time gradually flowed on in that state.
Even when there was a commotion inside the Academy.
Even at the moment when Klaus smashed one of the Human Noble professors and the youngest daughter of the Leblanc Family, one of the prominent families in the demon world, was miserably defeated.
Unlike the other students, Natasha was in her room all day long, covered with a blanket, whining and fighting against the faintly burning flame.
'What, what on earth is this. What, what is it!'
She couldn't even dream of the possibility that Klaus might have done something to her.
The sense of superiority she held toward humans as an elf, and the arrogance that she, a member of the Belarus Family, could never have been done in by such a human, had long since scattered that possibility.
She just thought it was a temporary body ache, or that she had caught a cold.
So she tried to hide her appearance.
If the human idiots, beastmen, and demon trash saw an elf of the noble Belarus Family struggling with a mere cold, how much would they mock her?
Focusing on work without showing any signs, no matter how sick she was.
That was the nobility of elves as Natasha thought of it.
Of course, unfortunately, the 'Fever Skill' Klaus had inserted was by no means a cold accompanied by throbbing headaches, endless runny noses, or pain.
"Hngh, hnghh...."
Her body just gets hot enough to barely endure, and it stays in that state.
Thanks to that, Natasha lay on her bed all day, whining and hoping her body would get better.
Even though she could have gone to the infirmary if she really couldn't endure it, she was holding out to the end, using the elf's unique pride and stubbornness to try and overcome it alone.
Another day passed while she whined at the unknown symptoms.
After sleeping and waking up, it seemed a little better, but it couldn't be seen as healed.
The slight fever still remaining in her body—if she were actually sick, she wouldn't be this stubborn, but she wasn't in pain, just having something ambiguous wriggling inside, which was driving Natasha crazy.
'Annoying....'
Natasha, who had been lying alone after rejecting the suggestions of other elf students to go for a walk together.
Then, she barely got up and took a shower to cool down, but someone started knocking on her room door.
Knock, knock, knock-.
"...I'm sorry, but could you please leave today? My condition isn't that good."
Click, clack!-
'Huh?'
She had definitely locked the door, but the doorknob turned just like that, and the door opened.
If it had been opened by force, the doorknob would have fallen off, but that wasn't it; the person who opened the door and walked in very smoothly, as if it hadn't been locked from the beginning, was surprisingly not an elf student.
"Y, you?"
"I haven't seen student Natasha since yesterday, and since the elf students said you weren't feeling well, I came to visit. You really don't look like you're in very good condition."
"What are you talking about... No, before that. Get out. What are you doing right now? No matter if you're a professor, there's no case of entering a student's room recklessly. Even more so, how can a human enter the elf territory recklessly! Get out immediately. If you don't comply willingly, then..."
"Then what? Are you going to harm me?"
Just as she was about to say that she would naturally do that.
Natasha suddenly felt a corner of her chest become intensely hot all of a sudden.
With a heat completely different from before, a gasp escaped her lips, and her vision seemed to spin.
'W-why on earth am I like this....'
She was in front of a human, in front of the race she hated the most, and even in front of a man.
Natasha lost her balance, stumbled, and ended up collapsing to the side.
If Klaus hadn't stepped forward and caught her, she would have fallen to the floor in a truly unsightly manner.
"Student Natasha? Student Natasha?"
"I, my condition is not good. So, I would like you to leave now..."
"I don't care whether you're sick or not. I came here to hear your answer."
"...Yes?"
"The proposal I made in return two days ago. Have you thought about it properly? There's only one day left now."
"Y, you. Did you come here just to ask that?"
"Of course. It's about an elf as beautiful as you becoming my woman, so waiting day by day is, for a human, for a man, truly torture."
She wanted to say, what kind of crazy human is this.
But when she actually opened her mouth, the sound that came out wasn't such sharp words.
"Haa-eung...."
What, what. Why is this sound coming out of my mouth? This, what is this lewd moan?!
Startled, Natasha flailed her arms, trying to say that this wasn't it.
But her already limp body was not showing a woman displaying rejection, but only a figure cutely acting coy while held in a man's arms.
"You look like you're having trouble standing, shall we go to the bed and sit down first?"
"N, no... No. N, no, you can't..."
A burning chest, a ticklish stomach, and thighs that kept curling inward.
Her mind was clearly screaming that this wasn't right, but her body wasn't following at all.
Even her reason, which she believed would remain intact forever, was gradually blurring.
"My proposal."
"Ah, aeuuu...."
"You become my woman. Then I will seriously consider the part about entering the Belarus Family."
"N, not consideration, but de, decision..."
"No, no. You could just promise and kick me away anytime, right? So, until your body and heart are completely mine, I have to hold off on confirming that I'll go to Belarus."
"Th, that's forced. It makes no sense... You, you're treating me like a fool..."
Her body is getting hotter and hotter.
She doesn't want to be like this in front of a human, in front of a man, but excited moans keep leaking out.
Realizing that there was clearly something wrong with her body, Natasha made a judgment with the reason she was barely maintaining.
"I, it's you."
"What?"
"The one who did this to, to me."
"What do you mean, did this. Did I commit some bad deed against student Natasha?"
"You, it's you, right? The one who made me, me strange. You, it's you, right?!"
"No? It's not me?"
Klaus, who shakes his head while smiling.
Seeing that, Natasha was convinced: this man made her like this.
She didn't know what trick he used, but Professor Klaus, this human is definitely it!
'You fucking human bastard! Disgusting male piece of shit! Pull yourself together, Natasha. Move, move! Move right now and this human male, right now, right now, right now! Just, just...!'
Just, I want to be held.
Just want to be held and kiss him.
'Huh?'
Her body had already escaped the control of her head, and her reason was completely pushed aside by instinct.
The hostility and wariness toward Klaus crumbled in an instant, and what remained was desire filled with heat.
I want to be held right now, I want to kiss him, following the words of that man who told me to become his, I want to become his, I want to do that.
'W, what kind of foolish....'
The man's hand gently strokes her face.
If it were her original self, she would have growled and threatened him, asking how he dared to touch her.
But now it was different; her completely drained body was just blankly looking at the man, having completely lost even the will to resist, as if asking to be touched more.
"Answer."
"Ah, aeu...."
"The answer to my proposal. I want to hear it. Tell me, Natasha."
"I... I, I..."
No. Get lost. Of course it's a rejection. She wanted to say such things.
But cruelly, her lips, and her instinct, completely bound that reason.
As Natasha was just whining without even being able to answer, Klaus smiled.
"Student Natasha."
"Y, yes. Professor Klaus."
"Spread your legs."