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Chapter 89: Confessing Secrets

When he heard the question behind him, Ashura quietly breathed a sigh of relief; as long as they kept talking, it would not be so awkward.

Yet he still had no idea how to explain the origins of his wounds to her.

So he changed the subject and said, “Your injury has not healed yet, try not to move; when you finish the porridge I’ll ladle you some more.”

Hearing his perfunctory words, Instructor Ella instantly felt angry and even a little aggrieved; he did not trust her at all and was still hiding his secrets from her.

Ella did not notice her change in mood, but her jade hands rubbed the salve ever harder, making Ashura wince in pain, yet he kept silent and quietly accepted her help.

Once again the cave fell silent, broken only by the dripping of water on the rock walls.

Each absorbed in their own thoughts, one drank porridge while the other tended the fire.

Ashura moved the fire to another spot, spread dry grass over the former hearth, and let the heat from the warmed ground seep up through the straw.

Without a word he bent down, lifted Ella onto the newly made bed, then leaned sideways against the stone wall at the cave mouth and closed his eyes to rest, the wound on his back still throbbing.

Tonight he intended to rest and let his body recover from the battle he had just fought.

Lying on the straw, Ella felt the steady warmth rising beneath her and narrowed her eyes in comfort; she had not expected Ashura to be so considerate, and it gave her a sense of reliance and safety she had never felt before.

She glanced again at Ashura by the entrance and snorted petulantly, but got no response.

She snorted again, louder this time; Ashura merely opened his eyes, looked at her once, and closed them again.

Ella, fuming, went “hmph, hmph, hmph” several times before Ashura reluctantly returned to her side and asked, “What now?”

Seeing his unwilling expression, Ella grew angry and pointed at the straw beside her, saying, “Sit down and talk with me!”

Ashura rolled his eyes and protested, “My dear Instructor Ella, I just carried you while falling from that height; my whole body aches and I just want a good sleep to recover, so let’s talk tomorrow, okay?”

But before he finished, Ella screeched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, “So you do remember I’m your instructor, you still…”

She trailed off and simply glared at Ashura in anger.

Thick-skinned, Ashura waved his hand and tried to go back to sleep.

Yet Instructor Ella said softly, “The one who kissed Lan Yu by the lake was you, wasn’t it?”

Ashura froze mid-step, turned to deny it, when Ella added, “And the one who force-kissed Magina by the lake was you too, right?”

Ashura looked as though he had been greatly wronged and was about to fabricate an alibi, but Ella cut him off, saying, “If rumors spread that you did something to me, your position at the academy…”

Ashura instantly lunged forward, clamped a hand over her mouth, and cried anxiously, “Don’t slander me! I’ll sue you for slander! You’re slandering me!”

Ella twisted away from his dirty hand and retorted, “Slander? Then tell me where my panties went! Where did you hide them?”

Ashura’s face turned awkward at once; he himself was not sure why he had acted on impulse and slipped that fragrant underwear into his storage space.

Now feeling guilty, Ashura did not dare meet Ella’s gaze.

Ella, however, lifted her chin like a proud rooster who had won the fight.

Ashura admitted defeat and awaited her judgment.

Ella patted the straw beside her, signaling Ashura to sit and talk, but whether he misunderstood or not, he lay down right next to her and turned on his side to gaze at the beautiful Ella.

Startled by his move, Ella blushed and scooted to the side.

Then, pretending to be tough, she said, “Out with it. Confess all your secrets… how you kissed Lan Yu and Magina, and I can tell Clara is unusual toward you too!”

Ashura’s eyes flickered as he searched for a lie, but Instructor Ella seemed to see through him and warned, “If I find out you’re making up stories to fool me… hmph!”

At that not-so-menacing threat, Ashura could only shake his head with a wry smile; his experiences of late were already unbelievable, and he could not invent a better story on the spot.

Still he said cautiously, “I’ll tell you, but first you must keep it secret, and second you have to tell me one of your secrets in exchange; after that you can’t betray me.”

Like a gossip-loving girl, Ella unconsciously turned toward him; the two lay face-to-face and after pondering she said, “I can do the first, but I have no secret worthy of trading with you for the second.”

Ashura snorted and shook his head, ready to refuse.

Ella’s tiny fist thumped his chest as she complained, “You still want a secret for your secret? You’ve already seen my biggest one, what more do you want?”

Ashura’s eyes involuntarily drifted downward; seeing this, Ella grew angrier, grabbed his ear and twisted, making him yelp, “Let go, let go, I’ll talk, okay!”

She twisted his ear a few more times in vented frustration, then stared at his face, seemingly ready to inflict more pain if she did not get what she wanted.

In their scuffle the distance between them shrank again, and Ashura could feel Ella’s angry breath on his face.

Ashura thought helplessly that he had always wanted to keep a low profile, yet somehow he had accumulated so many scandals.

While he was still wondering where to begin, he saw the impatient Ella reach for his ear again.

Ashura immediately seized the jade hand reaching toward him and refused to release it no matter how she struggled.

He said, “Stop it. If you want to hear, then listen, but remember to keep it secret!”

Ashura then recounted in detail everything he had experienced during the year he spent training away from the academy, even disclosing his true strength.

Ella listened, enthralled, scarcely noticing her hand still held in his; yet when she heard about Daifei and his rumors with Lan Yu and Magina, a sour feeling welled up inside.

When she learned that Ashura had reached 2nd-stage Grand Martial Master and 2nd-stage Grand Magician, Ella showed little surprise.

With a smug look that said it was all within her expectations, she remarked, “I noticed you were different as soon as we entered the forest; you seemed to know so much and were especially familiar with Beast Forest… it turns out you have trained here for a long time!”

Ashura sighed helplessly, “I planned to stay low-key, but when Instructor Anthony speared the Red-Lotus Serpent, I could not stand by or many people would have died; I still don’t know how many were hurt this time.”

Ella, somewhat heavy-hearted, replied, “Before we fell, our class was well protected and I didn’t see any casualties; later the Red-Lotus Serpent King fell off the cliff with us, so there probably wasn’t much danger afterward.”

Ashura said he hoped so too, and the two of them talked hand in hand for a long time until the night grew deep, and Ella finally drifted into a heavy sleep.

Yet in her dreams she seemed to grasp his hand even tighter…

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