Reborn as an Yandere : Yandere X Yandere-Chapter 226: Damn System! (3)

After arriving at the academy, Esdeath slowly walked through the quiet hallways toward her dorm room. Her footsteps were soft, and everything around her was calm. But the moment she opened the door—

Boom.

The room was anything but quiet.

There were toys and random things scattered everywhere. Big stuffed dolls were lying across the bed and floor. A small sword leaned against the wall, and there was even a round metal object near the pillow—it was a grenade. A real grenade.

Esdeath stared in silence, blinking a few times.

Did she walk into a war zone or a child's playroom?

The scariest part was... both the sword and grenade were real. Not toys.

It was all thanks to Lortell. She had given them to Selene to "play" with. Right now, Lortell was sitting calmly on the bed, and little Selene was sitting happily on her lap, giggling like an innocent child.

"And even after days, he refused to talk," Lortell was saying, her voice sweet but terrifying. "So, I took one of his eyeballs right in front of his wife, dropped it in her mouth, and made her chew it. Guess what? After that, he was talking like a parrot!"

Esdeath stood frozen near the door.

What... in the world was Lortell teaching this child?

She looked at Selene, expecting horror or confusion. But instead, Selene looked... *excited*. Her eyes were wide with curiosity, and she was smiling as if she had just heard a fun bedtime story.

"Why does she look so happy hearing that?" Esdeath sighed to herself. "I guess Selene gets excited no matter what someone says..."

Just then, Selene noticed Esdeath standing at the door.

"Mother is back!" she shouted happily, jumping off Lortell's lap and running straight to her.

Esdeath bent down as Selene threw her arms around her. The hug was warm and tight. It had only been three weeks, but Selene had grown taller again. Her head was now nearly at Esdeath's chest level.

This girl was growing fast.

"Where were you?" Lortell asked from behind, her voice calm but curious.

Esdeath looked back at her and answered with a straight face, "I killed a few people. They were too annoying."

That was only half the truth. She had told Lortell a made-up story before—that she killed many people during the chaos of that terrible night, and she wasn't an innocent girl anymore. Her personality had changed.

At first, Lortell had been shocked. Esdeath, who used to look so cute and delicate, had killed someone? But she didn't question it for long. Instead, she accepted it quickly, even happily.

"It's better this way," Lortell had thought. "If she's not so innocent anymore, I won't feel as guilty for doing so many shady things around her."

Now, standing there, Lortell suddenly changed her expression. She puffed her cheeks like a jealous child and pointed at Selene.

"You didn't even look back at me the moment you saw your mother!" she pouted. "You need to make a choice! Who do you like more—me or Esdeath?"

Selene went silent for a moment.

She rolled her eyes upward like she was really thinking about it.

"Hmm... you're taller... stronger... you bring me lots of toys... and tell me strange, funny stories..."

Lortell smiled proudly, thinking she had won.

But then Selene looked at Esdeath again, hugged her tightly, and said with a happy smile, "But I still like Mother more!"

Lortell froze in place. Her proud smile twitched as her eyes narrowed slightly.

"I also like your mother more than you!" she said with a pout, crossing her arms and looking away like a sulking child.

Esdeath sighed and shook her head. "Now, now... stop arguing, it's already late. Let's sleep," she said calmly.

"Yeah! I'll sleep here tonight too!" Lortell quickly added, moving closer and hugging Esdeath from behind with a playful grin.

Esdeath's eyes widened, and her cheeks turned a bit red. She quickly looked away.

"No, you can't! Selene is here," she whispered softly, trying not to raise her voice.

Lortell giggled behind her. "It's not like I'm gonna do anything, I promise!" she said in a teasing voice, still hugging her gently.

But Esdeath stayed firm, her face serious. "Ain't no way I'm believing you!"

She looked down for a second and then added, "The academy starts tomorrow. I'll get a private room outside of the main building... then maybe you can come over."

The academy always gave Class A students a personal private room. It was only during the temporary lockdown, enforced by Lilith, that no one was allowed to live outside the dorms. But now that everything was back to normal, the rule had been lifted.

Esdeath, being in Class A, was sure to get her own room.

Lortell had actually asked Esdeath before to come live in her palace—after all, they had just spent the past three weeks there—but Esdeath turned her down.

"It takes too long to travel back and forth," she had said.

"Hmph! Fine!" Lortell said with a little huff. But then she moved closer again, her eyes glowing softly under the room's warm light.

She leaned in, face close to Esdeath's neck, and slowly opened her mouth.

Esdeath didn't resist. She already knew what Lortell was going to do.

With a quiet breath, she reached up and gently pulled down the collar of her shirt, revealing her smooth shoulder and collarbone.

Lortell's sharp fangs appeared, and she bit down softly on Esdeath's neck.

Esdeath's body flinched slightly. A quiet moan escaped her lips—not too loud, but filled with emotion. The bite hurt a little, like a pinch, but along with the pain came a strange warmth... a gentle, almost pleasant feeling that made her body feel light.

Lortell sucked her blood slowly, not rushing at all. It was like a quiet ritual between the two of them.

After a few seconds, Lortell pulled away and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Good night!" she said cheerfully, waving before walking out of the room with a little bounce in her step.

Esdeath let out a long breath and fixed her clothes, her fingers lightly brushing over the bite mark. She looked down at Selene, who had already climbed into bed.

"You go sleep," Esdeath said gently. "I have something to do."

Selene nodded silently and closed her eyes, curling up beside Esdeath like a small kitten.

Esdeath sat on the edge of the bed, leaning against the wall. Her mind was full of thoughts.

"I need to split the loot with predictor from what we gained after looting Elara's clone," she thought, her eyes sharp and focused. "I also need to meet with Predictor and make sure everything is going according to plan."

"But most importantly... I need to make sure my "Crucial plan" is going well."

A flash of excitement lit up in her eyes.

"But before all that... I should check what I gained after completing the Second Arc!"

"Status!" Esdeath whispered in her mind, and the moment she did, a glowing screen opened in front of her.

Bright, shiny letters danced across the screen as a few surprising notifications popped up one by one.

Esdeath's eyes narrowed with a hint of annoyance. Her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Tch... again?" she muttered under her breath, her expression turning sour. "This stupid system always pulls something like this."

She shook her head. She was used to its unpredictable behavior by now.

But then—something else appeared.

And when she saw it, her eyes widened.

<70,000 SP rewarded>

Her heart skipped a beat.

She blinked, reading it again to make sure it was real.

Her hands slightly trembled with excitement as she kept reading.

Skill: Steal Life (B) \[Upgradable]

Description: The user can absorb life energy by touching any living being. This increases the user's own lifespan. No cooldown.

Also: Can fire an invisible wave that rapidly ages the target. Targets may grow old instantly—or even die from old age.

Notice 1: Lifespan can only be gained by direct touch. The weaker the target, the less lifespan the user will receive. The aging wave does not add to lifespan.

Notice 2: Repeated use on the same type of people will reduce the amount of life gained. Stronger targets are needed for better results.

Then another skill appeared.

Skill: Time Lock (B) \[Not Upgradable]

Description: A clean hit freezes one target in time for 3 seconds. They cannot move, attack, or use skills.

Cooldown: 45 seconds.

And finally—

Skill: Rewind Step (B) \[Not Upgradable]

Description: Instantly return to the position you were in 5 seconds ago.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Esdeath stared at all the glowing words in front of her, reading them out softly like she didn't fully believe it yet.

"Seventy thousand SP points... All my stats increased by one thousand... Five thousand more mana..." she whispered. "New skills... Steal Life... Time Lock... Rewind Step..."

She fell quiet for a moment.

The light from the screen reflected in her eyes as her expression slowly changed from surprise to something else.

"Is my constellation..." she whispered, "...trying to make me greedy?"

70,000 SP, it was just too much. She only needed 100,000 SP to remove one of the most frustrating rules from the system— the rule that said she could only earn SP points if she followed the plotline and didn't completely break it. That single rule had always felt like a rope tied tightly around her neck, controlling her every move.

Not to mention, her stats had increased by 1000 each, and her mana went up by 5000. On top of that, all of her previous skills had leveled up by one whole rank, and she had even received new skills. It was way more than she ever expected.

Esdeath went quiet for a long moment, her eyes blank, but her mind racing.

"I used to think my constellation is lower or mid level, that is afraid of showing or communicating with me for some reason... but I guess I was wrong. My constellation is definitely a higher-level one," she said to herself, slowly nodding, almost like she was admitting something she had been denying for a long time.

"But almost all higher constellations are very popular, even ancient ones like Mother Gaiga, Prophet Muhammad or Jesus Christ! And none of them is time path constellation, that's for sure!" she added, lifting her chin with her palm, deep in thought. Her brows furrowed tightly.

"And she had black hair too... Was it disguise? No! Why does she need to disguise herself from me?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing.

"Or maybe does she want to use reverse psychology on me, thinking why does she even want to disguise? That's also a strong possibility!" she muttered, more to herself than anything else.

"The only person I can think is Goddess Seraphine, but she is one of the strongest constellations and long dead, and she would never associate herself with an evil person like me!" Esdeath thought hard, her eyes flickering with doubt and curiosity. But the only clue she had was the black hair and the horns that had grown out of the woman's forehead.

"I also have black hair. Is it because she is my constellation?" Esdeath asked herself, but another thought popped into her head immediately.

"Aurora had six children, but it is said that one after another, all children died for one reason or another, and no one survived. It was said that it was because the world couldn't have another demon king! Their combined power would have conquered the world!" she remembered the legends written in ancient books from two hundred years ago.

But then she shook her head with a groan and brushed away the thoughts.

"Why should I care? I got so much things, I should celebrate!" she said to herself with a grin as she nearly jumped from the bed.

But just as she stood up in excitement, her smile froze.

Her mind suddenly became heavy, like it was stuffed with rocks. Her veins popped up, her skin burned, and her whole body felt like it would explode at any moment.

A piercing pain stabbed into her head, like someone was slowly cutting it open with a chainsaw. The pain was loud and endless.

She was about to scream from the agony but immediately covered her mouth and buried her voice deep inside, not wanting Selene to wake up from her sleep.

Esdeath collapsed back onto the bed, shaking, as the pain crushed her spine like a hammer slamming down. Every inch of her body was screaming, but she forced herself to stay quiet.

"I didn't raise my stats even though I had SP points because my body's endurance isn't enough to withstand more extraordinary strength. I need to use Iron Bone and then Black Iron Bones and many more other things to enhance my body's endurance," she thought while gasping for air. Even thinking made her brain feel like it was melting.

That's why she could only let out four painful words before she lost consciousness.

"Fuck you! Damn system!"