CHAPTER 769: TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A GIRL

Isolde rubbed her chin, a pensive frown creasing her brow. Considerations flashed through her mind about the effects of turning a boy into a girl, about the impact on their mental state, and about the safest punishment period—enough to make an example, but not to break Adam.

All the while, she muttered. "Too long, and he’ll lose his self-esteem. He might not want to go back, or worse, commit suicide out of shame, mockery, and resentment."

The surrounding girls buzzed, calling out to her and requesting the harshest punishment. But she shook her head and raised a gnarled finger. "Twenty-four hours. Not a spell, but a curse that’ll fade on its own."

She waved her hand before even finishing.

Dark mana swirled around Adam, haunting whistles causing the corridor’s lights to dim. They flickered like candle flames burning through their last shred of wax, each shadow cast on the ground, the walls, and the ceiling dancing in ominous patterns.

Adam couldn’t make out what they were, but he gasped just like the others. Curved horns, jagged fangs, twisted claws. It was ancient magic, a primitive cursing method he couldn’t understand. Mana didn’t just swirl around him; it seeped through his skin, bypassed his heart’s Spellbinding Aegis as if it were a broken net, and spread through his every cell.

Veins bulged, writhing like snakes as he tried to flee the curse’s focal point. But Isolde’s sheer pressure kept him frozen mid-step, his will powerless in his own body. He tried to curse, but only managed a guttural growl.

He felt violated, his character flouted. All for what? Because he had escorted the girls back to their rooms? This was going too far. It was completely unreasonable.

For a moment, his frozen brow furrowed, and the corners of his eyes began to narrow. Qi rumbled, crashing against the barrier sealing his dantian like tidal waves demanding to be freed. The desire to fight back, even if he couldn’t avoid defeat, almost overcame reason.

Still, if he used qi and mana, he could escape, avoid Isolde... but at what cost? His secrets revealed, the college staff and Brineheart enforcers hot on his tail—his opportunity to learn the vault of knowledge hidden between these walls gone. Not worth it. This humiliation—he would swallow it.

He wouldn’t forget it.

As he stared Isolde down, he felt his body change. The House’s uniform came loose over his thinning arms. The corded muscles of his chest softened, then expanded to press against the fabric of his white shirt. His hair, which reached his ears, sprouted like wild vines. Each strand glistened like the softest starlight-silk as it reached his expanding hips. And finally, he felt it. His man’s pride... vanishing.

Gasps erupted among the girls, their mouths dropped, and their voices rose in pitch.

"How did he become so pretty?!"

"Her breasts are bigger than mine!"

"Look at these forms... I’m jealous."

When Isolde spoke, it was with her brows raised. "That’s unexpected," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and nodding like a painter who had just given her masterpiece its final stroke. "The curse couldn’t diminish your handsomeness. In any case, punishment has been given."

She waved as she returned to her room. Once she reached the doorway, she clapped, the sound silencing the girls’ giggles. "Back to your rooms, girls. Classes start early, and you don’t want to be late on the very first day, right?" She turned toward Adam, the mana that had pressured Adam rushing to her outstretched hand. "I guess nothing prevents you from sleeping on this floor tonight. Don’t let me catch you breaking the rules again, because trust me, you won’t like my next punishment."

Her door closed the moment the pressure released Adam. His soft features twisted, his rosy lips curled high enough that they almost touched his delicate nose. He glared at the girls who stared at him like an exotic animal. "Get lost..."

He gripped his neck, the high-pitched voice coming out of his slender throat making him clench his jaw. His mind was a pure battlefield, where restraint wrestled against the unbridled rage of a humiliated dragon. But he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of witnessing his turmoil.

He snapped his hand at the stunned Quintella, smooth fingers grabbing her hand. Then he grabbed the culprit of this entire mess—Mathilde—rushed into her open room, and slammed the door shut.

Freed from the girls’ gaze, he leaned against the door, his hand reaching between his legs.

Gone.

"Damn it!" he hissed, eyes blazing, voice rumbling like a woman’s trying to take the threatening pitch of a man as his hand reached for the girl’s neck. "Why did you do that, you foolish brat? You don’t know who you’re messing with, the consequences of..." He pressed his lips in a tight line, as much because of his disturbing voice as to stop himself from speaking too much.

One thing was clear, though. If they were anywhere but Brineheart’s college, he would have murdered her without a second thought.

"What consequences? Humph." Mathilde snorted at his raised fist. She slapped it aside, then moved behind Quintella, hands on her trembling shoulders.

"Why? Because she felt down, of course." She spoke with certainty. "Teacher Magna laid the solution out, but you didn’t think about it. Or was it that you privileged your own comfort over hers?" She snorted. "Look at me. That’s how a true friend should act. I didn’t mind losing a hundred points or risking failure."

Adam’s eyes sharpened like twin blades, his sky-blue irises shining like cold metal. "A hundred points? My comfort?" His fists trembled, knuckles white. "You didn’t lose your manhood either, you daughter of a Moonsilver Striker Ape!" He swept his fist between them, voice dripping with venom. "A real friend? Why don’t you ask about her feelings now? She surely looks delighted."

Mathilde moved in front of Quintella, taking in the tears streaming down her pink eyes, her quivering lips bleeding from several bite marks, and the shock written all over her features.

"She’s so delighted that she lost her voice." She chirped, shrugging. "Give her a few minutes, and she’ll thank me."

"What madness is this..."

As Adam muttered, Quintella’s sobs filled the room. She reached toward him hesitantly. "B-Big brother..." She clasped her hand over her face, collapsing on her knees, wailing as if her world was crumbling apart. "N-Nooo!"