One of the boys yelped, outrage bubbling up as if he had been wronged. Leon felt not a shred of remorse. If anything, the flash of fear in their eyes fed something dark and deliberate inside him.

"You should really watch your mouths. The filth you think and spit out in public makes me sick. Got it?" His voice rose from the chest, rough and steady, and for a moment he looked less like the calm lecturer he was and more like a lion driven past patience. "And you will learn to respect women. Especially my female students. Understand?"

The two exchanged a panicked glance. They looked like rats caught under a hawk’s shadow, trembling as they nodded with wide, glassy eyes. The sight almost amused Leon. Their fear lightened his mood in a strange and fleeting way.

"Good." He released their collars. "I do not want to hear trash like that from you again. If I see you and you are still talking that way, you might end up tasting my fist."

"Y—yeah sir. Sorry. Really sorry," one of them stammered.

"Sorry sir," the other echoed.

"Get out of here. You are disgusting me."

They bolted. Leon watched their clumsy retreat with a predator’s satisfaction simmering beneath his skin.

Then came a voice he knew too well.

"Oh wow. No one has ever been man enough to defend my honor like that. Guess I could get used to it."

Leon turned. Silvana stood a few paces away with that sweet, maddening smile she wore like perfume. Hands on her hips, eyes glittering with the confidence of someone who knew precisely how striking she was. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder, and something inside him twisted.

For a heartbeat Leon went still. Old fantasies he had tried to bury stirred like flies in the warm air. Get a grip Leon. She is your student.

"By the way thanks Sir Leon," she said, sincere beneath the teasing.

"Umm yeah well…" Leon managed, his voice cracking like a teenage boy.

Perfect. Now he was acting like someone her age, flushed and awkward, as if puberty had come back for a second round. He cleared his throat and turned slightly, as though her gaze were too bright to meet head on.

"I just did what felt right. I know you. It would be weird to stand there while those idiots turned you into an object."

Silvana let out a soft giggle, a sound light enough to stir the warm night air.

"Alright then. I think what you did was actually pretty bold. I like that," she said with unbothered ease. Her gaze slid past Leon’s shoulder, checking to see whether the two boys had truly vanished. "They thought they could just walk up to me like that. But not everyone gets access, you know? So… what were they saying about me earlier?"

"Ah that," Leon muttered. He cleared his throat once more and reached for another cigarette, as if nicotine could straighten the tangled wires inside him. "I think you already know without me saying it. Just the usual gross things guys talk about."

He lit the cigarette and inhaled, but his composure was a thin veneer. Silvana’s eyes followed the movement, lingering on the cigarette resting between his lips. Then a grin blossomed across her face, all mischief and dangerous charm.

"Oh really?"

She leaned in closer, eyes wide with curiosity, so close he could count the flecks of gold in her irises. Something hot and unwelcome flickered in his mind again. For the second time tonight he had to wrestle with thoughts he had no business indulging.

"So what kind of gross things do guys usually talk about?" she asked. "And do you ever feel guilty about it?"

Leon let out a stiff laugh. The question was too sharp, almost surgical in how it poked at the truth he never intended to voice. Yes, of course he had indulged in such fantasies. And yes, on more than one shameful night, Silvana had been the center of them. But admitting such a thing would be madness.

Luck favored him in small, clumsy ways. He felt calmer now, the cigarette settling his nerves just enough for words to form.

"Never," he answered jokingly. "You should go home soon. It’s not safe for you to wander around this late wearing that."

Silvana raised a brow. "Oh come on, don’t change the topic like that. And we both know you’re lying."

Leon lifted his brows at her, a small sound of annoyance slipping through his throat. Silvana only grinned wider. She knew the power she carried, the way a little effort from her could warp the air around her into something ripe and dangerous.

She stepped closer, close enough that any passerby would mistake her for a coquette rather than a bright college student. She did not seem to care. "So what kind of things were you guys talking about, Sir Leon?" she asked. Her eyes flicked to his mouth again, hungry with curiosity. "Were you talking about what you would do to them? Or what you would do to the girls who like you?"

Leon removed the cigarette from his lips, releasing smoke that curled into the night like a spell. He exhaled slowly, his voice a shade lower. "There is no way I would expose that to girls. Especially not to a good girl like you."

Silvana said nothing. Her gaze lingered, tracing the smoke that wreathed around him. The nicotine haze framed him like the subject of a painting, something carved from shadows and arrogance. He looked back at her, and for a heartbeat both of them were caught staring.

In Leon’s mind, Silvana was a vision dipped in gold. City light brushed her cheekbones, made her features sharp and luminous. Her blonde hair caught the glow, turning it richer, almost molten. The shape of her body was defined with casual cruelty, as if the world itself conspired to make her more beautiful.

Silvana lifted her chin, lips curving as if she had just decided on a secret. "You know, Sir Leon, I am not as good as you think. I actually did something earlier that most other students would never do. Something you probably would not imagine."

After a long pause spent admiring the handsome face of her favorite lecturer, Silvana finally decided to speak.

Leon merely smirked at the confession from the beautiful student standing before him. He already knew, of course. “To be honest, I did know. I was only trying to improve your image, Silvana.”

“In that case, I’d like to hear exactly what kind of disgusting things you were saying, Sir. I find myself rather curious now.”

Leon’s warm brown eyes met Silvana’s striking blue ones. She truly looked like a living doll. “No, perhaps another time.”

A mischievous grin curved her lips. “Hm, is that so? What a shame.”

Realizing that things could quickly become far more complicated, Leon decided to change the subject. If he did not, he might find it impossible to escape the increasingly wild fantasies running through his mind. After all, he was dangerously close to losing control and imagining himself stripping his beautiful student right there in public.

His head throbbed. Good grief, he must have lost his mind to even think that way. “Where are you headed at this hour?” Leon asked.

Silvana glanced down the road ahead, as though it had suddenly become the most fascinating thing in the world. “Home, I suppose,” she replied. Then she looked back at him, her expression carrying the weight of a disappointing day. “I was supposed to go out with Jiyya, but she chose to spend the evening with Dean and Sir Joan instead. Ah, I’m terribly lonely tonight,” she complained in a sweet, playful tone.

“What about Jarvis? Aren’t the two of you quite close?” Leon asked. Secretly, he was testing a theory. Jarvis had insisted that Silvana’s unusual behavior was not because she was trying to get his attention, but because she was trying to flirt with Leon instead. That was why Leon wanted to confirm it for himself. He had hoped Jarvis was wrong, because ever since hearing that, he had begun to see Silvana in a very different light.

“No, thank you. I don’t want to spend time with him. He’s my childhood friend, and honestly, I get bored being around him all the time,” Silvana replied, rolling her eyes.

That simple gesture sent Leon’s imagination soaring. Could Jarvis have been right after all? Was Silvana truly interested in him? But why? How could that be?

“But isn’t it natural for childhood friends to spend time together?”

“He’s not exactly the kind of person I’d choose for fun, Sir. He’s far too lazy. He’d rather sleep at home than go out and enjoy himself with me.”

Leon laughed at her complaint. “Then perhaps you need someone else to keep you company.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Leon instinctively clamped his lips shut. Damn. That had come out wrong. It sounded like a clumsy attempt at flirting. He could hardly believe he had just said something like that to one of his own students. Truthfully, he was hesitant to take things any further. Yet Silvana’s reaction only made her more irresistible. Her cheeks flushed a delicate pink. It was the first time he had ever seen this side of her. As far as he could remember, Silvana was never shy. She was always confident, always composed. Seeing her like this only made him want to tease her even more.

“A-Are you... not busy tonight, Sir Leon?” she asked softly.

Instead of answering immediately, Leon deliberately leaned closer to her. “If I’m being honest, I’m actually quite bored right now.”

Silvana’s eyes widened. Then her gaze drifted toward the sushi restaurant she had seen him leaving only moments earlier. “You’re lying.”

“I’m completely serious.”

“Then who were you with earlier? I’m certain you weren’t wandering around alone.”

“Bingo. You’re absolutely right.”

“So?”

“I was with Ronald, an old friend from college, and Miss Kelly,” Leon replied.

The moment he mentioned another woman, Silvana’s expression darkened.

“Then why would you say you’re bored? They’re your friends, aren’t they? And besides, there was Miss Kelly. Everyone on campus knows the two of you are close, even if your relationship isn’t exactly official.”

Leon smiled faintly at the change in her tone. Her reaction was almost endearing. She looked unmistakably jealous, and he found it utterly adorable.

“And what does that have to do with whether or not I’m bored?”

“Of course it does. You’re really terrible at making excuses, Sir.”

“I’m not making excuses, Silvana. It’s true. I was bored. In fact, I was in a rather bad mood until I ran into you.”

There he went again, saying things that sounded far too smooth, almost embarrassingly so. He knew his experience with women should have made him better at handling conversations like this. Yet somehow, every word coming out of his mouth tonight sounded like the awkward lines of a lovestruck teenager.

“Well, that sounds lovely. Does that mean I’ve just become your mood booster, Sir?”

“Yes, I suppose you have.”

“Hm... may I ask you something? There’s something I’ve been curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Did Sir Joan happen to mention anything about Jiyya?” Silvana asked.

Leon shot her a puzzled look. Why had she suddenly brought up someone else? The question caught him off guard, though he chose to answer casually.

“Not that I can recall,” he said, glancing away for a moment before his gaze returned to her beautiful blue eyes. “Why are you so curious about that?”

Silvana simply shook her head with a small smile. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Better yet, just forget I asked.”

Naturally, that only made Leon more curious. He was about to press further when Silvana looked straight into his eyes with an expression he could not quite decipher. She reminded him of a kitten, playful and quietly demanding his attention.

“By the way, since you said you were bored, does that mean you’d be willing to keep me company for a while?”

There was no way Leon could refuse. He would have to be out of his mind to let an opportunity like this slip away. “Of course. Why not?”

And so they set off together, walking side by side like old friends. They were doing nothing wrong, yet Leon could not shake a strange sense of unease. He kept glancing around, as if he had done something improper, something almost scandalous. He felt absurdly like a man sneaking away with a much younger woman, nervously looking over his shoulder in fear of being caught. The comparison made him grimace inwardly. Where on earth had that come from?

He spent far too much energy arguing with himself. Nothing is going to happen, he told himself firmly. There is nothing between us. Silvana may be bold and remarkably straightforward, but she would never do anything reckless.

Once again, Leon tried to hold on to that reassuring thought. But then he glanced at her and noticed the faint flush coloring her cheeks. In an instant, all his carefully constructed reasoning began to crumble. Unwelcome thoughts rushed in to replace it. After all, Silvana was no teenager. She was of legal age, a young woman standing at the threshold of adulthood. Relationships with an age gap were hardly unusual these days. And besides, he was not forcing anything upon her, nor was he taking advantage of her.

Then, suddenly, Leon cut off his own thoughts. Why was he even thinking this far ahead?

Yes, they knew each other well. Yes, they had spent time together before. But this was the first time they had ever been alone like this, and no matter how comfortable they were with one another, the fact remained unchanged: he was her lecturer, and she was his student. He really must be losing his mind. Only then did he realize how far they had wandered from the crowded city streets. This road was quiet, almost deserted. Hardly anyone passed by. Was Silvana’s house really this way? As far as he remembered, it was not.

He had driven her home once before, so although he was fairly certain they were heading in the wrong direction, he could not say with complete confidence which way was right. His uncertainty only deepened when Silvana suddenly quickened her pace, as if determined to lead and equally determined not to be questioned. Then, without warning, she turned into a narrow, deserted alley.

“Silvana, if I remember correctly, this isn’t the way—”

His words were cut short. Before he could finish, her lips were suddenly on his. And she did not stop there.

With surprising determination, Silvana pushed him backward until his shoulders met the wall behind him. Her kiss was desperate, hungry, filled with a longing that seemed to have been waiting far too long to be set free. Her slender fingers slid into his dark hair, tangling there, tightening as she deepened the kiss. For one breathless moment, Leon’s reason abandoned him.

Without realizing it, he answered the fierce, instinctive part of himself he had been trying so hard to suppress. He kissed her back, fully and passionately, forgetting every reason why this should never have happened. Every caution, every boundary, every warning vanished beneath the intensity of the moment. There was only her, and the overwhelming force of his response.

Several long, dizzying seconds passed before Leon finally pulled away.

He gently but firmly put some distance between them, his instincts warning him just how dangerous this situation had become. His pulse thundered in his ears as he looked at her, still trying to steady his breathing. “What was that?” he asked, his voice low and unsteady. “Why did you do that?”