IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE:

This chapter was rewritten (merged with the Archived Chapter 69) on May 25, 2026.

This is the old version of the chapter, which has been preserved for archival purposes.

Please move on to the new “Chapter 68 - Tell Tail” unless you wish to compare versions or see my earlier writing style.

Thank you. <3

We talk for a while, and Carmine is surprisingly thorough with her explanations. Unlike when she first met us, she treats us like child nobles as she goes about her work—like this is our first time, and our mothers are at our sides to normalize the process.

I sit stiffly between Cari and Bella, my ears still pinned back to show my discomfort, and my tail settled across my lap as I groom it to ease my stress. It takes a surprising amount of effort to not growl at the woman the entire time she speaks.

Deep down, some part of me is still incredibly upset about what happened.

Not so much the fact that I was naked in front of others. While that part—the violation—still bothers me, it’s not the leading cause of my upset. I’ve been naked around dozens of women by now thanks to regular massages and baths at Tails and Temptations, so I’ve gotten sort-of used to it.

It’s still embarrassing, but usually only when the women helping me are overtly interested.

No… what stings the most is who it happened around. That I was naked in front of Bella.

I can already intuit that it’s my estrus cycle making itself known even through the now barely functional medicine. Apparently there was a plan this hormonal mess decided to put together without my knowledge.

Some kind of instinctual stairway to relationship success, every bit as ridiculous as I’d imagine something like that being. Then it got all kinds of fucked up.

And every part of me hates that fact.

Well, that and the fact that Carmine is so fast that I couldn’t even stop her if I wanted to.

At least, not without magic.

At the same time, it’s exactly that train of thought that keeps me from lashing out. I wouldn’t say that it’s normal to just accept someone stripping me like that, but from every angle I look at it, it was a genuine misunderstanding.

It’s awful, and frustrating, and incredibly unnerving.

But just a misunderstanding.

I can forgive that… eventually. But it’s still a line crossed, and I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t.

For now, I just settle on grooming my tail obsessively and not verbally tearing her to ribbons.

Eventually, Carmine winds her way back to our uniforms specifically, all the while shrinking under my cautious gaze and Cari’s withering glare.

“Right, I’ve been told to make ten for each of you. Five for everyday use, three for outdoor activities, and two for social,” Carmine says, pulling me from my mental spiral. “Before that, though, I will need to gather your measurements as well, Cari. Would you like to do that in private?”

I breathe through my nose carefully, forcing myself to focus on anything but the unfairness of Cari getting the option.

What’s done is done.

Instead of answering Carmine right away, Cari leans forward to peer at Bella at my other side.

“Would you mind looking away for a moment?"

Her cheeks darken just a hint and she spares me a slightly raised brow, but her answer is near instant.

“Certainly.”

She closes her eyes before turning her head to the side, away from the rest of us.

“Thank you,” Cari says, standing and side-stepping for space. “Is here fine?”

Carmine nods shakily, glancing at me again. I keep glaring, tracking every step she takes towards Cari.

“Excuse me for a moment, then…” she says softly.

Then she begins. Just like with me, she’s damn near impossible to track, even with all of my boosting Skills. But ‘damn near’ isn’t ‘completely’. I lean into Arcane Pugilism, the passive responsible for a good half of my combat prowess.

It flounders. I'm instantly disappointed, but I understand it. Even if it hurts.

How can I hope to plan to combat someone I can’t even see properly, much less react to?

A growl of frustration slips out, and Carmine freezes for the briefest of instants to give me a wide-eyed stare. It’s only for a fraction of a second, then she’s back to her work. In a matter of a couple of seconds, she’s redressed Cari as well, who immediately crosses her arms and sidles back up to my side without a word.

But I caught it. A hint into what I could do to improve further. To stop this from ever happening again, or at least punish those who attempt it.

Sometimes, all it takes is a growl. Something to upset the balance, just for an instant. A distraction.

An opening.

The idea unwinds in my mind, several of my passives and even my stat milestones kicking into gear to hint at possibilities. Feints, tricks, acceptable risks or sacrifices.

I’ll need training. Practice. Practical experience even, preferably with someone stronger than me by leaps and bounds. Just to see if I can make it work.

But I’m in the perfect place to get exactly that, aren’t I?

The anger isn’t gone. It just sharpens into purpose. It’s a long way off, but I can see the next step.

A small smile starts to bloom on my lips, my ears finally perking back up. Carmine shivers. My smile grows just a bit more.

“N-now then, let’s move on to the designs,” she says, her eyes brightening noticeably at the change of topic. “There’s a measure of freedom in customizing your uniforms, and I already have plenty of ideas for the two of you.”

Cari looks at me with a small frown then, her eyes narrowed to slits.

I stiffen, my claws freezing in my tail fur. “What?”

She ignores me, instead unfolding her arms to lean on her lap, shifting her gaze to Bella. Bella returns her gaze, one brow perfectly arched to express her curiosity.

Cari dons a bright, mischievous smile. “You’ll help me get her properly outfitted, won’t you?”

Bella grins, momentarily stunning me with the beauty of it. I’ve seen her smile before, of course, but this is different.

It’s full and bright and absurdly beautiful.

And it’s absolutely terrifying.

I pale, my mind flashing back to a certain tailor shop in Bephis, whose owner got along with Cari far too well.

Not again…

***

After an hour and a half, another dose of increasingly ineffective medicine, and a drawn-out battle to survive three fashion-obsessed women, Carmine leaves to make our outfits proper.

When the door closes behind her with a soft click, I flop limply into the nearest couch. Cari flounces into the kitchen to get another pot of tea going, and Bella stands nearby, a mix of amusement and excitement clear on her face.

Cari even warmed back up to Carmine—though she still slipped in little barbs whenever the wolfkin was working with me. Nothing cruel. Just… Cari.

All the while, during the discussions about my outfits, I’d been made to stand and pose and twirl and…

Gods, what am I? A dress-up doll?

After all was said and done, only two of my outfits were to be made with trousers. One for everyday wear and one for outdoorsy situations, both of which were only permitted because weather just happens to be cold sometimes.

Hooray for little mercies.

The rest of my outfits were to have a mix of skirts and stockings, though I did manage to sneak in a set with shorts. That was a battle in and of itself.

Needless to say, I all but liquefy on the couch. It shouldn’t feel this normal to switch from mild trauma and combat hypotheticals to skirt lengths, but that’s exactly what they drag me into.

I get the feeling that Cari and Bella did it on purpose, as well. To pull my mind away from the upset and into something more… calm.

I appreciate them all the more for it.

At the same time, every bit of me tingles with warmth from the repeated closeness of Bella, who often joined Cari in manhandling me into certain stances or poses.

Sometimes she even acted as an example, making it look utterly effortless. Which was somehow harder for my heart to handle.

She looks way too good. Unfairly good.

I try to send her an envious glare, but my breath catches when I end up locking eyes with her instead. She looks down at me where I’m half-sprawled on the couch like a cat with more ego than sense.

And she’s smiling.

It’s gentler than any of the others I’ve glimpsed so far. Warm enough to melt the last scraps of my anger.

I look away, burying my face in the couch once more to hide from her attention. I can’t handle it right now.

Cari returns with a happy hum on her lips, and I hear the clatter of a tray laden with tea-stuffs being set on the table between the couches.

“Alright, you big softies, tea’s ready,” she harrumphes.

I look back at her to see her giving Bella a knowing look. To my immense surprise, Bella’s cheeks have a hint of pink in them from her call-out.

“Now, what about our class schedules? I wasn’t told anything about it yet,” she continues, ignoring our mutual fluster.

Bella giggles softly, somehow maintaining her composure perfectly. The sound tickles my ears far too nicely, making them twitch.

Gods, I hope the new medicine gets here sooner rather than later.

“Yet to be determined, I’m afraid. In a couple of days, all us new first years will undergo a round of tests and examinations. I hear sparring and a short delve are involved.”

At that, both Cari and I are suddenly enraptured, and she seems to almost revel in our attention like an instructor.

“I’m not sure how the team composition for delves will be handled, but I do know that there will be two to three rounds of sparring. All observed by the first year professors, of course.”

She paces with the effortless confidence of someone used to having entire rooms follow her, her movements smooth and elegant and utterly irresistible to me in my current state.

“And there are some classes we’ll all have to take. System Studies, History, Geography, Arithmetic…”

She stops to pour herself a cup of tea. My eyes track her as she goes about her task…

…and I realize I’d been staring when she smirks at me behind her teacup.

“Etiquette, as well, of course.”

I flush, then her words finally reach my hopelessly Bella-addled brain, and I groan.

Cari, the devil, chuckles at my expense.

“From what I know, though, we’ll be given a day after our examinations to add on any of the extracurriculars. Then we can change them anytime for the next month.”

She settles on the opposite couch beside Cari, crossing one slim leg over the other with that same effortless grace that keeps ruining my heartbeat.

“Huh…” Cari mutters distractedly. “A delve? Really?”

Bella chuckles. “How else do you expect them to so regularly raise the strongest people in the world? They have to level somehow, and combat is by and large the most efficient way to do it.”

Cari nods along. Meanwhile, I grow more and more excited. We were shown the Delvers Guild, of a sort, that’s present on Academy grounds… but I had assumed it was only for people like me, who want to delve.

But I was wrong. Delving seems to be an integral part of the curriculum, if what Bella says is right.

Gods, I hope she’s right.

I’d long since grown tired of delving the fifth layer back in Bephis. I did it mostly out of necessity, keeping up with my mandatory delves to help keep Dungeons from overflowing. But there’s only so many times I could clear the same Dungeons.

Sure, I eked out a few more levels, but progress was so slow, and with each additional level it only grew slower.

In the back of my mind, I also acknowledge the part of me that misses the challenge I felt from my very first Dungeon. My tail wiggles, sharing in my growing excitement.

“Do we know what layer we can get to here?” I ask.

Cari seems interested in the answer as well, turning her full attention back onto Bella.

“I’m not certain, but I heard from my father that he’d reached layer twenty-eight back when he attended.”

I momentarily lose control of my tail, and it swishes wildly behind me.

Layer twenty-eight. So I could, at least, get to level 290 while here. Another question pops into my head, though, my curiosity towards Bella winning out once more.

“What level is your dad, anyways? What Tier?”

She quirks a brow at me and a tiny frown taints her lips.

“You know... that’s technically a national secret,” she says slowly.

I wince at that. “Oh. Sorry.”

Her frown flips back into a smirk, and she shrugs. “It’s fine. I trust you both well enough, and it’s a loosely guarded secret besides.”

She takes another sip of tea, then seems to straighten up, prouder than I’ve ever seen her.

“He’s level 388. Tier Three.”

I’m momentarily stunned by the number, then pause, confused. “Wait, only Tier Three? What levels make up Tier Three? Actually, what levels make up Tier Two?”

“Oh, right!” Cari interjects, looking like she’s only just remembered something important. “I forgot you never really paid much attention to anything beyond Tier Zero or One back… then.”

She finishes hesitantly, guilt tightening her voice.

“Back when I was Faulted, you mean,” I say, bowling straight through the topic.

I refuse to tip-toe around my past. I’d overcome it, after all. I absolutely will not act like some delicate flower after surviving such hells.

She winces, then nods. “Yeah. You were a bit more… focused, back then.”

I nod along, and she gives me a soft, apologetic smile before continuing.

“Well, Tier Zero is comprised of levels 1 to 49, with Tier One starting at level 50. Tier One goes up to level 99, and Tier Two starts at level 100.”

I nod along, having expected as much. Everything I’ve experienced with the System has some kind of… well, system to it. I’d figured that every fifty levels would mean reaching another Tier, based on the initial pattern.

“Tier Two is a greater shift. It goes up to level 199, with Tier Three starting at level 200,” she continues, shattering my expectations.

My eyes widen at her words, but I immediately see the pattern. And the gap it creates between Tiers is staggering.

It’s not every fifty levels, it’s doubling the level gap each Tier. Meaning…

“And Tier Three ends at level 399, with Tier Four starting at level 400.”

“Gods, that’s…” I mutter, Bella’s chuckle cutting through my surprise only a moment later.

“There are rumors of Tier Five, but nobody has reached such heights in recorded history. If the trend continues, though, that’d be someone at level 800 or higher.”

I shiver. Not with dread, though. With excitement.

I have so far to go.

The thought thrills me.

***

***

Authors Note:Emilia's specialty: shifting trauma into purpose. It's honestly not something I expected to be such an integral part of her character, but she's shown her ability and willingness to do that from the very beginning.

I only just now realized how much of a badass trait that really is while writing this chapter.

Authors Note Pt. 2:Go check out the post "Book Art!" that I posted earlier today!

I got the first sketch in for the art I'm planning to use as my official book cover! (lots of work yet to be done, but the proof of concept is amazing!)

... but for those of you who don't want to read my gushing about how cool it is, I'm attaching the image below as well. Because it's cool. And awesome. And amazing.

Check out the artist! They're incredible!

Artist Link:https://www.fiverr.com/treskiddos?source=gig_page