Her gaze then shifted to Cipher, who wore an "I'm done for" expression and whose cat ears were still twitching innocently. She sighed heavily. "Secondly... Cifera. Last time I kept you for dinner, you ran away halfway through. This time, I think we truly need a serious discussion about your pranks and the responsibility you must bear."
"Nooooo! Agy! Everything I did was for the stability of the holy city!" Cipher wailed, her face a picture of misery.
"But you absolutely should not have borrowed someone else's identity without their consent. You must apologize to Phaethon and make compensation." Aglaea's tone was unusually firm.
...
Nearby, Cyrene and Castorice exchanged a glance. Cyrene let out a soft sigh of relief and whispered to Castorice, "Phew— It looks like the process was a bit perilous and twisty, but the overall outcome is still good. Everyone finally…"
Before her self-comforting words could finish, a clear, ringing male voice, brimming with obvious anger, smashed into the space like a warhammer:
"Aglaea! You... you perverted woman!"
It was Anaxa—dressed in rather scholarly robes, his handsome face now filled with indignation—striding out from behind a giant stone pillar, his index finger pointed directly at Aglaea.
"I've heard all those rampant rumors within Okhema! You actually really…" He seemed so angry his hair might stand on end. "You woman, I absolutely will not permit you... Phaethon is my student! How dare you lay hands on him!"
Suddenly named, Phaethon looked utterly bewildered. "Uh... Teacher Anaxa? What are you…?"
However, when Anaxa's furious gaze swept over Phaethon, it suddenly fixed on Phaethon's collar—where a delicate, chibi Anaxa was pinned.
The towering rage instantly froze. Anaxa's pupils trembled slightly, his face rapidly displaying a complex mix of shock, disbelief, and immense touched emotion. "This... this is... you…"
"Good student! Truly my good student! You really have your teacher in your heart!"
The touched emotion immediately transformed into an even firmer protective instinct. He whirled his head around to glare at Aglaea again. "Aglaea! You get away from Phaethon's side right now! I'll protect his innocence for a lifetime!"
Aglaea, utterly confused by this string of inexplicable accusations, frowned deeply. "Anaxagoras! What madness are you spouting now? What do you mean?"
"What do I mean?" Anaxa threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "You snatch my Droma merchandise, saying 'highest bidder wins'—I didn't bother with you over that! You don't let me retrieve the 'Reason' Coreflame, you forbid me from studying Kephale's divine body, saying the Castrum Kremnos front is critical and a Titan leaning toward humanity shouldn't fall right now—you made sense, I accepted that! But you! How dare you stretch your claws toward my student? Court him?! How old are you? How old is he?! This I absolutely cannot tolerate!"
"Which eye of yours saw me courting your student?" Aglaea was completely baffled now. But looking at Anaxa's face, the drawback of her returned humanity manifested—anger was burning away the threads of romance.
"You still dare to deny it!" Anaxa fiercely tapped open his message slate. "Castorice sent me the evidence! Look for yourself!"
On the slate was densely listed a variety of logically organized event records, character psychological analyses, relationship trend charts, even highlighted with various colored lines and annotations. Its rigor was comparable to an academic paper!
Castorice, standing to the side, instantly turned as pale as a sheet.
She remembered now! Previously, while brainstorming ideas for this story titled *The Holy City Guardian Would Not Fall for the Okhema Elder*, she had indeed meticulously compiled these observation notes and wildly imaginative outlines...
She... she... she seemed to have accidentally sent this document, meant for the fanfic writer group chat for fellow enthusiasts to appreciate, to Teacher Anaxa instead!
Just as Cyrene was utterly dumbfounded by this sudden, explosively information-packed development—
Anaxa let out a roar and threw an elbow straight at Aglaea!
Aglaea, a Romance Demigod, was no pushover. She instinctively raised her forearm to block. In an instant, they were elbow-to-elbow, locked in a contest of strength!
The situation was now completely out of control, spiraling irreversibly!
Cipher saw that Aglaea had actually started fighting someone. Her cat ears perked up, and without a second thought, she let out a "Mew!" and pounced!
Phaethon saw Cipher move and habitually reached out to grab the back of her collar.
Anaxa saw Phaethon suddenly approach the "battle group" and thought his student was coming to help him. In his panic, his free hand subconsciously reached out to grab Phaethon's clothes to pull him to safety behind himself!
Aglaea saw Anaxa's hand actually reaching for the new clothes she had painstakingly tailored for Phaethon overnight and immediately panicked too.
She instantly freed one hand to swat Anaxa's hand away!
Aglaea panicked, so Cipher panicked.
Cipher panicked, so Phaethon panicked!
Phaethon panicked, so Anaxa pulled even harder to get him over!
Anaxa panicked, his movements grew larger, which made Aglaea even angrier. Her defense directly turned into a counterattack!
Aglaea counterattacked, so Cipher joined in. Cipher joined in, so Phaethon followed. Phaethon joined the fray, so Anaxa began his magical techniques!
*Ahem ahem.* In short, in a corner of Okhema, several figures of great importance were now completely tangled in a brawl—arms, legs, cat paws, and clothing hems all entangled, mixed with various shouts:
"Let go of my student!" "Don't touch the clothes I wove!" "Mew-woo!" "Teacher, calm down!" "Lady Aglaea, please stop fighting!"
The scene was filled with chaotic yelling, turning into a veritable pot of boiling porridge.
Witnessing this scene, Castorice looked deathly pale, thinking that for her own safety, she must return to the Nether Realm immediately after giving back the 'Death' Coreflame.
Cyrene simply put on a pained expression mask, covering her eyes with both hands—
"Why?! Just why?! How do such utterly absurd things always happen around little Phaethon?!!"
...
In the end, it was only through Phaethon's utmost efforts to mediate that this misunderstanding was finally cleared up.
Only... the cost was that the cunning Cipher slipped away once more.
However... she did leave a note in Phaethon's pocket, saying she knew she was wrong, would take responsibility, and could be called upon for tasks anytime in the future—a full five (scratched out) *ahem*, three times.
Because of this, Aglaea and Anaxa parted on bad terms once again.
...
However, several days after the incident concluded, Anaxa sought out Phaethon once more.
"Teacher Anaxa, you're looking for me in such a hurry. Is there something urgent?"