I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!-Chapter 548 Pleased

Alina turned toward Dante with narrowed eyes, suspicion written clearly across her face.

Dante looked suspiciously calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that suggested he knew exactly what was happening and had absolutely no intention of explaining it yet. His posture remained relaxed against the couch, one arm resting along the backrest, his long fingers loosely curled as if nothing unusual had happened in the room at all.

Which only made her more suspicious.

Before she could demand an answer, Ak stepped back slightly from the couch.

"I must leave now," the priest said calmly, brushing an invisible crease from the sleeve of his dark robes. "I have other matters to attend to. Shadows to consult. Prayers to offer. The usual."

His voice carried that same smooth, unsettling calm it always seemed to hold, as if the world’s strangest events were simply ordinary parts of his day.

Without waiting for anyone to respond, he lifted one hand.

The air in front of him rippled.

It began as a faint distortion, like heat rising above a fire, then deepened into something darker. A circular portal slowly formed behind him, its edges swirling with shadows and faint silver light that moved like liquid night.

Ak stepped into it as casually as if he were walking through a doorway between rooms. His long robes billowed gently as the magical current shifted around him.

For a brief moment, the darkness inside the portal swallowed his figure.

Then the circle folded inward and vanished.

The portal closed instantly behind him with a soft sound.

The room fell quiet again.

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

Sable stared at the empty space where the priest had been, his small face scrunched in serious thought. His eyes moved slightly as if he expected the strange man to suddenly step back out again.

"He left so soon," he announced thoughtfully.

Lucien remained silent beside him. His dark eyes were still fixed on the place where the portal had disappeared, studying the air with quiet intensity.

Alina slowly turned toward Dante.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What assumption?" she repeated, her voice calm but firm.

Dante looked down first at Lucien sitting on his lap, then at Sable standing beside Alina, and finally back at her.

He cleared his throat.

"...Something important," he said carefully. "I will tell you later."

"Now," she said immediately.

"Later."

"Dante."

"Alina."

Lucien looked between them with quiet amusement, his small lips pressing together to hide the hint of a smile. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Sable giggled openly.

And despite herself, despite the curiosity still burning inside her chest, Alina felt the corner of her lips twitch.

Later, then.

The tension slowly faded after the strange visit from the shadow priest, and the living room gradually returned to its normal rhythm.

Lucien remained thoughtful, sitting quietly as he processed everything that had been said. His small brows were slightly furrowed as his mind worked through the priest’s words again and again.

Honesty. Purity. Wisdom.

His dark eyes drifted toward the spot where the portal had closed.

Those words about his mother stayed with him.

They felt warm.

Important.

He tucked them carefully into his memory, storing them away like something precious that he might need someday.

Sable, however, had already moved on from mysterious priests, hidden powers, and philosophical revelations.

He had dragged one of the large cushions from the couch onto the floor and was now trying to construct some kind of "fort" beside Alina’s legs. His small body leaned forward as he pushed the heavy cushion into position, his tongue poking out slightly with concentration.

Alina stood up from the couch and brushed lightly at her dress, smoothing out the wrinkles Sable had created during his climbing.

"Come on," she said gently to the boys, holding out both of her hands. "Let’s go see what the kitchen prepared. I think someone promised snacks earlier."

Sable immediately brightened.

His entire face lit up like a small sun.

"Snacks!" he shouted happily.

The cushion was forgotten instantly.

He rushed forward and grabbed her hand with both of his.

"What snacks?" he asked eagerly. "Are there cookies? I want chocolate cookies!"

Lucien slipped down from Dante’s lap more calmly. His movements were quiet and deliberate, but before leaving he glanced back at Dante.

There was a small questioning look in his eyes.

Dante met his gaze.

For a brief moment, something silent passed between them.

Then Dante gave a small nod.

"Go," he said softly. "I will be there soon."

Lucien nodded once in return.

The three of them left together.

Their footsteps echoed softly along the long corridor as they walked away. Sable’s excited voice drifted back into the room as he continued asking questions about cookies and cakes and anything sweet the kitchen might have prepared.

Then the living room became quiet again.

Dante remained seated exactly where he was.

For a long moment he did not move.

The fire beside him crackled softly, sending warm light flickering across the stone floor and the high walls of the castle. The shadows along the walls stretched slowly as evening settled deeper into the building.

Finally, Dante leaned back against the couch.

His gaze drifted toward nothing in particular, settling somewhere in the middle distance.

A small smile slowly appeared on his lips.

"So," he thought quietly to himself.

"My assumption was correct."

The shadow priest had not said much.

But he did not need to.

Dante had suspected it for a while now.

Ak had simply confirmed it.

His eyes darkened slightly, though not with anger.

Something else flickered there instead.

Something far more dangerous in its own quiet way.

A thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"Interesting."

He lowered his head slightly and rested his knuckles against his lips, hiding the smile that was slowly forming there, though no one remained in the room to see it.

"So there really is nothing stopping me now from..."

The thought remained unfinished.

For several seconds he simply sat there, letting the idea move slowly through his mind.

Then suddenly he laughed under his breath.

For a brief moment his entire face lit up, and the dangerous spark in his eyes became unmistakable. It was the expression of someone who had just realized they could finally reach out and claim something they had secretly wanted for a very long time.

The shadows around the room seemed to respond.

They deepened along the walls, curling lazily like living things that understood their master’s thoughts.

They stretched toward the firelight.

Then withdrew again.

Almost playful.

Whatever conclusion Dante had reached,

it clearly pleased him very much.

He remained there for a long while, sitting alone with his thoughts, his shadows, and the quiet warmth of the fire.

The small smile never quite left his face.

From somewhere down the corridor he could hear Sable’s distant laughter.

Then Alina’s gentle voice answered him.

Dante listened quietly.

Like someone listening to music he never wanted to end.