My Succubus Health Bar Runs on Girl-Crushes

The first ray of morning sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains and danced playfully across Tessa’s long lashes.

She woke to a faint, drifting fragrance.

It was sweet and intimate, a mix of milk-scented body wash and the natural warmth of girls sharing the same room. Like an invisible hand, it brushed lightly against the tip of her nose.

Tessa opened her eyes in a daze. Her vision was still blurry, but the first thing she saw was a scene that would have made any perfectly normal guy’s blood pressure spike.

Not far from her bed, Vanessa Rose, the roommate with the most striking figure, was doing her morning stretches by the window in a thin silk nightdress.

She raised both arms and arched backward, forming a breathtaking curve in the morning light. The silk was so light it seemed almost translucent under the sun, tracing the graceful lines of her mature figure as she moved. As the hem shifted with her stretch, her long, pale legs were left completely in view.

Tessa let out a silent scream inside her head.

All traces of sleep vanished instantly.

Her heart roared like a sports car engine with the pedal slammed down.

She squeezed her eyes shut, then couldn’t help cracking one eye open again.

Calm down. Calm down! You’re a girl now. Everyone here is a girl. What’s wrong with looking? This is art. Human aesthetics. Pure appreciation.

She desperately tried to talk herself through it, but her body was painfully honest. She could feel her cheeks heating at a visible speed, and her heart was pounding so hard it felt ready to leap out of her throat.

“Hm? Tessa, you’re awake?”

Vanessa seemed to notice her gaze. She stopped stretching and turned around, a lazy, charming smile on her face. With one casual motion, she tucked a loose curl behind her ear, and somehow that simple gesture only made her look even more dangerously elegant.

“G-Good morning, Vanessa,” Tessa managed.

The words came out thin and weak, almost squeezed between her teeth. Her eyes drifted everywhere except Vanessa’s face.

Vanessa let out a small laugh. “That shy little look is adorable.”

She walked over with catlike grace and leaned down beside Tessa’s bed. A richer wave of fragrance drifted over.

“Are you hungry? I bought some bread. Want a bite?”

As she spoke, the other two roommates, Chloe Hart and Iris Lane, had already finished washing up and changed their clothes to head out.

“Tessa, Vanessa, we’re going to the dining hall,” Chloe called, poking her head over. “Do you two want to come?”

The second Tessa heard the words “dining hall,” Evan Hale’s social anxiety twitched violently. A crowded room full of people was basically her personal hell.

“I… I’m not hungry yet. You go ahead,” Tessa said quickly, waving her hands.

“Then I’ll stay with Tessa for a little while,” Vanessa said gently.

Soon, only the two of them were left in the dorm room.

Vanessa tore open the bread wrapper and took a bite first. Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she tore off the softest piece, smiled with obvious mischief, and brought it to Tessa’s lips.

“Come on, little Tessa. Ahh.”

For Tessa in that moment, the gesture might as well have been a bomb going off.

Her body jerked backward, and her back hit the wall at the head of the bed with a dull thump.

She stared at the piece of bread inches from her mouth, then at Vanessa’s teasing eyes. Her brain buzzed, then completely shut down.

“I… I just remembered I have something to do! I’m leaving first!”

She scrambled out of bed almost on all fours, grabbed her books from the desk at random, and fled the dorm room at a speed better suited to an evacuation drill.

Behind her, Vanessa’s bright, flirtatious laughter rang like little bells.

After rushing out of the dorm building, Tessa gulped down the cool morning air. Only then did the burning heat in her cheeks finally ease a little.

Who could possibly survive that?

She howled inwardly.

Were interactions between girls always this dangerous?

At that moment, the long-absent system notification sounded in her mind.

[Current Affection Points: 24]

[Status: Natural Affection Decay. -1 point per hour.]

The cold numbers splashed over her like a bucket of ice water, instantly cooling the heat in her head.

Right.

She was still under the threat of a death countdown. She needed to gather 100 Affection Points within seven days, and that did not even account for the hourly drain. Relying on the small bits of goodwill from her roommates was nowhere near enough.

Her real target was that walking high-value reservoir of affection.

Seraphina Frost.

The moment she thought of Seraphina, Tessa’s mood became complicated. She desperately wanted to see her lifeline again, but there was also the nervousness of facing an epic dungeon boss.

Today’s public Art Appreciation class would be her first battlefield.

She took a deep breath. Determination gradually settled into her eyes. Hugging her books to her chest, she hurried toward the academic building.

The large lecture hall was already seventy or eighty percent full.

Tessa stood at the entrance and spotted the figure sitting in the third row at a glance.

Seraphina Frost.

Today, she wore a simple white dress. Her long black hair fell smoothly over her shoulders. Even sitting quietly, she seemed to have a soft glow around her, completely separate from the noisy classroom.

She was like a spotless white lotus, cool and graceful. Within three meters of her, an invisible goddess barrier seemed to exist. The boys nearby only dared to admire her from a distance. Not a single one had the courage to go up and talk to her.

Tessa tightened her grip on the books in her arms. Her palms had already started sweating.

Go, or don’t go?

Her social anxiety screamed at her to find a corner and hide, but her survival instinct pushed at her back like a firm hand.

In the end, survival won.

She forced herself forward. Under hundreds of eyes, she walked stiffly toward that dazzling figure, like a trembling lamb that had wandered into a wolf pack.

One step. Two steps.

Every step felt like walking on a blade.

Then, as if sensing her distress, Seraphina looked up from her book. The moment she saw Tessa, a faint light bloomed in those cool eyes, like ice melting in early spring.

“Tessa, over here.”

Seraphina smiled and waved gently, then patted the empty seat beside her.

Her voice was not loud, but in the noisy lecture hall, it carried with shocking clarity. Everyone nearby turned to look.

“Whoa, who’s Seraphina calling?”

“Who’s that girl? She’s gorgeous. Does she go here?”

Countless gazes, filled with surprise and curiosity, snapped onto Tessa like stage lights.

Tessa’s face went red with a rush. She wanted nothing more than to dig a hole in the floor and vanish. With her head lowered, she nearly forgot how to walk properly as she shuffled over to Seraphina’s side and sat down stiffly.

“I thought you might not come today,” Seraphina said.

A clean gardenia scent surrounded Tessa at once. She could even feel the faint warmth of the person sitting beside her through the thin fabric of their clothes.

[Ding! Detected “Joy” from Seraphina Frost. Affection Points +2!]

The system alert helped Tessa relax, if only a little.

She was so nervous that her body trembled despite herself. She had no idea where to put her hands.

In Seraphina’s eyes, however, all of this translated into something else entirely.

This girl named Tessa was trembling just from sitting beside her.

How pure. How unbearably cute.

The smile at the corner of Seraphina’s mouth grew even gentler.

Just then, the bell rang. The elderly professor walked onto the stage and began enthusiastically lecturing about Renaissance sculpture.

Tessa tried very hard to focus on her textbook. Unfortunately, her eyes kept drifting toward the person beside her.

Maybe it was because of the way Seraphina sat, but the hem of her knee-length white dress had shifted up slightly.

A smooth, fair stretch of calf appeared without warning, delicate and pale enough to catch the light.

Tessa screamed inwardly.

Don’t look. Don’t look. She’s your lifesaver. How can you think such awful things about your lifesaver?

Unfortunately, this cursed succubus body seemed to respond on instinct, sending little waves of attraction and longing through her nerves.

The violent clash between her old mind and her new body left Tessa with no choice but to stare hard at the textbook in front of her. She practically tried to carve every word into her eyeballs, pretending to be a model student while her entire body stayed tense as stone.

Seraphina reached for the water bottle at the edge of the desk. As she drew her hand back, the back of it accidentally brushed, lightly and gently, against Tessa’s hand resting on the table.

The touch was as soft as a feather.

To Tessa, whose body had become far too sensitive, it felt like a streak of electricity shooting through her.

She jolted all over and snatched her hand back as if she had been burned.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

Seraphina finally noticed how stiff and strange Tessa had become. She turned toward her with concern, her clear eyes filled with worry.

“N-No… I’m fine…”

Tessa could barely get the words out. Her tongue felt tangled, and her face was as red as a ripe apple.

Seeing her pitiful, almost tearful expression, Seraphina felt a strong protective urge rise inside her. She thought her own presence must have been putting pressure on this shy, delicate girl.

The next moment, Seraphina made a bold move.

Under Tessa’s stunned gaze, she reached out and took Tessa’s cold, faintly trembling hand into her own.

Seraphina’s palm was warm and soft, carrying a reassuring heat. It wrapped gently around Tessa’s hand, as if silently trying to comfort her.

[Ding! Detected “Tender Care” and “Protective Desire” from Seraphina Frost. Affection Points +10!]

[Ding! Affection Points +5!]

[Ding! Affection Points +5!]

A string of alerts exploded in Tessa’s head. Her Affection Points shot upward like crazy.

Tessa went completely blank. She let Seraphina hold her hand, her mind empty.

Then she heard Seraphina lean closer to her ear and speak in a voice so soft only the two of them could hear.

“Why is your hand so cold? Are you still feeling unwell?”