After eating, Lyra, Jayden, and Milleia exchanged numbers and made a group chat. Cliché, sure, but a good one. I, of course, couldn't join, I'd left everything, including my phone, back at the mansion.
What bothered me more was how fast Lyra had clicked with Jayden and Milleia. In the game, she'd had a pretty bad impression of me. Now, just because I was hanging around two commoners, she was already acting friendly with all three of us?
I doubted it was that simple, but I couldn't decide whether this was a good sign or a warning.
Sigh… I'd already changed the plot anyway. But since I was planning to get involved from the start, I couldn't really complain. If this was a game, then I wasn't just playing as Jayden—I was the one holding the controller behind him.
Lyra suggested we tour the academy, so we did.
I was exhausted, but I needed to relearn every corner of the place with my own eyes. So many future events were tied to specific locations.
We avoided the second- and third-year buildings.
Jayden and Milleia flinched even walking near them. If first-year nobles were already bullying them, what about the older students whose pride was stacked even higher? Technically, Lyra and I could shut most of that down with our status but Milleia didn't want to bother us.
Too considerate for her own good.
"We should check our rooms too," Lyra said finally. "Let's go."
She latched onto Milleia's arm and dragged her ahead, enthusiastically. In the game they did become best friends, but not this quickly.
My interference was definitely accelerating things.
"Let's see our rooms too, Edward," Jayden called.
I followed him toward the first-year dorm building.
Now that I thought about it… where was my room in the original first-year layout? I knew where Jayden stayed from playing his route, but Edward's room had never mattered on-screen.
The dorm was conveniently attached right next to the first-year building. Most students stayed here, even those with mansions in the capital. The dorms were that good. In some cases, better than their actual homes.
Lyra, for example, preferred the dorm to her family mansion in Dorian, where her parents were. Milleia and Jayden's hometowns were far from the capital, so they had no choice.
Only very family-attached people would prefer some tiny house in a remote town over Eden's luxury suites.
As for me, I was absolutely staying here.
Aunt Belle didn't own a mansion in the capital anyway, and even if she did, she'd never leave the Falkrona territory. She loved that place too much. She'd turned down more than one marriage proposal just to stay there.
There was a Falkrona mansion in Dorian, built by my father.
No way was I stepping foot in it.
That was Simon and Elona's space now.
I could already imagine the three of us in one house.
No thanks.
I'd take my five-star academy suite and enormous bed alone.
[
'I never said that!'
Muttering curses at Cleenah, I scanned my academy card at the reader. The barrier shimmered and vanished, letting us in one at a time.
We stepped into a wide reception hall and approached the front desk. The receptionist who was a young woman with a professional smile looked up. Her gaze lingered a split second longer on me, then smoothed back into neutrality. She'd definitely recognized both Lyra and me but was used to famous names.
"We'd like to know our rooms," Lyra said, instantly switching back to polished noble mode.
A few seconds ago she'd been chatting with Milleia like an overexcited tomboy. Now she moved like she was at a palace reception.
The receptionist took our cards and scanned them.
"Room 46, fifth floor, for Lady Milleia. Room 78, eighth floor, for Sir Jayden. Room S-11, S-1 floor, for Lady Lyra Kertalir. Room S-7, S-1 floor, for Lord Edward Falkrona."
She handed us each a key-card.
Same rooms as in the game for Milleia and Jayden.
Lyra and I both ended up on the S floor, one of the VIP levels, just as I'd expected. The dorm went up around thirty floors, a dozen rooms per floor, and the S-floors worked the same way.
"S?" Milleia tilted her head as we walked toward the elevators.
"Yes. High-ranking nobles like Edward and me can request S-floor rooms," Lyra explained. "Those are the most secure and luxurious. Think of them as the VIP suites in a high-end hotel."
Right.
Two special floors—S-1 and S-2—with only a handful of rooms each. That's where the top nobles slept. If you wanted to see peak arrogance gathered in one place, you went there.
And yes, I was including myself.
I could still remember ticking the box for an S-floor room when I applied.
Even now, I didn't want to live on the lower floors.
"We're all separated…" Milleia mumbled, staring down at her card.
She looked really sad.
She felt more sensitive than even her game version. Or maybe seeing it in person just hit harder.
It wasn't good. Not with what I knew was coming. She needed to get stronger emotionally, fast.
"Don't worry, Milleia," Lyra said, smiling. "If you get a high rank in the exams, you can request an S-floor room too."
"Really?" Jayden asked, turning to me.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Score high enough and you can move upstairs. You could be next to Lyra and Milleia for as long as you want."
"I don't want the room for that!" Jayden stuttered.
We stepped into the elevator.
Lyra and Milleia got off on the fifth floor.
"I'll walk Milleia to her room," Lyra said, winking. "You do the same with Jayden, Edward."
"Am I a babysitter now?"
"He's basically a baby. Show some noble pride."
"This has nothing to do with pride."
"Let's go, Milleia!" Lyra chirped, ignoring me.
"Yes! See you tomorrow, Jayden, Edward!" Milleia said waving her hand with a bright smile.
"See you, Milleia!" Jayden waved back as the doors slid shut.
Silence settled.
Uncomfortable silence.
We had almost nothing in common, and I couldn't relax around him. Not really. He was the Protagonist and canonically one of the people responsible for my death.
"Are you interested in Milleia?" I asked.
"W-What?!" He yelped.
"In Lyra too, maybe? Or do you prefer a refined type like Aurora?" I added calmly.
It sounded like casual gossip.
But it was a crucial question.
It might be surreal, but the kingdom's future literally rested on Jayden's ability to win over the Heroines.
[
'Yeah, it's pathetic. Stop saying that word.'
'I'm trying not to think about it.'
[
'I'll enjoy it when Jayden is locked into all the right routes and the'"happy ending' is secured.'
Only then could I breathe.
Even as I thought that, a bitter taste rose in my throat.
"No… I mean," Jayden stammered, rubbing the back of his neck, "we just met, but it's the first time I've seen girls that beautiful, so… I can't say I'm not interested."
Hm.
So he was drawn to them. Good.
Milleia already seemed a little interested in him too.
[
'And he's also handsome enough to attract half the academy. That was in his game bio.'
-Dling!
The elevator doors opened on the eighth floor.
We walked down the hallway.
"Room 78… 78… ah, here," Jayden said.
The golden number 78 gleamed on a wooden door.
-Clank.
He raised his card to the lock...
But at the same time, the door next to us: room 79 opened.
A girl stepped out.
Not just any girl.
My ex-fiancée.
I closed my eyes for a second.
This encounter was supposed to happen tomorrow.
But I guessed the timeline had officially decided to stop pretending to obey the script.