"..."
"..."
Aurora and I looked at each other without saying a word.
Around us, however, silence did not last long.
"Hey, look, something happened!"
"Yeah! I saw David and Edward about to fight!"
"What?!"
"Princess Aurora stepped in and stopped them…"
"Could it be because of the broken engagement?"
"Don't tell me it's a love triangle?!"
Like hell it is!
There's no triangle there!
Just a spiral of hate!
My calm expression twitched a little at that last line.
What kind of rotten imagination did these people have?
"What is happening here?"
Shit.
Professor Mona's voice rang out from behind us.
"What? Again, you, Edward…"
"Not me! It was that blue idiot, Professor."
"Mind your words, Edward," David snapped through clenched teeth.
I let out a dry snort. "And who exactly are you to tell me that?"
"Enough."
A colder voice cut through the tension before David could answer.
Professor Katia.
Of course.
Her gaze moved from David to me, and there was not even the slightest softness in her eyes.
"Ten points will be deducted from Edward Falkrona and David Seaven for attempting to start a fight during class. Would you agree Professor Mona?" She said.
"Yes," Professor Mona replied shouting me a stern look.
What?!
"What the heck?" I protested. "The blue idiot was the one who attacked me."
I could hear David breathing harder every time I called him blue idiot.
That was the whole point.
Go on.
Snap for me.
I want to see your eyes fill with tears of rage.
[
[He is steadily walking toward that path, I believe by next year he will be the Villain he was always meant to be.]
Keep talking.
I'm just retaliating.
"Edward," Professor Mona said, "do you want me to call your aunt?"
My smiled faltered hearing that.
Belle would beat me up if she found out I was wasting the money she used to pay for this academy by causing trouble.
After all the troubles I had caused she trusted me on that.
And now that I had left the Falkrona House, she was also the one covering the obscene fees of the Royal Eden Academy. Commoners had scholarships and support systems.
Nobles like me?
We paid.
And we paid a lot.
"No need, Professor," I said at once, forcing myself to sound reasonable. "Albeit the blue idiot acted like a moron, I should have answered more politely."
"Y-You!"
"Enough, Edward."
Professor Mona glared at me.
Sorry, Professor, but I genuinely couldn't help enjoying this bastard's face every time he got irritated.
"Ten points will be awarded to the Phoenix Class for Aurora's exemplary intervention."
What the heck?!
This was royal privilege!
"Exemplary intervention?" I snorted. "She just cajoled him."
"...."
My tongue had slipped before I could help myself.
"I'll go check the other weapons..."
I quickly turned away, avoiding the stares of both teachers and walking off before the situation could get any worse.
Aurora was still looking at me with her usual calm face, but I knew that expression well enough by now.
She was angry.
As for David…
Well, let's just say there was no salvaging that relationship anymore.
Not that I had ever wanted to be friends with an impotent man whose only redeeming trait was his dumb face.
[
'Shut up! You two might be the reason I'm losing my cool so easily!'
[
'I'll never respect a perverted Goddess who peeks at me while I'm bathing.'
[
'How convenient.'
I scoffed and ignored Cleenah's indignant plea.
-Ding!
[Congratulations! New Title Obtained!]
[Road To Villain!]
'Jarvis… something to say?'
[I am not responsible for the titles.]
'I'm sure you have something to do with it.'
[100 Affection Points have been rewarded!]
At least he gave me something useful.
Profile.
[Edward Amael Falkrona]
[3rd Ascension]
[Charm: 20]
[Affection Points: -140]
[Falkrona Bloodline ~ 1st Wing ~]
[Vysindra's Oath ~ 1st Ring ~]
[Spirit Lord ~ 1st Anima's Core ~]
[???]
"Hm?"
Did I get an extra hundred AP?
[No. When you helped Jayden and Milleia, they rewarded you with 50 Affection Points each.]
"Oh."
Nice.
So I had only 140 points left to repay, and in three days I would no longer be in the red.
All that suffering because of that ridiculous mask…
Oh.
And my Charm had reached 20.
Perfect.
At least I didn't have to worry about that anymore.
[
'Of course it is. Appearance is the first thing a girl sees when she meets you.'
And I want to look good for my reunion with Ephera.
[
No. I was average.
[
'Why?'
[
'Come on. If you're thinking about Ephera, then you're wrong. When she met me, I wore glasses and looked like a psychopath, and she still liked someone like me. She was just a rare case.'
How many times had I heard people say I wasn't good enough for her?
Too many.
And honestly, I had to admit they weren't entirely wrong. Ephera had been far above me. Out of my league didn't even begin to cover it. She had been the kind of person people described as being from another world.
And yet she had accepted me.
"Edward."
I turned around.
Jayden, Milleia, and Lyra were standing there.
Instantly, I put my guard back up.
"What's up?"
"'What's up?' Edward…" Milleia repeated, looking at me with visible disapproval.
Damn.
When she looked at me like that, it was annoyingly difficult to stay composed.
"You should've heard him," I said with a shrug. "He was the one who started it."
"Really?" Lyra asked, her eyes lifting slightly.
What?
Had she already guessed it was my fault?
[
What?!
That sounds like discrimination.
"Yeah," I said, keeping a straight face. "David provoked me first. He mocked me about the broken engagement."
I put on a hurt expression.
It worked immediately on Jayden and Milleia.
"Eh?" Jayden blinked. "You were engaged?"
I should be the one staring!
How the hell did he not know about the royal princess's engagement?
I looked at Milleia.
She averted her face.
I knew their hometown was in the middle of nowhere, but was it really that disconnected from the rest of the kingdom?
"You two are truly amazing…"
Lyra let out a sigh.
"Edward was engaged three years ago through an agreement between His Majesty the King and Duke Falkrona. But the royal princess, Aurora—"
I shot her a sharp glare.
What was she trying to do?
Humiliating someone like that in public wasn't exactly proper etiquette either.
I could understand the blue idiot doing it.
Or Loid.
But Lyra?
"Hum."
Lyra smiled like an idiot for half a second, then coughed lightly.
"But a month ago, their parents mutually decided to break the engagement."
Good.
She corrected it.
[
Yeah!
Because it wasn't entirely my fault!
[
"I can't believe you were engaged to the princess…"
"Yeah…"
Jayden and Milleia were looking at me with actual admiration now.
I was starting to think they had completely forgotten that I was the son of the most powerful Duke in the kingdom.
This was all because of those damned reporters.
Always taking the worst possible pictures of me, printing nonsense, twisting every piece of news until I sounded like some fallen beast kicked out of his home.
Whether it was Earth or this world, the press remained a nest of opportunistic parasites.
"But what happened?" Jayden asked, unable to hide his curiosity.
I shrugged as if it were nothing.
"We didn't like each other."
Normally, nobody would believe such a simple answer. Political engagements didn't get broken for petty reasons. There usually had to be something serious involved, some scandal, some failure, some fault grave enough to justify canceling a marriage tied to the royal family.
Thankfully, Jayden and Milleia were commoners.
They just nodded.
"Is that true?" Lyra asked with a smile.
Of course she'd ask that.
She had seen me at parties trying to flirt with Aurora. Trying, and failing, obviously. So from her point of view, I had to be lying.
[
Shut up.
"Yeah," I said calmly. "That girl is too stuck-up for me. Someone like Jayden would suit her better."
"Wh-What?!"
Jayden nearly jumped out of his skin.
He looked around nervously to make sure no one had heard me.
I could practically see the confusion deepening in Lyra's eyes.
She already knew I was trying to pair Jayden with Milleia, so now bringing Aurora into it must have sounded completely random to her. She might interpret it as some weird strategy to stir something in Milleia, but in the end she could only guess.
I mean, if she knew I was basically trying to assemble Jayden's future harem, and that she herself was included in that future harem, she definitely wouldn't take it well.
Especially not now, when she didn't have even a trace of affection for Jayden.
That would come later eventually if everything happened as in the Game.
When her event happened.
….
....
Eventually, after everyone had finally chosen their weapons, Professor Mona and Professor Katia gave us a few final instructions before dismissing us.
We left the stadium together, and I used the occasion to give Jayden and Milleia my new phone number.
I refused to give it to Lyra.
Naturally, she kept pestering me.
Then Milleia joined in too, asking in that innocent voice of hers why I didn't want to share it with Lyra.
And just like that, I gave in like some future simp and handed over my number.
Lyra pouted at the obvious difference in treatment between her and Milleia.
I ignored it.
She was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
There was a reason she had been a heroine in the game, and I had no intention of lowering my guard around her.
"Your Highness, how was your day?"
"Good, until you chased my friends away."
My steps halted.
In front of us, outside the stadium, stood Alfred and Layla.
Shit.
I had not expected that.
Thank God the dumb brother and the mistress weren't with the idiot prince, or I might have snapped right then and there.
"Oh my," Layla said with a melodious giggle, "they simply had some business, Your Highness."
Her voice sounded sweet enough, but I knew very well that her words were not meant kindly toward Alfred.
Then Alfred looked away from Layla.
And noticed us.
No.
Not us.
He noticed Milleia.
"Oh? Milleia?" A refreshed smile appeared on his lips.
Small reminder: this is the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Celesta.
He started walking toward her and ignored everyone else in the process.
Me included.
Was that really the etiquette expected of a prince?
"Your Highness," Milleia greeted awkwardly, with Jayden stiffening behind her.
"Prince Alfred," Lyra said with a proper noble greeting, pinching the hem of her skirt and lowering her head slightly. Her poise made Milleia and Jayden's greetings look even clumsier by comparison.
"Lyra," Alfred said with a smile, "the last time we met was during my sister's tea party."
And then he kept ignoring me.
Fine by me.
I was ignoring him too.
My eyes drifted toward the sky instead.
It was far more pleasant to look at. The sun was slowly sinking, and the evening sky had begun to fill with beautiful shades of orange. It was unquestionably a better sight than Alfred's face.
"Layla, how are you?" Lyra asked politely.
Layla's gaze, a second earlier, had looked sharp enough to stab both Alfred and Milleia on the spot.
"Fine, Lyra," she replied with a fake smile.
This did not look good.
I elbowed Jayden again.
He turned to me with a questioning look.
"Do something," I muttered. "Otherwise he'll take Milleia."
"Ah, yes!"
This guy…
Did he not have anything resembling a personality?
Did I seriously have to tell him every single move?
I really hoped his turning-point event would come soon.