Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Love Confession and Exile
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#003
1.
What Arbel pulled out was a single luxurious sheet of paper finished with gold leaf on the edges.
At the very top were the words ‘Crowley Academy Enrollment Form’.
At the bottom was the name ‘Sedric Montraven’.
“Rather than skulking around gambling dens and dragging the family name through the mud, just get the hell out and go here. Don’t so much as show your face around me.”
I had a vague idea of what Crowley Academy was.
Back when I first got isekai’d, I’d poked around to see if this might be some story I knew.
I’d ended up concluding it was a totally new world, but the setup for Crowley Academy itself was pretty solid.
A place where noble heirs and talented commoners gathered to awaken and hone their abilities.
They called it the premier educational institution in Aden, the ark city that nurtured the future.
“…….”
My eyes weren’t on Arbel or the enrollment form.
They were locked on the choices floating in midair.
[ 1. Obediently head to the academy ]
[ 2. Refuse enrollment and confess your burning love to Arbel ]
From the reactions around me, it seemed like something only I could see—similar to my ‘status screen’.
But just two lines.
Way too simplistic to call it a status screen.
What the hell was this?
And why had it shown up?
The last time I’d seen these choices was right before I died.
Back then, I’d picked [ 2. Jump into that box down there ], and I woke up as Sedric of Eden.
So my hypothesis: pick a choice and act on it, and you get a specific outcome.
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking for a sec.”
“Thinking? If you were the type to actually think, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Too true to argue.
Instead, I examined the two options.
This world might be original, but stories have their genre conventions.
These binary choices usually branch the story at the decision point.
Not some O/X quiz—more like picking left or right at a fork in the road.
From that angle, option 1, ‘Obediently head to the academy’, was straightforward as hell.
The fallen count’s family fuck-up enrolls at the academy.
End of story.
Something would happen there, sure.
“This is the bare minimum the family expects from you. Do something with it. Got it? Got it?”
Arbel jabbed my forehead insultingly with her fingertip.
She was on tiptoes, straining, so I bent my knees a bit to help.
“Don’t live like trash… Ngh!”
Whether she took her little brother’s prank seriously or not, Arbel’s face twisted as she glared at me like she wanted to kill me.
Anyway, option 1 didn’t appeal.
Because…
It looked boring as shit.
Not bad, per se—just bland, like watered-down veggie stir-fry.
The academy was where Aden’s top talents gathered.
A nobody like Sedric, with no backing, would be doomed to bottom-of-the-class status.
Why go flunk out there when I could keep hitting the casino for easy wins, with a fat stack of chips already?
Option 2, on the other hand: ‘Refuse enrollment and confess your burning love to Arbel’.
Hell yeah.
Already having fun just thinking about it.
Sure, it sounded like low-rent harassment, but this wasn’t some arbitrary punishment game forcing bullshit on you.
Why not?
Back to those genre conventions.
Choices like this—branch points—don’t pop up for no reason.
Right?
[1. Go to the academy] [2. Don’t go to the academy] would be the clean, textbook matchup.
But option 2 had this extra bit tacked on: ‘confess your burning love to Arbel’.
Would they add that without any basis or context?
No way.
It was a clue, a hint—because it was a ‘valid choice’.
“Hah, figures.”
Arbel, so you’re a shipper too, huh.
That explained why she always came at me like a chihuahua.
Friction between her honest feelings of ‘I love my little brother so much!’ and the moral judgment that she shouldn’t.
Like buggy code, she didn’t know what to do, so she lashed out instead.
In that moment, I realized her bug-eyed glares were desperate camouflage to protect the family lineage.
You adorable little thing.
I picked without hesitation.
Option 2.
Academy? Pass.
“Albert, give us the room. Gotta talk to my big sis.”
“…Any reason I can’t stay?”
“It’s a serious conversation.”
Albert left, looking displeased, and Arbel tilted her head in confusion.
“I’m not going to the academy. I like it here at home.”
“You… are you out of your mind?”
Her patience at its limit, Arbel’s eyes narrowed viciously.
She wasn’t some random hack—she was a real mage.
One flick of her finger, and Sedric’s fragile bones would snap like twigs.
But.
“There’s no you at the academy.”
“…What?”
I took a step closer.
“If I go there, I can’t be with you.”
“You, you…?”
Arbel trailed off, eyes widening in disbelief.
I didn’t miss the ripples of agitation in her gaze.
“Close your eyes for a sec?”
“You’ve got no shame, and now you’re giving orders? You? To me?”
“Not an order—a request.”
“Answer properly. Don’t dodge the point with nonsense.”
Arbel’s words came faster.
She was a damn good actress, though.
That’s why I hadn’t noticed till now.
“I’ve got something I want to give you.”
“Just hand it over… Fine, whatever. Do what you want.”
She sighed like she didn’t want to talk anymore.
Her lashes, thick like butterfly antennae, cast demure shadows as she waited.
I kissed Arbel.
Real men confess with a kiss.
“……Mmph!!!”
The soft, moist touch as our lips met.
“Mm…?!”
Eyes shot wide in shock.
“Mmph…! Mmph…?!”
You had some wine this morning, huh.
The faint tang of grapes lingered on her saliva, her awkward, stiff tongue tangling hotly with mine.
“Mmph…! Mmph…!”
Way more intense than I expected.
Her personality had flaws, but Arbel’s beauty was downright demonic.
Even her high-and-mighty attitude glitching out was cute.
See? Arbel’s totally heroine material!
“Pha…!”
The long kiss finally ended.
Arbel’s face was flushed with shock.
“You, you… you… you….”
Her porcelain-pale skin burned red, her ears so hot they looked like they’d scorch your fingers.
“You just… what the hell….”
“Confessing.”
“C-Confessing…?”
“Yeah, yeah. I feel the same way about you.”
I’d only planned to go that far, but her reaction made me lose control.
Couldn’t be helped.
It’s common sense: when your inexperienced big sis needs leading, it’s the little brother’s duty.
I leaned in for another kiss.
“…Stop.”
“Why?”
“I said stop….”
A weak, squeezed-out voice leaked from her.
I wasn’t some beast ruled by lust, so I pulled back.
“…That your answer?”
A chilling silence sent shivers down my spine.
The glass windows in the parlor trembled, the frames creaking.
Like a poltergeist at work.
First time seeing it, but I knew instantly.
Insane magical resonance.
My barely active mana circuits ached from the overwhelming pressure.
“You think this is funny?”
Arbel’s head was bowed.
Golden hair parted to reveal sharp, rabbit ears standing straight up.
Cute look, but those weren’t some cosplay headband.
The telltale sign of a mage who’d inherited the Montraven count family’s hereditary magic, ‘Tale of the Moon Rabbit’.
The precursor to unleashing that spell.
Her golden eyes blazed with pure disgust and contempt.
“…Hey, sis?”
Should we make up now?
Cold sweat trickled down.
Felt like staring at a grenade rolling at my feet, pin pulled.
This wasn’t supposed to be the route?!!
No fucking way.
Then.
Pop! A cute sound effect, and Arbel’s rabbit ears returned to normal.
The crushing mana pressure dispersed like deep-sea hydrostatics lifting.
“Drop the shitty acting. I get it already.”
“Acting?”
What the hell?
“I was an idiot for thinking I’d give you one more chance.”
Arbel straightened her clothes and turned her back coldly.
“Get out to the academy. If I see your face tomorrow, I’ll really kill you.”
======
::: Challenges (NEW!) :::
- Kiss a female mage. +1pt
- Kiss your sister. +10pt
======
2.
“Yawwwn….”
I sprawled on the bed amid empty bottles, yawning lazily.
Outside the window, lazy sheep-clouds drifted over the towering Humanity Wall on the horizon.
Never got used to that sight.
From what I’d seen living here, the ark city’s tech level topped out around late Victorian England, give or take.
And yet, walls hundreds of meters high—wide enough for trains to run on top.
Well, magic and monsters existed, so yeah, differences.
Anyway.
“Life’s good.”
Long story short: I was alive.
No broken bones, no death by Arbel, and I even got a lesson.
“No messing with mages ever again.”
I knew mages were Aden’s elite, wielding near-absolute power.
But seeing one up close…
A monster in human skin, nothing less.
Reminded me of that time in a Myanmar dive bar when a gang pressed a gun to my forehead over some beef.
Same vibe standing before Arbel’s rage.
Got lucky with a second life, but I wasn’t dying like a dog.
“Guess I gotta take the academy route now….”
Sticking around Arbel after pissing her off that bad felt risky.
But I’d already picked the ‘refuse enrollment’ choice.
What happens if I go against it?
Arbel was off the table for now…
“…Nah.”
Despite my unease, the innocent reactions before her max rage—and her flustered flailing—lingered in my mind.
Big data said those weren’t rejection signals.
“Quitting already?”
Climb the unclimbable tower.
Make that Arbel from moments ago say ‘I love Sedric’.
Wouldn’t that be a thrill?
My gambler’s instincts were firing up after so long.
Then.
“Hm?”
Night fell in the messy room.
Not a metaphor.
Not a flicker.
In under three seconds, darkness swallowed everything, and a hazy moon rose in the smoke-choked sky.
“What the hell?”
It was 9 a.m.
Polar night or something around here?
I was mid-sip from a bottle, gawking at the eerie phenomenon.
-Bang!
“Young master!”
Old butler Albert burst in like he was kicking the door down.
I read grim determination on his wrinkled face.
“What’s up? Knock next time?”
“We’re under attack.”
“Attack? Out of nowhere?”
“No time to slack. The young miss is buying time. You at least—run! I need to join her.”
Albert spat as he ranted.
Ah, I got it.
Classic circumcision ploy.
Like that day heading for tonkatsu.
“Hah, not buying it, old man. I’m not going to the academy.”
If I went along quietly, I’d end up tied up on the next train there.
That’s the flow.
“Young master, this isn’t a joke. The family head fell to the intruders.”
“…Father?”
Albert’s face twisted in grief as he clamped his lips shut.
“…….”
Scary-good acting.
If you didn’t play along, you’d look like an unfilial prick.
He was basically a stranger to me, but to Sedric, he was Dad.
“Hurry—time’s short.”
He gripped my wrist hard and led me to a room in the mansion I’d never been to.
Dust swirled in the center around an opaque full-length mirror.
“Our house had one of these?”
“A magic tool linked to the safe house.”
Albert fiddled, and a warped vortex swirled in the mirror’s center.
This felt bad. Real bad.
Warping me away to ditch the family trash?
I blurted desperately.
“Albert, listen—I didn’t tell you. I won 230 million Bios at the casino. Let’s talk it out, yeah?”
He didn’t even hear, clamping my shoulders like a vow.
Couldn’t budge no matter how I tried.
“Young master, remember: whatever happens, never let anyone there know who you are.”
“No, really, I won the money! There’s the deposit certificate in my room!
“Saving the family head’s bloodline—even that much washes my disloyalty.”
“Listen to me!”
“I’ll come for you in three days! If no word by then… stay safe.”
Albert hurled me into the mirror.
Indescribable vertigo, flipping vision—like my body was toilet paper swirling down the drain.
“Uweeeck!!”
After three roller coaster loops worth of nausea and dry-heaving.
I slowly took in my surroundings.
“Where….”
Goshiwon-sized.
The grimy wooden floor creaked and splintered underfoot.
Bed? A rough wooden crate topped with rags.
Tattered curtains framed the window, giving off third-world brothel vibes.
At least no rats, thank god.
Freezing cold—even breath fogged indoors.
“Fuck… another isekai warp?”
Safe house, my ass! Safe house!
What part of this dump screamed ‘count family safe house’?
One month into being the count family’s fuck-up.
And I’d been abandoned.
It was winter.