Academy Life Starting from Minus #2

As I recalled, Victor and Victorica were betrothed. The Arclight family, to which Victorica belonged, was one of only two remaining ducal houses. Being true nobles among nobles, they arranged political marriages for their children from a very young age, regardless of the parties' own wishes. Because of this, there had never been any real affection between Victorica and Victor. Having grown up together since childhood, their relationship was closer to that of siblings than lovers or fiancés. Their names were even similar, after all.

Yet their engagement persisted due to Victor's rigid, inflexible sense of duty toward his betrothed, and Victorica's strong sense of responsibility as the second daughter of the Arclight archducal house, believing she must fulfill every obligation assigned to her. But I, Ha Seungri, knew the truth. Their childhood betrothal would ultimately end in ruin. In the Student Council route, the main heroine Victorica would execute the monstrous Victor alongside the protagonist Luke.

In that manner, Victorica would drive the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠legendary sword Balmung into the monster Victor's chest, granting him freedom. In other words, she would kill him. Through this, Victorica would grow, realizing that her true enemy was not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only the Blackstar archducal house, but also her own bloodline and the Arclight family itself. She would then confront the head of the Arclight house—the mastermind behind the Student Council route—and rise as the Goddess of Victory. That was the story of the Student Council route, one of the main paths.

Yes. I would die at the hands of the woman before me. The thought sent a chill down my spine even as I looked upon her beautiful face. To me, who had become Victor, Victorica was nothing less than an angel of death. The angel of death furrowed her brow.

“What did you say? What did you just say? Ha, honestly. Did I mishear?”

Victorica blinked rapidly, looking extremely flustered. She glanced around in all directions and even fanned her face with her hand. This flustered expression was one that only appeared during the date event in Act 8 of the Student Council route. If this were a game, the event CG slot would have unlocked—while thinking that, I spoke again.

“It seems you did not hear me, so I shall repeat myself. Victorica. Our betrothal ends here.”

“Do you think I’m acting like this because I really didn’t hear you? Who decided that? Who decided to break off our engagement?”

“It was a relationship without affection on either side to begin with.”

“That’s not the issue…!”

Just as Victorica was about to shout, she noticed people leaving the Judgment Hall and closed her mouth, clearing her throat with a cough. Only after they had mostly disappeared did she speak again.

“That. Is. Not. The. Issue.”

She looked extremely angry, as if grinding her molars. “Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? It’s not like you. You were saying strange things earlier too. In front of the representatives… well, having no backing was a bit like you, but even so…”

“No matter what you say, my decision remains unchanged, Victorica.”

I had to end this engagement no matter what. Staying with Victorica would mean my death…! But Victorica opposed me far more fiercely than I had expected.

“Victor, you were demoted to a common student. What can you possibly do without the Arclight family’s protection? Do you not know what happened to the seniors who were demoted from the disciplinary committee to common students?”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. That’s why you’re spouting nonsense about breaking the engagement.”

“I know very well. And what happens from now on is not your concern. It is something I will handle myself.”

“……”

Victorica fell silent. I could have spoken more gently, but this Victor fellow truly had no way with words. This was exactly why he got stabbed by his own fiancée. As I pondered how to end this conversation, I gazed at the vast sea visible beyond the corridor balcony. A hissing sound, like steam escaping from a kettle, reached my ears.

Startled, I turned my head to see Victorica exhaling roughly, her face flushed bright red.

“Hiss, hissss…”

…Had she broken down? …Was this dangerous? A strange tingling sensation spread near my chest for no reason.

Victorica still remembered what had happened when she was five years old. The day the head of the family brought a dirty, ragged boy of similar age and introduced him to her.

She could not understand. She understood that one could be betrothed at the age of five, far from marriageable age—her older sister had been the same. What she could not understand was that this filthy, ragged boy had been chosen as the betrothed of the archducal house’s second daughter. Black hair, a grimy face. From his appearance, he was clearly an orphan. After the Rose War when she was three, the world had been full of orphans. They were making one of those orphans her fiancé?

Even the laughingstock of the Filione marquis house, Neva, would have been more understandable. The only redeeming quality was the strange ‘will’ shining in the black eyes that looked at her. But that was all.

To young Victorica, the head’s words felt like lightning flashing before her eyes. Perhaps this was a test from the head—if she wished to inherit the family over her sister and brother, she must pass this trial. Thus, Victorica took the filthy, taciturn boy, bathed him, taught him etiquette, dressed him in proper clothes, and even gave him a name. Victor. A name resembling her own.

Victor had no tact, but he possessed an almost foolish level of perseverance and worked hard. Thanks to that, she had managed to make him an executor of the disciplinary committee at Prison Academy—a position everyone coveted. And yet—

“How dare you try to discard me? A breakup from your mouth? I am Victorica Arclight. There is nothing I hate more than being looked down upon.”

Victorica could not understand at all. That filthy child was now speaking of breaking their engagement? It was truly impossible.

‘How dare you reject me?’ ‘Why so suddenly?’ ‘Is it because of the shame from losing to the first-year transfer student…? Or guilt over being demoted to a common student…?’ ‘No, Victor is not clever enough to break off the relationship over mere pride.’

In an instant, several thoughts flashed through the brilliant Victorica’s mind and vanished. ‘Did he find another woman?’ Of course, that was ridiculous. The inflexible Victor would never take another woman besides her. Victorica could not even imagine that the rigid steel-plate-like Victor would choose to break their engagement to pick another woman over her.

But. ‘He has been strange lately. Suddenly saying odd things. Spacing out. It does not seem to be only because of losing to the first-year.’ A woman’s intuition told her that Victor was different from the Victor she knew. However, since Victorica despised relying on mere intuition like common folk, she decided to ask honestly. This man could not lie. She had taught and shaped him that way. If she asked honestly, he would answer.

“You… did you perhaps find another woman?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, of course not. As if someone like you would choose another woman over me… What…? What did you just say…?”

Victorica doubted her own ears. Victor was a man who could not lie, so if he were lying, it would only be her ears playing tricks. But Victor drove the point home once more.

“There is another woman.”

Victorica was an intelligent and brilliant female student, the top of the second-year class known as the Golden Generation. Even if I unilaterally claimed to break the engagement, she would never accept it. Therefore, I needed to find a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plausible reason to nullify this betrothal. While I was thinking of what would work, Victorica herself provided the opportunity. And I took the bait without hesitation.

“There is another woman. Therefore, our betrothal is broken.”

What woman would forgive infidelity? Right? Gurgle. Was it because I had lied? My lower abdomen began to churn violently. If I were the ordinary Ha Seungri, I would have screamed and run straight to the bathroom. But Victor was more formidable than expected. Even enduring this, I managed not to change my expression at all. However, the woman before me, Victorica, contorted her face in a way I had never seen even in event CGs.

“Haa…!? Really, ha, honestly. What are you saying right now? Have you gone mad? Who? Who is it? They must be in this Prison Academy, right? It is not Enio, is it?”

“No.”

“Then who on earth is it!”

“I do not wish to reveal that. But you, more than anyone, know that I, Victor, do not lie.”

After my answer, a brief silence fell. If counted in seconds, perhaps three. But to me, enduring gut-wrenching pain, those three seconds felt unbearably long.

“…Don’t tell me your defeat to that transfer student named Luke was also an act to leave the Student Council? Was it all a performance? A lie—there is no way you could be that clever.”

Was she referring to the game’s tutorial? Victor had tried to discipline the protagonist Luke for dress code violation and ended up fighting him. Since it was a tutorial explaining basic combat and item usage, it had been designed so that Luke would win no matter what. This Victor fellow had not deliberately lost. Still, this was the answer I had to give here.

“I cannot say.”

Just as I was trailing off with a vague reply—

“Is that so? Fine. Then let us break the engagement. Victor—no, Victor. I will release the Arclight leash now. Our betrothal ends here.”

It worked…! The value of enduring the pain and lying despite the risk had been worth it! Victorica was muttering some soliloquy about stabbing Balmung into Victor’s chest afterward, but that did not matter! Then Victorica added a few more words.

“But I am the one rejecting you, you know? You are not the one discarding me—I am the one discarding you! Got it!? Do you understand!?”

Whoosh. Victorica stormed off, unable to hide the humiliation and disgrace on her face. When several students she passed greeted her with “Lady Victorica, good day. The weather is lovely…,” she paid them no mind and disappeared down the corridor. At the same time, the pain in my stomach eased slightly.

She was extremely angry. Of course she would be. I had forced her into an unpleasant experience. Victorica, I hold no malice toward you. It is not you I wish to separate from, but the Arclight family. To escape the Arclight family, this method was currently the best. I could hardly say honestly, “Your family becomes the mastermind and begins to collapse from Act 8 onward.” Without such a drastic measure, given Victorica’s personality after watching her for over ten thousand hours, she would never leave her betrothed Victor alone. Eventually, the Arclight family’s influence would come into play, and I would transform into that horrific monster. Victor was a son-in-law taken in by the Arclight family. Without taking such a strong stance, the family would never give up on Victor.

“What on earth happened? It is the first time I have seen Lady Victorica that angry…!”

“I do not know, something about a breakup… Someone was saying who discarded whom…”

“It sounded like there was talk of Victor having another woman.”

“Come on, no way. You must have misheard.”

The people around began to stir. If anyone had overheard our conversation, rumors would spread everywhere. Victorica and Victor’s broken engagement. If this had been a game event, it would have been incredibly entertaining. The situation of not being able to enjoy the game as a game was exactly my current predicament. However, I knew well that the situation was not yet fully resolved. Given Victorica’s personality in the game, she would not let go of her suspicions and would try to monitor me. She might be thinking, ‘Victor is trying to let Victorica go by breaking the engagement out of shame over his demotion to a common student—’ In that case, the breakup would fizzle out, and I would meet the ending where I became a slimy monster and got stabbed by Balmung. I still could not say I had completely escaped Victorica and the Arclight family’s grasp.

“I need to create another woman, even temporarily.”

Even if we broke up later, it did not matter. Only then would Victorica’s heart truly turn away. The problem was that this Victor was a man hated by most female characters. Who could I possibly date? It was difficult.

“But it is not entirely impossible.”

As someone who had played for twenty thousand hours, I knew exactly what to do in this situation. With that, even I could get a girlfriend… Having reached my conclusion, I walked unhindered down the sunlit corridor.