Chapter 27
Translator: True Detective
### Chapter 27: Academy, You Say? (2)
As soon as Professor Volkan left.
*Bang—!*
Someone roughly slammed my desk.
*'.........Really, who are you?'*
Literally a face I'm seeing for the first time.
Seems like an extra whose name wouldn't have appeared even once in the original work.
Looking only at his build, he looks like a retired mercenary, not an undergraduate.
Whew, looks bloody too.
"What did you just say looking at us? Seems you have nothing in your eyes despite just being from a Viscount family......."
The guy's face distorts.
"You could die by my hands doing that, you bastard."
A perfect bullying angle was caught from the first day of the Academy.
Well, since I drew area-of-effect aggro with my own mouth, it's reaping what I sowed.
Because in others' eyes, I would look like a narcissist like Delmar right now.
[Rihan. Show them one more time. Break that brat's nose.]
*'I intend to. I have to definitely seize the initiative in the beginning.'*
The beginning is always important.
Right now, when all the original protagonists including Yuna are also watching.
I need to show them that I am a 'villain who will fuck you up if you touch him' even at a glance.
"......."
Just as I raised my head to shoot back a word.
The complexion of the guy glaring as if to devour me turned pale blue.
Why is he like that?
Feeling puzzled, I looked to the side.
Yveline was glaring at the guy while emitting crazy murderous intent.
"You. What did you just say to Rihan?"
"Uh? Uh...... Y-Yveline? No, it's not that...... I was talking to Rihan......."
"Don't speak informally. Do you think I became your friend just because we're in the same class?"
Her tone is bloody.
The appearance she showed to Yuna in the original work started coming out.
It's a relief she's on my side.
"Uh...... No."
"I told you not to speak informally? Can't you understand?"
At Yveline's single word, the guy's shoulders shrank noticeably.
Where did the brave build from earlier go.
The sight of him cowering like a dog in the rain is truly pitiful.
To the point where even I watching feel embarrassed.
"No...... I'm sorry......."
"Even at a glance, it seems neither your skill nor bloodline is much to look at. Apologize to Rihan right now."
"B-But...... Rihan said our level was low first looking at us......."
"When? Isn't it true that your level is low in the first place? What's wrong with calling a low level a low level?"
The guy moved his lips in unfairness but.
As Yveline glared, he soon bowed his head deep.
"......Sorry."
"Do it again. When did I tell you to speak informally? Speak formally to Rihan too."
Scary.
Whether he was quite pissed, the guy's arms were trembling.
But it seems he didn't have the courage to dare defy the order of the Princess of Estal.
"I am sorry...... Mr. Rihan."
"Right. Get lost and don't hover around again. If you appear in front of my eyes one more time, I will find wherever your family is and smash it."
At Yveline's final warning, the guy couldn't even answer and ran out of the lecture hall as if fleeing.
His back couldn't look more pitiful.
Is this the dignity of an experienced villain?
It's on a different dimension from me clumsily imitating it.
[Rihan. That is the figure of a true villain. You need to look at Yveline and learn. Your acting is too logical so it has no flavor at all.]
Whether Eleanor had the same thought, she let out admiration.
*'It's definitely different.'*
Just as I was contemplating whether I should study villain acting separately too.
Yveline smiled brightly as if she never did that and grabbed my arm.
"Are you okay, Rihan?"
I whispered lowly to Yveline.
"I'm fine. But you didn't have to go that far."
"What do you mean? How can I just watch a bug like that dare to blabber carelessly at you? He should consider it fortunate I didn't clear him away from in front of my eyes."
Yveline tilts her head as if she really doesn't understand.
*'......I really have to be careful from now on.'*
If someone accidentally steps on my foot doing something wrong.
I might hear news of that person's obituary the next day.
Perhaps because they watched the scene just now, the inside of the lecture hall is quieter than ever.
And I could feel it.
The main characters of the original work.
That the gazes of the three guys called male leads are all heading this way.
Crown Prince Edwin.
Damian of the Duke family.
And Silas of the Magic Tower.
Originally, if it went according to my plan.
Right about now, contempt for me and anger like 'How should I deal with that unlucky guy?' should be lingering in their eyes.
I draw aggro first and become the public enemy.
Making Yveline perceived as merely a Princess with a somewhat prickly personality.
That was the core of my tearful Yveline rehabilitation project.
"........."
But the situation is flowing in the exact opposite of my expectation.
Because the gazes of the three guys were fixed not on me, but on Yveline next to me.
*'No, look at me a bit!'*
To think that in all my life I would crave the gazes of men.
They say a crow-tit can't follow a stork.
There's no way the acting skills of a graduate student who only solved formulas in a lab can beat the true madness of an experienced villain.
The weight class itself is different.
[Rihan. As I see it, Yveline is much better than you. How about you just quietly change to the protected role?]
*'Don't even joke about it. At this rate, I'll have no face to see Senior Selene.'*
The guillotine ending must be avoided no matter what happens.
Because that is the sole reason and purpose I am buying this dog-like suffering at this Academy right now.
Right, it's fine.
There is still hope.
We still have the heroine Yuna left, right?
I just need to be clearly marked as an unlucky guy by even just one person, Yuna.
If I become her public enemy, Yveline will naturally step back as a supporting character.
Please. Please.
Feigning the eyes of a villain, I slowly turned my head towards Yuna.
"......!"
Fortunately, she wasn't tense looking at Yveline.
Rather, she was staring intently at me.
****
(5 minutes before Yveline and Rihan arrived.)
"Yuna, did you hear that? They say transfer students are coming today."
Mina, sitting in the next seat, nudged my shoulder and whispered.
"I heard. How could I not hear."
The lecture hall is already noisy.
Even without straining my ears, I could quickly know who the subjects of the rumor were.
A noble bloodline counted within the Empire.
The Princess of the Estal Duke family.
Because the news of Yveline transferring had already made the Academy buzz.
"That Ice Princess, Yveline, is eventually transferring?"
"I heard she just left after taking top place with her skills during the entrance exam, what kind of whim is this?"
To a commoner scholarship student like me, a Duke family is an existence like a star floating in the distant night sky.
A fate where I wouldn't even get to see the wall of that mansion in my entire life but.
Still, it's fine.
A special talent that let me enter this Academy.
Because I have **Myriad Flower Resonance (Man-hwa-gong-myeong)**.
A bizarre ability to smell others' mana as a scent.
Thanks to that, I'm continuing my dream-like Academy life winning scholarships but.
Reality was a bit harsher than I thought.
*'What should I make do with for lunch today.'*
I gently opened my wallet under the desk.
Inside the wallet where all the leather was worn out, a few coins were rolling around lonely.
*'......Haa.'*
A heavy sigh comes out.
I tightly clenched my fists, struggling to shake off the drooping mood.
*'No, what's the use of sighing! If I don't have money, I have to make up for it with my body.'*
I just have to increase my evening part-time job hours a bit more today.
I decided my heart at least would not yield.
If I just maintain the scholarship and graduate, I can become a cool mage too.
If that happens, I can become a reliable pillar for my younger siblings.
It was when I was forcing a bright smile while closing the wallet.
"Quiet. The transfer students arrived today."
The lecture hall door opened along with Professor Volkan's voice.
The atmosphere changes in an instant.
A dazzlingly beautiful girl with pink hair just like the rumors.
Yveline walked in.
*'Really...... pretty.'*
I had caught a glimpse of her at the entrance exam venue but.
Seeing her up close, it is indeed on a different dimension.
She looks like an exquisitely carved jewel, not a person.
And I see a boy with a slightly sharp impression standing next to her.
Far from being intimidated next to the Duke's daughter.
Rather, that appearance of indifferently scanning the surroundings strangely drew my gaze.
*'He's handsome.......'*
Just as I was blankly looking at him while thinking unthinkingly.
*Whooosh—!*
A scent I've never felt before in my life pushed fiercely into the tip of my nose.
*'......Uh?'*
Regardless of my will, Myriad Flower Resonance reacted.
This ability was quite useful to me, but it often brought me fatigue to that extent.
Because some people's mana smelled like a piercing stench.
And from someone else, an artificial scent that gave me a headache emanated.
But this scent felt right now is completely different.
A complex and transparent smell I have never smelled even once in my life.
Like cold dawn air that clears the head, yet.
At its base, a rich and savory scent like coffee, which might emanate from a person who stayed up all night engrossed in something, is laid down.
And its aftertaste is...... subtle and sweet.
*'What is it, just what kind of life did that person live to smell like this?'*
While others held their breath listening to the Princess's self-introduction.
I chased the scent rising from that boy as if possessed.
If it's a person with such an organized and deep scent.
I had no doubt that his inner self would also be dignified and kind.
At that time. I made eye contact with that boy, Rihan.
"......!"
I was startled and deeply bowed my head.
Was I caught?
My heart starts beating as if to burst.
My cheeks are burning so I cannot raise my head.
Now it was his turn.
Hiding my reddened face, I waited for the first words he would spit out.
Surely it would be an intellectual and soft voice like that scent.
*'Surely, he must be a very good person.'*
However, it didn't even take 10 seconds for this simple and sweet imagination of mine to be miserably smashed.
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