Grand Flore – The Imperial Academy's Lavish Dorm
Gazing up at the sky-piercing white marble pillars and the blinding golden ornaments of the Imperial Academy's top-tier dorm, Grand Flore, I instinctively pinched the bridge of my nose.
Is this a high school dorm? Not a palace annex? Doesn't this damn empire audit private school corruption? How much tuition and imperial budget did they skim to lay down top-grade carpets on the floor?
I was inwardly griping about the absurd luxury that no ten-year veteran public school teacher could comprehend when the dorm's head supervisor, sweating bullets on his forehead, bowed at a perfect ninety degrees to greet us.
"Lady Reina de Astrea! We fervently welcome you to the Imperial Academy! This way, please!"
The supervisor blatantly erased my existence from his vision, guiding us with exaggerated gestures aimed solely at Reina.
This exclusive upper-floor section was reserved for the scions of the empire's scant thirty high noble houses—and among them, the direct heirs of the ducal families. As we walked a secluded passage tucked into the academy's remotest corner under the pretext of security and isolation, the man began breathlessly briefing us on the facilities' grandeur.
"The top floor where Your Ladyship will reside is the Royal Suite zone, permitted only to the heirs of our empire's two ducal houses. It boasts flawless privacy and ironclad security via 24-hour premium magic arrays, with a dedicated chef and laundry maids on constant standby..."
But ignoring the lavish spiel entirely, Reina clutched the hem of my academy uniform with her fingers, staring fixedly up at my face.
"Cadel. What's for lunch today?"
"Student, the supervisor's giving a tour. Eyes front."
"Food's no good unless you make it. Can't you just cook for me?"
...This deranged beast had heard about the on-call chef and was still scheming to turn me—a low-rank baron's heir—into her personal kitchen maid(?).
At the end of the top floor's dead-end corridor stood a massive oak door plated in gold leaf. The supervisor turned with an awkward smile.
"Here we are—Room 101 Royal Suite, where Your Ladyship will spend the next three years. And..."
His gaze finally dropped to me. That perfect capitalist smile twisted instantly into a contemptuous glare screaming, What the hell is this low-rank baron's nobody doing glued to the lady's side?
"Your exclusive squire may unload the luggage and proceed to the servants' quarters on the first floor. Report at morning reveille..."
Sssrrk—
Before he could finish, Reina's violet eyes froze to sub-zero, and with a chilling crackle in the air, the hilt of her holy sword materialized from thin air.
"What? Where are you sending Cadel?"
The corridor's air crushed down suffocatingly as the chandelier began shaking wildly. Faced with the feral glare of a beast robbed of its prey, the supervisor's face drained to paper-white, his legs buckling.
"L-Lady?! B-But dorm rules stipulate low nobles aren't allowed in VIP rooms...!"
"Low noble? Are you insulting Cadel right now?"
Reina's hand stretched toward the airborne hilt. The moment it gripped the sword, that supervisor's neck—and probably this entire opulent hallway—would be sliced clean in half. No threats, no warnings. Her brain was that blindly straightforward.
"Aaaah!! Stop!! Hold it, you crazy student!!"
I lunged like a wild animal, jamming my hands under her armpits and hoisting her into the air before her fingertips could touch the hilt. No matter her claim to the world's strongest might, her basic hardware was a petite girl light enough to lift in my arms—a primal takedown made possible.
I clamped her dangling, flailing form against my side like a giant plushie, one arm locked firmly around her waist to block her path to the sword. With my free hand, I frantically dug into my pocket and yanked out a document.
"Here!! Imperial decree!! Special admission—we're rooming together!! So please, open the door quick before a murder happens!!"
"Hiiik! Y-Yes, sir!!"
The half-soul-scared supervisor fumbled with trembling hands to deactivate Room 101's magic lock, then bolted without looking back.
Clack.
The heavy door swung open, revealing our (legally?) shared living space in all its grandeur. I released my grip on Reina and let out a long-held breath.
"Hey, you planning a major incident on day one?"
"......"
"Sigh... Please, when you get mad, don't go for the holy sword first. This isn't our territory—it's the Imperial Academy."
No response to my heartfelt scolding. Reina strode through the doorway, planting herself stock-still in the living room's center and scanning around wordlessly. Her expression was off—maybe still fuming from that near-murder(?). I hurried to lighten the mood with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"Anyway, wow—check out this private school built on melted imperial budget. Living room's huge."
"......"
But Reina beside me looked even more displeased than in the hall. No—colder. On closer look, she wasn't admiring the decor. Her chill gaze measured the ten-meter gap between her bedroom door and mine.
Her fingertips hovered in the air, then a languid, dangerous voice slithered into my ear.
"Cadel. Can't we smash this wall and merge the rooms? I can cut it real pretty."
Lightning realization struck: ...Wait, she wasn't pissed at the supervisor ignoring me. She hates this room layout splitting us up?!
Any rudeness from others long deleted from her brain structure, fixated solely on maximizing 'physical distance from Cadel.' Her violet eyes flashed. A chill subspace magic vortex swirled, half-revealing the holy sword's hilt.
Understanding the gruesome physics behind 'cut it pretty,' I freaked, charging with my 17-year-old body to smack her back mercilessly.
"Hey!! Crazy student, put the weapon away! Slice those pillars and the whole dorm collapses!"
"......"
"This isn't our ducal villa—it's the Imperial Academy! Don't make them send a damage claim on day one!"
Under my reality-check smackdown (aka safety training), Reina pouted reluctantly and stowed the sword. A deep sigh escaped me.
Attempted murder and building code violation on academy day one. My fate...
I sensed it instinctively. In this perfect sealed space—mere ten meters apart, no parental buffers left—blocking this beast's head-on affection as a 17-year-old teen would be harder than cracking an egg on a rock.
To cling to reason, I needed ironclad defenses now more than ever. I whipped out a parchment from my bag and spread it dramatically on the living room table: [Room 101 Living Rules for Maintaining Lady Astrea's Dignity].
"Student, dorm life means communal basics. Follow capital laws in the capital, and here? Follow your exclusive squire—Cadel's rules."
I tapped the clauses sternly with my finger, proclaiming like a drill sergeant.
"Article 1: Maintain at least one-meter distance in shared spaces like the living room. Gotta preserve the lady's dignity. Article 2: After 10 p.m. bedtime, absolutely no entering others' rooms."
Reina lounged slantwise on the sofa, eyeing the rules with boredom.
"What kinda rules are those? You're my squire—why do I gotta stay away?"
"Break 'em, and no breakfast together tomorrow. Eat alone at the dorm cafeteria."
At the fatal penalty, her eyes narrowed briefly. She pondered deeply, then surprisingly nodded.
"...Fine. Won't open the door."
Eh? She agreed this easily? This stubborn beast?
But fatigue hit before suspicion could. Agreement secured—tonight, I could sleep sprawled out.
---
10 p.m. sharp. Living room chandelier out, I entered my room and bolted the heavy door.
"Phew, survived."
I'd half-feared Reina smashing in, but outside stayed quiet. Tension melted into drowsiness. Dragging my weary body, I flopped onto the plush bed, yanking the covers to my chin.
...Something felt off. First night in the dorm, yet why was the bedding already toasty warm? And at my feet, something soft and warm—like human body heat—brushed me.
A chill sweat crept up my spine. An assassin? The Mastermind's agents infiltrating day one?
Tensed, holding my breath, I cautiously flung the covers back.
"......!!"
"Cadel, you're here?"
No assassin's glinting blade. Instead, the world's deadliest beast, Reina de Astrea, lay coiled snake-like in my sheets, clad in dizzyingly sheer silk slip. Silver hair cascaded over the pillow like a waterfall; her languid violet eyes gleamed predatorily, squeezing her prey.
"Hey!! Are you insane?! I said no entering after 10 p.m.!!"
As I bolted from the bed in shock, her soft arms snaked around my waist, yanking me back down.
"Didn't open the door."
She nuzzled my nape, exhaling sweet breath, unfolding her shameless miracle logic.
"I snuck in at 9:59 and hid under the covers. Didn't open the door after 10, so no rule break, right?"
"You little...!!"
Time-gap ambush tactic. Yandere's terrifying(?) intellect exploiting the loophole perfectly.
"Kept the promise, so breakfast together?"
Her lips curved slyly as she burrowed flawlessly into my arms. Unreal heat and sweet scent seeped through the thin slip. My 17-year-old pubescent body teetered on reason's fuse.
No room for rebuttal—her lips an inch from mine, my teacherly morals shattering—
"Room 101!! Lights still on?!"
Bang-!!
Master key scraping, the locked door burst open. There stood a woman with sharp cat-like eyes flashing behind red horn-rimmed glasses: Margaret Collins, dorm supervisor. Her shirt strained against bursting breasts, hips brazenly outlined in a high-waist pencil skirt—a perfect hourglass bombshell figure.
"Bedtime was ages ago, and you're still making noise...!!"
She banged the door with her baton, bellowing—until her gaze locked on Reina in silk slip, blanketing(?) me seamlessly on the bed.
"......!!"
Her fierce eyes quaked like an earthquake. White cheeks and neck flushed tomato-red; her baton trembled.
"Wha—what... m-man and woman at this hour, d-doing wh-what?! S-Separate now!!"
Contrary to her sexy, haughty ice-queen looks, she half-covered her eyes, flailing in panic. Yet through her pure(?) stammering, she desperately upheld her duty.
"Even for a lady, dorm rule violations mean five demerit points, no mercy!!"
Margaret Collins, Imperial Academy dorm supervisor. Who knew such a voluptuous, provocative big sis(?) reacted so purely to skinship? And despite blushing too hard to meet eyes, she unflinchingly shoved 'rules' and 'points' even before the empire's strongest!
Sssrrk—
The intruder shattering our mood froze Reina's violet eyes sub-zero. Bedding and chairs floated eerily, her displeasure manifesting.
But amid the menace, a massive surge of emotion and camaraderie welled in my chest for the first time, reddening my eyes.
Aah... Finally, in this mad world... a true educator who knows principles...!
I mustered every ounce of 17-year-old energy to wrench free, leaping from bed. Bowing ninety degrees to Margaret with a decade's teacherly sincerity.
"Ma'am! Your invaluable guidance is spot-on, a hundred—no, a thousand times over!"
"...What?"
She adjusted her glasses in confusion, but I beamed earnestly, ignoring her.
"I've nagged about the 10 p.m. rule endlessly, but the student won't listen—I've been at a loss! Please continue the frequent patrols and strict guidance, ma'am!"
My tearful true-education solidarity pledge. But instantly, a dorm-freezing killing intent erupted behind me.
"Cadel."
Turning, Reina sat on the bed, face utterly crumbled. Her gaze fixed on Margaret—precisely her 'bursting voluptuous blouse' where I'd bowed.
"You smiled at that woman instead of me?"
Her voice cracked serpent-cold.
"I'll shred that woman's popping blouse with my holy sword right now."
"Hey!! Crazy student, no weapons on the teacher!! You'll get expelled!!"
I panicked, desperately hugging the waist of Reina reaching for thin air. Unrelated to imperial plots or world villains, Cadel Evans's bloodcurdling purity defense war hit its brutal curtain-raise.