[No title provided]
A brilliant morning sun was rising over the Imperial Academy's main building, but my eyes were clouded in a lifeless, murky gray.
"……Haa."
Every breath felt like it was draining a little more of my soul.
"Cadel, you sleepy? Hungry 'cause you didn't eat?"
Reina, plastered to my right shoulder with her dazzling silver hair fluttering like something out of a fairy tale, mumbled through a mouthful of food, her voice laced with concern.
"Just watching you eat fills me up. I told you yesterday."
I glanced up at her with my hollow eyes and shot back in my usual dry tone. Two straight nights of overtime were brutal, even for a vigorous seventeen-year-old body.
In the early morning hush of the empty classroom sat Isabella alone, her hands clasped as if in quiet prayer. Careful not to disturb her morning devotion, I pulled out my chair as silently as possible and collapsed face-first onto the desk.
"Hm?"
Reina, about to take the seat beside me, narrowed her purple pupils into needle-thin vertical slits. She circled behind me, sniffing at the nape of my uniform jacket like a cat marking territory.
"I hate this smell."
Her brows furrowed deeply, and she growled with pure disgust, as if she'd caught the scent of a rival stray.
Her growl made me tug at my jacket collar and sniff it myself.
Damn, it's still there.
Lingering faintly on my clothes was the trace of Seraphina from yesterday—a cloyingly artificial rose perfume, potent and unnatural.
"Me too..."
I muttered in a raspy voice, eyes squeezed shut. That stench was the reason I'd pulled an all-nighter...
Yesterday afternoon's fiasco in the administrative office flashed before my eyes like a panorama.
——
I'd burst into the office, proudly clutching the documents I'd barely managed to gather. Sure, the morning hallway collision had left them with shoe prints and torn corners, but I figured as long as the contents were legible, it'd pass. My past life's Korean pragmatism had blinded me to the truth.
The stern, hawk-nosed administrator snatched my papers, only to recoil at the assaulting rose perfume and the shredded, stained parchment. His face flushed purple with rage.
"Baron Evans' heir! Are you in your right mind?! What have you done to documents submitted to the sacred Academy?!"
"And this vulgar perfume stench, fit for a tavern madam! Are you mocking the administrative office?!"
I swallowed bitter tears of injustice, mumbling about an "accidental mishap," but all I got back were my all-nighter labors hurled coldly at my face.
In the end, I'd spread the ruined originals beside me and recopied everything from scratch at my dorm desk late into the night, the perfume reek hanging heavy in the air.
——
"……I'm gonna die, for real."
As extreme fatigue and stress hit their breaking point, the familiar lament from my past life spilled naturally from my lips.
"Haa…… What a sin-filled life."
I squeezed my eyes shut and rasped.
"What did I do in my past life to live so exhausted?"
"I don't even get riches or glory…… Yeah…… It's all karma, just karma."
Rubbing my forehead against the desk, I let out a deep, resigned sigh.
"Who can I blame? The sins I committed, I'll bear them alone like carrying a cross."
"Haa, Lord, please just let me survive this one day unharmed……."
The last bit was a habitual, light sigh. Nothing more than a humble, desperate plea from a K-worker: smooth document approval from the office and no incidents from Reina today.
And right then—
"……Gasp!"
Isabella's sharp intake of breath shattered the classroom silence.
Huh?
I rubbed my cheek against the desk and barely pried open my leaden eyelids. Through my blurry vision, I saw a silhouette at the diagonal front desk, turned toward me, gazing up.
"……Huh?"
For a split second, I thought exhaustion had finally sent me to heaven. Soft morning light filtered through the classroom window, shattering brilliantly over her hair like finely wrought golden threads, soft and voluminous. The backlighting from behind cast a saintly halo over her slender shoulders.
Her flawless white skin and softly curved, refined features exuded a pious, elegant beauty like a benevolent saint.
The only one in our class who wielded holy power, aspiring saint and countess's daughter: Isabella von Aris.
Living with my face inches from Reina—the empire's top beauty and fiercest beast 24/7—most looks barely registered visually anymore. But was it the nonstop overwork melting my rational circuits, or the overwhelming sacred aura? I blinked my crusty eyes and stared at her blankly, mesmerized in the languid morning sun.
Am I hallucinating an angel right before keeling over from overwork death...?
That utterly unrealistic impression flitted through my dazed mind—until I realized something was gravely wrong with her.
Her hands, clutching a polished silver cross rosary, trembled like aspen leaves.
"Milady, are you alright? Your face..."
I rubbed my gritty eyes, sat up, and offered a concerned word.
Her gaze raked over me, taking in every detail: sunken cheeks from two sleepless nights, dark circles bruising down to my jaw, unfocused hollow pupils, ink-stained fingers in a mess.
Then, her large eyes rapidly welled with clear liquid.
"Ahh…… Oh, Lord……!"
Her lips quivered, a sob-like moan escaping as if she might burst into tears.
What? Did I piss her off by interrupting her morning prayer?
I tried analyzing with my foggy brain, but no way could I read the massive, sacred gears of misunderstanding turning in her head.
"Evans heir……!"
Tears streaming down her cheeks, she rose like a sleepwalker and staggered toward my desk. Her expression mixed fear with resolute defiance.
"Ah, milady. Sorry. My muttering must've disturbed your morning meditation……."
I rubbed my eyes and started to stand with an apology—
"No! It's not your sin……!"
Isabella closed in on my desk, thrusting her cross-clasped hands toward my chest and crying out desperately.
"How can you bear that heavy cross alone?! Amid such cruel oppression and the fragrance of corruption…… your soul endures so nobly!"
……What the hell? Suddenly?
Fragrance of corruption? Yeah, the smell's kinda cheap, but dragging souls into it?
I furrowed my brow at her completely off-base tearful speech. She was at that sensitive age, deep into religion, but barging to someone's desk first thing to bawl? Even my decade of teaching experience couldn't parse this eccentricity easily.
Before I could shake off the bewilderment, her actions escalated.
"I…… I, unworthy as I am, will share your sacred suffering. Please allow this humble prayer!"
She wiped her streaming tears with a resolute face, clasped her hands at chest height, closed her eyes, and began chanting rapid, incomprehensible prayers.
Hummm—
Suddenly, a pure, blinding white light shimmered like heat haze between her intertwined hands. Her signature: holy magic.
Whoa, what's she doing all of a sudden?!
As I flinched back in panic, the sacred glow extended gently toward my face.
"Oh, Lord. Banish the demonic energy gnawing this poor lamb and the weariness of the world……."
The moment that light from her hands touched my eyes—
"……Huh?"
A dumb exclamation escaped me.
It was warm. Like a premium spa's 104°F herbal eye mask draped over my lids. The tension in my overworked optic nerves melted away like snow, waves of profound languor and relief washing over my entire body.
Whoa…… insane. This is nuts.
I halted my resistance and, before I knew it, leaned into the warmth of Isabella's holy magic, eyes drifting shut.
Do academy health aides go around giving eye steam treatments to tired kids now? Feels like a luxury sleep mask.
I was melting comfortably, eyes closed—
"Hmph!"
Then Reina snorted from beside me, kicking back her chair and standing.
She glanced at my refreshed, fatigue-washed face, then bared her fangs ferociously at Isabella while clamping onto my arm possessively.
"All fixed? Then get lost. He's mine—stop touching."
"Reina. A health aide treated you first thing in the morning. The least you could do is say thanks."
Startled, I scolded her in my veteran teacher's tone.
"Countess Isabella von Aris, thank you for your efforts this morning. I'll make sure to report this volunteer service to your homeroom teacher."
Glancing between us, Isabella returned to her seat with an enraptured expression.
"Oh, God…… Have I overcome Satan's trials and saved this lamb at last?!"
Back at her desk, she clasped her hands and muttered unknowable prayers, but with my eyes now clear, I brushed it off happily as no big deal.
And so, K-worker Cadel's languid morning began once more, peacefully(?) mired in another massive misunderstanding.