The Protagonist's Name
The Central Sealed Area incident shook the entire academy in a single day. Of course, not every truth had been made public. The official announcement given to the students was simple: the series of events at the Holy Church grounds, the Knight Department training grounds, and the Imperial Pavilion had been an infiltration attempt by an external heretical organization, while the security threat in the Central Sealed Area had been thwarted through the combined efforts of the faculty and several students. The name Black Moon was never mentioned. Naturally, neither was the word “original novel.” Least of all the fact that Kyle Diaren had been destined to die as a villain.
Yet rumors traveled faster and proved far more sensational than any official statement.
“I heard Lord Diaren played a major role in the Central Sealed Area.”
“They say Her Highness the Princess herself testified to it.”
“Weren’t Lady Bayern and the Saintess candidate there as well?”
“Even Noel senior from the Magic Department was involved?”
“What kind of combination is that?”
“Was he always that sort of person?”
Only days earlier I had been the prime suspect in the Rose Garden incident—a fallen noble accused of attacking the Saintess candidate, a suspicious villain who had survived an audience with the Princess, a troublemaker who somehow earned recognition after being paired with the Knight Lady. Now my name was being mentioned in connection with the Central Sealed Area incident as well. Whether that was an improvement or a deterioration, I couldn’t tell.
“It’s gotten worse,” Noel Ignis said.
I looked at her from my corner seat in the Black Library.
“Please stop reading my thoughts.”
“It was written all over your face.”
Noel set down the stack of books she had been carrying. A thin cloud of dust rose from the table. Every volume dealt with the Black Moon, the original novel, the world’s Correction Force, or ancient seals. Some covers alone made one reluctant to touch them.
After the Central Sealed Area incident, Noel had begun summoning me to the Black Library under the pretext of sharing information. In reality, the sessions sat somewhere between interrogation and research.
“Your reputation hasn’t improved,” she continued, leaning loosely against her chair. “It’s simply become more complicated. Before, people could just dismiss you as a wastrel. Now you’re the suspicious man simultaneously protected by the Princess, the Saintess candidate, and Lady Bayern.”
“That description is rather dreadful.”
“It’s accurate.”
I couldn’t deny it. Reputation at the academy was never a simple matter of favor. It was determined by who one was entangled with, which factions supported whom, and in which incidents one’s name appeared. At present, my name was caught in far too many places: the Imperial Family, the Holy Church, the Knight Department, the Magic Department, the Black Moon, and the Central Sealed Area. Even one such connection would have been troublesome enough.
“For your information, your name also came up during the faculty meeting.”
“In a favorable light, I hope?”
“Fifty-fifty.”
“My least favorite answer.”
Noel smiled. “Some professors called you dangerous. Others said your judgment was necessary. A few insisted you should be isolated immediately. Professor Graham noted that while you attract trouble, you did save students.”
“Isolation sounds the most frightening.”
“Her Highness Rhea opposed it. She argued that isolating you from the outside world might play right into the Black Moon’s hands.”
That sounded exactly like Rhea—cold, logical, and strangely unwilling to let me go.
“What about Aria?”
“Pressure came from the Holy Church side, claiming the Saintess candidate had grown too close to Lord Diaren.”
“As expected.”
“But Aria herself said, ‘I will not abandon a patient I have treated.’”
I had no reply. Noel watched my expression with evident amusement.
“Siella was questioned by the Knight Department as well—whether she trusted Lord Diaren.”
“What did she say?”
“‘He’s problematic because he’s weak, but he is not an enemy.’”
“Is that praise?”
“By Siella’s standards, it’s quite high.”
I gave a bitter smile. No one had declared they believed in me, yet no one had declared they would discard me either. That difference felt significant now.
Noel opened one of the books—a record concerning the Black Moon. Most pages were worn, and parts had been deliberately erased. The name Black Moon itself rarely appeared in official documents. Instead, scattered phrases such as “heretics of the crescent moon,” “shadow beneath the crown,” and “those who punish those who defy the narrative” filled the gaps.
“The Black Moon is not merely an anti-imperial organization,” Noel said. “At first I thought they were a political group targeting the throne, but after hearing Rowen’s words, it seems deeper. They view this world as a story and seek to correct any deviation from it.”
“Then I must be a target for correction.”
“The highest-priority target, at that.”
The assessment brought no joy.
“Now for the important question.” Noel pulled her chair closer and sat across from me. “The protagonist.”
I fell silent. Rowen’s final words echoed in my mind: Because the protagonist has begun to move. That sentence refused to leave me. Black Moon. Original novel. Correction Force. And the protagonist. Everything I had hoped to avoid was converging on a single point.
Noel tapped the desk with her finger. “What is the name of this so-called protagonist?”
I hesitated. The original protagonist—Edan Gray. A commoner special-admission student talented in both sword and magic. Righteous, unable to ignore the suffering of others. In the original story he resolved the Rose Garden incident, earned the trust of Rhea and Aria, formed a rivalry with Siella through a duel, and gradually rose to the center of the empire.
The problem was that I had already stolen most of his early events. I had saved Aria. I had saved Rhea. I had conducted the first joint practical training with Siella. I had stopped the mana core rampage in the Central Sealed Area. Every bond and recognition Edan Gray should have earned had flowed in a different direction. I had no idea how he would act now.
“Kyle.” Noel’s voice was low. “The more you hide it, the more dangerous it becomes.”
I sighed. “Edan Gray.”
Noel’s eyes lit up. “Which department?”
“Combat Department special admission. Commoner background. Talent in both sword and magic.”
“Personality?”
“Righteous, diligent, and helpful to others.”
Noel narrowed her eyes. “You make him sound like quite the good person.”
“He originally is.”
“Originally?”
I fell silent for a moment. “If the flow I know had remained intact.”
Noel understood at once. “Because you interfered with his role, you don’t know how the current Edan will change.”
“Yes.”
“He might feel jealous, suspicious, become even more righteous, or twist in the opposite direction.”
“That last possibility frightens me most.”
“Edan?”
“No.” I looked down at my fingertips. “The possibility that I may have ruined his life.”
Noel was quiet for a while. Normally she would have teased me immediately, yet this time she did not.
“Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“Do you still think of this as a story?”
I could not answer. Noel closed the book.
“What you knew may have been a story, but the people here right now are not. Edan is no exception. Just because you touched the original flow does not guarantee he will break.”
“Then is it all right?”
“No.” Noel smiled. “It means it’s dangerous. That’s why we need to confirm it.”
“How?”
“By meeting him.”
I shook my head at once. “I would rather avoid that.”
“I thought you’d say that.” She smiled again. “But it’s probably already too late.”
At her gesture the soundproofing magic at the library entrance dissolved. Footsteps approached from beyond the door—polite yet unhesitating. The door opened.
A young man with brown hair stood there. He wore the neat uniform of the Combat Department, his black eyes calm. There was no aristocratic ostentation about him, only a straight, clean impression. The moment I saw him, I knew.
Edan Gray. The original protagonist.
He looked far more real than any illustration or description I had read. There was none of the exaggerated aura from the novel’s artwork. If anything, he was so ordinary that he stood out. Yet within that ordinariness lay an oddly solid core—the gaze that met people directly, the posture that never wavered. That was Edan Gray.
He looked at me. “Lord Kyle Diaren.”
His voice was calm. It held no hostility, but neither did it hold goodwill.
“Might I speak with you for a moment?”
Noel leaned back in her chair, thoroughly entertained. “Wow, he came right away.”
I swallowed the curse rising in my throat. The meeting I had wanted to avoid had arrived far too quickly.
“What is it you wish to discuss?”
Edan studied me for a moment before answering. “I would like to ask about the Rose Garden incident.”
I had expected as much. That incident should have been Edan’s first major achievement. Instead I had resolved it. From his perspective, he had suddenly been excluded from a key early event.
“And the Central Sealed Area incident as well.”
His gaze deepened slightly. “Every trace I was investigating has vanished around Your Lordship.”
Noel gave a low whistle. “My, how sharp the protagonist’s intuition is.”
“Senior.”
I spoke quietly. Noel did not stop smiling.
“What? It’s interesting.”
Edan paid her no mind. His eyes remained fixed on me.
“I did not come here to suspect you, my lord.”
“Then why?”
“To confirm.”
He took one step inside. “You move as though you already know the incidents occurring within the academy.”
My heart sank quietly. Another person who saw me as strange. Edan continued in a low voice.
“And strangely enough, the truths I intended to uncover always reveal themselves first at your side.”
There was no jealousy or anger in his tone, only a subtle unease—the sense that someone else now stood where he should have been. He had not yet given that feeling a clear name, which made it all the more dangerous. Righteous people rarely admit to private discomfort; instead they reframe it as a duty to verify the truth. That was precisely what Edan was doing now.
“So I will ask.”
Edan Gray looked me straight in the eye.
“Who exactly are you?”
The question weighed heavier than Rowen’s revelation. Rowen had called me an error. Edan was asking me as a person.
I could find no answer.
At that moment a cold voice spoke from beyond the library door.
“I believe I hold the right to ask that question first.”
It was Rhea. Behind her stood Aria and Siella as well.
Why is everyone gathering here?
Rhea regarded Edan. “Edan Gray. Kyle Diaren is currently under imperial protection. If you wish to question him, follow proper procedure.”
Edan offered a respectful bow. “Third Princess, Your Highness.”
Siella looked him up and down. “So you’re that special-admission student.”
“Lady Bayern.”
“You have manners, at least.”
“I was taught to.”
Siella narrowed her eyes, as though searching for any sign of weakness in him. Edan did not yield. He neither cowered beneath noble pressure nor responded with rudeness. He was exactly the Edan from the original novel. That only made me more uncomfortable.
Aria quietly approached my side. She said nothing, yet her fingers lightly caught my sleeve. Edan’s gaze flicked to that hand—just for an instant. I saw it. A tiny crack formed in his eyes.
He did not know Aria. Not yet. In the original story these two should have already formed a bond through the Rose Garden incident. Now Aria was merely an unfamiliar Saintess candidate to him, and he was merely a polite special-admission student to her. I stood between them.
Edan looked at me again. In that moment I witnessed the first fracture the original protagonist had ever felt. He was trying not to believe he had been robbed, yet he already sensed it—that I now stood upon the path he was meant to walk.
Noel murmured under her breath, “Now the real academy story begins.”
I silently agreed. Black Moon. Priest Rowen. The original novel’s Correction Force. And the protagonist, Edan Gray. The villain once fated to die had now drawn even the gaze of the original protagonist. Quiet graduation was no longer an option.