Chapter 291: The Title
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 291: The Title
"I said..."
"Get lost!"
In an instant, a boundless chill swept through the air. A piercing gale, laden with snow as sharp as ice blades, erupted from Celicia and surged outward.
The surrounding crowd was instantly blown off-balance, stumbling and falling. As the cold wave surged past, Bodor was frozen solid into an ice sculpture. His face, locked in a lingering smile, still bore a trace of utter disbelief.
The others finally managed to steady themselves. They exchanged horrified glances and, without a second thought, turned tail and ran.
However, one of them stopped mid-flight, doubled back, and gave Celicia an apologetic smile. He scooped up the frozen Bodor and resumed his frantic escape.
They had agreed beforehand that they would be paid regardless of success—there was no way he was letting that debt go unpaid!
The crowd vanished from sight.
Soon, the pale winter sun peeked over the horizon. Amidst the gradually subsiding wind and snow, peace and tranquility returned to the edge of the woods.
In the gentle morning light, the blond man held the girl by the waist. They looked like the most intimate of couples. From behind, they radiated a cloying aura of romance that would make any onlooker smile warmly before reflexively flipping them off.
But when the perspective shifted to the front...
"How much longer do you plan on holding me?"
Celicia suddenly turned her head to glare at Muen. Her eyes were as cold and piercing as shards of ice.
"Wait... wait a second."
Sensing the dangerous atmosphere, Muen quickly let go and took a step back, raising his hands with a sheepish grin.
"Isn't that... a bit much? Haven't we already touched everything there is to touch? It’s just a hand on the waist. If you feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick..."
Muen puffed out his chest and said with mock seriousness, "I’ll let you touch me back."
"..."
Celicia stared at Muen for a long moment. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed, and she took a deliberate step forward. A sweet, girlish scent mingled with a biting chill washed over him. Her formidable aura was so overwhelming that Muen instinctively shrank back.
"You seem quite pleased with yourself lately, don't you, Muen Campbell?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"After the events of the past few days, your reputation at the academy has undergone a near hundred-and-eighty-degree reversal. Especially among those first-year girls. They’ve even convinced themselves that all the stupid things you did in the past were either rumors spread by people trying to smear you, or that you intentionally tarnished your own name to avoid being targeted by others. In short, nothing could possibly be your fault."
"Huh? No way, that’s going too far."
The old Muen really had been a hundred-percent purebred playboy. Those rumors weren't exactly baseless. And as for "intentional self-defilement"... who the hell had an imagination that wild?
Muen rubbed his nose, suddenly feeling a bit guilty.
"Furthermore, thanks to the deliberate promotion by certain individuals, you have officially risen to second place on the St. Maria Academy Popularity and Charm Rankings."
"Second place?"
Muen blinked, asking curiously, "Then who’s first?"
"Heh."
Celicia didn't answer, but continued, "In any case, congratulations. You’ve finally shed the prejudices others held against you and become a duke’s son who is, in the eyes of outsiders, incomparably excellent and dazzling. If you wanted to ruin some young girls now, you’d probably only need to beckon with a finger and they’d come running. This time, far from getting a bad reputation, you might even be praised for 'doting on your fans.'"
She said "congratulations," but Muen suddenly felt a violent chill travel up his spine and straight to his brain.
"That's... that's nonsense!"
Muen’s eyes widened in mock outrage as he firmly retorted, "Celicia, don't be fooled by those illusions. Am I the kind of ultimate scum who sounds like he’s begging for a cleaver to the neck? When it comes to feelings, I’m actually very pur—"
Before he could finish the sentence.
Muen felt a bone-chilling frost slam into his face.
The gale, carrying ice and snow, exploded like fireworks. Muen was tossed into the sky by a terrifying external force, performing a mid-air routine of three and a half rotations, five and a half, twelve and a half...
Finally, with a thud, he landed head-first into a nearby snowbank. Only his perky backside remained sticking out toward the sky, a silent, practiced protest against the injustice of the heavens.
Fortunately, the force this time was significantly lighter than before; Muen didn't lose consciousness.
But just as he wiggled his body, trying to pull himself out of the snow, he felt a small leather boot press against his rear, slowly shoving him back in.
"..."
"I heard you have another title now, one that's circulating quite widely through the academy?"
"A title?"
Hearing that he had a title, Muen was momentarily stunned. He had been busy lately and hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings, so he naturally didn't know what people were calling him. He instinctively grew nervous.
"It’s not 'Yellow Hair' or something, is it?"
"Yellow Hair? What are you talking about?"
"It's not Yellow Hair?"
"Of course not, though it’s somewhat close."
Celicia released her foot and stared at the wiggling backside. Deep within the frozen lake of her eyes, a slight ripple stirred. She said softly:
"Some people are calling you—The Golden Campbell."
"..."
Muen was silent for a while.
"...That's so edgy."
"It is very edgy."
"I’d prefer something like The Flash, or Quicksilver, or maybe the Switchblade Avenger."
"What are those? More pathetic delusions from your head?"
"...But, 'The Golden Campbell'... it doesn't sound too bad."
Muen lifted his head from the snow. The snowflakes, catching the distant morning sun, created a blurred, dreamlike image in his vision, causing him to squint involuntarily.
"It’s actually quite good."
"Is it?"
Celicia lightly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "That’s fine then. It seems I won't need to waste extra effort cleaning up the school's atmosphere."
"I'm leaving."
"Hmm? Leaving already? We haven't even reached the school gates."
"I don't have the leisure to waste time on such meaningless things."
Celicia turned and walked away without looking back.
Muen turned his head, watching Celicia’s receding figure, and suddenly let out a wry smile.
"What a stubborn tsun—"
Whoosh—
The sound of breaking wind suddenly erupted.
An ice crystal sword shot through the air from a distance, grazing Muen’s cheek and pinning itself directly through the large tree behind him.
Sensing a chill that was different from before—one that felt like it truly could have killed him—Muen turned pale, his legs going weak. He shouted at her back in grief and indignation:
"Dammit! Are you trying to murder your fiancé?!"
Celicia acted as if she hadn't heard him, still not looking back.
Her silver-white hair fluttered in the wind as her figure gradually vanished from Muen’s sight.
However.
Just as Muen finally calmed his heart and turned to leave as well...
From within the breeze that stirred the snowflakes, a voice drifted over—indifferent, cool, and faint, yet as warm as the winter sun, coaxing a smile to his lips:
"Be careful on your way. Don't die, Muen Campbell."
"...Of course."
Muen paused for a moment, then smiled and clasped his hands behind his head. He stepped past the final stretch of the forest path and strode toward the bright, clean main road.
"The current me is no longer the person I was at the start, with nothing to lose."
"So, naturally, I’ll work even harder to stay alive."