Chapter 75

“Here I am, face to face with that idiot Seron.”

I mulled over how things had come to this point.

Seron had started wandering around alone a lot lately.

The main reason for that was obviously my fault.

Since I accidentally got surrounded by other kids, there was no room for Seron to sneak in.

Then, there was Aeling, one of the early members of the boycott, who kept pushing Seron to join her.

The reason Aeling urged Seron was simple.

Seron is close to me, a member of the student council.

She wanted to bring her into the boycott to see if any information might trickle down.

I somewhat understood her reasoning.

The problem was that Aeling was more persistent than I expected.

Seron, not being the most amicable character, could have brushed her off.

But it seemed like Seron had a plan to squeeze information out of the boycott and feed it to me.

So, pretending to be helpless, she followed Aeling to the meeting hall.

Given that consideration, it was quite a commendable thought.

That is, until she crossed paths with me, Bickamon.

Seron spotted me standing in a corner and kept giving me side glances.

And every time our eyes met, her face turned bright red, and she lowered her head deeply.

She was fidgeting with her toes like a girl in love.

I’ve said it before, but Bickamon is really good-looking.

Like, really, really good-looking, enough to say it twice.

No wonder he was able to charm ladies in the entertainment district and even draw in the infamous magician Vinasha.

He’s not tall, but his face is handsome.

And that inexplicable, melancholic gaze has an enchanting quality that just mesmerizes people.

It’s no wonder Seron fell head over heels at first sight.

Seron has always said she liked tall, manly handsome guys.

Compared to the pretty boy Nia, Bickamon has a more rugged handsomeness.

This fit perfectly into Seron’s ideal type.

The problem? I’m Bickamon.

A sudden headache hit me.

‘That idiot.’

I really didn’t want Seron to get caught up in that boycott.

Ultimately, the boycott would fail and its members would face disciplinary action.

It was only natural since they caused a ruckus at the academy.

I felt like I needed to shove that girl away somehow.

Looking at Seron, who kept her eyes glued to my face, it didn’t seem like she’d ever heard a single word from the boycott leader Rozamin.

“President!”

At that moment, a student burst in during Rozamin’s speech.

From the floating orbs of light around, it seemed like a special studies spirit and a student.

“The student council patrol is here! We should hurry and get out!”

The student council wasn’t made up of fools.

As the number of boycott members grew, rumors had also reached the student council’s ears.

Despite being called a boycott, it was essentially just a bunch of delinquents disgruntled with the academy.

It was also the student council’s job to steer them back on track, which is why a patrol was enacted right away.

“You nasty student council brats! This meeting’s over! Everyone disperse!”

At Rozamin’s words, the students who were munching on snacks began to hurry off.

Since I had warned them beforehand that a patrol could happen at any time, they moved in an orderly manner.

Just as I was about to escape, I spotted Seron standing there with a bewildered expression.

That dumbbell.

She seemed clueless, just staring at my face without knowing what was going on.

If I left her like that, the patrolling students would definitely discover her.

There was no way I could let Seron take the blame, so I rushed over to her.

Thud!

I grabbed her wrist.

“Uh, wait.”

“Let’s go.”

I pulled the startled Seron and hurried down the hallway of the abandoned building.

The hallway, previously bustling with the boycott students, was now calm.

As I ran down a route I had thought out beforehand, I soon heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

Damn, they chose this exit, huh?

Bad luck.

I stopped and scanned my surroundings.

Then I opened the door to an empty classroom and stepped in with Seron.

Inside, there was an old teacher’s desk.

I quickly ducked down with Seron behind the desk.

It wasn’t very spacious, so we were quite close, but that was no time to worry about that.

I could feel Seron fidgeting, seemingly anxious in my hold.

“Just hold on a bit.”

As I whispered in her ear, I felt her shiver.

Then she quieted down.

Soft footsteps approached from the hallway.

“Wow, what a hassle in the middle of the night.”

“They say there’s a delinquent group around. We have to step in as the student council.”

It was Midra Fenin, a 1st year and the deputy in martial arts, along with another voice from the 2nd year student council.

It seemed they weren’t actively searching yet, given that it was still just rumors.

Well, if they had been serious, they’d have sealed off the abandoned building with magic.

Professors and assistants would have been involved in that too.

‘Maybe the president didn’t call me to the patrol as a courtesy after the Nikita incident.’

The president, Sylvester, hadn’t assigned me any student council duties since the Nikita incident.

He might have thought I needed a break, considering I had been the one supporting Nikita the most and seemed shaken.

‘I suppose it’s because he’s incompetent, but he’s not a bad person.’

Meanwhile, the footsteps of the student council members faded away.

Realizing this, I let out a short sigh and turned my head.

That was when I locked eyes with Seron.

Seron was looking up at me with dazed, completely relaxed eyes.

Her face was already as red as a tomato, and her mouth was slightly agape.

As I stared at her blankly, I spoke up.

“So…”

“Uh, whoops!”

Suddenly realizing, Seron tried to stand up but bumped her head on the teacher’s desk.

“Ugh!”

Seron clutched her head, groaning in pain.

But more than the pain, her embarrassment over her clumsiness in front of me seemed to make her at a loss for what to do.

“Are you okay?”

I almost blurted out calling her an idiot.

Barely stopping myself, I checked her forehead, worried it might be bruised from the bump.

“Ah, yeah, I’m fine.”

Seron was speaking in a formal tone she usually didn’t use, acting all shy.

Well, I guess her hard head wouldn’t break easily.

“What a relief.”

I tried to rein in my thoughts and stepped out from behind the desk.

Then, I reached out a hand to Seron, who hadn’t yet managed to come out.

Seron flinched at my every action but took my hand and got up.

The way she gently pressed her skirt down while coming out made her look like a delicate girl.

Moonlight poured in through the window.

Today was a clear night with no clouds obstructing the moon.

Seron stepped out after me and stared at me as if entranced.

Then she snapped back to reality.

“Um, um, what’s your name?”

Seron, with a shy face, called out my name.

It seemed like Seron didn’t know the face of Bickamon, the senior from her class.

‘But at the very least, she must have heard my name.’

Knowing Seron’s personality, she probably didn’t bother to look me up because she was just uninterested.

More importantly, I am Bickamon.

What would Bickamon have answered in this situation?

If she didn’t know my name, there was no real reason to tell her.

Seron was about to miss out on the boycott starting today.

“My name’s not really anything special.”

“Ah.”

Seron sighed.

She seemed to grasp that I must be dealing with something complicated.

“More than that, don’t come here from today onwards.”

“Y-yeah?”

“It’s not a good place for you to be.”

Seron hesitated.

“B-but…”

She glanced at my face as if she had lots to say.

She hadn’t listened to even a single word I said.

I felt like giving her a flick on the forehead.

“So, where can I see you again?”

She then carefully chose her words and spoke.

She seemed embarrassed even after saying it, biting her lip tightly.

Where could she see me?

She’d just see me at school tomorrow morning.

I paused from instinctively wanting to give her a pitying look and opened the window.

“It’s better if we don’t meet again. It wouldn’t be good for either of us.”

Later, when she finds out I’m Hanon, Seron’s world is bound to fall apart.

While the idea of teasing her is tempting, I don’t want things to get awkward between us.

Like it or not, Seron was a friend to me.

I wanted to maintain a good relationship moving forward.

So I decided to turn a blind eye to Seron today.

What’s so great about being friends?

She didn’t see her first love today.

* * *

Next day, just like any other morning, I headed to school.

No, wait.

To be precise, it was not the same as usual.

After coming back to the dorm last night, I immediately went to the girls’ dormitory.

There, I arrived at Iris’s room in the guise of Hania.

Iris was leaning back in a chair while listening to the sound of Argol I had mentioned earlier.

As soon as our eyes met, she smiled gently.

That smile resembled the one Iris wore at Magung.

I was at my limit with fatigue.

I carefully picked up Iris and laid her on the bed.

Then I gently cradled her.

We shared a few mundane stories before Iris fell asleep.

Nothing particularly special, really.

But it was just the right kind of conversation to help Iris drift off.

Before long, she was sleeping, breathing steadily.

When Lucas put Iris to sleep, he would use his lap as a pillow.

I had no idea how I ended up in this position.

Still, I was just glad that Iris could fall asleep.

As her stuffed animal substitute, I managed to finally switch places with Hania in the morning, dropping Iris off unceremoniously.

Thanks to that, today, Iris was full of life.

Walking confidently without a trace of fatigue, she embodied the elegance of a princess.

“I want to sleep with Hania every day.”

“Iris, please don’t say things like that in front of others.”

Iris casually dropped a bomb that would give anyone a shock.

If the 3rd Princess Faction heard that, they’d be utterly horrified.

And I’d likely be sentenced to severe punishment for daring to touch the princess.

“Let’s do this next time too.”

But Iris had no intention of letting me go.

I could tell she was planning to put me to work again if I couldn’t sleep next time.

I would have to endure until Iris was free from her nightmares.

As she conquered her nightmares, I was worried about the growing number of uncertainties.

That’s how I headed to school.

And today, I spotted Seron’s back, which seemed to have come early.

By her reaction, it didn’t seem like she noticed I was here.

Remembering what happened yesterday, I crept up behind her, ready to tease.

“Hah.”

Seron let out a long sigh without realizing I had come closer.

She was gazing out the window with glistening eyes.

“Prince…”

She muttered to herself.

I quietly stared at the back of Seron’s head.

I figured out who she was reminiscing about.

Wasn’t she just complaining about burnt sweet potatoes?

This girl.