Prologue.1

At Che Saintbre Academy, there was no shortage of proud talents befitting its illustrious reputation, yet, as with any academy, there were a few exceptionally outstanding prodigies. Among these prodigies, there were two renowned geniuses at Che Saintbre: one was Delilah Erica, the other was Eric Briar.

Delilah Erica. Sixth year in the Department of Administrative Liberal Arts. She was a genius who, from the moment she entered, seized the title of top student and never once let go of it until her graduation year. With her lovely appearance and cheerful personality, she was a girl admired and adored by both men and women alike. She never neglected her studies for even a moment, frequently visiting professors to ask questions—a hard worker through and through. There were few, whether professors or students, who did not like her.

Delilah’s popularity was not limited to the academy. The Erica family was renowned throughout the Kingdom. For generations, they had faithfully managed the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but unfortunately, the line was set to end with Delilah. She was the only child of Roderick Erica, the current chief commissioner of the Ministry, and according to the Kingdom’s law, a woman could not inherit the family name—an unavoidable fate.

But what if someone were to take Delilah Erica as his wife? What could Roderick Erica, who held all the power of the Ministry, do for the man who married his precious only daughter? Perhaps he could even inherit the Ministry’s power after Erica. Many entertained such thoughts. Any family seeking to strengthen its position in the Kingdom wanted to bring Delilah Erica into their household. In fact, the entire Kingdom had its eyes on Delilah Erica. Born at the very pinnacle of real power—far more direct than the hollow, honor-bound royal family—she was indisputably the most popular figure in the Kingdom’s social circles.

However, Eric Briar belonged to a slightly different category.

Eric Briar. Fourth year in the Department of Magical Engineering. He too had seized the top student spot upon entry and maintained it ever since. At first, his tall stature and handsome looks drew secret attention from several female students. But his somewhat blunt and unsociable nature, coupled with a complete absence of visible effort—unlike Delilah Erica—quickly ruined his reputation. He would doze off during lectures, never listened to professors, and sometimes skipped classes for no reason, earning frequent glares from the faculty.

Since he consistently held the top spot, professors didn’t make a big deal out of it, but this only fueled other students’ jealousy. When Eric Briar was just a third-year, he was recognized for a breakthrough patent on magical circuits that conserved mana, and was even given an unprecedented private laboratory—this only intensified the envy directed at him.

Moreover, Eric Briar was the son of Baron Briar, who had received his baronetcy for achievements in magical engineering. The royal family still existed in name, but after the collapse of the class system, the power of the cabinet government was far stronger, and royal-granted baronetcies were little more than honorary medals. The Briar bloodline carried neither ancient power, high status, nor even significant wealth.

There were rumors that, with his genius, he would gain status even faster than his father, but for now, he was a student easy to dislike without consequence. The jealousy that had been quietly growing toward him naturally led to subtle ostracism and disregard.

“Of course, you don’t care about that in the slightest.”

“Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”

“Just listen for now.”

But what truly ruined his reputation wasn’t his ability, lack of backing, or even his lazy lifestyle—it was an incident entirely unrelated to those things.

It was an evening when the sky, as the sun set, was unusually beautiful. The sun began to burn the deepening blue of early autumn with gold at the edges, and the sky was painted in a mix of colors, as if red and blue paint had been poured into a transparent glass. Bright pink clouds floated here and there like cotton candy.

As the white stone walls of the academy, glowing orange in the sunset, finally succumbed to the oncoming tide of night and cast purple shadows, the incident occurred.

All students at Che Saintbre Academy were required to live in the academy dormitories. Built away from the classroom buildings, the dormitories were divided into two by the courtyard with the clock tower: the east building for male students, and the west for females. The central building connecting the two housed the administration office, night duty rooms, and the grand dining hall.

The dormitories were luxurious for student housing. Each student had a room to themselves, equipped with a private bath and a reception room for entertaining friends. The west dormitory’s reception rooms even had small terraces, where female students would gather after class to enjoy refreshments while watching the sunset.

Thus, once in the dormitory, students rarely left their rooms, and there was no chance for male and female students to encounter each other.

Nevertheless, there was one time they gathered in the same place—dinner. In the evenings, students of both genders would gather in the grand dining hall.

That day, with the sunset excessively beautiful, students were scattered in groups, eating dinner in the dining hall. New students, still awkwardly searching for seats, and upperclassmen, their faces shadowed by the flood of assignments after the holidays, mingled haphazardly. There were lively groups laughing and chatting, and others hurriedly stuffing food in their mouths to finish assignments.

But among the mostly paired-up students, there was one who sat alone, quietly eating—Eric Briar.

No one chatted or greeted him; he simply ate quietly and slowly. Some students whispered about him behind his back, but Che Saintbre’s students valued honor.

“To put it bluntly, they just like acting all refined for no reason…”

“Don’t talk like Odile. If she said something like that, fine, but if you do, you’ll get into trouble.”

“Of course I wouldn’t. You know that.”

For such reasons, no one bothered him openly. But this only made him more isolated in the lively space—like an invisible wall stood between him and the others.

The one who broke that wall was Delilah Erica.

“May I join you?”

Her beautiful pink hair braided down her back, she was alone. Having arrived late at the dormitory after staying behind to ask professors questions, she came to the dining hall still replaying those conversations in her mind, not noticing her round glasses were crooked.

“I’ll eat quietly and leave soon.”

Rather than searching for her friends in the noisy dining hall, Delilah wanted to sit anywhere, finish her meal quickly, and return to her room. The table where a male student sat alone seemed prepared just for her.

Even with her simply braided hair, crooked glasses, and ink-stained fingers, she was beautiful. Her attitude in asking to share the table was polite, and her face wore the angelic smile her friends always praised.

Yet Eric Briar, the male student eating alone, neither greeted her nor offered to pull out her chair. He simply looked up at Delilah, who stood with her tray, expressionless and silent, for several minutes.

The noisy dining hall gradually quieted. All eyes turned to Delilah, standing with her tray and smiling, and Eric, sitting without a word. The silence settled over the hall as if the previous noise had been a lie. Everyone watched Eric and Delilah.

And Eric, still silent, stood up and left.

The sound of him returning his unfinished tray. The sound of his footsteps. The sound of the dining hall door closing behind his silent departure.

Only after those sounds stopped and the hall was quiet did someone speak.

“Did he just ignore Delilah?”

That was the beginning. The thorough disregard toward Eric Briar by the other students.

“So what does that have to do with why we’re doing this?”

“You still don’t get it? Odile’s right. If you’re the top student, the future of the Magical Engineering Department is bleak.”

“Ah, seriously.”

The male student, Eric Briar, who was thoroughly ostracized despite his excellent grades and looks for being rude to Delilah Erica in front of everyone, furrowed his brow slightly. The female student, Delilah Erica, who had been so flustered by his rudeness that she burst into tears on the spot, reached out and pressed his brow. Her long pink hair tickled Eric’s bare shoulder as she moved. Reluctantly, Eric relaxed his furrowed brow.

Delilah kept pressing his face, then finally ran her fingers through his soft caramel curls before withdrawing her hand. But everything else remained pressed close. Delilah buried her face in his nape, inhaling the faint scent of Eric’s skin from the crumpled sheets, then spoke, her lips dangerously close to his ear, voice dropping to a whisper.

“So, no one would ever imagine I’d do something like this with you.”

Eric shuddered at Delilah’s breath trailing down his nape. Feeling his movement through their touching bodies, Delilah laughed softly and pressed her lips to his tender skin, licking behind his ear and gently biting his earlobe.

“…Should we do it again?”

Delilah’s hand sensually traced his collarbone. Eric exhaled deeply, almost incredulous.

“No one would ever think you’d do something like this anyway.”

“But you do.”

“I’ve experienced it.”

Eric’s hand gently swept Delilah’s pink hair behind her ear as she moved her lips down to nibble his smooth jaw. His hands, though large and thick with knuckles, always moved more flexibly than expected. When Delilah once commented on it, Eric said magical circuit work required delicate movement.