Prince of Gluttony: Born from Betrayal

Maris had no interest in anything that had to do with academics. In her mind, anything that didn't directly increase her combat ability, it was useless to her. The professor's voice droned on like a dying insect caught in a web. Each word seemed to dragitself out of his mouth with no enthusiasm before falling to the floor in defeat. To Maris, sitting stiff-backed beside Cain, the lecture felt less like education and more like a cruel endurance trial.

The chalkboard was filled with strange diagrams and long formulas. They might as well have been spells written in an ancient tongue for all the sense they made to her. Her golden eyes locked onto the symbols with something between confusion and hatred before slowly drifting shut as the professor launched into yet another example problem.

Cain noticed immediately. He had thought Jayden was the biggest musclehead he had ever met, someone who lived for training and fighting while everything else fell to the wayside. But this dragon girl was somehow worse. Not even fifteen minutes into the lecture and she looked ready to pass out. He half expected her to start snoring right there at her desk.

He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms, quietly amused despite himself. He had not spent much time with Maris outside training sessions, but it was now clear the girl was the very definition of straightforward. Fighting? She was interested. Eating? She was interested. Sleeping? Apparently interested. Complex academic lectures? Absolutely not.

A soft murmur began to rise from around the room as more students noticed her head drooping lower with each passing minute. Cain felt the weight of several glares settle on him from different corners of the classroom. Some of the girls were glaring sharply in his direction while others… were blushing? Cain frowned in confusion until he caught fragments of whispering voices.

"Do you think he is too good for the Dragon Prince?" one girl hissed under her breath.

Another girl gasped softly. "Too good? Are you insane? Maris could crush him with one hand if she wanted. He is lucky to be sitting next to her at all."

A third voice chimed in with open disdain. "I do not like it. The Prince should not be sitting next to some random guy. He should sit with someone worthy."

Cain raised an eyebrow. Prince? He turned his head slightly and looked at Maris again. Her long black hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, her strong jawline set in a natural scowl even as she fought off sleep. Now that he thought about it, she did give off that whole aloof, princely vibe whether she realized it or not. No wonder some girls seemed to have built a shrine to her in their minds.

Another set of whispers reached his ears, this one from the far left side of the classroom.

"They look good together though."

"I do not like it. But… maybe? Just maybe?"

"Do not encourage this!"

Cain pinched the bridge of his nose. Fantastic. Now there were factions forming. The too-good-for-Marais faction, the protect-our-Prince-from-the-random-guy faction, and apparently the they-look-good-together faction. He silently begged the universe for the lecture to end soon before things escalated further.

And then came the fourth faction. The creepy one.

"Maybe the Prince really is a Prince," a girl whispered with barely contained glee. "What if they are two boys in love? Think about it."

Cain froze mid-thought as those words hit his ears. His stomach churned. He turned his head slightly and saw a cluster of girls watching him and Maris with sparkles in their eyes like they had just discovered some scandalous secret. Cain felt his soul shrivel.

Absolutely not.

He shuddered in revulsion, muttering under his breath, "What is wrong with people?"

Before he could process further horrors, Maris finally lost her battle with consciousness. Her head dipped forward, wavered once, then slowly tilted sideways until it landed squarely on Cain's shoulder.

The room went dead silent.

Cain's entire body locked up. His eyes darted toward the girl now sleeping soundly against him, her expression softening in a way he had never seen before. She looked… peaceful. Completely unaware of the chaos she had just unleashed.

Because chaos it was.

The silence shattered all at once as muffled squeals erupted from several corners of the room. Hushed voices rose in excitement, trying and failing to stay quiet.

"She is sleeping on his shoulder!"

"Oh my gods, she actually did it!"

"They look so cute like that!"

Cain's right eye twitched. The guys in the room were glaring daggers at him now, their expressions united in shared hatred. Every single one of them seemed to silently scream the same thing at him.

Harem bastard.

Cain wanted to slam his head into the desk. This was ridiculous. Completely, utterly ridiculous. Yet when he considered moving his shoulder to wake Maris up… he did not. Something in her peaceful expression stopped him. So he sat there, jaw tight, letting the dragon girl use him as a pillow while the classroom descended into barely contained hysteria.

He could feel her faint, steady breathing against his arm. The weight of her head was warm, grounding, even as the chaos around them grew worse with each passing second.

Cain stared straight ahead at the chalkboard, doing his absolute best to ignore the fangirl whispering, the male students silently plotting his death, and the professor droning on like nothing at all was happening.

Fine. Let her sleep. He would get his revenge later. Training session. She would regret this during training.

The minutes crawled by like hours before the bell finally rang, signaling the end of class. Maris stirred slightly, her head lifting from his shoulder as she blinked groggily awake.

Cain stood quickly, stretching his arms with forced casualness while the room erupted into noise around them. He could already hear the whispers spreading like wildfire.

"They were so close!"

"Did you see the way she leaned on him?"

"Do you think the rumors are true? Are they really together?!"

Cain grit his teeth. Fantastic. Just fantastic.

Maris rubbed her eyes and looked at him without a trace of embarrassment. "That was a boring lecture," she said simply.

Cain stared at her, incredulous. "You fell asleep on me."

She tilted her head like she did not see the problem. "Your shoulder was convenient."

Convenient.

He could still feel the hostile glares of the male students stabbing into his back as they left the classroom together. The whispering voices followed them into the hallway like a swarm of bees.

Harem bastard. Too good for the Prince. They look cute together. Maybe two boys in love.

Cain's eyebrow twitched harder with every passing comment. He glanced at Maris, who walked beside him completely unbothered, and decided right then and there she was going to pay for this during training.

Oh yes. She was going to pay dearly.