NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84
The Night of the Founding Festival
A boy who managed to escape the boycott let out a sigh.
Well, to be precise, she was a girl.
“What a hassle this is!”
The girl resembling Hanon was actually Hania Repidia, the daughter of the imperial knight commander.
After finding out that Isabel was after Hanon, she thought it might turn into a painful situation and decided to join the boycott.
Since she looked just like Hanon, no one questioned her appearance.
Suddenly overpowering a few members of the boycott, she sighed once more.
Hanon had already darted away after clashing with Isabel and company.
“Couldn’t you at least give me a hint or something?”
She had just ended up getting into trouble unnecessarily.
She felt an urge to quickly return and wash up.
“Hania.”
Just then, as she shuffled her feet, she froze at the voice that rang out and looked up.
Because the owner of that voice was none other than Iris.
Her pitch-black hair fluttered like a raven’s feather.
The ruby eyes twinkled in the moonlight, reminiscent of long eyelashes that evoked images of silkworms.
“What’s with that look?”
Iris saw straight through Hania’s disguise.
She should have been waiting in the dormitory, yet here she was.
Caught off guard, Hania couldn’t respond and merely moved her lips in shock.
This only solidified Iris’s suspicions further.
Iris looked at Hania with half-open eyes.
Although her gaze was sweetly mesmerizing, it harbored an underlying chill.
“Hania isn’t lying to me, right?”
Iris’s warning came out softly but firmly.
Hania was her loyal subject.
Lying to Iris was tantamount to a capital offense.
Hania lowered her head.
“Yes, of course.”
Though she had made a promise to keep it a secret from Hanon, there was no turning back now.
Hania confessed everything that had happened to Iris.
Starting from how Hanon was the mastermind behind the boycott.
Feeling remorse for not keeping her promise, she even covered for Hanon by saying that this incident was prepared for Iris.
After reflecting on the story, Iris fell into silence.
Worried about Iris’s lack of response, Hania fidgeted nervously.
“……I see.”
Without saying more, Iris turned away.
“Oh, Iris, wait for me!”
Hania hurriedly followed Iris as she took off her wig and lenses.
Iris, for some reason, let out a breath of overwhelming warmth.
Every Founding Festival, her heart would cool and empty, but today it was filled with an inexplicable warmth.
* * *
Due to the unexpected boycott, Jerion Academy was thrown into chaos.
Professors and teaching assistants who had been conducting the Founding Festival eventually arrived late to tidy things up, but the ones who played the biggest role in settling the chaos were Isabel and her friends.
They mediated and quelled a fight that could have easily escalated between the students involved in the boycott and the student council.
As a result, Isabel’s status rose significantly.
Most of the members of the boycott were captured and taken away by professors and teaching assistants for questioning.
Additionally, there arose significant issues related to corruption at Jerion Academy.
The student council, along with the Education Department of Jerion Academy, would be subjected to severe criticism.
Consequently, several students received suspensions due to their involvement in the boycott.
The chairperson, Rozamin, accepted his suspension with indifference.
Although he had originally shouted that it was unfair in the scenario, this time he wore an expression of someone who had come to terms with everything.
As he walked towards the dormitory, surrounded by chaos, he addressed the children gathered around him.
“Run away safely.”
Uncertain to whom he was speaking, he left that phrase behind as he was led away by the teaching assistants.
In addition, this incident put chairperson Silvester Drapen in a very awkward position.
Although it occurred before he became chairperson, the students pressed him about his negligence regarding ongoing corruption in the student council.
Silvester had already been recognized for his incompetence.
This time, he became the target of scrutiny from various directions.
Outside Jerion Academy, under the leadership of the 3rd Princess Faction, the Drapen Duke House was fiercely criticized.
In the end, Silvester ended up bearing the stigma of having failed the student council.
He voluntarily resigned from the chairmanship.
Given the circumstances, he could no longer remain in the student council.
Although other members of the student council urged him not to step down, Silvester shook his head.
“Staying here would only complicate matters further. I’m sorry for looking like I’m running away.”
He smiled wistfully.
“Perhaps I’ve been running away from the start.”
Leaving behind his lonely figure, Silvester returned to being an ordinary student.
With both the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions vacant, the student council was in a state of emergency.
However, due to this incident, the student council was temporarily barred from access.
Supervisors dispatched from the empire had rummaged through Jerion Academy.
In the process, they scrutinized not just teaching assistants and associate professors but also the professors themselves.
Thanks to this, Jerion Academy fell into a restive atmosphere.
Although it was said that new professors and associate professors would be coming soon, more time was still needed for that.
A wind of change had begun to blow through Jerion Academy.
In a sense, the objectives of the boycott had already been achieved.
Given the extraordinary chaos, Jerion Academy decided to enter autonomous study mode for three days.
Students were already dedicating themselves to self-training.
Three days without professors wouldn’t be a big problem.
Thus commenced a season of change.
In a classroom prepared for self-study, I was forcibly dragged outside the moment I arrived, landing in quite an awkward situation.
“Lightning sweet potato.”
“Hanon.”
“You.”
Before me stood Seron Parmia, Iris Haishirion, and Isabel Luna.
I took a moment to ponder looking at the three individuals, each with different intentions.
Should I bolt?
“Don’t even think about running.”
Seron shot at me, having detected my usual patterns.
They blocked my escape routes. How lovely.
“More than that, I wonder about Iris’s reason for waiting for me like this?”
As I looked at Iris, my gaze suddenly collided with Hania, who had been quietly standing behind her.
She shuddered at my gaze before promptly lowering her head.
“……She saw through me.”
I sighed inwardly, realizing I was out of options.
Well, in the end, I couldn’t avoid getting caught.
“The problem is…”
They say to take the hit early, but I wasn’t sure whose blow I needed to take first.
The three exchanged sidelong glances.
Since all three of them stood up when I arrived, I guess they weren’t expecting this outcome.
Surely the one who withdraws first here would be the more mature one.
At that moment, Iris opened her mouth.
As expected of the 3rd Princess, she was bold.
“Hanon, come to my room after this.”
The 3rd Princess had dropped a bombshell.
Iris spoke in a tone that was very familiar and turned away.
Of course, the room she referred to was the girls’ dormitory.
Just that alone would be problematic, but the implications of coming and going from the 3rd Princess’s room were clear.
Due to her bombshell remark, both Isabel and Seron gaped in shock.
Both looked at me with eyes wide in disbelief.
“G-G-G-G, what the f—?”
Among them, Seron, who had seen my identity before, stuttered his words.
I could at least use the excuse of Hanon being the princess’s cousin, but I was Bickamon.
Sneaking into a princess’s quarters was practically a death sentence.
“Y-You!”
I raised my hand, immediately covering Seron’s mouth.
Seron flailed about with his mouth covered.
Seeing Hanon there made him remember who I really was, and his face turned bright red.
Still stuck in his girl-crush phase, I suppose.
Smack—
In that instant, someone grabbed my wrist.
The person holding my wrist was Isabel.
She looked at me with a serene expression.
“What have you been doing with Lady Iris every night?”
Sleeping.
But if I said that, I’d be toast.
“…Just had some errands.”
“Oh really? Errands at the girls’ dormitory.”
Isabel grinned widely.
“…You had some business with me before that.”
We had been fighting before parting ways, so that part was accurate.
“W-W-WHAT!?”
Seron looked at me with wide eyes again.
Why was this situation escalating into more trouble?
Was she doing this on purpose?
Isabel snorted and turned to leave, leaving Seron alone.
Now freed from my grip, Seron slowly lifted his head.
I quickly averted my gaze from Seron.
“Well, I think I’ll take my leave.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
As I made to disappear casually, Seron tightly grabbed my collar.
I couldn’t even take a step forward and turned back to look at Seron.
“Seron, about what happened yesterday…”
“Enough. Just be honest.”
It seemed like there was no escape.
“Lightning sweet potato, are you Bickamon senior or Hanon?”
In the end, I raised both my hands and feet in surrender.
Since I had already revealed my true identity to Seron, there was no way to wiggle out of this.
“I’m Bickamon. There are some reasons I returned to Jerion Academy in this form.”
Upon hearing my answer, Seron chewed her lips.
She seemed like she had a lot of questions but was carefully choosing her words.
“…Is the reason you returned related to Senior Nikita?”
Was she concerned about that?
As Seron waited for an answer with a drooped posture, I sighed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s entirely not related, but it’s not the only reason.”
Nikita was important, but I had an even more significant reason to be here.
I had come to ensure that this world doesn’t end in a bad ending.
But I couldn’t say that outright.
“…But you liked Senior Nikita, didn’t you?”
“That’s a thing of the past.”
That was true for the previous Bickamon, not the current me.
Moreover, due to the veil of the bandage, it was quite likely I had lost the ability to feel love entirely.
“Right now, I don’t like anyone.”
Upon hearing this, Seron fell silent.
Then, out of nowhere, she suddenly yanked my collar.
Seron was also a martial arts student.
In an instant, drawn by her unexpected strength, our faces drew closer.
She pressed her forehead against mine, and a mischievous smile spread across her face.
She wore an adorably innocent grin.
“Then I don’t have to give up yet.”
My face went blank with surprise.
“You know I was Hanon.”
“That doesn’t matter to me.”
Seron quickly let go of me, sporting a relieved expression.
“You’re still my Prince, no matter what.”
“Didn’t you call me a sweet potato before?”
“And even as a sweet potato, I never disliked you. It’s just gotten better since then.”
Seron said that, her bright smile lighting up the atmosphere.
…This girl, has she awakened or something? How could she say something so embarrassing so casually?
“Prince Sweet Potato.”
With her hands firmly placed on her hips, Seron declared.
“Prepare yourself. I won’t bow out in this match, no matter what.”
Her enthusiastic laughter was so alluring it almost shook me.
What on earth am I supposed to prepare for?
This contest might become a tremendously difficult challenge.