Chapter 84: The Academy’s New Headcanon

*** A few minutes later

“Leave it all to me!”

Vivianne closed my door with a loud thud, her eager footsteps audible from even inside my room.

She was more excited about this than I was, and this was supposed to be for my benefit…

But it’s none of my business to figure out why she was so eager or excited, as long as she gets the job done, I won’t intrude.

[Emperor’s Sword]

I pulled it out from my shadow, checking how it’s faring against my constant imbuing of magic throughout the darkyte embedded in it.

And just as expected, it became far more powerful than when I first laid my hands on it.

Unlike normal dark magic, which is finite and based on the user’s own skill, mine had a mix of chaos within it, a limitless source of energy that came from the demon princes of hell itself.

Even if I imbue all my energy within the darkyte all at once, I’ll still recover to full capacity in less than a day.

“Seems like I discovered an infinite energy generator…” I tilted my head. There was no way chaos energy was ever going to run out.

As long as people do sin, the source of both mine and Beelzebub’s power will never run dry.

“The darkyte will probably reach its limit before I do…”

I narrowed my eyes, observing the swirling energy inside the gemstone.

Guess I’m back to training my light magic once more until I stop relying on the sword to balance my attunement.

Unless I wanted the literal sword to blow up and level the entire academy from the force of the explosion alone…

Can’t have unlimited power without drawbacks after all.

*** Academy Hallway

Vivianne was strolling around the halls without a care in the world, but it wasn’t because she didn’t have a goal.

It was exactly the opposite.

She wanted people to approach her this time and bring up the topic of her master being a bad influence, so she could easily turn public opinion around from there.

If she were to bring it up first, it would dramatically reduce her plan’s chances of succeeding by a hundredfold.

It was way too obvious if she did it that way.

“Lady Vivianne!”

“Is there anything you need?” Vivianne turned around to see another female student following closely beside her.

A classmate, one who grew worried after hearing rumors that Vivianne had been leaving the Arden Estate very late in the afternoon on a regular basis.

“L-Lord Arden, he didn’t harm you, did he?”

The student was hesitant in her words, as if mentioning my last name alone could make me appear out of the shadows and punish her for it.

And if it wasn’t me, then maybe a D’Arclight assassin would do the job.

“You mean Cael?”

“C-Cael?” The student was taken aback at how easily Vivianne used my first name, not sure how to react.

Even Vivianne hesitated at first, still shaking from the thought of Evelina hearing her use those same words.

But… this was a personal request, there was no way she would get in trouble… right?

“Yes, that’s who you mean, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

Vivianne giggled, covering her mouth with her hand as she feigned casualness.

“He was actually quite the gentleman, you know?”

“G-Gentleman?”

“He even apologized,” Vivianne continued lightly, as if she were talking about the weather. “For startling me earlier.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “He… apologized?”

“Yes,” Vivianne nodded, expression softening. “He was worried I’d overexerted myself. Made sure the student I knocked out was still breathing, too.”

“That’s… not what people say about him,” the girl muttered.

Vivianne tilted her head, just a little. “People say many things when they don’t bother to look closer.”

She began walking again, slow enough that the girl naturally followed beside her.

“I asked him to train me,” Vivianne added casually. “Not the other way around. I wanted to stop being someone who could only plan from the back while others got hurt, and no… I wasn’t forced.”

She added with a giggle.

“You… asked him?”

“Mhm. And he warned me first.” Vivianne glanced sideways. “Said the training would be harsh. That I might get scared. That if I quit halfway, he wouldn’t sugarcoat it.”

The girl swallowed. “And you still agreed?”

“I did,” Vivianne said simply. “Because he was honest.”

They passed a small group of students pretending not to listen, failing horribly. The moment they even heard mention of my name, they immediately stopped in their tracks and changed to follow Vivianne.

Pretending that they left something from where they came, but in truth, was just an excuse to eavesdrop.

Nobody knew much about me after all, other than the fact that I was an obsessed weirdo; they had nothing on me.

It was a hot subject around the academy, and if anyone had information, they sure as hell wanted to hear it.

“He kinda sounds like one of those cliches.”

“Exactly!” Vivianne responded immediately.

That was exactly what she wanted to hear—and, more importantly, what she wanted anyone still eavesdropping to hear as well.

“Like Prince Thorn! You know about him, right!?”

Vivianne mentioned a fictional character from a popular noble drama that was all the rage among noblewomen in the academy.

He was a misunderstood, brooding figure for most of the story, until a certain arc revealed him to be a soft and gentle prince who worked in the shadows to ensure the light would always prevail.

Very stereotypical… and very popular.

“He’s exactly like him!”

“E-Eh!? Seriously!?” The female student covered her mouth to stifle a gasp at the comparison.

She couldn’t believe it!

“…Okay, that has to be a stretch,” another girl cut in, half-laughing as she joined them, no longer being able to bear just listening from the sidelines.

“There’s no way someone’s like Prince Thorn in real life.”

Vivianne waved her hand. “Details. I’m talking about the vibe.”

That earned a few chuckles. The tension eased immediately, exactly what she wanted.

“I mean,” Vivianne continued, shrugging, “Cael doesn’t go around smiling or chatting people up, but that doesn’t mean he’s evil. He just… doesn’t waste time.”

The more she continued talking, the more the crowd following her grew, more specifically… a female crowd.

It wasn’t as if she had a choice. All the men who had been eavesdropping had their egos bruised the moment they heard another man being compared to a popular fictional character.

So they left… immediately.

Vivianne herself even felt bad for the comparison, but she couldn’t avoid it.

She owed me after all, breaking a few hearts wouldn’t be that bad… right?

’I’m so sorry!’

But internally, she was absolutely screaming.

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