Chapter 344: Welcome Party

“Lucius? What do you want?” Margaret frowned in displeasure.

She wasn’t intimidated by his status as a prince. More than that, Lucius was truly annoying.

Compared to Merlin, he was nothing more than a spoiled brat who only knew how to use his status for his own gain.

Lucius walked toward them with a playful smile.

“Don’t be so rude, Margaret. I just came to say hello. Is that not allowed?”

His eyebrows rose and fell teasingly. But his eyes occasionally locked onto Catrine, who was standing beside Luna.

His throat went dry as he stared at her flawless, beautiful face.

Every time he looked at her, his heart raced, as if he had found his soulmate.

If not for the situation, he would have already asked his father to send a marriage proposal to the Clay family.

The five friends behind him joined in, laughing as they helped Lucius lighten the mood.

“His Highness Lucius is right—we’re just here to say hello. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah, we just want to talk to pretty girls like you. It shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Lucius nodded contentedly. They were indeed his friends—or rather, calling them friends wasn’t quite accurate. They were his competent subordinates.

Luna rolled her eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up. Get out of here before I hit you.”

Her words made the smiles vanish from the five boys’ faces. They were all students participating in the Star Island test.

Naturally, they knew just how terrifying Luna was. Only Crystal and Luvis could rival her, so they didn’t dare take her words lightly.

Sensing their fear, Lucius felt annoyed. However, there was nothing he could do.

He couldn’t bring any of the top ten students from the first wave to his side. Even after offering a high price, they still refused.

That was understandable. The top ten were all people of high status, lacking neither money nor influence.

In the end, he had no choice but to bring those five boys—who, by qualification, were the best he could get for now.

After calming himself, Lucius turned to Catrine and gave her a faint smile.

“By the way, your name is Catrine Clay, right? Let me introduce myself. I’m Lucius. Nice to meet you.”

Margaret and Luna were taken aback by his sudden introduction. They stared at him with meaningful glances, as if they had already guessed what that mischievous prince was planning.

Catrine, who was eating a traditional cake from the Knight Kingdom of Batrum, gave him a brief nod, then continued eating.

That indifferent response made Lucius feel both embarrassed and irritated. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject.

“I heard you’re Merlin Clay’s younger sister. As it happens, Merlin Clay and I are rivals. But that won’t affect you. Don’t worry—I promise.”

Annoyed by his nonsense, Catrine replied coldly, “I don’t care. Get out of my sight.”

With that, she turned away and began looking for other food. She hadn’t expected the cuisine from the Knight Kingdom of Batrum to be so tasty, especially the sweet treats like the cake she had just tried.

It would be a shame if she didn’t try them all.

Lucius could only stand there in silence, feeling humiliated as he watched Catrine walk away.

“Pfft!” Margaret giggled and shook her head. “What a funny sight, Lucius. My advice? Get those ridiculous thoughts out of your head. Catrine adores her older brother. She sees him as the perfect role model for a man. If you want to catch her attention, you’ll have to beat him. Oops! I forgot—you’ve never been able to beat Merlin Clay. Well, that’s not exactly surprising.”

The five boys behind Lucius were stunned by her taunt.

They swallowed hard and exchanged panicked glances. Although their interactions with Lucius had been brief, they knew just how narrow-minded he was.

And sure enough, Lucius exploded in anger. He glared at Margaret and growled, “Shut your mouth! If you—”

Before he could finish, Margaret raised her hand fan and covered half her face.

“If I what? If I mock you further, are you going to use your authority as a prince? Tch! This is an academy, and you have no power here, Lucius. And don’t forget—I’m not some commoner you can threaten whenever you please. My status is higher than yours. Even your father has to lower his head before me. So…”

Her eyes sharpened, filled with menace and murderous intent.

“Shut your mouth before you face the consequences.”

Lucius jerked backward. His eyes widened as a fear he had never felt before surged through him.

Only now did he remember: Margaret was the daughter of the Beethoven family, the wealthiest merchant family on the continent.

Indirectly, the economy of the Arcadia Magic Kingdom was under their control.

If he made Margaret angry and caused his kingdom to go bankrupt… wouldn’t his own father be the one to kill him?

At that thought, he shuddered and hurriedly turned away in embarrassment.

His five friends immediately followed after him.

Watching them leave, Margaret chuckled softly, folded her hand fan, and hung it at her right hip.

Suddenly, she felt a gaze from her right and turned her head.

“What’s wrong?”

Luna averted her eyes and shook her head.

“Nothing. I was just surprised to see a different side of you than usual.”

Margaret always came across as annoying and a bit silly. But when she got serious, it was surprisingly impressive and left Luna in awe.

A playful smile appeared on Margaret’s lips as she joked, “Don’t tell me you’re impressed? Humph! That’s nothing special. Anyway, I am amazing!”

She patted her chest proudly.

Luna’s admiration vanished instantly. She rolled her eyes and muttered irritably, ’What a narcissistic girl.’

“Sweet girls, are you alone?”

A playful voice came from beside them. Both of them furrowed their brows.

They didn’t expect another fool to come and bother them.

When they turned around, they were surprised. Merlin was standing beside them, dressed in his academy uniform.

His white hair was slicked back but slightly tousled, making him look even more handsome.

However, that wasn’t what stood out the most—it was the pair of black-framed glasses on his face.

“Merlin, you…”

Before Luna could finish, Margaret rushed over and hugged his arm tightly.

“Wow! Did you change your look?”

Her eyes sparkled with admiration. It was the first time she had ever seen Merlin wearing glasses like that.

It had to be said—he looked incredibly handsome, even more so than before.

Before, he always exuded calm maturity. But now, he carried the aura of someone intelligent, like a bookworm.

Feeling her admiration, Merlin grew a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat and explained, “Yeah. I wanted to try a new look. What do you think?”

Margaret gave him a thumbs-up. “It’s really handsome!”

Merlin felt relieved. He had been worried it wouldn’t suit him. In his previous life, he had worn glasses all the time.

That was because his eyesight had worsened from staying up late too often, reading drafts of unpublished novels.

Luckily, Margaret said it suited him, which made him feel more confident.

He then turned to Luna and smiled.

“What do you think?”

Luna snapped out of her daze. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she nodded and turned her face away.

“It suits you perfectly,” she whispered shyly.

Merlin chuckled softly. Then he glanced to the right and left and asked, “Where’s Catrine?”

“I’m here.” A voice came from behind him.

When Merlin turned around, he saw his younger sister walking toward him, carrying two small plates filled with peanut cake and honey-layered cake.

“Did you change your look?” Catrine asked in surprise.

“Yeah. Does it look good?”

“Mm! It looks great! You’re way more handsome,” she praised admiringly.

Merlin smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately.

In the distance, Lucius watched their interaction with intense hatred.

“Damn it… Merlin Clay, tonight I’m going to make you look like a fool in front of everyone!”

He was extremely jealous of Merlin and Catrine’s closeness. Although they were brother and sister, he knew their relationship was only on paper.

In reality, there was no blood relation between them at all.

But then he quickly calmed himself. There was no need to get angry over something like that.

Soon, his sister would take care of this matter. Until then, he just had to stay calm and wait.

Just then, a voice came from the far end of the hall.

“Thank you all for coming to this welcome party.”

All the students immediately turned to look and saw Ronald standing there. The professors were also present beside him.

Ronald smiled at them and said calmly, “This isn’t a formal party, so you can all enjoy yourselves. By the way, there will be a dance on the right side of the hall. Anyone who wants to dance is welcome to do so.”

All the students’ eyes lit up. Many of the boys and girls had grown close during the previous test.

Although not many had reached the stage of dating yet, their progress was already impressive.

And now, an opportunity to get even closer had appeared. There was no way they would miss it.

Luna, Catrine, and Margaret all looked at Merlin at the same time, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

Merlin could only let out a small sigh and mutter helplessly, ’It looks like I’m going to be busy later.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep