Joi and the Pilrn siblings parted ways at a fork in the path after leaving the lecture hall.
Tiana had to attend her major-specific class, and Taibeon headed off declaring he was going to sample the academy's food.
"Ahaha. So how are you going to manage dinner later?"
"There's a separate stomach for dinner."
Taibeon patted his belly with a thump-thump.
Joi burst out laughing.
"Is that so. Right. I'll have to bring some snacks for Taibeon later."
After exchanging warm words with the Pilrn siblings, Joi waved goodbye and made her way back to the dormitory.
She stayed in the general dormitory — her entrance scores hadn't placed her in the top thirty percent.
Still, each room was single-occupancy, so her privacy was thoroughly maintained, and she found it comfortable enough.
"Hey, you there — first-year."
Just as she was about to enter the dormitory, a group of male students who had been chatting beneath a park tree stopped her in her tracks.
Joi turned to look at them.
The male students wore short blue capes draped over their shoulders.
Academy students wore short capes of different colors depending on their year.
Joi, in her short red cape, was a first-year; blue capes meant second-year.
"Hello, seniors!"
Joi greeted them with an easy smile.
At that smile, one of the male students beckoned her over.
"Oh — yeah. Come here a moment."
"What is it?"
Joi approached them without a trace of suspicion.
Thud.
A second-year male student standing nearby draped his arm over Joi's shoulder with a sly grin.
"What's your name?"
"Joi Rivet."
"Right, Joi. We're actually heading out to dinner with some seniors right now — want to come along?"
"But I'm only a first-year."
"A cute girl like you? Everyone would love having you there."
"Even so, I'm a bit tired today…"
"It's fine~ You don't have to do anything, just be there."
"I really am fine, it's just that I'm not great with new people."
"Ha…"
As Joi continued to refuse, the senior's sly expression twisted into something uglier.
"Joi, was it?"
"Yes."
"Just come along. Yeah? It's not like it's a big deal."
Squeeze…
The arm around her shoulder tightened.
Joi's body was forcibly pulled closer.
No one moved to help her. These second-years must be sons of fairly prominent families.
Joi let out a quiet breath and met the second-year's eyes.
"Senior."
The color drained entirely from Joi's pale pink irises.
In its place, something settled into her pupils — the color of a deep, lightless abyss.
*Huh?*
His body locked up.
From his fingertips to his jawline, every muscle refused to obey, as though frozen solid.
Like a mouse cornered before a snake.
"I'm tired today, you see. May I go?"
"Uh… uh…"
The male student nodded blankly. Joi smiled warmly and walked away.
The dormitory room she arrived at.
Creak… click.
The door shut.
Joi removed her coat. Then her top, her shirt, her skirt, her undergarments — everything, stripped away.
The soft moonlight fell across a feminine silhouette, casting a graceful shadow.
Crack… crack…
But that beautiful shadow began to warp in increasingly strange ways.
The skeleton expanded to an abnormal size, and what remained was unmistakably a male body.
"Huu… doing this every time does take a toll on the body."
Joi — no, Henri — rolled his shoulders and stood before the mirror.
In the glass stood a tall, elderly man. Deep-set wrinkles covered every inch of his face. But his two red eyes were sharp as a beast's.
Not a trace remained of the lively, pink-haired girl.
Henri. Elite operative and assassin of the Black Moon Pact.
Henri sat down in a chair and put a candy in his mouth. Cherry flavor spread across his tongue.
He pulled out the orders that had arrived from the organization and read them over once more.
— Assassinate Emperor Friedrich the Great
— Abduct No. 3, currently enrolled at the academy
These were the reasons he had gone to the trouble of infiltrating the academy in disguise.
The imperial palace where the Emperor resided boasted the most stringent security in existence.
Even if every assassin in the Black Moon Pact were to storm it, they would never succeed in killing the Emperor.
So the location he had chosen instead was the academy.
*So long as the Emperor has his eye on Porca — and so long as the Crown Prince is enrolled here — he has no choice but to come.*
An emperor who had held the golden throne for over a hundred years. That old man had been making no secret of his ambition to absorb the Porca Republic into the empire.
So he would come, without fail.
The Emperor would come to the academy.
*And that is when I kill him…*
The academy's security was nearly as formidable as the palace's, but it was not without gaps.
And there was no better place to lay the groundwork than here.
This plan had not been conceived with one year in mind — it was a two-, three-year undertaking from the start.
As for the second mission, abducting No. 3…
*Hmm. That can be left to the others.*
He saw no particular need to involve himself.
His goal was singular: the assassination of the Emperor. That one thing alone was what he had infiltrated the academy for.
*Whatever else may be — you, I will kill without fail. Emperor.*
And to accomplish that.
*The Crown Prince's fiancée, Ofilienne. And her younger brother, Matyos Binna Moretti…*
He needed to get close to that boy.
There was only one thing a seventeen-year-old boy would be drawn to.
A pretty, sweet girl.
That was precisely why he had gone to the trouble of disguising himself as a pink-haired beauty, easy to like at a glance —
*He doesn't take the bait easily.*
He had even deployed the high-level psychological tactic of letting his underwear peek into view, yet rather than interest, the boy had returned nothing but a look of contempt.
*Does he not like women?*
Then what on earth does he like…
*…Don't tell me — boys?*
The moment that thought reached him,
Henri's narrowed eyes snapped wide open.
"My, my… this is a problem. Quite a problem."
Henri stroked his beard.
"I have no talent for seducing men."
He pondered the matter with complete seriousness.
* * *
Click, click.
Ofilienne walked toward Matyos and Vilhelmine — composed, yet with quick, purposeful steps.
She came to a stop directly in front of them.
"I was told my brother was still in the lecture hall, so I came — but what exactly is going on here."
Her tone was polite.
The end of each sentence had an edge to it.
"Ofilienne."
"Is it acceptable to keep a student behind at your own discretion over something as trivial as being late?"
"That is not what happened."
"Is it not? I heard everything. Do you think I wouldn't know?"
Ofilienne fixed Professor Vilhelmine with a sharp look.
Professor Vilhelmine blinked slowly and looked down at Ofilienne.
Then.
Squeeze.
"That's not it. Sister."
"Maty."
Ofilienne's gaze shifted to her brother.
"I stayed behind in the lecture hall because I wanted to train in swordsmanship."
"You're in the Mage Studies department."
"Students in Mage Studies are allowed to train in swordsmanship too."
Honestly, Matyos had half given up on the path of magic.
He had no particular talent for it, and he had broken down the two Circles he had built up until now and replaced them with Muksong.
*Muksong was a swordsman's art to begin with.*
Rosuka had been a pure swordsman.
His path was a different grain from that of a mage. Muksong and magic would never mix — oil and water.
*Enrolling in Mage Studies was Father's decision…*
It would have looked strange for the son of Moretti, the empire's foremost mage house, to avoid the Mage Studies department.
Either way, he planned to apply for a transfer when the time was right.
Around his third year. When Sister graduated.
"…Regardless, it's gotten late. Let's go."
Sister took hold of my wrist and walked out of the lecture hall.
Before I left, I gave a small bow toward Professor Vilhelmine.
Professor Vilhelmine gave a brief nod in return.
*
Before long, the sun had set completely.
The sky had darkened as though ink had been dissolved into it, and the warmth of the day was slowly fading from the campus.
Having walked far enough, I tried to pull my wrist free from Sister's grip.
But she would not let go.
All the way to the dormitory.
Even after we had entered her room.
"Have you eaten dinner?"
"No, not yet."
"I had dinner brought to the room. It's a meat dish you like. The chef is a former royal cook from the Kingdom of Sharlan, so it should be worth eating."
"Before that, could you let go of my hand—"
"What is your relationship with that professor?"
"Professor Vilhelmine?"
"Don't get close to that professor."
Only when we reached the dining table did Sister finally release my wrist.
I rubbed at it. Still warm.
How did I end up eating dinner with her, of all things.
I had barely sat down before the servants came in carrying dishes, filling the table.
"You know that Professor Vilhelmine is the Emperor's granddaughter."
"I know."
"Other members of the imperial family are one thing, but not Professor Vilhelmine. That woman was cast aside by the Emperor."
Sister elegantly cut her meat with a knife — and brought it not to her own mouth, but to mine.
"Why are you giving that to me…"
The meat pushed past my lips.
I ended up accepting it.
Chew, chew.
Tender. Juices ran through it.
Delicious…
Sister stared at me intently as she cut another piece of steak.
"If the Emperor were to learn that you and Professor Vilhelmine were close, he would never look upon it favorably."
"That's—"
Before I could even finish the sentence, another piece of meat arrived.
Chew, chew.
"Above all else, Professor Vilhelmine is a bastard. She is of a different caliber from those of noble blood like us."
"But I'm also—"
Another piece of meat.
This time I didn't let it pass.
I pushed Sister's hand away.
"I can eat on my own, thank you. And I was adopted to begin with. If we're talking bloodlines, the professor's would be the more distinguished one."
"What are you saying."
Sister looked at me with stern, wide eyes.
"You are unquestionably a member of the Moretti family. That is entirely different from that cast-off bastard woman."
Weren't you just talking about bloodlines a moment ago.