“Pffft!”
I ended up spitting out the water in my mouth at the embarrassing words that came out unfiltered and Cesare’s approaching touch.
“Hmm, for a wet dream, you’re not very wet. Shouldn’t someone our age be drenched?”
“Kugh, kek.”
“Haha. I’m joking. You’re too flustered, aren’t you, Lionel?”
Cesare’s hand that had been at my waist slipped away smoothly like a snake.
That bastard. He’s giving me openings, isn’t he.
Somehow, irritation surged up and heat began to flush across my face. It seems like my academy life is now under a red light going forward.
* * *
A bright morning. Before going to the communal cafeteria for breakfast, I stared at the mirror for a long while.
I thought that with my pretty-boy good looks and the beauty mark below my left eye, I really looked like a romance-fantasy villain.
But just because I looked like a villain didn’t mean I could actually go down the villain’s lackey route. If things continue this way, it’s a confirmed beheading ending for rebellion.
I went through all the trouble of possessing a rich handsome guy with a wealthy merchant guild attached, so I don’t want to die for a rebellion I didn’t even commit!
This novel’s genre is romance-fantasy. The female lead transfers to the academy and unfolds a romance, and if I just avoid the original plot well, I can live well and eat well like a background character—no, like a mass-produced fantasy novel male lead.
If only that damn handsome Cesare Yanox weren’t here!
“His face is the plot device…. His face is the plot device….”
Until I regained the memories of my possession, I never doubted that this fluttering feeling I had for Cesare was admiration.
Of course, there were slightly excessive emotions like wanting to hold his hand a bit or sniffing around more because I wanted to know what cologne he used.
But now it was distinctly different. Now my true sexual orientation toward men had awakened, along with my self that was quite the face-obsessed person. In other words, these are the perfect conditions to accelerate the artifact’s magic.
His face is the plot device.
His face is the plot device. No matter how much they say appearance is just a shell that wraps the heart, there was a very, very, very big difference to me between a handsome man riding a bicycle and an ugly man driving a foreign car.
‘Bicycle. No matter how many hundreds of times I think about it, bicycle. Bicycles are the best. Look at that handsome guy even thinking about the environment. He’s a great guy, a great guy.’
Honestly, even the steering wheel of a foreign car wouldn’t want to face an ugly man’s face. Poor foreign car. *Sniff*.
I sniffled briefly in mourning for the imaginary foreign car that would have to look at an ugly face every day.
Anyway, even when I lived in South Korea, my motto was “I’ll live off my face,” so Cesare’s appearance was literally fatal to me.
My current face, which falls into the category of a fairly high-level handsome guy, becomes a dried squid on a drying rack when standing next to Cesare, so that says it all.
If anything, this was the biggest difference between me just before I lost my memories and me now.
In the past, I at least knew my life was precious and tried to distance myself from Cesare.
Now that I’m under the artifact’s ancient magic?
“…But if I die while looking at that face every day… isn’t that a pretty worthwhile life…?”
Even when I die, he’ll be right there next to me. I’ll watch Cesare’s cleanly severed neck and think ‘I want that neck,’ while waiting for my turn to have my head fall off……
No, not that!
Snap out of it, Lionel Mellans!
“Artifact magic really is something else. Crazy. It’s going to get worse as time goes on, this is serious.”
Thinking back to the original work, the artifact Cesare possesses is ‘Addiction’. It was an artifact that could use dangerous ancient magic that makes you gradually love the designated target to death, just like addiction.
To think he used the precious Addiction that can only be used once on me instead of the female lead—how difficult must Cesare’s situation have been for him to use it on me… No, not that—please, Lionel. He’s pretty trash.
I quickly brought the note that supposedly had holy magic cast on it to my nose as if it were a lifeline and breathed in deeply, sniff sniff.
‘Better than nothing, I guess.’
I carefully put the note back on the bed and buttoned up my academy uniform shirt. After properly fastening the navy cape, I left the Grade 1 communal dormitory in neat attire.
The Grade 1 communal dormitory I used was the best among the dormitories, but the special-grade private dormitory specially provided to Cesare, the young duke of Yanox, was on a different level.
According to the original work, the Yanox ducal family, an imperial relative family, didn’t currently have very good financial resources, but since the imperial family provided all support while attending the Imperial Academy, he could live more affluently than anyone else here.
On the other hand, no matter how much my aunt was Countess Cicero, she was just a wealthy nouveau riche and hadn’t been granted a title, so I had no choice but to stay in a Grade 1 communal dormitory instead of a special-grade dormitory.
However, aside from tuition and dormitory fees, personal allowance, extracurricular activity costs, supplies, and such had to be procured separately, which is why Cesare stuck close to me.
When we went out and went to a restaurant together, all the bills were mine, and it was always me who paid for Cesare’s personal casual clothes, elective course fees, non-class activities, and entertainment expenses.
The fact that Cesare had become a kite with a broken string like this was a thorough secret outside the imperial family. That’s why the me before possession devoted myself like that, looking only at the ducal family title without knowing Cesare was false advertising.
“Rye!”
“Cain. Good morning.”
Cain Astol had come down first and was waiting. With his uniform cape thrown somewhere and the top buttons of his shirt loosely undone in a disheveled appearance, I thought it was very much like him.
The Astol count family was a knight family that had produced warriors for generations.
They employed everyone as knights, even those with good skills but poor character, so they weren’t exactly a refined style, but they were still a family with quite significant military influence within this empire.
‘The words are nicely packaged, but to put it bluntly, they’re a thug family.’
Rumor had it they also operated a dark guild.
Of course, it’s a rumor and I don’t know the details. Because like all novels, it didn’t kindly explain even the detailed backgrounds of lackeys attached to villains.
Did the Astol family appear in about one line in the original? Just the explanation that they were a knight family with a considerable private army. Lionel, myself as well, just the explanation of being a wealthy nouveau riche.
“Ah, I’m hungry. Rye, I’m going to devour all the cafeteria omelets today, okay? Let’s hurry and bet on who can eat more.”
The famous omelet at our communal cafeteria has a principle of one per person.
“Last time the record was 14, but I think I’ll eat more than that today. I’m in really good condition.”
I’ll say it again, omelets are one per person, so what he’s saying is that Cain intimidated 13 students and stole their omelets.
“Hey, Onion. Ah, was it Ernest? Anyway, Onion. You, we took biology class together, right? You know me? That omelet looks tasty, doesn’t it? Just one bite. Ah, I’m just taking one bite.”
As soon as we entered the cafeteria, my heart grew heavy seeing Cain use his ‘just one bite’ skill on a student whose face I don’t even know.
“Our Rye gets one bite too. Tasty, right~?”
Watching this guy scoop up a forkful of an omelet he stole, plate and all, and put it in my mouth, I smiled awkwardly.
“U, uhh.”
“Not good? Why that expression. Ahhh~ Not enough? There’s plenty over there.”
As Cain pointed at students coming out with breakfast and grinned wickedly, I quickly made excuses that I had no appetite.
Having to do villainous acts that aren’t in my nature makes me feel disillusioned with my South Korean past life of living virtuously.
* * *
A hectic morning barely passed because of Cain, who kept piling food plates in front of me, saying that when you have no appetite you need to stuff in more food to win the battle against yourself.
I was about to enter the first class, Mana Operation, when Cesare was already waiting for me at the desk in the very back.
Ahhh. From morning, my eyes found light and opened wide at that handsome face. Is that even human? There’s no way he’s human. A sculpture is just pretending to be human and walking around.
If I were to break open his white fingers, plaster dust would definitely come out instead of blood.
“You’re late.”
“Sorry! Cain kept bothering me at the cafeteria.”
“Why was he bothering you?”
“He kept asking me to have an omelet contest.”
I was still in a situation where I couldn’t figure out how to treat Cesare.
He knows I’ve fallen in love. But this is a forbidden one-sided love at best. Of course, there were eccentric nobles here too who indulged in same-sex relations, but that was an object of debauchery, not something openly acknowledged.
So at least the actions I, who had the reputation of being Countess Cicero’s nephew, should take were clear.
Keep my heart tightly wrapped up. While supporting him materially and spiritually.
He probably used the artifact on me aiming for this too.
‘Despicable bastard.’
The way he violated a person’s heart like a tool was so wicked and sordid that it made me nauseous.
But when I looked at Cesare’s face, my legs kept losing strength and even the energy to be angry disappeared.
“Ry~e! Cesare, hello too! Good morning!”
I was trying my best not to be conscious of him, keeping my gaze fixed on the desk while taking out my textbook, when suddenly Cain opened the door and made a boisterous entrance.
‘Huh? Did that guy take Mana Operation class?’
Cain was good with his body but a bit weak with magic. I was tilting my head at his sudden appearance when Cain immediately held out something like a small rattan basket to me.
When I opened it in bewilderment, it contained a simple ham sandwich and apple juice sold separately at the cafeteria.
“What’s this?”
Just as I was tilting my head, Cesare next to me asked Cain first. Then Cain patted my head like a dog, really like he would to a dog, and smiled brightly.
“Cute Rye barely ate breakfast this morning. He looked unwell yesterday and today too, so I was worried. I specially bought this. Eat it.”
Just as I was about to think ‘Isn’t this also stolen from other kids?’, at his words that he bought it himself, I answered with a genuinely pleased expression welling up from my heart.
“Wow! I’ll enjoy it, Cain! Thank you!”
Yeah. I hope you continue such sincere and proper economic activities in the future, friend.
“Protein. You know? You need to eat protein well, Rye.”
Cain, who had a rather burly body that didn’t match his cute pink hair, playfully put his arm around my neck.
“Where’s mine?”
When Cesare asked back as if displeased, Cain grinned and answered.
“Oh? I know our young nobleman has a personal chef bring breakfast to his bed every morning.”
“Astol. I don’t see your name on my attendance roster. What’s going on? Are you auditing?”
At that moment, when the Mana Operation professor in a black robe pressed Cain from the front door, Cain winked at us and clattered out through the back door.
“Why is that guy who only knows himself all his life taking care of you?”
While the professor was preparing for class, Cesare snorted as if absurd while looking at my lunch box.
“L, let’s share. Cesare.”
“Hah. Lionel. Do I look like someone who needs to share someone else’s food?”
“No! Of course not! Then you eat it all. I’m fine!”
I immediately held out the basket to him without time to think. Years of being a pushover had become ingrained in my body.
“Since you say it that way, I’ll take it all.”
Yeah, yeah. Take it all. This mom is full just watching my wonderful child eat…. Sigh.
At this rate, I’ll end up giving him my liver and gallbladder too. Lionel.
“The effect is good.”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing. Lionel.”
How is it nothing, you bastard. Even an idiot like me can tell the artifact effect is working too well!
I swallowed my tears like that and started class.
Mana Operation class. The most important class I need to take right now. I needed to study how to operate mana to increase magic resistance, or anti-magic power, so I could escape even a little more from the brainwashing magic Cesare might use again in the future.
But.
I need to study hard.
“Mmm….”
Is it because it’s first period? As soon as I opened the book and listened to the professor, the letters became dizzy. Squiggly, squiggly, my hand writing strange worms.
I had overlooked that I wasn’t really the studious type, whether in South Korea or here.
“Lionel.”
“Mmmm….”
“Yes. You must be very sleepy. Go ahead and sleep well. I’ll wake you when class is over.”
With the sexy low voice heard from beside me, I eventually fell into a deep sleep.
