“What?
Why is your expression like that?
I just asked if I owed you something,” Lucien said flatly with a half-asleep look.
Before him, Rayland Valois—the novel’s main antagonist, known for his sly smile and myriad evil schemes—froze in place.
The corners of his lips, which had been twitching, now tensed.
Rayland’s brain, accustomed to devising high-level psychological manipulation scenarios, suddenly experienced a brief short circuit.
He had prepared lengthy monologues, veiled threats, and even elaborate psychological persuasion techniques to get his target—the cold and indifferent Hawthorne youngest son—to comply with his wishes.
However, Lucien’s reaction was completely beyond reason.
Rayland tried to neutralize his expression, taking a deep breath to regain his dignity as a bright young man of his generation.
He stared intently into Lucien’s red eyes.
“I don’t understand what you mean, but there’s something I want to tell you, Lucien Hawthorne,” Rayland said in a whisper, emphatically trying to regain control of the conversation.
“But let’s put these silly pleasantries aside.
I know you and Rose Valerin are very close.
She treats you like her own little brother.” “Just get to the point.
I’m going to sleep,” Lucien cut in without any guilt, his eyes blinking slowly against the sleep.
Rayland snorted in annoyance, but he continued.
“Listen carefully.
I need you to be the bridge between me and Rose.
Arrange a meeting, or—” “Yes,” Lucien answered quickly, cutting off Rayland’s threat without a moment’s hesitation.
Rayland’s jaw dropped.
“What did you say?” “Yes.
I said I agree.
Just take care of the rest yourself, I’m going to my room,” said Lucien as he turned around, waved his hand lazily, and walked away, leaving the antagonist standing there stunned.
Deep down, Lucien had no intention of actually helping Rayland.
He just wanted to speed through this stupid dialogue, the plot of which he already knew, so he could quickly lie down on his soft bed.
There was no intention of salvaging the plot, no intention of avoiding it too—just a pure urge to rest.
Rayland stared at the white-haired young man’s retreating back with a mixture of emotions.
The cunning plan he had been working on for days had been shattered in less than ten seconds simply because the target had answered ‘yes’ so easily and without any hesitation.
“Damn…
is that kid playing a joke on me?” Rayland muttered, his jaw clenched.
“It turns out the rumors about the manipulative Valois family were true, I was right to come here to prevent you from playing tricks on the members of the Hawthorne family, Valois!” A cold, familiar voice broke the silence of the corridor.
Rayland turned quickly to find Prince Seilas Vandimirion standing nearby, staring at him with cold, hostile eyes.
The prince had just arrived and had overheard snippets of their conversation.
For Prince Seilas, his arrival in the corridor of the noble dormitory was actually driven by a strange, uneasy feeling in his chest—a result of Lucien’s magnetic aura, which kept his mind constantly thinking about the youngest Hawthorne.
However, seeing Rayland standing with Lucien just now made Seilas’ blood boil.
“Prince Seilas,” Rayland said sarcastically, the corners of his lips curling into a mocking smile.
“It’s quite interesting to see a member of the royal family wandering around the halls of the dormitory alone.
Does Your Highness also intend to use that Hawthorne boy for your own devious purposes?” Seilas narrowed his eyes, his footsteps approaching with an oppressive aura.
“Watch your mouth, Valois.
What did you just do to Lucien?
You threatened him into giving in to your desire to approach Lady Valerin, didn’t you?
Don’t think I don’t know about your filthy ambitions.” Hearing that, Rayland’s cunning mind immediately went to work, producing another mistaken assumption.
Based on his own perspective, Rayland immediately concluded that Prince Seilas had come with the exact same motive: to target Lucien’s path to get closer to Rose Valerin.
“Wow, wow…
Look who’s talking about rotten ambition,” Rayland sneered with an annoying, suppressed laugh.
“So, Your Highness, the esteemed Crown Prince, has the same cheap intentions?
You came here on purpose because you also want to gain favor with Rose by getting close to Lucien first?” “Don’t compare me to trash like you, Valois!” Seilas snapped, his handsome face flushed with rage.
“I don’t care about that dirty game!
How dare you take advantage of Lucien—” “Oh, you hypocrite!” Rayland cut in sharply.
“You think I don’t know you’re after the same thing?
You’re jealous that I managed to get that Hawthorne brat’s approval before you, aren’t you?” “Mind your boundaries, Rayland!
You’re testing my patience!” “Go ahead and prove me wrong, Your Highness!
You came here because you yourself wanted to approach Lucien under the same pretext!” In the quiet corridor, the two most influential young men at the academy continued their feud.
They glared at each other with hatred, exchanging sarcastic remarks in an absurd cold war.
They were completely unaware that what they were fighting over—and what they were accusing each other of—was far from the truth.
While Prince Seilas and Antagonist Rayland were “bleeding mentally” in the dormitory corridors over wild assumptions about the “Rose path”, their main target was walking unsteadily towards his destination with his head bowed down, tiredly fighting off sleep.
Before Lucien could reach the door of his room, a hand suddenly grabbed the collar of his uniform from behind.
“Where are you going, lazy young master?
Come with me for a moment,” Reichardt’s voice sounded cheerful in Lucien’s ears.
“Let go, Reichardt.
I want to sleep.
I only have seven percent of my life left,” Lucien grumbled helplessly.
“Sleep later!
Today is your first official day as an academy student.
No sleeping before a little celebration!” Without listening to his younger brother’s protests, Reichardt immediately dragged Lucien out of the dormitory building towards a hidden garden exclusively for nobles filled with softly glowing flowers.
As soon as they arrived at the white gazebo in the middle of the garden, the fragrant aroma of tea and sweet pastries immediately enveloped them.
There, a brown-haired young woman with a bright smile was waiting gracefully.
“Welcome to the first day of the academy, Lucien!” Rose Valerin exclaimed cheerfully, waving at the table filled with all sorts of delicious snacks.
Lucien blinked several times.
He stared at the table full of food, then at Rose and Reichardt in turn.
Instantly, the memories of the cold corridor and Rayland’s threats vanished from his mind, while he remained completely oblivious to the fact that Rayland and Prince Seilas were feuding because of him.
Without a word of protest, Lucien immediately pulled up a chair, sat next to Rose, and took a piece of sweet cake.
“It’s good that you’re celebrating, not bad.
I’m hungry,” Lucien said dryly, making Reichardt laugh out loud and Rose shake her head in exasperation.
In this peaceful, food-filled place, the outside world of misunderstandings and drama seemed like a galaxy far, far away.