It was so fucking loud that it pulled Lucian out of his enjoyment.
Which fucker dares to barge into my room? The squinted eyes and the faint small smile were gone, replaced by narrowed eyes and furrowed brows as he glared at the newcomer.
He was, after all, still the son of a baron. A noble. And there the newcomer stood: tall, broad-shouldered, thick-necked.
A naturally bulky build, obviously male, with short sandy-brown hair slicked back with cheap-looking gel that caught the ward lights.
He wore the standard Aegis Royal Academy uniform: a black blazer with silver trim, white shirt, and a loosened dark tie. Most importantly, his sleeves were rolled to the elbows, baring thick forearms.
Heavy jaw, blunt nose, small dark eyes fixed on Lucian.
Who are you? Lucian's frown deepened, his whole face darkening. He didn't even know which bastard, which motherfucker, which son of a bitch, some side character, maybe, had just barged into his room.
"There you are," the newcomer sneered, taking in the sight of Lucian still flat on the bed. But then his eyes found Seraphina, and the mockery, the cold look he'd aimed at Lucian, vanished instantly.
"Lady Seraphina, greetings." He dropped to one knee and kissed the back of her hand, which she received with her usual smile.
"Oh my, no need to treat me like a noble, we're just academy students here," she said, sounding surprised and a little protesting, her hand still offered, her expression unchanged behind those wide, startled eyes. "Sir Derrick, what brings you here?"
Derrick?
On the bed, Lucian heard the name and started reaching back through his memories, frowning as he watched Derrick look at his fiancée like she was a goddess, worshipping, possessive, while ignoring him entirely, her fiancé, as though he didn't exist.
No matter how hard he searched, no one named Derrick stood out.
Maybe because I just binged the whole novel in a single night? One of Lucian's eyebrows lifted. But the confusion lasted only a moment before a flood of memories hit him, none of them his own.
The original Lucian's memories: Derrick and his friends sabotaging the Croft household the day before the big race. Derrick stealing his winter gloves and humiliating him publicly. And every time, the original Lucian had backed down, too afraid to fight back.
Then another memory: Derrick roughing him up behind the gym, one of his friends pulling a knife and slashing a small, shallow "C" into Lucian's left shoulder blade as a mark of ownership.
So. Basically a childhood bully.
No wonder the original Lucian had been forgotten. He was weak in body, easy to push around, and too scared to push back.
Both were nobles. Derrick came from a Viscount house, the House of Holt. Lucian came from the House of Croft, a Baron.
Slowly, the frown eased from Lucian's face. You can be weak in body. But your will at least has to be strong. Weak in body and weak in mind, that makes you prey. Especially to people like him.
"Of course, to save my lady from this weakling," Derrick said, straightening up with a broad smile. He savored it: the warm look Seraphina gave him, the smell of her hand still on his lips. What a pity, what a pity. But this time, hehe, she's mine. He shifted his attention to Lucian, still lying on the bed.
"Lucian, of course, as a 'good' friend of yours, I came to visit." His gaze was flat, indifferent, the same look he had always aimed at the timid Lucian.
And Lucian's eyes narrowed.
From the original host's memories: Derrick was Rank 2 (Iron). In this world there were two paths. You either became an Aura Knight, a fighter who channeled mana directly into the body, or a Mage like Seraphina. Derrick was an Aura Knight. So was the original Lucian. The ranks ran from Ember at Rank 1 up to Rank 9, called the Apex, which was basically a myth.
So, Rank 1 (Ember) versus Rank 2 (Iron).
I'm at a disadvantage. But will he really go this far in front of her, inside the academy? Lucian's attention split three ways: the system screen hovering before him, which he had a rough understanding of by now; Seraphina, who looked completely unbothered by the idea of Derrick slapping or humiliating him; and the Raw Ember Core sitting on the tray.
"Visit? My friend? Who are you?" Lucian spoke, chin lifted slightly, voice steady, nothing like the way he had been soft and careful around Seraphina.
You're just a fucking side character. We're both side characters. Why the hell should I be afraid of you? His eyes stayed on Derrick while his hand, under the blanket, moved toward the Raw Ember Core.
As expected, Derrick froze. The flat, dismissive look he had always aimed at Lucian, the look that said nothing here worth noticing, stalled. Then it narrowed.
Is this the same Lucian?
"What did you say?" The indifference cracked. Derrick's face darkened as he stared at this kid, this one who had always stepped back, always folded, now talking back?
He stepped forward. His broad frame cut Seraphina from view and put him right over Lucian's bed.
"I think I misheard you. What did you say?" His palm shot out and closed around Lucian's head. A large hand, the kind that made a skull feel small. "Am I not your friend?" he said.
Under the blanket, Lucian's fingers had already closed around the Raw Ember Core, feeling its rough, gritty surface.
With Derrick's grip on his head, Lucian pressed his palm against Derrick's hand and pushed back with what little he had. It did nothing. He looked straight up into Derrick's eyes.
"What kind of friend grabs my head like a golf ball," Lucian said, his expression calm, his gaze flat with contempt. "Get your hand off me and get out of my room. And don't you dare touch my fiancée's hand again."
Something shifted in Derrick's face. At first he had thought he'd misheard. Now it was clear: this little mouse had found some nerve. A grin spread across his lips.
BANG!
He slammed Lucian's head down into the blanket, pulling a muffled sound from him. "I'm disappointed, Lucian. No, Croft." He pressed his palm against the back of Lucian's head, pushing his face into the mattress. "I thought what we had was real friendship."
Lucian's short, dark charcoal hair was being grabbed and pulled and shoved around by that big hand. The gap between Rank 1 and Rank 2 was obvious, never mind that the original Lucian's body had been sickly since childhood, nothing like Derrick's.
But what Derrick couldn't see: Lucian's face was pressed into the gray blanket, and in front of his eyes, a transparent screen hovered.
[Digesting Function is triggered!]
[New Trait Engraved: Hardened skin (Tier 1)]