"Hey, Erlio."
"Yes, President Merly," the council member replied, his voice a low, gravelly drone. He remained leaning back against the cold wooden door, his stern face as unreadable as ever.
Merly didn’t look at him directly; she merely gave a subtle, practiced side-glance, signaling him to initiate the procedure. The heavy iron bolts of the double doors slid into place with a definitive, echoing *thud*.
I could feel the sweat beginning to bead at my hairline, a cold drop tracking slowly down my temple. I fought like hell to suppress the rising panic, keeping it buried deep within my chest. ’What the hell are they planning to do to me?’
My throat felt dry, but I forced myself to anchor my thoughts on one fundamental truth: I was no longer the spineless boy they used to kick around. I had to believe in my own survival.
A heavy, suffocating silence descended upon the vast room. Standing beneath the towering vaulted ceiling, I felt entirely isolated under Merly’s sharp, golden eyes. She stared at me without blinking, her gaze piercing so deeply it felt as though she were physically dissecting my soul.
When she finally spoke, her voice shattered the quiet like a pane of glass.
"Is there anything you want to say for yourself, Vale?"
The sudden question jerked me mildly, threatening to break my carefully constructed composure. I swallowed hard, forcing my momentum back before looking her dead in the eye.
"There is no way in hell I am going to accept a punishment for crimes I never committed," I said, trying to sound firm. Yet, despite my best efforts, I could hear the slight, dull hollow in my own voice. The absolute confidence I had carried beneath the lonely tree was rapidly evaporating.
’Why is all of this happening to me right now? Why me? Why now?’
A bitter, hysterical thought sparked in the corner of my mind. ’If I was going to get reincarnated, why couldn’t I have just regained my memories from birth like a proper damn isekai protagonist? Who did the i offend to warrant this?’
Then, a jagged fragment of a memory clicked into place. My mind drifted back, far beyond this magical academy, back to a cold, damp cell. ’Ah... I remember now. That character... the last novel I read while serving time in prison. Don’t tell me... am I cursed?’
The horrifying parallel sent a shiver down my spine. In my past life, I had been cornered in the exact same way—framed and arrested for a crime I didn’t commit, a catastrophe that stripped me of my future and ruined my educational qualifications in a single day. Now, the gears of fate were turning to crush me all over again.
//BAM//
The massive double doors didn’t just open; they practically flew off their hinges.
"Vale... you motherf—!"
The roaring curse abruptly sliced through my internal monologue. The sheer, deafening volume of the shout hit me like a physical wave, nearly bursting my eardrum. I instinctively raised a hand, sliding a finger inside my ear to check if it was actually bleeding.
I looked up, my eyes locking onto the furious figure standing in the shattered doorway. It was a black-haired boy, noticeably taller than me, with a broad, perfectly conditioned physique that radiated the kind of raw vitality only a protagonist could possess.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?!" Erwin screamed, his face completely contorted with a righteous fury.
’And here we go,’ I thought, a wave of profound exhaustion washing over me. ’The self-righteous bastard arrives right on cue. If this were a cliché novel or a manga, I bet my life savings he’d be the glittering protagonist, while I’m just the minor villain meant to be a pathetic stepping stone for his character development.’
Driven by unbridled rage, Erwin didn’t wait for an explanation. His movement was terrifyingly swift and precise, a blur of cool, practiced motion. In a fraction of a second, his hand flew to his hilt, and a gleaming steel sword swept horizontally through the air, aimed squarely at my throat.
//CLANK//
The high-pitched screech of metal colliding with metal rang through the chamber.
Erlio had vanished from the door. With the effortless, terrifying speed of a true Student Council elite, he had intercepted the strike, his own blade perfectly locking Erwin’s sword just inches from my skin.
Erwin’s eyes widened in brief surprise. The kinetic force of the parry forced him to push off, taking his feet a few meters back to reset his stance. His knuckles turned white around his hilt, his muscles coiling as he prepared to launch into another, more lethal clash.
"Enough."
Merly’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a chilled, absolute authority that froze the air in the room.
I stood perfectly still, my hand instinctively creeping up to my neck to ensure my head was still attached to my shoulders. A heavy bead of sweat rolled down my chest. ’The bastard actually intended to kill me. Right here, in front of the council.’
But before the student council could resume their interrogation, the heavy atmosphere was shattered once more. The sound of rhythmic, iron-shod boots echoed down the hall, and two Imperial Royal Guards flung the doors completely open. Their expressions were stone, their armor gleaming under the magical chandeliers.
Without a single word, they marched straight toward me, grabbed me by my arms, and began dragging me out of the office and through the central corridor of the academy.
The hallway was lined with rows of cadets. As I was marched past, a barrage of looks pinned me from all sides. Most regarded me with unadulterated disgust; a few offered pitiful, fleeting glances. But amidst the sea of hostile murmurs, my ears caught a single, frantic gasp of genuine concern.
I turned my head slightly. It was Helen.
Her wide, trembling eyes locked onto mine from the crowd, her face pale with worry. Meeting her gaze, I forced the tension out of my facial muscles. I offered her a slow, calm nod and a reassuring smile, silently telling her not to panic.
If this world wanted to frame me as the villain, I wasn’t going to make it easy for them.