~Narrator~
“Let me see this year’s applicants before they’re sorted.”
Prince Artemis stood before the secretary of admissions, his expression unreadable.
The secretary gave him a strange look.
It wasn’t common for one of the princes to take an interest in the admissions process.
Especially not Artemis.
Still, questioning him wasn’t an option.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The secretary reached beneath the desk and pulled out a small black chip.
He placed it carefully into Artemis’s waiting hand.
Artemis glanced down at it.
That was all the thanks the man received.
The prince turned and walked away.
He headed straight for the school’s media room.
The moment he entered, the heavy doors closed behind him.
The room was usually packed at this time of day.
A large U-shaped dark blue couch stretched across the center of the room, covered in silver and black throw pillows.
Several had been tossed onto the floor, forgotten by whoever had been lounging there.
A large coffee table sat in front of the couch, covered with bowls of fruit, plates of meat, half-empty glasses, and whatever else the beasts had been eating while watching the movie playing across the projector screen.
The room was filled with beasts.
Some sat in their human forms.
Others remained in their animal forms, sprawled comfortably across the couches or curled up on the floor.
Every beast at Yueying University had an animal form.
Their sect determined what that form would be.
Foxes.
Wolves.
Bears.
Sharks.
Birds.
Serpents.
Dragons.
The moment Artemis stepped into the room, however, none of that mattered.
His aura rolled through the space like a dark wave.
Thick.
Oppressive.
Powerful.
Every conversation stopped.
Heads turned.
Bodies stiffened.
One by one, the beasts looked toward their prince.
Artemis didn’t bother acknowledging them.
“Get out.”
His voice was low.
A growl more than a command.
The entire room cleared.
Immediately.
No questions.
No complaints.
No hesitation.
Within seconds, the media room was completely empty.
The doors closed behind the last beast.
Silence settled over the room.
Artemis stood there for a moment before dropping onto the couch.
He stretched his legs out, resting one arm across the back.
Nobody would have dared disobey him anyway.
He was Prince Artemis.
Heir to the dragon throne.
The future ruler of an entire kingdom.
And he had earned his reputation long before he ever stepped foot inside Yueying University.
Ruthless.
Edgy.
Short-tempered.
Quick to blow.
Artemis was focused, overly confident, and, according to some brave enough to say it behind his back, downright cocky.
He didn’t care.
Dragons weren’t known for humility.
They were proud creatures.
Powerful creatures.
And Artemis had enough ego for several dragons.
Questioning him could earn someone a social death sentence.
Depending on his mood, it could become an actual one.
He pulled the small chip from his pocket and inserted it into the media system.
The projector screen changed.
A new interface appeared.
YUEYING UNIVERSITY — APPLICANT SELECTION
Artemis leaned forward.
“Let’s see what we’ve got.”
He began flipping through the applicants.
One.
Then another.
Then another.
Nothing.
His expression remained completely blank.
Boring.
He moved to the next.
Boring.
Another.
Even worse.
Twenty-five minutes later, he was on the final applicant.
Artemis sighed.
This had been a waste of his fucking time.
He was about to shut the system down when something caught his attention.
His finger stopped above the control.
He stared at the screen.
For some reason, he couldn’t look away.
The picture showed a young woman with long, dark chocolate-colored hair.
It shined beneath the light of the camera, falling in loose waves over her shoulders before curling slightly at the ends.
But it wasn’t her hair that held his attention.
It was her face.
That smile.
It was big.
Bright.
Innocent.
Untainted.
And those eyes…
Those fucking eyes.
They were so blue they looked capable of drowning someone.
Artemis slowly leaned back against the couch.
Something about that shade of blue struck a memory inside him.
The waters back home.
It was the only place he’s ever seen that shade of blue.
Before the veil.
Before the mortals.
Before the bombs.
His jaw tightened.
The beautiful image on the screen suddenly became something else entirely.
A reminder.
His home had once been breathtaking.
The waters surrounding the dragon kingdom had been crystal clear.
The rivers had shimmered beneath the sunlight, and the great lakes had stretched for miles.
Then the mortals had come.
They had brought their weapons.
Their greed.
Their poison.
And their fucking bombs.
The damage hadn’t disappeared simply because the war had ended.
The waters were still recovering.
The land was still recovering.
His people were still recovering.
It would take years.
Maybe generations.
And for what?
Mortals were weak.
Fragile.
Short-lived creatures who somehow possessed weapons capable of destroying things far more powerful than themselves.
Artemis hated them.
Not simply because they were inferior.
He hated them because of what they were capable of.
Dragons and beasts could be vicious.
They could be violent.
They could kill.
But there was a difference between being a predator and being a complete fucking savage.
Mortals had crossed that line.
Artemis ran a hand through his dark hair and stared at the screen.
Why was he still looking at her?
He didn’t know.
He shouldn’t care.
She was just another mortal.
He tapped the screen.
Her application appeared.
Name: Euphoria Ri-chan.
Artemis’s eyebrow lifted.
He continued reading.
Orphaned.
Mostly liked by her classmates.
No disciplinary history.
No referrals.
No criminal record.
He frowned.
Ordinary.
He scrolled.
Grew up poor.
No current living address.
Only a city listed.
Then he stopped.
No, not a city.
“A village?”
His eyebrow rose.
That was new.
“Seriously?”
He stared at the information again.
Was she a vagabond?
A runaway?
Someone desperate enough to use Yueying University as a way out of poverty?
That seemed more likely.
He continued reading.
Her astrological sign was listed as Pisces.
No birthday.
Artemis almost laughed.
When the hell did they start asking for their star sign on a university application?
It didn’t really matter.
He continued.
Then came her height and weight.
His eyes traveled down the screen before he looked at the full-body photograph attached to her application.
Small.
Her frame was petite.
But…
“Not too small.”
The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop himself.
Artemis stared at the screen.
His eyes moved over her image again.
There was something oddly pleasing about her.
Not just her face.
Her skin looked soft.
For one brief, unwanted second, he wondered what it would feel like beneath his fingertips.
His expression immediately hardened.
What the fuck was he thinking?
He cleared his throat and returned to the application.
Talents: Music and singing.
He read further.
She was skilled with multiple instruments.
She occasionally worked as a singer on weekends in the more prestigious areas of her town.
She also worked weekdays at a hospital.
No job title listed.
Artemis frowned.
A singer.
A hospital worker.
Poor.
Orphaned.
Living in a village.
And somehow applying to a university for beasts.
None of it made sense.
Then he reached her personality assessment.
His lips twitched.
Kindness.
Generosity.
Compassion.
Quiet.
Artemis stared.
“What the hell?”
He continued reading.
Her emotional intelligence had ranked the highest of every applicant.
Highest.
Yet her grades were some of the worst he’d ever seen.
Barely passing.
Barely enough to graduate.
His interest grew despite himself.
There was something wrong with this picture.
She wasn’t academically gifted.
She wasn’t wealthy.
She wasn’t connected to any powerful family.
She wasn’t even a beast.
So why Yueying?
He found his answer at the bottom of the page.
Why do you wish to attend Yueying University?
Her response was short.
Simple.
Almost painfully so.
“I want a place to call home.
I’ve never felt like I belong.
Maybe Yueying is my place.”
Artemis stared at the words.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
A strange feeling settled in his chest.
Home?
Yueying?
His eyes narrowed.
Why the hell would a mortal believe she could find a home here?
This wasn’t some welcoming little school where everyone held hands and sang around a fucking campfire.
This was Yueying University.
A school built by beasts.
For beasts.
Mortals didn’t belong here.
They were too fragile.
Too vulnerable.
Too easy to kill.
Artemis knew that better than anyone.
Three years.
Seventy mortal deaths.
Seventy.
And somehow, the mortal admissions program was still operational.
He couldn’t understand it.
Did the council have a death wish?
Was that it?
Because eventually, another mortal was going to die.
And judging by the girl staring back at him from the screen, she didn’t have a fucking clue what she’d gotten herself into.
Artemis looked at her picture again.
That smile.
That innocent, happy smile.
It irritated him.
Nobody should look that happy in a world filled with so much misery.
Nobody should have eyes that bright.
Nobody should look at the world like there was still something worth believing in.
He wanted to break that smile.
Break whatever part of her allowed her to hold onto it.
At least, that’s what he told himself the strange feeling in his chest meant.
Then his dragon stirred.
Artemis froze.
Aemion.
His dragon had been with him since he was five years old.
Five.
That was when Artemis had first heard his voice.
For years, Aemion had been silent when it mattered and loud when Artemis didn’t want to hear him.
But never like this.
Never restless.
Never alert.
Never…
Interested.
Those eyes, Artemis.
Aemion mentions.
What about them?
They’re different.
Something about them.
Artemis frowned.
They’re just blue eyes, Aemion.
There was a pause.
Then Aemion answered.
Yeah.
But on someone who looks like her?
Artemis’s eyes narrowed.
She doesn’t look like any of the mortals we’ve met.
His gaze returned to the screen.
Artemis went completely still.
She looks like she belongs with beasts.
Aemion wasn’t lying.
That was the problem.
There was something about her face.
Something he couldn’t place.
She looked human.
Her application said human.
And yet…
Something about her didn’t feel entirely human.
Artemis leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.
He studied every detail of her photograph.
The shape of her eyes.
Her smile.
Her expression.
The softness of her face.
He couldn’t explain it.
But he wanted to.
He wanted to know why.
His lips slowly curled into a smirk.
The council was going to shit themselves when he submitted a personal request for her.
They would question him.
They would argue.
They would probably tell him it was unnecessary.
Artemis didn’t care.
He was the heir to the dragon throne.
He didn’t need permission to be curious.
He certainly didn’t need permission to claim something that interested him.
His eyes remained fixed on Euphoria.
A mortal girl.
Poor.
Orphaned.
Naïve.
Completely unaware of the world she was walking into.
He smiled.
A small, dangerous smile.
“Interesting.”
His fingers tapped against his knee.
For the first time all afternoon, Artemis wasn’t bored.
He had found something worth watching.
Something worth investigating.
Something worth playing with.
He looked at that innocent smile one last time.
His smirk widened.
He would make her his pet.
He had officially decided.
She was this year’s prey.
The male lead with the most votes will win the love our lead female.
Check Auxiliary chapters for additional photos of characters and scenes.