Chapter 17: Why does it feel a little cute?

Noon break.

Aiden lay weakly on the desk, so exhausted he didn’t even want to move his fingers.

He glanced at the time—five minutes left before the negative effects of the magic [Adrenaline] would wear off.

He recalled his 1v5 battle in the restroom just now—in his fully doubled attribute state, he had taken down those several upperclassmen without breaking a sweat.

After all, these guys were essentially mages; their advantage was sheer numbers bullying the few.

Against Aiden in his fully enhanced state, they were no match.

But what was really frustrating was how long this hour of weakness lasted.

If the fight hadn’t ended within this minute, wouldn’t he just collapse on the battlefield and be slaughtered?

Luckily, this time it was only a test against a few upperclassmen.

Even if he failed, the worst consequence would be getting beaten up—that was a cost Aiden could accept.

[This adrenaline skill’s side effects are way too severe. Is there any way to avoid or at least reduce the cost?]

Aiden weakly asked Ruby, the holographic sprite who seemed full of energy, fluttering around him nonstop.

[Ruby can dance for Master to lift spirits and encourage body and mind!]

Ruby tilted her head thoughtfully.

Suddenly, a lightbulb appeared above her head, and she snapped her fingers.

A small Holographic Stage appeared out of thin air, and Ruby began dancing energetically on it.

The music was catchy, but the dance moves were… lacking.

Aiden’s face twitched slightly.

[What’s the point of this…]

Just then, Celes returned to the classroom.

She was carrying a lunch tray and a bottle of that Energy Drink Aiden had drunk yesterday.

Seeing Aiden still slumped over, utterly drained, she couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

She set the lunch down on the desk.

“Aiden, your lunch is back. Also… a little thank you from yesterday.”

“Thank you, Celes, you really saved me~”

At that exact moment, Aiden’s weakness status ended.

He suddenly straightened up in his chair, looking gratefully at Celes, thinking, Now I won’t have to starve.

But from Celes’s perspective, Aiden seemed to have instantly regained his spirit.

Could it be he was just hungry before?

He looked kind of cute that way.

Celes propped her cheek on her hand, watching Aiden devour the bread ravenously, a slight smile unconsciously tugging at her lips.

“Celes, do I have something on my face?”

Noticing Celes’s gaze, Aiden looked up with a confused expression.

“Nothing.”

Celes suddenly realized her lapse and quickly shook her head, turning away.

No one noticed the faint blush at the tips of her ears.

Yet, in the eyes of the other classmates, the interaction between the two looked quite suggestive.

Celes bringing lunch to Aiden appeared very intimate.

“Celes is so frivolous—she was already cozy with Lord Rufus before, and now she’s getting close to the transfer student.”

“Yeah, Aiden’s a genius. Maybe she sees potential in his future.”

As the gossip deepened, some girls grew bolder, their whispers turning nasty, with occasional words like “shameless” and “cheap” slipping out.

Though the voices were kept low, they still clearly reached Celes’s ears.

A wave of discomfort rose in her chest, making her uneasy.

Though it hurt, her life experience had long since conditioned her to such behind-the-back gossip.

Even if baseless rumors, she maintained a calm expression.

In the past, Celes had tried to explain, but that only made things worse.

People accused her of Versailles—bragging—and twisted her words.

“So what if she’s pretty and has a great figure? Flirting with men everywhere, what a shameless woman”—

she had heard such judgments far too often.

In the end, Celes chose to ignore the slander.

In some people’s eyes, her “reputation” had never been good.

“Phew, I’m alive again.”

Aiden sighed in satisfaction after eating his fill.

He balled up the wrapper and tossed it in the trash, then lay back down on the desk, mumbling indistinctly.

“As expected, eating well makes me sleepy… Good afternoon, Celes…”

Celes looked at this boy who ate, then immediately slept, completely carefree, and a wave of envy rose inside her.

To her, Aiden had always been someone who did things his own way, never caring about others’ opinions or gossip.

When facing problems, he neither ran away nor feared them—he faced them head-on, even when the odds were against him.

This was exactly the kind of person Celes wanted to be, which was why she envied him so much.

Watching Aiden’s sleeping face, the corner of her mouth gently lifted.

“Good afternoon, Aiden…”

In a remote corner of Saint Diasa Academy.

The upperclassmen who had cornered Aiden in the restroom gathered together.

Their faces were marked with varying degrees of injuries, looking quite battered.

“Damn it, how can that kid be so strong?”

“Yeah, he looked like a weakling, but turns out he’s got serious strength.”

“Clearly trained, right?”

“Damn it, if only he could use magic…”

As they speculated on Aiden’s true strength, a familiar voice sounded from nearby.

“What are you all doing here?”

They looked up, surprised to see Rufus, who had been missing for two days.

Since being defeated by Aiden in the training grounds, he had been sent to the academy’s external clinic and hadn’t been heard from.

“His Highness, are your injuries healed?”

Someone cautiously asked.

“Minor wounds, nothing serious.”

Rufus showed no signs of injury at all, looking exactly as before.

The high-level clinic’s skill was evident—an ordinary person would be bedridden for half a month.

Noticing their odd expressions, he frowned and asked with a superior tone.

“What happened to the wounds on your faces?”

They babbled all at once, telling him how they tried to stand up for Rufus but ended up getting beaten by Aiden.

Rufus wanted to call them useless, but recalling his own defeat by Aiden, he suppressed his anger.

“That transfer student really that strong? But in training class, he struggled even to beat the Shadow Wolf.”

The group began debating.

“Maybe that transfer student’s playing dumb, pretending weak to gain sympathy in front of Celes, to awaken her protective instincts.”

“He studies well but acts like a weakling in combat—creating that contrast effect. I heard it’s called… ‘gap moe’?”

“Enough!”

Rufus’s face darkened as he listened.

That kid was playing strategy now?

Damn it, competing for women with me.

Everyone knew, the women I set my sights on were never out of reach.

He cut off their chatter.

“I underestimated him before and mishandled my magic. This time, I’ll make sure that transfer student sees why the flowers bloom so red.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. That kid’s only lucky to have beaten His Highness.”

“This time, we’ll beat him until he can’t get out of bed.”

Someone tentatively asked.

“His Highness, any plans?”

“Hmph. From now on, you’ll all follow my orders.”

Rufus chuckled coldly, a calculating gleam in his eyes.

The plan was already set.

Against this transfer student, as long as he took it seriously, he could be crushed without effort.

“I’ll make that transfer student regret crossing me.”