Chapter 37

“Wait a second!”

Just as I was about to leave, Rose Bly grabbed my coat and stopped me.

But the moment she impulsively grabbed my arm, she let go as if she’d been burned and took a step back.

Then, turning her head to the side, she muttered,

“Never mind. Sorry. I won’t bother you anymore. Just… contact me again sometime. I’ll be waiting.”

As I walked down the hallway, dimly lit with only lanterns and no one else in sight, I was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt….as if I’d done something wrong.

Because I kept picturing Rose Bly still sitting alone in that room.

If I hadn’t been so cold, I wouldn’t have been able to stay loyal to Josephine.

But does that justify hurting someone else?

…It’s not because I think Rose Bly is pretty or anything.

Anyway, Winter Winslet was the real bastard here.

That lingering unpleasant feeling eased a little once I returned to the palace lobby.

Surprisingly, it was thanks to Monastrell.

“Sss, ha. Sss…”

The last time I saw Monastrell, she was making a scene, chugging perfume instead of alcohol.

Now, her head was buried in the table.

But somehow, she had lined up a row of white powder on the table in front of her.

Unbelievable.

Starting tomorrow, there were two days of weekend break.

The academy would be at its quietest, making it the perfect time to gather information from Keith d’Alembert’s associates and finally uncover the truth about what Winter Winslet and the Heptagram Society had been plotting.

***

The Royal Academy didn’t raise livestock.

There was an animal enclosure tucked away on campus, but it was a small facility meant to house rare animals for research and grow just enough feed for them.

So, the academy didn’t raise chickens. No one considered that a big deal…except for at least one person in the first-year dormitory.

Having only come to the city two weeks ago, Jacqueline still found it strange to wake up without the sound of a rooster’s crow.

It was something unthinkable in the countryside where she’d been born and raised.

“Huaaaahm…”

Waking up in the stillness just before dawn, Jacqueline stared blankly down from the top bunk.

Her three roommates, who shared the four-person dorm with her, were still deep in their dreams.

Not wanting to wake them, Jacqueline carefully climbed down the ladder and quietly changed into her shoes.

It was time for her morning workout.

Jogging lightly through the campus shrouded in bluish darkness was part of Jacqueline’s daily routine.

She enjoyed breathing in the dawn air as she ran, and the food always tasted better after a good sweat.

Since she exercised at the same hour every day, she naturally started recognizing a few familiar faces.

“Yo, Jacqueline. Even out here on the weekend?”

“As the rising star of the Academy’s track scene, skipping morning runs is out of the question.”

“Haha, I bet you would’ve done well in the Knight Department too. Ever thought of transferring?”

“Get in line. Too many places want a prodigy like me. I’d need ten bodies to keep up with the demand.”

The boy chuckled.

He was Christopher, a fellow first-year and class representative of Class 1-A in the Knight Department.

Students in the Knight Department lived and trained in assigned groups, and morning runs were part of their daily routine—

So behind Christopher, a dozen or so boys were jogging at a steady pace.

Despite that, Christopher ran backward effortlessly, chatting with Jacqueline without missing a beat.

“Oh right, Jacqueline, we’re planning a soccer game after lunch. Want to join?”

“Depends on how things go.”

“Feel free to bring a friend too. The more, the merrier.”

“I’ll ask my roommate.”

“See you then.”

Waving goodbye, Christopher picked up speed and led the knight students ahead of Jacqueline.

She let them go without trying to catch up.

The boys from the Knight Department were fiercely competitive. Once you started racing them, they wouldn’t stop until someone dropped.

Jacqueline shivered, remembering the first time she ran into them last week.

After a full thirty-minute sprint, everyone had been so drained they were drooling all over themselves—

A horrifying sight she wouldn’t soon forget.

Still, it was how she became friends with Christopher.

By the time the morning sunlight began to blaze gold, Jacqueline’s clothes were soaked with sweat.

At a suitable turning point, she changed course and returned to the dormitory to take a shower.

With a towel draped over her head, she stepped out of the bath to find the hallway filled with the smell of food.

It was breakfast time.

Most of the shops on campus were closed on weekends, so the dormitory cafeteria was the only option for students to get a meal—

Unless they went outside the campus to eat.

The dorm cafeteria operated on a self-serve basis, so those who arrived late often found only unappetizing leftovers,

Or occasionally nothing at all.

However, many students who struggled to get up in the morning simply gave up on breakfast in favor of sleeping in.

Thanks to them, a delicate balance was somehow maintained between the limited food supply and the hungry students.

Of course, there were always a few winners. Those who showed up at just the right time and managed to catch both a good meal and extra rest.

Jacqueline’s roommate Rita was one such example.

“Good morning, Jacqueline.”

“Hey. Perfect timing, as always.”

“What’s for breakfast?”

“Cheese omelet.”

“Is it any good?”

“Well, I’m on my second one.”

“Perks of the early bird. I better get some before it’s gone. Can you hold my seat?”

“Of course.”

A few minutes later, Rita returned with her tray full and sat down.

Jacqueline who was now full leaned back and watched Rita eat.

It was a perfectly relaxed scene.

Out of nowhere, Jacqueline sighed,

“Ah, I wish it could be the weekend every day.”

Rita who was spreading jam on her bread chuckled.

“That’d get boring in its own way.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm.”

“Still, last weekend was too noisy to feel like a break.”

“Oh right, there was that whole mess.”

They were referring to the freshman hazing ritual and the large number of second-year students who got expelled afterward.

Jacqueline asked,

“What are you doing today, Rita?”

“First, I’m going back to bed after breakfast.”

“And after that?”

“I’m planning to get up again around lunch and head to the library. But why do you ask?”

“The guys from the Knight Department asked if we wanted to hang out at lunch. Do you want to come too?”

Clatter.

The sound of a butter knife dropping onto the table.

Rita covered her mouth in surprise.

“Oh, Jacqueline. I didn’t think you were like that.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’ve already set up a meeting with guys from another department? Come on, tell me more. How’s the talent over there?”

Jacqueline realized a beat too late what Rita meant, and her face flushed slightly.

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what is it?”

“They just asked us to kick a ball around, that’s all.”

“Play ball?”

Jacqueline scrambled to explain, and soon Rita pushed her glasses up with her index finger, looking disappointed.

“Aww, I was hoping to get a little eye candy today.”

“Eye candy? What are you talking about?”

“I mean, guys from the Knight Department probably have great bodies. You know what, Jacqueline? Next time, how about setting up a real group date?”

“Oh, come on. Like they’d even show up if I asked?”

“You never know. Who knows? Maybe one of them already has a thing for you.”

“There’s no one like that, okay?”

“I’d bet on it. Guys secretly like your type more than you think.”

“Ugh, I told you to stop!”

Jacqueline fanned her flushed face and shot Rita a look.

“So, are you coming today or not?”

“As much as I’d love to, ball games and anything sporty really aren’t my thing.”

“You could’ve just said that from the start.”

“But hey, Jacqueline, didn’t you say you were visiting someone in the hospital today?”

“Visiting? Oh, right.”

At Rita’s words, Jacqueline was reminded of her friend who had been stuck in the infirmary for several days now.

Shannon Quinlivan.

That pretty classmate had collapsed during a duel with Professor Winter Winslet last Tuesday and still hadn’t returned to the dorm.

Jacqueline felt a certain sense of responsibility for Shannon’s injury, since she herself had, to some extent, contributed to the duel between Shannon and Professor Winslet happening in the first place.

“If you hadn’t reminded me, I would’ve completely forgotten.”

“You got permission from the dorm supervisor, right? You have to fill out the logbook if you’re going out.”

“Ah.”

“Your face says it all. You better hurry before she falls asleep.”

Dorm supervisors typically work night shifts.

They start in the late evening, uphold the sacred curfew, keep watch to make sure spirited students don’t get up to mischief in the dark, and stay alert in case of medical emergencies.

But supervisors were human too, and they must sleep. And that usually happened in the morning.

As Jacqueline shot up from her seat with her tray in hand, Rita said,

“Just leave it. I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Thanks!”

Jacqueline dashed straight to the supervisor’s office.

Since the office also served as a security post, it was located on the first floor of the dorm building, right by the entrance.

She arrived quickly and spotted the dorm supervisor in the hallway.

But the supervisor wasn’t alone.

Wait, why is he here…?

Winter Winslet.

Aside from being handsome, which to be fair was just one of his many annoying strengths, he was, in short, an annoying man.

And now, standing face-to-face with the dorm supervisor, was the very person responsible for sending her friend Shannon to the infirmary.

Trisha, the supervisor of the first-year dorm, was young, beautiful, and had such a sweet, friendly personality that every freshman. Regardless of gender, everyone loved her like an older sister.

Jacqueline was no exception.

But perhaps that was precisely why the sight of Trisha and Professor Winslet together in the same frame stirred Jacqueline’s ominous imagination.

It was because of a shocking rumor she’d picked up over the past two weeks since arriving on campus.

They say Professor Winslet is a total playboy who cheats every chance he gets…

The two continued chatting pleasantly right in front of Jacqueline, then disappeared together into the supervisor’s office.

Click.

The sound of the door locking from inside echoed down the hallway.

“……”

Jacqueline who had witnessed the whole thing, froze like a statue for several seconds before hastily slapping a hand over her mouth.

What are they doing in the dorm this early in the morning?

What else could a man and woman be doing alone together in a locked room?

Overwhelmed by the shock of witnessing something she absolutely should not have seen, Jacqueline groaned, flailed, and mentally screamed….until she finally managed to calm herself down.

This isn’t the time for this!

She reminded herself of what needed to be done. What only she could do.

And that was to quietly tiptoe up to the supervisor’s office, rise on her toes, and press her ear against the door.