'Celine's ability to twist people's perception is astounding,' Lucian thought during one of his lunch breaks.

He never expected Celine to make her older brother a background prop, but she made it look so effortless that people believed it.

Like any young man, Edmund sought respect and recognition from those around him. But Celine stood in his way, ruining his image with her spoiled ways.

Yes, Celine covered for Edmund when he slept around with women, took over a part of his duties, and stood up against their mother, but little mattered in the face of public scrutiny and humiliation.

Lucian could love his parents however much he wanted, but he would still feel embarrassed by them when they accepted commissions they couldn't handle, and then got badmouthed by the whole town.

"Lucian...?"

Lucian was pulled from his thoughts by Big Ray.

"It's really you!"

Big Ray was the noble child that Lucian built his Badass Gang with when he was younger. The one, who loved to raise his fist first before thinking about the consequences later.

"I heard some things, so it seems like you have been doing well for yourself," Big Ray said, accompanied by two more knights, who returned from their Spring Knight Trials.

They wore small crests on their uniforms, showing that they served under the Ducal House of Duremont.

"Yes, and you seem to be doing well too," Lucian greeted the rest of them and exchanged a few pleasantries.

Big Ray looked just like he remembered, if not even more intimidating. Lucian didn't want to find out how hard it would feel to get punched in the guts by him now.

He then saw a group of knights join Edmund's table on the second floor.

Celine was seated at a different table than Edmund, accompanied by her lady friends.

With the arrival of the knights, the mood in the cafeteria split into various parts, where different houses kept an eye on each other.

Big Ray bid Lucian farewell as his group joined the Duremont's representatives on the second floor.

One would think that a bunch of young adults would want to make new friends, not act as old as their ancestors because they were divided by family titles and ranks.

It's one of the reasons Lucian wanted to have his achievements independent of Celine's and have his name become popular on its own merit.

Not because of ego, or personal glory, or even fame, but to have the ability to protect her where the Rochefort couldn't. If anything, it was out of fear of losing the most precious thing to his existence.

Being connected to the Rochefort house would have opened lots of gates for Lucian, but also closed off plenty more.

'Feels like a fight waiting to happen...'

The older male students began to show up in the cafeteria as well, most of them returning from the Spring Camp. While males of age had left the school grounds a month and a half ago to prepare for government positions, the female students stayed behind, together with the first-year freshmen (Edmund and the Crown Prince were freshmen).

Lucian was sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria, not belonging to any particular group, and also without a knight by his side. He was a harmless-looking hay-head who somehow made it into their academy.

"Is he one of Lord Duremont's playthings?"

Lucian heard a comment from one of the nearby tables, commenting about how a group of Duremont's knights had just greeted him.

The Duke's Duremont's son, Mathieu Duremont, was a three-year-older upperclassman. Lucian spotted him among the new arrivals, who entered the cafeteria with an air of importance. His ash-gray hair reminded Lucian of a donkey's backside.

A man in a servant's garb followed closely behind the young lord, carrying his jacket over his forearm. Hay head servant at that. The servant's eyes stayed low, not looking anyone in the eye. They were the eyes of a dead fish, resigned to his fate and not trying to go against the stream of life.

'Doesn't look like someone who is serving under a person with a supposed soft spot for the helpless, the less fortunate, and especially for the poor hay heads…'

The young lord glanced at the crowd before they stopped at Lucian, checking him slowly like a product that he wanted to buy.

Lucian would have preferred to have this effect on his little wife, not the upper class, who seemed like they had an appetite for the peasantry.

'Nope. Not before my little wife.' Lucian stood up from his table to leave the cafeteria.

"What's the rush?" A hand reached for Lucian from behind, but before it could touch him, it met the head of Lucian's walking cane instead.

Lucian didn't turn back. "I prefer a lady's touch," he commented.

His fast reaction stunned the young lord, giving Lucian enough time to flip the cane. He pointed it at Mathieu's nose, the little distance almost looking like it poked his face. If Lucian used more force, someone's nose would have gotten a good whack.

‎The quiet gasps of the onlookers in the background signaled to Lucian that he had gained a bit of leverage with that one action. Laughter would have probably encouraged Mathieu to do worse, but Lucian made him hesitate.

"..." Lord Mathieu tried to laugh off the awkwardness, "If that's how you want it to be..." he stepped aside to let Lucian go, whispering. "But don't worry, you will learn your place very soon..."

'Yea yea, my place is by my little wife and I'm happy with that.' Lucian left, trying not to get involved anymore. Tomorrow would be his last day of the two-hour-a-week contract anyway. Then he'd be gone for another half a year before his next appearance. 'If Celine sees that men get interested in me too, she will really lock me up. Can't have that.'

Mathieu walked away, muttering a few things to his people at his table on the second floor.

Crash!

The sound of glass shattering caught Lucian's ear.

'Don't tell me...'

Lucian quickly left the cafeteria and leaned against the wall, using Voice's vision to peek behind the wall like a spectator, and saw his blood thirsty little wife on her feet.

‎

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