Haruto turned his head slowly and stared directly at Lilith, his expression perfectly flat and unbothered. Is she serious right now? he wondered, completely detached from her teasing. Does she even comprehend the absolute mess we are currently in? He knew her history. In her previous life, she had walked the brutal path of a God Slayer, training ruthlessly and fighting through sheer hell to earn her power.
Now, in this current incarnation, she was clearly just trying to relax and enjoy the fruits of her past labor. But looking at her smug grin, Haruto couldn't help but feel she was taking the laid-back approach a bit too far.
Seeing his blank stare, Lilith's smirk widened. "What's the matter? Too shy? Or should I just be the one to do it?" she whispered, leaning even closer until her face was just inches from his.
With his natural strength entirely gone and his throat locked, Haruto didn't have the energy to scramble backward or cause a scene.
Acting purely on survival instinct to protect his personal space, he calmly raised his left hand, pressed his palm flat against her mouth, and stopped her dead in her tracks.
While holding her back, he gave her another slow, incredibly firm shake of his head. No.
Lilith froze, her lips pressed against his palm. Realizing her advance had been completely shut down, she let out a muffled huff, crossed her arms, and melted back into her seat with another massive, dramatic pout.
Watching her slide her desk away for the second time today, Haruto lowered his hand and stared ahead. Great, he thought dryly. An absolute sense of deja vu.
Haruto stared straight ahead at the blackboard, his mind racing to process what had just happened. Lilith is getting way too aggressive today, he realized. If she's already pushing boundaries like this in the middle of a classroom, what is she going to do once the palace makes the official announcement tonight? The day after tomorrow, we'll be legally bound. I need to find a way to slow her down before this engagement spirals completely out of my control.
But as he analyzed the interaction, a sudden shockwave hit his thoughts, making him freeze in his seat.
He looked down at his hand, the very palm he had just used to block her mouth. For the past twenty-four hours, his chest had been a completely hollow, frozen void. He hadn't felt a single spark of joy from his victory, nor any real panic about his missing voice. But just a second ago, when Lilith had invaded his personal space and tried to force a romantic moment on him, a distinct, genuine wave of irritation had flared up inside him.
It was a tiny, fleeting spark, but it was undoubtedly there: he had felt genuine annoyance.
Wait... could she actually be the key to fixing my broken foundation? Haruto wondered, his focus snapping directly back to the pouting princess next to him. My empathy is dead, my powers are locked, and the gods have left my mind completely numb. Yet, her sheer absurdity just managed to bypass the lock and force an actual human reaction out of me. If her chaotic presence is enough to trigger my deleted emotions, then maybe dealing with this engagement isn't just a political chore—it might be the only way to piece my humanity back together.
The rest of the school day passed by in a complete blur. For the first time in his entire life at the academy, absolutely nobody ignored Haruto. Wherever he walked down the corridors, students stepped aside with hushed reverence, whispering his name and bowing their heads out of respect for the future king. It was a massive shift from how they used to treat him, but Haruto navigated through the attention like a ghost, keeping his head down and his face completely blank.
Finally, the evening bell rang, signaling the end of classes. As the students began packing up their bags to head home, the classroom door slid open with a heavy, deliberate thud.
Two high-ranking royal guards dressed in dark, polished armor stepped into the room. Their eyes immediately scanned the rows before locking directly onto Haruto. They marched straight past the empty desks and stopped right in front of him, giving him a crisp, disciplined salute.
"Sir Haruto," one of the guards announced in a low, commanding voice. "Commander Fredrick has requested your presence immediately. Please come with us to his private office."
Haruto didn't move. He slowly looked to his left and right, his single crimson eye taking in the defensive posture of his friends.
Ivory immediately stepped forward, her hand dropping toward her side as her expression hardened. "Understood. We will accompany him to the office right now."
"Apologies, Lady" the guard interrupted coldly, stepping into her line of sight. "The Commander's orders were absolute. He wishes to speak with Sir Haruto alone. No one else is permitted to enter the room."
Ivory's eyes flared, and she opened her mouth to argue, completely ready to cross lines to protect him. But before she could utter a single word, Haruto calmly raised his hand, placing it right in front of her.
He didn't need a voice to convey his command. The simple, steady gesture of his hand told her everything she needed to know: Stand down. I've got this. Ivory clamped her mouth shut, reluctantly stepping back as Haruto quietly grabbed his bag, stood up from his desk, and signaled the guards that he was ready to face the most powerful commander on the continent.
Haruto turned and quietly followed the two royal guards out of the classroom, his posture straight and his steps perfectly measured. As the heavy door slid shut behind them, Ivory, Toya, Bellona, and Lustra stood around his empty desk, the silence in the room suddenly feeling incredibly heavy.
As Ivory stepped closer to pick up her own bag, her eyes caught a small piece of paper resting right where Haruto had been sitting. It was a handwritten note, left behind intentionally before the guards arrived.
She picked it up and read it aloud so the others could hear: "I have a feeling this meeting with Commander Fredrick is going to take a while.
Don't wait up for me here; you all should head back home first, and I will meet you there later.
Also, Lilith informed me that she will be staying at our place starting tonight. Just prepare a spare guest room for her."
The moment the words left Ivory's mouth, she let out a massive, frustrated sigh, crumbling the edge of the paper slightly.
Lilith is seriously getting way too pushy, she thought, her jaw tightening. First she glues her desk to his, and now she's moving into our house without even asking? But as she looked at the note again, she remembered the calm, steady gesture Haruto had given her just moments before. He was handling the situation in his own way, and his instructions were clear.
Forcing herself to relax her shoulders, Ivory slipped the note into her pocket and turned to the rest of the group.
"Alright, everyone, you heard the captain. Let's head back to the house and get things ready. We're leaving."