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Faced with the fool, Seron.

I mulled over how we ended up in this situation.

Seron had started wandering alone a lot lately.

Naturally, I was largely to blame for that.

Unintentionally surrounded by other kids, there was no time for Seron to get close to me.

And in the midst of all that, it was Aeling, a member from the initial boycott, who kept trying to approach Seron.

The main reason Aeling was so eager to recruit Seron was simple.

Seron was close to me, a student council member.

So she thought maybe some information might trickle down if she dragged Seron into the boycott group.

It was somewhat understandable.

The problem was that Aeling was more persistent than expected.

And Seron could have repelled her, given her not-so-sweet personality.

However, it seemed that Seron had a plan to extract information about the boycott and report back to me.

So she reluctantly followed Aeling to the meeting room.

Considering that alone, it was indeed a commendable decision.

Until she encountered me as Bickamon, that is.

Seeing me standing in a corner, Seron kept stealing glances my way.

And every time our eyes met, her face turned bright red as she quickly looked down.

She was no different than a girl falling in love, fidgeting with the tips of her toes.

I must repeat this: Bickamon was handsome.

So handsome that it was worth emphasizing twice.

It wasn’t for nothing he attracted women in the entertainment industry and even caught the eye of the wild magician, Vinesha.

He wasn’t tall, but his face was stunning.

Plus, that inexplicable melancholic gaze he had had a captivating charm.

It was no wonder Seron was captivated at first sight.

Seron had said before that she liked tall and manly handsome guys.

Compared to the pretty boy, Nia, Bickamon’s rugged handsomeness fit perfectly into Seron’s ideal type.

And that posed a problem: because that was me.

A headache washed over me for a moment.

‘That fool.’

I didn’t want Seron to get caught up in the boycott.

The boycott group was bound to fail, and its members would face disciplinary actions.

It was only natural since they caused a ruckus at school.

I needed to find a way to get rid of that guy.

Judging by the fact that Seron wasn’t paying attention to what Rozamin, the president of the boycott, was saying and was only focused on me, it wouldn’t be easy.

“President!”

At that moment, a student rushed into the middle of Rozamin’s speech.

Seeing the orbs of light floating around, it looked like a special studies spirit and a student.

“The student council patrol is here! We need to escape quickly!”

The student council wasn’t foolish.

As the number of boycott members increased, rumors reached the ears of the student council.

While it might be called a boycott, in reality, the members were nothing more than a delinquent group dissatisfied with the academy.

Leading them was also the student council’s role, so they quickly launched a patrol to guide them.

“Malicious student council members! This meeting ends here! Everyone scatter!”

At Rozamin’s words, students munching on snacks began to hurriedly flee.

I had previously warned them that patrol might happen at any time, so everyone moved in a disciplined manner.

Just then, I spotted Seron, looking flustered, standing there.

That idiot.

It looked like she had been staring at my face and didn’t know what was going on.

If I left her like that, the patrolling students would discover her.

I couldn’t let Seron take the blame, so I rushed over to her.

Smack!

I then grabbed her wrist.

“Uh, huh.”

“Let’s go.”

Dragging the bewildered Seron, I quickly dashed through the hallway of the abandoned building.

The hallway, where the boycott students had already fled, was deserted.

While I was running along the route I had thought up beforehand, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from the staircase.

Oh no, I didn’t expect them to come this way.

How unlucky.

I stopped and glanced around.

Then I opened the door to an empty classroom and slipped in with Seron.

Inside, there was an old teacher’s desk.

I hurriedly went in with Seron and crouched down.

The desk wasn’t that big, so we were quite close, but that wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

I could feel Seron squirming in my arms, likely feeling cramped.

“Just hold on a little longer.”

As I whispered in her ear, I felt her shudder.

Then she soon settled down.

Thud-thud—

Footsteps from the student council members approached from the hallway.

“Wow, what a hassle in the middle of the night.”

“They say there’s a delinquent group. We should step in as the student council.”

Midra Fenin, the 1st Year Martial Arts Deputy.

And that was a voice of another 2nd Year student council member.

From the sounds, it didn’t seem like they were actively searching yet, as it appeared to still be in rumor mode.

Well, if they had taken action, they would have sealed off the abandoned building using magic.

The professors and teaching staff probably would have joined in as well.

‘Did the president not call me to the patrol for Nikita’s sake?’

President Silvester hadn’t entrusted any student council duties to me since the incident with Nikita.

Since I was the one who assisted Nikita the most, he might have thought I’d be too shocked and needed a break.

‘It’s unfortunate that incompetence is his defining trait.’

Meanwhile, the footsteps of the student council members faded away.

Realizing that, I let out a short sigh and turned my head.

And then our eyes met exactly.

Seron was staring at me with completely unfocused eyes.

Her face was already like a ripe tomato, and her mouth was slightly ajar.

I gazed at her blankly for a moment before deciding to speak.

“Excuse me.”

“Uh, huh!”

Bam!

Seron, who was a bit late to come to her senses, tried to get up and hit her head on the desk.

“Ughhh!”

Seron winced, and it seemed like her head hurt, as she wrapped her arms around it and swallowed her groans.

But it appeared she was more embarrassed by her earlier clumsiness in front of me than in pain.

“Are you okay?”

I almost let slip that she was an idiot.

Just about managing to hold back, I examined her forehead.

I worried if it had hit something and broken.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine.”

Seron used formal speech, which she usually never did, as she acted coy.

Well, considering she had a big head, there was probably no way it would break.

“Glad to hear that.”

I tried my best to suppress my inner thoughts and stepped out from behind the desk.

Then I offered my hand to Seron, who had yet to come out.

Seron flinched at each of my movements but eventually took my hand and came out.

Her lightly pressed skirt made her look just like a delicate girl.

Moonlight flowed through the window.

It was a day without clouds; the moon looked especially bright.

Seron, trailing behind me, seemed entranced as she looked at me.

And then snapped back to reality.

“Um, um, what’s your name?”

Seron called out to me with a shy face.

It seemed she didn’t recognize Bickamon, who was a year above her.

‘But surely, she had heard the name once or twice.’

Knowing Seron, she probably didn’t bother to look since she had no interest.

More importantly, I was Bickamon.

What would Bickamon have said in this situation?

If she didn’t know my name, there wasn’t much reason to let her know.

I was planning to ensure that she couldn’t come back to the boycott from today onward.

“It’s a name that’s not particularly pleasant to hear.”

“Oh.”

Seron sighed, and it seemed she understood there might be some circumstances surrounding me.

“More importantly, from today on, you should avoid this place.”

“Y-yes?”

“This isn’t a place where you’d benefit from coming.”

Seron hesitated.

“B-but…”

She kept glancing at my face, acting like she had plenty to say.

She wouldn’t listen no matter how much I spoke.

I felt like giving her a smack on the head.

“Well, then, where can we meet again?”

She finally blurted out after careful consideration.

She seemed embarrassed even saying it, biting her lips tightly.

Where could we meet, you ask?

We’d definitely see each other when we head to school tomorrow morning.

I stopped myself from looking at Seron with exasperation and opened the window.

“It’s better not to see each other again. It wouldn’t be good for either of us.”

Later on, once she finds out I’m Hanon, it would definitely break her.

While it would be fun to tease her about it, I didn’t want things to become awkward between us.

Like it or not, Seron was my friend.

I wanted to maintain a good relationship with her going forward.

So I decided to turn a blind eye to today’s events.

What’s great about being friends?

Your first love, well, you just didn’t see it today.

* * *

The next day, I went to school as usual in the morning.

Actually, to be precise, it wasn’t completely like other days.

After returning to the dorm last night, I went straight to the girls’ dorm.

Then I arrived at Iris’s room in the guise of Hania.

Iris was sitting in a chair, leaning back as she played the sound of Argol I had mentioned.

As soon as our eyes met, she smiled slightly.

That smile was reminiscent of the one Iris had at Magung.

Fatigue had reached its peak.

I carefully lifted Iris and laid her down on the bed.

Then I gently nestled against her until she fell asleep.

We shared some casual, unremarkable conversations.

But those were just the right topics for Iris to doze off.

Before long, she was asleep, breathing regularly.

When Lucas would lull Iris to sleep, he would use his lap.

I had no idea how I ended up in this position.

But I was just glad that Iris was able to fall asleep.

After thoroughly playing the role of her comfort doll, I barely managed to transfer her to Hania in the morning.

Thanks to that, today’s Iris looked vibrant.

Walking confidently without any sign of fatigue, she certainly exuded the grace of a princess.

“I want to sleep beside Hanon every day.”

“Iris, please don’t say such things in front of others.”

Iris blurted out something that would make anyone shudder.

If the 3rd Princess faction heard that, they’d be utterly shocked.

And I’d probably face extreme punishment for touching the princess.

“Let’s do it again next time.”

But Iris had no intention of letting me go.

It seemed like if she couldn’t sleep again, she’d want to use me once more.

I had no choice but to hold on until Iris was freed from her nightmares.

If only the nightmares could be lifted, situations like this wouldn’t arise.

With growing worries, I made my way to school.

Then I spotted Seron’s figure, which seemed to have come early today.

She didn’t seem to be aware of my presence.

Since yesterday’s events came to mind, I thought I might tease her a bit, so I quietly approached from behind.

“Haah.”

Just then, Seron sighed deeply, unaware of my approach.

She was gazing out the window with her damp eyes.

“Prince…”

And she muttered to herself.

I quietly observed the back of Seron’s head.

I realized whom she was reminiscing about.

Didn’t she say something about burnt sweet potatoes before?

That girl.