Chapter 30

"Strange..."

[The thrones are curious about BJ's thoughts.]

"Professor Ilya's office is a space that requires affection to enter, just like Damian's personal lab. There was a special event yesterday, but there's nothing special today."

'Where did he get a good impression of me?'

Did he give me points for working hard on my assignments?

Well, he is a professor, so he might appreciate such things.

After all, outstanding academic achievement was also a way to win over Professor Ilya.

'Even if the demon has a little affection for me, it's not exactly reassuring, but it's not bad.'

I munched on my sandwich and started reading the book.

However, this was a terrible choice.

When you're full, you tend to get sleepy, the sofa was too comfortable, and the content of the book was too difficult.

My eyelids grew heavy and kept closing and opening slowly. My mind was already hazy, and my head kept nodding forward and jerking back up.

"Yawn—"

The coffee I drank in the morning seemed to mock me as a yawn stretched out.

I didn't even have the energy to wipe away the tears in my eyes and leaned my head back against the backrest.

The heavy, throbbing headache seemed to clear up a bit.

'If I rest for a moment, I'll regain my energy. I'll feel less sleepy.'

...I rationalized and closed my eyes for a moment.

Most of the time, I ended up falling asleep like this, but I pushed that fact to the back of my mind.

Soon, I was lost in a dream.

* * *

Click.

The door of the office, where only the soft, steady breathing could be heard, opened, and a tall, slender student entered.

A man with a face that seemed to be made of sharp lines, without a single unnecessary angle.

It was Clyde.

He took a step forward with an indifferent gaze, not bothering to look around, but suddenly frowned.

His icy, transparent eyes, like water, smoothly glanced downward.

There, on the sofa, Terese was sound asleep.

"..."

Of all times.

Clyde hesitated, about to turn and leave.

'Why should I avoid her?'

Especially a pitiful woman who created a ridiculous social club like the Klyebe.

He approached Professor Ilya's desk with a step of defiance and placed the paper in his hand.

It was a student council application.

Earlier, Professor Ilya had suddenly called him and asked him to bring the application.

He wasn't the type to give such instructions. It was a strange request.

Clyde turned around with a skeptical look.

Terese was still sleeping soundly, breathing softly.

'It can't be because of Terese, right?'

"There's no way."

Clyde laughed at his own guess.

Terese was an extremely selfish and cowardly person.

She had no reason to engage in dangerous activities like monster hunting or demon slaying.

Sacrifice? That was the least Terese-like thing to do.

'The most greedy and selfish person in the world.'

Clyde glared at Terese with undisguised disgust and turned to leave.

He was done with his task and planned to go.

Thud.

At that moment, the book that Terese had been holding precariously in her hand finally fell to the floor.

His gaze was drawn to the fallen book by instinct.

"Ancient incantations?"

This was a magic book that should have been studied in the third year.

Clyde then noticed two more books on the table.

They were also subjects that should have been completed long ago.

Was she trying to catch up with her studies because she was worried about graduation?

'Impossible.'

Terese's poor academic performance was due to her lack of intelligence.

It was a matter of innate talent, so no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't graduate.

At that moment, something Terese had said earlier came to mind.

"Ah... Yeah. Since I'm a fourth-year, I thought I'd focus on my studies this year..."

Maybe she wasn't just talking nonsense.

Clyde slowly picked up the book from the floor and placed it on the table, then looked at the sleeping Terese.

"Unbelievable."

Sleeping in a professor's office.

Every action of hers was beyond comprehension.

The most incomprehensible was her statement from yesterday.

"Love me like fate?"

A foolish human, intoxicated by this shell, unable to see the essence and blindly following.

He could understand that much.

Clyde's appearance was so striking that it could captivate anyone at first sight.

This was due to the influence of the incubus blood that tempted and corrupted humans.

However, people with good intuition found Clyde unsettling.

They sensed a chilling danger, even though the evil aura was completely suppressed by a holy relic.

People like mimosa were like that.

'Perhaps because of the royal blood, they are particularly sensitive to such things.'

In contrast, Terese didn't sense any danger from him.

It was likely due to the squire bloodline.

Some noble families had unique traits.

The Rodrigo royal family had the ability to detect evil, and the Duke of Squire family had an abnormally high resistance to evil aura.

That's why she could say such peaceful things.

'Even if you had the blood of the Rodrigo royal family, would you have said you loved me like fate?'

Can a demon, more demonic than a demon, truly love someone like that?

It was laughable.

"Disgusting."

[Goodwill: ♥♥♥♡♡]

Clyde left the office in a very unpleasant mood.

If Terese tried to join the student council, he would make sure she didn't.

* * *

Rustle.

This was definitely the sound of turning pages.

Even in a drowsy state, I was certain of this.

It was one of my favorite sounds.

My throbbing headache seemed to clear up a bit.

I slowly opened my heavy, sleepy eyelids in a daze.

My vision was partially obscured by the messy window to the garden.

My gaze naturally fell on the part not blocked by the window, and I froze when I saw the familiar dark red hair.

Professor Ilya was sitting across from me, legs crossed, reading a book.

'Did I fall asleep here?'

There was no need to wonder.

My head was comfortably resting on the armrest of the sofa.

At that moment, Professor Ilya, without looking up from his book, spoke.

"If you're awake, get up."

"…Yes!"

I jumped up from my seat.

Professor Ilya looked at me with a puzzled expression and gestured downward.

"I meant to sit up straight. Sit down again."

"…Yes."

'You should have said that clearly.'

I grumbled inwardly but sat down obediently.

Professor Ilya slid a document across the table to me.

"It's yours."

'Mine?'

It was a student council application.

Even Professor Ilya's signature was already written on it.

I had planned to join the student council with a professor's recommendation, but I hadn't expected this situation.

Professor Ilya calmly met my eyes and continued.

"If you want to join, fill it out and submit it to me. I'll pass it on."

I answered with a bewildered expression.

"Thank you, Professor."

He nodded once and checked the time.

"Let's go to the lecture hall."

I quickly gathered the document and book into my bag and followed Professor Ilya, who was already leaving the office.

He walked so fast that his coat flapped in the wind.

As a result, I, with relatively shorter legs, had to hurry to keep up.

Step, step. Trot, trot.

Step, step. Trot, trot.

...It felt like I was a small dog on a walk with a stubborn owner.

By the time we reached the second-floor lecture hall, I was slightly out of breath.

As Professor Ilya entered the lecture hall first, I was about to follow when someone called out.

"Oh! Lady Terese!"

There were quite a few people in front of the lecture hall, and young ladies with silver butterfly brooches were gathered.

They must have come to see Clyde.

"You're a bit late? Usually, you arrive much earlier to see Clyde, but today you came almost at the same time as the professor!"

"Ah, yeah. I accidentally fell asleep before the lecture."

"Oh? Did you have trouble sleeping last night? Your eyes look a bit sunken!"

Another young lady laughed.

"Thinking about Clyde kept you awake! I would have done the same. Did you happen to run into him by chance?"

I thought of the incident in the library yesterday but calmly shook my head.

The young ladies, however, laughed among themselves, finding it amusing.

"Oh, I should have applied for the dormitory."

"If only we had the same major, we could have entered this lecture hall. What a pity."

It was always the case that other people's choices seemed better and past choices were regrettable.

'Even if given the chance now, I wouldn't do it.'

I nodded to avoid being late and decided to enter the lecture hall.

"It's time to start the lecture, so I'll go in now."

The young ladies clenched their small fists and cheered.

"Yes! Good luck today!"

They sounded like a group of chirping chicks, which was somehow cute...

'But it's more frightening how they can turn into fanatics when it comes to Clyde.'

Is this why they say love can drive people mad?

I smiled awkwardly and entered the lecture hall.