"W-what? You want to go to my room?"
In an instant, a beautiful flush spread across Elena's cheeks.
Thanks to the Norton family's draconic bloodline, the culture of the Zijinghua Empire was famously liberal — and Eden Academy, situated right beneath the imperial capital, was no exception. The atmosphere here was very open.
Though Elena came from the countryside and was once a naïve village girl, after a few days of immersion, she was no longer a clueless little wallflower.
A boy and a girl, alone in a private space — and clothes would be coming off?
Everyone knew where that was heading.
And the man standing in front of her wasn't just anyone. He was royalty. A descendant of the dragonblooded Norton family.
There were even rumors that before entering Eden, Linen had a full rotation of eighteen black-stockinged maids.
But we've only just started to get to know each other...
Maybe because he helped me twice... and I reached out to him first... did he misunderstand something?
Wasn't he just trying to be my friend?
Or is "friendship" in royal terms something that... leads to that kind of thing?
As Elena stood frozen, Linen pressed his advantage.
"Well, Elena, you're not going to reject me now, are you? After I helped you — not once, but twice."
The emphasis was deliberate.
That was the final push.
The emotion building in Elena's heart finally erupted.
"Linen, I really misjudged you. I didn't think you were that kind of shallow man!"
She shoved the burn ointment into his arms and stormed off without looking back.
But before she reached the stairs, Linen's voice rang out.
"Elena — wait!"
She hesitated.
Despite everything, part of her still held out hope.
Maybe it was just his upbringing, or the influence of his bloodline. Maybe... maybe he didn't mean it that way. Maybe her behavior had sent the wrong signal.
Maybe he was about to apologize. Maybe—
"So you're really going to refuse to let me walk you back to your room?"
Linen asked this with a straight face, solemn and sincere.
"I absolutely refuse! Linen — have some decency!"
Elena trembled with fury. Her whole body felt cold.
Unbelievable. He waits until now to put on that serious expression? Like I'm walking into some kind of trap?
She no longer responded, simply turned and stormed up the girls' dorm stairs.
Step. Step. Step. Gone.
[Congratulations! You've successfully been rejected by Elena.]
[Reward pending…]
Linen finally let out a breath of relief.
You could've walked away — sure. But you had to actually say the words first. Otherwise, it doesn't count. No rejection, no reward.
Now that he thought about it, during his earlier confrontation with Hysteria, he'd earned two reward triggers. This one from Elena made three.
Let's see what goodies I get.
Eagerly, Linen accepted all three pending rewards.
[Rewards received]:
– Physical Resilience (Level 1)
– Precision Mana Control (Level 1)
"…Only two rewards?" Linen raised an eyebrow. "System, you pocketing my third one?"
[Ding! Response: 'Precision Mana Control' is a rare skill.]
[The rejection value from your last two interactions was pooled to generate this single reward.]
Ah. So one rare, one common. Sky and cloud combo, got it.
Linen gave a small scoff, but curiosity made him open the panels anyway.
The first skill — [Physical Resilience] — was exactly what it sounded like: it boosted his constitution and durability.
Which was huge.
Most Arcane Mages were notoriously frail. Some were so physically weak, they'd need to rest three times just to climb three floors — unless they had enchanted artifacts to support them.
A weak body had always been the sore spot of all mages. Only a rare few — like those blessed with draconic bloodlines — managed to break that mold.
Unfortunately, Linen had been tested more than once:
Zero percent dragon blood.
And now, here he was — overcoming that genetic limitation and lifting the curse of the glass-cannon mage archetype.
All thanks to his own unmatched talent, of course.
"System, apply it."
He felt his body shift subtly — tougher, sturdier, lighter.
Then he moved on to the rarer prize.
[Precision Mana Control]
It improved fine control over magic — increasing efficiency.
To put it bluntly: while most Tier 1 mages could cast five or six spells before running dry, Linen would be able to cast eight or more.
And this was just level one.
For any mage, mana capacity was the hard bottleneck.
Even those cheat-code protagonists had to obey that law of depletion.
Not anymore. Not for him.
This is a jackpot.
Linen was already looking forward to his first real class tomorrow.
Fuck yea! I'm on fire!
Two protagonists feeding me experience at once — what other villain could pull this off?
He could hardly wait to start brainstorming new betrayal tactics for Elena — and more psychological warfare for Hysteria.
If he wanted to pass his mother's trial, he'd need both of them to see him as a heinous scumbag.
The kind of person they'd reject even if they were forced to breathe the same air.
Was there a cheat more overpowered than this?
---
Meanwhile, back in the girls' dorms, Elena slammed her door shut — only to pause, frowning.
"…Linen. I really misjudged you. I thought you were different from the rest of them. But you're just like all the other nobles."
She muttered this under her breath as she took a step forward.
Then her foot caught on something.
A black suitcase.
Startled, she stumbled slightly.
Her room had always been a private single. No roommates, no shared space. That suitcase definitely didn't belong to her.
Then she remembered — her roommate had moved in.
Slowly, she looked up.
And found herself locking eyes with a red-haired girl seated on the other bed.
Fiery eyes. Delicate features.
"…Princess Hysteria?"
Elena froze.
She instantly recalled the scene from earlier — the two girls who'd accidentally knocked over Hysteria's suitcase and got a face full of fireballs for their trouble.
And now… she had just yelled at Linen.
Could that be why he insisted on walking her back?
He even mentioned it — that he'd already helped her twice.
But if that's the case...
Did I… misjudge him again?
What caught Elena off guard even more was that Hysteria didn't immediately lob a [Fireball] at her.
In fact, the moment she heard a certain name, the princess's attention had shifted completely.
"…Who did you just say you misjudged?"