"Whoa! It's Greg Sass!"
"Yesterday I heard someone say they saw him at the academy again, but I thought it was just a rumor... I can't believe he's actually back?"
"Looks like he's totally fine... The rumors about him being missing or even dead were fake after all."
"Then what the academy news said before... about him killing a Demon King Cult executive and rescuing the kidnapped freshman, could that actually be true?"
"Hard to say... Maybe that Demon King Cult executive was already gravely injured and on the verge of death, so he just happened to steal the kill and deal the final blow? Otherwise, there's really no way to explain it..."
"B-But... why is he walking together with the President right now?"
"I think I heard an upperclassman mention before that Greg Sass... seemed to have once had... an engagement with our President, Princess Vivian?"
"Ah! Now that you mention it, I remember too! That really was a thing! But wasn't it annulled later? Supposedly it's because Greg Sass was really... well, way too outrageously bad."
"But seeing them walk together now... Even though they're not talking, could it be..."
Walking side by side with Vivian Kahn on the wide tree-lined path leading to the academy's Main Teaching Area, Greg could clearly feel the surrounding scattered discussions rapidly converging with the appearance of the two of them.
And ultimately, they inevitably focused on the former engagement between him and the blue-haired Princess beside him—a past relationship that should have remained buried.
Those hushed yet irrepressibly excited whispers buzzed into Greg's ears like countless tiny insects.
Although his face remained expressionless, maintaining an almost numb composure, a subtle trace of embarrassment inexplicably surged in the depths of his heart.
After all, no matter how one put it, having the experience of one's broken engagement due to being unworthy discussed in public was never a pleasant experience.
Especially when the other party involved was walking expressionlessly right beside him, making the sense of awkwardness even more intense.
"Seriously... Why did it have to be her overseeing me?! That damn fake cowboy!"
Greg cursed that irresponsible Headmistress for the hundred and eighth time in his heart.
He couldn't help but quickly dart a glance out of the corner of his eye at Vivian beside him.
Her ice-blue eyes gazed calmly ahead, her footsteps steady and composed, as if the surrounding whispers about her were merely breeze brushing past her side, unable to stir even the slightest ripple in her heart.
She didn't even hasten her pace or release an aura of icy aloofness to disperse the gossip as Greg had expected.
Quite to the contrary, after walking in silence for a short moment, she actually turned her head on her own initiative and asked Greg in her usual flat tone:
"Erin... How has she been lately?"
Erin Sass.
Greg's younger sister—or rather, his nominal sister whom the House of Sass had adopted from a branch family.
Unlike Greg, who was set as talentless in the original game, Erin Sass had displayed astonishing magic talent since childhood.
If not for that, she wouldn't have caught the eye of the House of Sass and been adopted from a distant branch family to be groomed.
In certain story routes of the game, when the protagonist's faction came into direct opposition with the House of Sass, Erin would sometimes appear as a formidable mini-boss, causing quite a lot of trouble for the player.
Right now, Vivian suddenly asking about Erin wasn't particularly out of nowhere.
Back when she and Greg were both young, Vivian had often visited Duke Sass's territory as his prospective fiancée, so naturally she knew Erin, who was close to her in age, and they might have even shared a fairly pleasant childhood friendship.
He thought for a moment before answering:
"I don't know. It's been a while since I last went back to check. But I suppose... with her talent and current performance, it probably won't be long before she's officially established as the family's next successor."
Thinking about it carefully, Greg suddenly felt that his original situation in his family was quite similar to Vivian's.
Both of them had younger sisters who were far more outstanding than themselves. The only difference was that his sister was not related by blood, whereas hers was her biological sister—so the pressure she bore had to be far greater than what the original Greg Sass had endured.
"Mm..."
Vivian listened quietly to Greg's answer, responding only with a barely audible murmur. An emotion seemed to flash across her ice-blue eyes extremely fast, yet so fleeting it was impossible to catch.
Then, she turned her head back and resumed her silent walk, seemingly having no intention of continuing the topic.
Hey! Lady! What's the deal with asking a question and then immediately falling silent?!
Looking at Vivian's aloof and detached posture, Greg couldn't help but rant in his heart once again.
You're the Student Council President, for crying out loud!
Have a little self-awareness, will you?!
Can't you see the crowd gathering around us getting bigger and their discussions growing more intense?!
With your prestige, if you just casually said "Silence, do not gather," or threw a cold glance their way, wouldn't these people tone it down at least a little bit?!
Standing in a place with so many people gathered, I'm genuinely worried that my damned -10 Luck stat will suddenly flare up and cause some accident I can't anticipate at all!
However, looking at Vivian's calm appearance of complete detachment, Greg knew that counting on her was out of the question.
He could only sigh helplessly in his heart. Keeping pace with Vivian, he shifted his focus in secret and brought up the system panel that only he could see.
A pale gold light screen quietly unfolded in the corner of his vision.
"Calculating the time, it should be about time to enter the storyline of Act Two."
Browsing through the system log and task list, Greg calculated silently.
In the original game, the main storyline of Act Two primarily revolved around the protagonist gradually rising to prominence in the academy, building their strength and reputation.
This was a crucial transitional stage connecting what came before and after.
Yet at the same time, important foreshadowing and conflicts began quietly taking root in this act.
One particularly critical hidden storyline concerned the gradually festering conflict between the royal sisters, Vivian Kahn and Lilith Kahn.
As the subsequent plot progressed step by step, this conflict would widen bit by bit, planting the tragic seeds for Vivian ultimately being seduced into corruption by the Demon King Cult in the later storyline.
Greg's eyes uncontrollably darted another glance at the blue-haired girl beside him, whose face was as cool as snow.
Her long, ice-blue hair shimmered with a crisp sheen in the morning light. Though her delicate profile was expressionless, it possessed an inherent, unapproachable majesty and beauty.
No matter which angle one looked from, she resembled the template of a noble protagonist in a story, rather than a villain who would later fall into darkness and turn against her closest kin.
If he wanted to save her and prevent her from walking down that destined path of destruction... perhaps he would have to find a way to intervene early during Act Two's storyline, resolving any event that might escalate the conflict between her and Lilith.
However, this method would likely only treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.
Because the root cause of their conflict lay in their disparity in talent.
As long as that underlying problem wasn't resolved, even if surface-level troubles were temporarily settled, the conflict would inevitably erupt in another form sooner or later, likely leading to the exact same outcome in the end.
Rate on N.U.
