Calling it "running into her early" was not entirely accurate.
Given Catherine Roman's consistent style and habits, she would never allow chance or accident to govern key meetings in her plans.
Behind every seemingly chance encounter lay precise calculations and arrangements.
That she happened to appear on this essential path leading to the Student Council and Main Teaching Area was, naturally, the result of a series of deliberate preparations.
Early that morning, while Catherine sat at her desk, sipping perfectly heated black coffee while quickly scanning summary documents regarding recent family investment trends, her well-trained personal maid entered soundlessly. Leaning close to her ear, the maid reported in a low voice a newly acquired piece of intelligence:
“Miss, three minutes ago on the eastern tree-lined path of the academy, reliable witnesses confirmed that Greg Sass and Student Council President Her Highness Vivian Kahn are walking side by side. Their direction seems to be toward the Student Council building or the Central Teaching Area.”
Catherine's fingers flipping through the documents paused slightly.
Greg Sass and Vivian Kahn, walking side by side?
Her first reaction was to raise an eyebrow in slight surprise.
As a future merchant who was extremely sensitive to intelligence and well-versed in the hidden relationships of noble circles, Catherine naturally knew about the former engagement between Greg and Vivian, which had long been unilaterally severed by the royal family.
According to the information she possessed, after the engagement was dissolved, the two should have become complete strangers, avoiding any unnecessary contact in public.
Especially after Greg was banished by his family and his reputation plummeted to rock bottom, someone with Vivian's proud and rigorous temperament should have avoided him like the plague.
“So why are they walking side by side now?”
The question flashed across her mind, but immediately afterward, her calculating brain swiftly seized upon the opportunity potentially embedded behind this surprise.
An opportunity that might allow her to invite Greg for a private conversation while making it exceptionally difficult for him to refuse on the spot.
Earlier, upon learning that Greg had been admitted to the academy affiliated hospital due to unknown injuries, Catherine had canceled the commission offering a reward of 50 Gold Coins.
Her logic was straightforward: since the target had actively appeared in a public area of the academy and was immobilized in a coma, she could find a suitable opportunity anytime once he woke up—whether under the guise of a hospital visit or another pretext—to contact and negotiate with him privately.
She liked keeping the initiative in her own hands.
However, Greg's actions had once again defied her expectations.
Not only did he wake up quickly, but as soon as he did, he completed his discharge procedures and vanished from the academy's sight once more, leaving her no window to extend an invitation for a conversation.
This elusive behavior gave Catherine a subtle feeling of trouble.
She disliked this feeling of losing control.
Although plenty of intelligence suggested Greg seemed to be actively avoiding meeting her, Catherine had no intention of resting her fate upon another person's whim.
Therefore, she had to conduct a conversation with Greg involving a clear exchange of interests and, as much as possible, reach a binding agreement to ensure the secrets of the Screech project would not leak through him.
And now, the scene of Greg walking alongside Vivian seemed to offer an excellent entry point.
Because based on observations over nearly two years of academy life, Vivian Kahn and Greg Sass had zero interaction, even deliberately avoiding eye contact in public.
This was enough to prove that on Vivian's side, the cut made after dissolving the engagement was thorough and decisive.
Toward Greg, even if she felt no hatred, she certainly harbored no goodwill whatsoever.
Their walking together now could not possibly be a rekindling of old feelings or a private friendship; there had to be some specific reason for them to be standing together.
Yet the specific reason did not matter; what mattered was the fact itself: they were forced to walk together.
Since Vivian had no goodwill toward Greg and might even be displeased by being forced to walk with him, how would Vivian react if Catherine were to formally and politely invite Greg to speak in private in public right now?
Catherine's judgment was that Vivian would most likely not stop her, and might even welcome it.
Because this would provide Vivian with a perfectly logical excuse to break free from her awkward walk with Greg.
“An excellent opportunity. It uses Vivian's reluctance to facilitate the conversation while relying on the pressure of public etiquette to make it hard for Greg to refuse—killing two birds with one stone.”
In a flash of thought, Catherine had made her decision.
She set down her coffee cup, rose gracefully, gave her maid a few brief instructions, and left the study.
She needed to choose a location just right—neither too forced nor failing to ensure she would happen to run into them.
Thus, this encounter on the tree-lined path came to pass.
“No.”
However, the turn of events completely diverged from Catherine's meticulously calculated script.
After her faultless greeting extended the invitation to Greg, what answered her was neither Greg's hesitant or helpless agreement, nor Vivian's tacit silence.
Instead, it was Vivian Kahn's cool, flat refusal carrying an undeniable finality.
Even before Greg himself had time to react, she had already stepped ahead and answered on his behalf.
Greg froze as well, looking at the blue-haired girl beside him in some surprise.
Just moments ago, he had been rapidly pondering how to handle Catherine's sudden conversation invitation.
If he agreed, he hadn't yet figured out how to deal with this shrewd merchant's daughter.
If he refused, it seemed far too disrespectful in front of everyone, and he worried about entering a directly hostile state with this heroine.
Who would have thought Vivian would actually step in and turn her down directly for him?
“Is she... helping me out of a bind?”
An absurd yet strangely expectant thought rose uncontrollably from the depths of Greg's heart.
“Could it be... this aloof beauty of a former fiancée actually still has... some feelings for me deep down? So seeing another girl come look for me made her unhappy?”
Greg felt his mind sway for a moment at his own thought.
After all, this classic trope appeared often in Galgames, so it was only natural for him to hold some anticipation now.
After all, what man wouldn't want such a beautiful, high-status girl to secretly still like him?
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