The warmth of the dinner’s afterglow was temporarily broken by the gilded letter in the old butler’s hand.
Allen took the envelope with curiosity. The familiar academy seal, composed of a starlight emblem and laurel wreath, was stamped on the closure.
His fingertip broke the wax seal, and he unfolded the high-quality parchment.
The handwriting on the letter was elegant and fluid, brimming with the meticulousness and composure unique to aristocratic scholars.
“To the esteemed Sir Allen de Laval,
I hope this letter finds you well.
First, please allow me to offer my most sincere personal congratulations to you and Miss Marianne Duran for your outstanding performance in the entrance examination.
Tomorrow morning, the academy will announce the final rankings. We respectfully await your esteemed presence to confirm your placements.
Secondly, the manuscript of the ‘Emblem Encyclopedia’ you gifted to the academy holds value far beyond my imagination.
It can truly be called a groundbreaking work in the field of Crestology. I have studied it through the night.
Many of its viewpoints have enlightened me, though I also have several points of confusion and earnestly wish to discuss them with you in person.
If it is convenient for you, I humbly request that you come tomorrow accompanied by Miss Livia von Stern.
I am well aware she did not take the exam, but Miss Stern’s talent has long since rendered any examination unnecessary as proof.
Finally, regarding the reforms being implemented by His Majesty the King, Saint Nora Emblem Academy is also included.
This matter concerns the foundation of the Kingdom for the next hundred years. As the Dean, I am filled with trepidation and dare not make decisions lightly.
I have heard you possess many forward-thinking and exceptional insights on this matter.
I look forward to discussing it with you in detail and jointly planning the future blueprint for the academy.
Yours faithfully,
Your servant,
Grégoire de Montbazon,
Dean of Saint Nora Emblem Academy”
After reading the letter, Allen fell into brief contemplation.
The Dean of Saint Nora Emblem Academy held a status equivalent to the Kingdom’s Minister of Education.
And Grégoire himself was also a Royal Court Advisor to the King, a staunch supporter of the royal family, a great scholar who had always maintained neutrality in factional struggles.
Now that the King was pushing for reform, he would naturally be among the first to respond.
However, his direct invitation to discuss the reform… behind this was undoubtedly the instigation of that old fox, Louis XI.
It seemed His Majesty the King had long been clear that the true mastermind behind this reform was him, Allen de Laval, not his poor father who worked overtime every day, busy to the point of not touching the ground.
Sigh…
Just thinking about having to return to that academy, which held countless painful memories for him, made Allen’s stomach begin to twitch uncontrollably.
Since the pain was unavoidable, then let everyone suffer together.
To alleviate his own psychological trauma, Allen decided that tomorrow, when visiting Grégoire, he must propose a modified plan drastic enough to turn the entire academy upside down.
How could Saint Nora Emblem Academy only serve as the main stage for an otome game like Starlit Romance?
What a joke! A school is a place for learning!
All that campus romance, all that aristocratic socializing—get lost! It only wastes everyone’s precious study time!
It was time to let these good-for-nothing noble offspring taste the iron fist of advanced educational concepts from another world!
The era of rolling-inner-volume shall be opened by me!
The corner of Allen’s mouth uncontrollably curled into his signature, sinisterly charming, wicked smile.
“Livia, what do you think this letter is about?”
Marianne, seeing Allen’s familiar expression that signaled he was about to start stirring up trouble, whispered to her best friend beside her for help.
In past cycles, Livia had always been the academy’s top student and pride, and was quite familiar with this old dean who was passionate about education.
She thought for a moment and answered, “Allen mentioned before that the academy is also within the scope of the reform. Dean Grégoire… probably wants to discuss the specifics of the reform with him.”
“Oh… I just have a feeling the young master is brewing a whole bellyful of mischief,” Marianne muttered quietly.
That was true.
The mere thought of the suffering he endured in this wretched school for nine hundred and ninety-nine cycles made Allen wish he could tear it down on the spot.
Now he had money, power, and the backing of the King and the Church behind him. Taking public revenge for private grievances—what was wrong with that?
He couldn’t be bothered to take revenge on those past “classmates” who had “bullied” him, as that kind of low-level retaliation held no pleasure.
What he wanted to do was destroy their ridiculous sense of aristocratic superiority at its root.
Every grievance has its debtor, every debt its creditor. In the days to come, he had no intention of swallowing his anger anymore.
Whoever dared to make his right cheek uncomfortable, he would slap their left cheek so hard they’d go flying!
Arrogant, perverse, vindictive. This was the professional essence of the villainous young master!
In the past, he lacked the strength and could only die again and again in despair.
But now… Hehehe, even the feng aotian heroine is my fiancée. Let’s see which blind fool dares to touch my bad luck.
Livia and Marianne watched Allen’s expression shift from gnashing his teeth to smug, wicked smiles due to his PTSD.
His unpredictable expressions made them deeply concerned about his beautiful mental state.
Perhaps Livia was the one who could best understand Allen’s feelings.
Just recalling the Allen from past cycles—the pitiful one bullied at will by a group of Sword-Bearing Nobles—her heart was gripped tightly by guilt.
She had once prided herself on justice, believed she walked the right path, yet turned a blind eye to the true weakness and evil right beside her.
How utterly foolish.
Fortunately, this time, she no longer had to play the perfect knight, nor maintain those hypocritical aristocratic relationships.
From now on, she would be Allen’s sword. Wherever he pointed, she would strike. She would atone for the indifference of all past cycles.
Allen explained the letter’s contents and casually asked if the two of them were willing to go together.
Livia’s eyes dodged slightly, a flicker of shame appearing on her face.
As the most dazzling star of this year’s incoming class, Dean Grégoire had written to her personally very early on, expressing his expectations.
And she had betrayed that trust, not even taking the entrance exam.
If Allen hadn’t pulled her back from her rampage onto the right path, she’d probably still be wandering in some corner.
Seeing Livia’s face full of hesitation, Allen smiled and reassured her, “It’s alright, Livia. No exam, no big deal. It’s just an absence. Anyway, we’re all being forced to enroll; this exam is just a formality.”
“Besides, you know we’ll all end up in Class F together. The only uncomfortable part is probably that you and I will have to suffer together in that dreadful old school building. You remember what it’s like there, right?”
“…Yes.” Even Livia, recalling the dormitory conditions she lived in before, showed a trace of resistance in her beautiful blue eyes.
“The usual bugs can be managed with more incense. But one morning, I woke up to find a snake coiled on my bed. Even though my instincts had already eliminated it in my sleep, that sight… still left me a bit shaken.”
Marianne’s little face paled upon hearing this, and she subconsciously rubbed her arms.
Human fear of bugs and snakes, unrelated to strength, is purely etched in the genes.
And Allen, after hearing it, also felt a bit creeped out.
This Livia… automatic defense even in her sleep? With such an absurd mechanism, wouldn’t she potentially kill her husband after marriage?
Too terrifying!
Allen suddenly hoped Livia wouldn’t learn from Marianne’s habit of “entering the wrong room” at night.
Otherwise, if he snored too loudly and got instantly executed by this feng aotian’s automatic defense mechanism, that would be just too unlucky.
By the way, Saint Nora Emblem Academy had a strange rule: uniforms must be worn within the academy.
This was a means for the royal authority to tame the unruly Sword-Bearing Nobles.
No matter how noble one’s birth, they had to obey this order. Otherwise, not only would they themselves be punished, but their family could even be implicated.
Livia’s uniform was still at the Border Count Household, which was another reason she was reluctant to go to the academy.
But just then, Marianne, acting out of character, said she wouldn’t go with Allen tomorrow and that her uniform could be lent to Livia to wear first.
Allen was immediately taken aback. This yandere little black cat who wished she could hang on him twenty-four hours a day—how had she suddenly changed her nature?
“Marianne, are you still sulking?”
“It’s not that, you silly young master.” Marianne lowered her eyelids, her voice very soft. “Saint Nora Academy… you and Livia have shared memories there, but I don’t. Wouldn’t it be cunning of me to tag along like this?”
Allen looked at her, sighed inwardly, and reached out to habitually ruffle her soft black hair. “Memories can be created together. What’s cunning about that?”
Marianne lifted her head, her crimson eyes shimmering with a kind of sadness. “I know, young master. In those past cycles, the time you spent with me… you must have been in great pain. I… I don’t want you to remember those bad things again.”
“I’m afraid… of suddenly losing you.”
Marianne’s words softened Allen’s heart a little.
Perhaps Livia’s arrival had ultimately pushed this little maid’s anxiety and sense of crisis to the peak.
For a yandere to concede to this extent, to accept another girl forming an intimate relationship with him, was already a miracle.
Allen softened his voice, as if soothing a frightened kitten. “Alright, it’s fine. If you don’t want to go, then don’t. After school starts, we’ll create memories that belong only to the three of us together.”
“Mmm.” Marianne responded softly, burying her face even deeper.
Livia, watching the interaction between master and servant, felt as if something was stuck in her chest, a bit stifling. She unconsciously clenched the fabric over her chest.
What was this unfamiliar emotion?
After dinner ended, Marianne quickly regained her professional composure as Head Maid, methodically directing the servants to clean the dining room.
Everyone seemed to sense the subtle atmosphere among the three, working swiftly and not daring to utter an extra word. The vast dining room was soon restored to order.
Finally, only Allen and Livia remained in the dining room.
They exchanged a glance and immediately entered “work mode,” seriously discussing possible future events at the academy and exchanging information only they knew.
After some discussion, Allen was pleasantly surprised to discover that in this cycle, with Livia as a super-powered insider, the two of them, relying on their reincarnation memories, had already preemptively eliminated a large number of cultist leaders lurking in the Capital and the academy.
The originally disaster-prone Saint Nora Academy, which had minor explosions every three days and major ones every five, had seen its safety coefficient skyrocket geometrically.
Apart from the settings of the Starlit Romance game itself, which couldn’t be revealed, Allen poured out almost all the hidden plots and easter eggs he knew, many of which were even secret events that Livia, the “Chosen Girl,” hadn’t triggered in past cycles.
The two chatted more and more congenially, feeling a kind of refreshing feeling akin to “speedrun players” exchanging strategy tips.
It wasn’t until Marianne’s voice came from the doorway, reminding them that the bathwater was ready, that these two multi-cycle players, addicted to their “brainstorming”, reluctantly stopped.
“Livia, do you want to bathe first, or shall I?” Allen still asked politely out of habit.
In this era, taking a hot bath was an extremely costly luxury. Even nobles typically shared a single tub of bathwater as a family.
Allen, with his modern hygiene sensibilities, was still quite particular about this.
“Aiya, young master.” Marianne saw right through his thoughts at a glance, drifting over with a plaintive tone. “Are you planning… to enjoy Miss Livia’s bathwater?”
The way she said it made Allen almost choke on his breath.
“I don’t mind.” Livia, however, was quite unperturbed. After all, she had been on the battlefield and didn’t care about such details. “If you mind, you go first.”
“Alright then.” Allen immediately agreed.
On the way to the bathroom, Allen suddenly thought of something—
Now that Livia, the heroine, had moved into the Laval House, according to classic plot laws, the bathroom would likely be affected by this and become a high-incident zone.
Allen thought about it and simply brought the Black Sword into the bathroom with him.
Just in case some blind fool disturbed his pleasant bath time.
Taking the initiative, strangling all accidents in the cradle —this was the style of a true villain!