Ch 80: Assistant Bianca
Lucien was walking along the hallway alone. His attendant Connor was not walking beside or behind him today, as Connor had been sent to collect details about Bianca, his freshly appointed assistant.
Lucien expected Connor to return with enough information about the girl that the academy's records had failed to provide. As a matter of fact, he was quite interested in knowing more about Bianca, because the girl came from a family that had been stripped of nobility so completely and to such bare nakedness that they were practically commoners and were looked down upon even more harshly than a noble would ever look upon a commoner.
The title of a fallen noble was not something regarded in any particularly kind manner. A family stripped of nobility or fallen in rank was seen as a sign of decay, a sign that the family was no longer powerful, and it presented an opportunity for other noble families sharing their territory to wage war and seize portions of their land.
A successful campaign would increase the victorious noble house's territory and elevate their rank in turn. The fallen noble house waged war upon would usually lose the battle, which would lead not only to the loss of their territory but would also lead them to fall even lower in the ranks of nobility if good chunks of their land were taken from them.
Lucien walked along the hallway in his confident stride, and the students, as usual, made way for him. Soon enough he reached his first class and saw Bianca standing perfectly still beside the door of Classroom 1-S, her hands neatly clasped in front of her, her lavender hair falling freely down her back. She wore the academy uniform, a white shirt with a red tie, a red coat bearing two silver stars pinned to her right chest with a vice president tag positioned just above them, a red skirt, black leather shoes and white socks.
Bianca immediately turned her head toward him, noticing his presence, and gave a slight bow. "Good morning, Professor," she greeted in a polite and measured tone.
Lucien acknowledged her with a nod but said nothing in return and did not return her good morning. Bianca, however, understood his nod for him returning her goodmorning, which was exactly what he meant.
Lucien stopped before the classroom door and turned to her. "For your first day, you will mostly observe me, and when I need your help, I will ask for it," he instructed.
Bianca nodded immediately, looking determined and for the first time, visibly excited. Lucien reached into his dimensional ring and produced two mana restricting bracelets. "Wear them. They allow fifteen percent mana circulation," he said, extending them to her.
Bianca looked visibly surprised, and Lucien understood the reason well enough. In the previous year, he had also given Bianca and her classmates mana restricting bracelets, but the shock did not stem from that fact. Rather, it came from the percentage.
Previously he had given them bracelets that restricted their mana by sixty percent, allowing only forty percent mana to circulate freely. Seeing such a sharp jump in restriction must have been genuinely startling for her.
But as was expected of the student council's vice president, Bianca buried her surprise quickly and smoothed her expression into a composed, professional blankness.
Lucien continued without pause, "You will come to understand everything in time. Now, put them on quickly before we enter the class."
Bianca nodded fervently and slid the bracelets onto both her wrists without further hesitation.
Lucien did not linger at the door any longer and stepped inside the classroom. Behind him, Bianca followed silently.
As he entered the class, Lucien could sense the students' gazes drifting with surprise toward Bianca.
Some of the noble students wore thinly veiled looks of displeasure at the sight of a fallen noble turned commoner standing at the front of their classroom, though they quickly buried those expressions the moment Bianca swept her gaze across them, too afraid of drawing repercussions from the vice president.
The title of vice president was not one so easily dismissed or scoffed at. She wielded a terrifying degree of power, both literally and figuratively, ranking high in terms of mana core while simultaneously bearing the vice president tag that sat second only to the president's within the student council hierarchy.
Bianca was literally equal to some professors in terms of power her positions allowed.
Lucien took his place and stood at the front of the class. Bianca positioned herself beside the board, her back against the wall, her eyes moving across the students with a composed, unreadable expression, looking every bit as though she was ready to spring forward to assist Lucien at a moment's notice.
Lucien swept his gaze across the seated students. His eyes passed over the protagonist Mark, then over Mark's childhood sweetheart Judy, who for the better part looked as though she was radiating a deep and personal sense of injustice toward him for reasons he could not quite place.
His gaze then moved rapidly onward and paused for a beat on Gerard, whose full attention was fixed on Bianca with the exact expression of a third rate villain sizing up an object. He was performing the role so completely that Lucien felt a strange and reluctant sense of relief watching him, grateful that at least someone was adhering to the characteristics laid out in the original story.
Lucien did not linger on Gerard long, and one sharp look in Gerard’s direction was all it took for Gerard to recoil in visible terror and drop his gaze to his desk.
Lucien moved on with satisfaction. Lucien’s satisfaction did not stay longer as his eyes settled briefly on Prince Jasper, who bore the same look of innocent, wide eyed naivety as always, and Lucien wrinkled his nose internally in quiet disgust before moving on to Patrick, who since yesterday had taken on the subdued, obedient air of a docile dog.
Then Lucien’s gaze drifted to Melissa, who sat a desk ahead of Patrick, and the moment his eyes met hers, a deep flush of crimson swept across her cheeks and she turned her face downward.
Lucien wondered if her embarrassment was due to the hug she had given him earlier, which had left him too stunned to respond before she had thankfully let go. What stood out to him now was that Melissa bore no trace of the girl he had seen in the morning. Her eyes were bright and clear, her face youthful and composed, carrying none of the tear stains that had streaked her cheeks just hours before.
Lucien pulled his eyes away, realizing he had lingered on Melissa longer than he had intended. His gaze swept across the rest of the students before settling on Princess Amber, who avoided his look entirely by shifting her eyes to the side with the quiet, resigned air that looked like she had been defeated by something. Then Lucien’s gaze came to a sudden and involuntary stop at the girl seated beside the princess.
Eleena.
Eleena's azure hair was messily pulled back, strands escaping in all directions as though she had combed it in haste or not at all. Her azure eyes were fixed on him with a burning intensity that sent a quiet pang of pain through Lucien's chest, his heart for a second beat rapidly at the sight of her in such a state.
Eleena was clenching her fists on the desk and biting her lower lip hard enough that he thought she might draw blood at any moment. Seeing her like this did not sit easily with him, but he drew a slow breath, steadied himself, and turned his eyes away. He had already made his resolve and could no longer go back to who he had been before. Despite the pull he felt to go to her, to help her, he knew it was better for him to keep his distance. Because that would let the main character Mark come in rescue for her and allow their relationship to build slowly.
"Students, I have an announcement to make today," Lucien said, drawing every gaze in the room to him. "As you have already noticed, Student Bianca is joining me in class today."
"She is a second year student and will be serving as my teaching assistant for this class," he continued. "Everyone, please welcome her."
***
On Patreon, you can read 50 chapters ahead. Your support would greatly help me continue working toward completing the story.
Patreon link: /imissmysun