Chapter 85 - 19
Lecture Hall 101 was a massive, amphitheater-style auditorium built from polished white stone, featuring tiered rows of dark mahogany desks that sloped down toward a grand demonstration stage. As Arthur pushed open the heavy double doors, the loud, energetic chatter of nearly two hundred female freshmen instantly ground to a halt.
Every single pair of eyes in the room snapped directly onto him.
The female students exchanged frantic, excited glances, their hushed whispers echoing off the high-domed ceiling. High-born noble heiresses hastily cleared their silk cloaks off adjacent chairs, tapping the empty leather cushions beside them with inviting, dazzling smiles. Elite swordswomen sitting in the middle rows adjusted their posture, sitting up straight and smoothing their hair, while ambitious commoner mages subtly scooted over to leave wide, open spaces on their desks.
"Over here! There’s a prime seat right next to the front stage!" a high-tier noble girl called out smoothly, waving a manicured hand.
"Sit with us! We have a complete set of advanced mana-engine diagrams!" another group chimed in, leaning forward with bright, expectant expressions.
Arthur’s sharp, analytical eyes swept over the entire classroom in a fraction of a second. He completely ignored the frantic invitations, the flattering smiles, and the open seats offered by the eager crowds. He didn’t want the noise, the coddling, or the artificial drama of the front rows.
Instead, his gaze drifted all the way up to the very back corner of the grand auditorium—the highest, most isolated tier in the entire hall.
Sitting alone in the shadows of the back row was a girl who looked completely detached from the rest of the academy.
She wore the standard white-and-blue Aegis uniform, but on her, the fabric strained under the pressure of a jaw-dropping, exceptionally voluptuous figure. Her bust was extraordinarily massive, spilling against the wooden desk despite her desperate attempts to hunch her shoulders and hide herself. She possessed sweeping, lush hips, a narrow waist, and a soft, breathtakingly gorgeous face framed by thick, cascading waves of dark indigo hair. Her skin was smooth and fair, and her large, deep violet eyes were fixed nervously on her wooden desk.
Yet, despite her mesmerizing, unreal beauty, a clear, wide perimeter of empty desks surrounded her. The surrounding students cast sharp, sneering glares in her direction, whispering cruel insults behind their hands.
"Look at her... sitting up there like a common pig," a noble girl near the middle row sneered audibly. "A dirty commoner from the outer slums who got in on a pity scholarship."
"And that ridiculous body..." another girl hissed spitefully, her eyes burning with intense jealousy. "She looks completely vulgar. She probably uses illicit alchemy creams just to draw attention to herself. Disgusting."
The girl in the back row winced slightly, her long eyelashes fluttering as she pulled her oversized cotton cardigan tighter around her broad chest. She shrank back into her chair, her shoulders trembling softly as she swallowed her tears in silence. Her name was Katherine. Raised in a poor, conservative border village, she had been taught her entire life that men were arrogant, predatory monsters who only viewed women as tools, and that her own voluptuous, heavy frame was a curse that would only bring shame and unwanted trouble.
She didn’t care about the handsome boy who had just entered the room. She expected him to be just like every other male—spoiled, entitled, and seeking the soft, sybaritic comforts of the wealthy heiresses in the front row.
So, when the quiet sound of firm, measured footsteps echoed up the stone stairs of the amphitheater, Katherine kept her head down, staring intently at her blank notebook, praying for the day to end.
The footsteps stopped directly beside her desk.
A shadow fell over her parchment. Before Katherine could react, the sharp sound of a wooden chair sliding back echoed in the quiet corner.
Arthur pulled out the chair directly to her right, sat down with absolute composure, and casually placed his leather duffel bag beneath the desk.
The entire lecture hall went dead silent.
Down in the middle rows, the noble girls who had cleared seats for him stared up at the back corner with wide, disbelieving eyes. The sneering heiresses froze, their jaws dropping in utter shock. They couldn’t fathom why a remarkably handsome, refined boy would bypass two hundred high-status, eager women just to sit next to the most hated, impoverished girl in the academy.
Katherine’s entire body went rigid. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs like a trapped bird. She slowly turned her head, her deep violet eyes wide with complete, paralyzing shock as she stared at the boy sitting mere inches away from her.
"W-What...?" Katherine stammered, her voice a tiny, trembling whisper. Her face exploded into a violent, burning crimson that spread all the way down her delicate neck. "I... I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Did... did I take your seat?! I can move! I’ll go sit on the floor in the back—!"
Panicking, she instinctively began gathering her inkwell and battered parchment, her hands shaking so violently she nearly knocked her ink bottle off the edge. In her mind, a male sitting next to her meant she had somehow offended him, or that he was about to mock her body and demand her removal just like the noble girls did.
"The seat was empty," Arthur said smoothly, his voice deep, calm, and utterly unbothered.
He reached out with effortless grace, his long, slender fingers catching the falling ink bottle a split second before it hit the floor, placing it back onto the center of her desk without a single spill.
Katherine froze, staring at his calm, handsome face. There was no disgust in his dark eyes, no arrogant smirk on his lips, and no creepy, lingering stare directed at her massive chest. He looked at her with total, absolute equality—as if she were simply a fellow student sharing a desk in a quiet lecture hall.
"Sit down," Arthur added softly, opening his own clean notebook and laying out his quill. "The professor is about to enter."
Katherine swallowed hard, her mouth going completely dry. She slowly sank back into her wooden chair, her mind spinning in total confusion. Her whole life, she had been told that men were selfish, demanding, and cruel—yet this quiet, strikingly handsome boy had ignored the wealthy, glamorous heiresses down front, saved her inkwell, and sat beside her without demanding a single thing in return.
As the heavy doors of the stage opened and the instructor stepped out, Arthur leaned his jaw on his hand, looking straight ahead at the chalkboard. Beside him, Katherine clutched her quill with trembling fingers, her cheeks burning bright red, her heart fluttering frantically as she stole a quiet, breathless glance at the mysterious boy sitting in her corner.