Never Die Villain

After the lecture, Elise tugged lightly on Ilya’s sleeve before he could finish putting his things away.

"What class do you have after this?"

"Practical Casting II."

"Ah, mine isn’t until later." Elise immediately slumped over the table. "I have the whole morning free after this. Damn it, I really shouldn’t have fallen asleep when course registration opened..."

By the time Elise had woken up and remembered that registration had started, most of the better morning time slots had already filled up.

She had managed to secure Magical Materials and Catalysts, but after that, there was a long gap before her next class, leaving her with several hours to waste around the academy.

"What about you, Solenne?" Elise asked.

"Same as him." Solenne closed her notebook and slid it inside her bag. "Practical Casting II."

"Eh, seriously?" Elise immediately sat upright again. "Who’s your professor? Armin, Aloisa, and Frieda got that class too, and they said their professor is the least scary out of everyone teaching it."

"Professor Hakon Vinter."

"Ah, him." Elise immediately recognized the name. "He’s the one who got all that attention recently after publishing that paper on Recursive Mana Lattice Stabilization in Multi-Layered Thaumic Structures, right?"

Ilya stopped packing his things. "The what?"

Solenne glanced at him. "Recursive Mana Lattice Stabilization. Specifically, the paper dealt with phase interference between overlapping spell matrices and how resonance develops when several thaumic layers are compressed into the same construction."

"...."

Ilya stared at her.

Solenne stared back.

"Did that explain anything?"

"...Not even a little."

Elise laughed. "Don’t worry. I read the abstract and somehow understood less afterward."

"Good." Ilya picked up his bag. "At least I’m not alone."

After that, the three left the laboratory together. Elise had several hours to herself before her next class, while Ilya and Solenne were both heading toward Practical Casting II, so they eventually had to split up and go in opposite directions.

Just as Ilya was about to take his first step, however, Elise tugged on his sleeve again.

"Ah, Ilya."

"Hm?"

"W-Would you like to eat lunch with Solenne and me later?"

"Sorry, but—"

Ilya was about to tell her that he would probably be meeting Vera again, but he stopped himself before the words could leave his mouth.

He had already spent lunch with Vera yesterday, and when he looked at Elise, she was staring up at him with such obvious anticipation that rejecting her two days in a row suddenly felt unnecessarily cruel.

"Sure."

Elise’s face immediately brightened. "Really? Yay! Then I’ll meet you two after class!"

"Alright."

With that settled, they finally went their separate ways. Ilya and Solenne continued down the corridor together, while Elise headed in the opposite direction, looking noticeably happier about having several hours of nothing to do than she had moments ago.

They hadn’t walked particularly far when Solenne suddenly looked up at him.

"You know, I was there last night."

Ilya glanced at her. "Where?"

"When Elise was screaming, ’Let’s be friends again, Ilya Valentinovich Belozersky!’"

"...."

Solenne pressed her lips together, but she laughed anyway.

"Pfft."

Ilya immediately felt the secondhand embarrassment return.

"Please don’t remind me."

"Oh, you’re embarrassed? Imagine how Elise feels." Solenne laughed again. "And I wasn’t the only one who saw it, either. Quite a few people from our class earlier were there last night, but everyone politely kept quiet about it for the sake of our Department Goddess’s reputation."

Ilya turned toward her. "Department Goddess?"

"Oh, you didn’t know?" Solenne looked genuinely surprised. "Elise is ridiculously popular in the Magic Department. There are guys who would probably fight each other just for an excuse to talk to her for five minutes, so you can imagine what watching her chase after a man and scream that she wanted to be friends with him did to them."

"...."

Ilya thought back to their previous class.

Several of the looks he’d received suddenly made more sense.

"...That explains all the glares earlier," Ilya said. "I thought they were still bothered by me being a Belozersky."

"Oh, some probably are." Solenne shrugged. "But I’d wager most of them were wondering why Elise Margaux de Beaumont was practically glued to your sleeve after publicly declaring her friendship with you last night."

"...."

Ilya glanced back down the corridor, but Elise had already disappeared from sight.

"So, I’m curious," Solenne continued. "What makes you so special, hm? I know all about the relationship between the Belozerskys and the Beaumonts. The Beaumonts are probably the only major family of wizards your family actually respects besides the Imperial Family."

"Even I have no idea why Elise keeps sticking to me."

"Feels nice, though, doesn’t it?" Solenne grinned. "Having a girl as cute as Elise completely head over heels for you."

"...You’re exaggerating."

"Well, you’re blushing."

"I’m really not."

He wasn’t.

Ilya Valentinovich Belozersky was known for many things, but an expressive face certainly wasn’t one of them.

Back in the Knight Department, some students had quite literally taken to calling him a stone-faced mountain.

Their conversation ended there as they reached the lecture hall for Practical Casting II and stepped inside.

Since they had arrived early, there were still plenty of empty seats available, so Solenne picked a spot somewhere around the middle, and Ilya sat beside her.

A few minutes later, as students began filing in, someone Ilya recognized entered the room.

"Oh, Ilya!"

"Uh."

Garen Vollbrecht.

Of all the people from his Spell Construction group, Garen was probably the easiest to recognize, and certainly the easiest to hear.

He was also built more like someone Ilya would have expected to meet in the Knight Department than the Magic Department, with broad shoulders and enough muscle that anyone seeing him for the first time could easily mistake him for a knight rather than a wizard.

Garen immediately walked over.

"Hahaha! Two classes together already? Looks like you’re stuck with me."

"I was having a pretty good morning until now."

"See?" Garen pulled out the empty chair beside them. "This is why I like you!"

Solenne glanced between them, watching Garen make himself comfortable as though he’d been invited.

"Someone you know?"

"Yes. This is Garen." Ilya gestured toward Solenne. "Garen, Solenne."

"Nice to meet you."

Garen turned toward her with the same easygoing grin, only for it to disappear after he took a proper look at her.

He remained silent for a few seconds before slowly turning toward Ilya again.

"Wait. Solenne?"

Ilya raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Garen ignored him and looked back at her. "As in... Solenne Vernet?"

"That would be me."

Garen immediately stood from his seat. "You’re Solenne Vernet?!"

His voice was loud enough to draw the attention of several students nearby, forcing Ilya to grab him by the sleeve and pull him back down before he could make an even bigger scene.

"Sit down. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean, what’s wrong with me?" Garen hissed, lowering his voice as he leaned toward Ilya. "You introduced her like she was some random person you met in the hallway. That’s the chairman’s daughter!"

"I know."

"And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning?!"

"Why would I? You asked who she was, and I told you."

Solenne had been quietly watching the exchange until then, but a small laugh finally escaped her.

"I take it you’ve heard of my family."

"Heard of your family?" Garen immediately fixed his posture. "My father has been trying to arrange a meeting with one of your regional directors for almost two years. If he found out I met the Chairman’s daughter at the academy and acted like an idiot in front of her, he’d probably disown me!"

"You were acting like an idiot before you knew who I was, though?"

"That’s the problem!"

Ilya stared at him for a moment. "You changed your attitude quickly."

Garen looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.

"My family isn’t rich enough for me to have principles. If Miss Solenne asked me to lick her boot right here, I’d do it if she paid well."

"...."

"Uh..." Solenne hid her feet under her chair. "...I wasn’t planning to ask."

"Just letting you know the option is available."

"Garen."

"What?"

"You’re making it worse..."

"I know." Garen rubbed his face and sank back into his chair. "I was doing much better when I didn’t know who she was."

Solenne turned toward Ilya instead, apparently deciding she had heard enough.

"Your friends sure are interesting."

"Yeah..." Ilya scratched his cheek. "We met yesterday..."

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