Reincarnated Without a Cheat, I Adopted the Former Hero as My Mom

Uriel forced himself to calm down. He shoved a fried meat pie into his mouth. Before he could even chew, Tian's voice drifted over from the side.

"Little Uri, didn't you just get back from a date with her? Nothing bad happened, right?"

Uriel's chewing froze instantly.

He looked at Tian, then at Lumina. Both pairs of eyes were locked on him. One was a warm gold, brimming with pure maternal concern. The other was a cool ice-blue, already running tactical analysis.

"I walked her to the station. She should be fine." He gulped down the food in his mouth, rested his chopsticks on the bowl, and kept his tone as level as possible. He needed to project absolute control. "She said it was only a ten-minute walk from there."

Even as the words left his mouth, he felt a twinge of doubt. Ten minutes. What could possibly happen in ten minutes? It was the villa district. Security there was miles better than near the Academy. Private patrols outnumbered stray cats. He ran the logic in his head, found no flaws, and grabbed another piece of meat pies with his chopsticks.

Lumina frowned slightly. She had caught a specific keyword. Her lips twitched. She hesitated, weighed her words carefully, and then looked at Tian.

"A date?"

Tian pressed her palms together and tilted her head. Her eyelashes curved into a bright arc. Her face bloomed with that blindingly radiant, mom-specific expression of sudden enlightenment.

"Little Uri must have noticed the danger early on. He wanted to play the knight in shining armor to score romantic points, right?"

Uriel nearly drove his chopsticks up his nostrils.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on." He looked up, his mouth still half-full of mashed potatoes. "How did this suddenly become me playing the hero—"

Before he could finish, Lumina cut in. She caught Tian's theory and ran with it, her expression as serious as a commander briefing a siege operation.

"Of course. The Scribe already had full intel. He willingly inserted himself into the middle of it to protect the target."

Her eyes gleamed. Uriel knew that look very well. The last time he saw that exact gleam was when she reported the Magical Girl Brigade had dozens of active members.

Uriel's lips moved, but no sound came out. He looked at Lumina, then at Tian. One was buried in tactical deduction, and the other was nodding in eager agreement. Neither of them was paying any attention to his actual expression.

He could not exactly tell them he got close to Seraphina for five hundred gold coins. So he buried his face in his food and focused on the serious business of eating.

"This explains everything. Choosing the First Royal Academy was never a random choice. It was for this exact purpose. Having the Witch make early contact with the target established a foundation of trust. The date was a cover for close-protection detail."

She spoke faster and faster. Before he could interrupt, they'd already convinced themselves.

Tian listened and adopted a profound look of realization. She tapped a finger against her lips and tilted her head back. She practically radiated enlightenment.

"No wonder Little Uri chose the Royal Academy back then."

Then another thought struck her.

"When he asked me to warn Seraphina, it was not just because he spotted the Headmaster. He already knew Seraphina was the real target. And having me confess to her... was that his way of setting up an initial protection detail?"

"What? He was planning that far ahead?"

Lumina turned. Her usually stoic face was completely blown open in shock.

"And staying in the area after eliminating the Headmaster was because he knew the roots were not fully pulled up. Correct?"

Tian added another layer. Lumina's shock had already melted into pure worship and fanaticism. There was absolutely no room left for Uriel to clarify anything.

Uriel was screaming internally.

No! That was just to cement your male student cover identity! The confession was just a check-in!

He couldn't say that. He just buried his face deeper into his bowl and stabbed his fried meat pie with his chopsticks over and over. He couldn't tell the truth—that he wasn't playing the hero. He could not admit he was not playing the hero. He was just a guy working a fake-boyfriend gig for five hundred gold a month. Lumina would probably blue-screen, but his mom would just praise his financial literacy.

He stayed silent and ate. To the two women across from him, his silence translated into a humble refusal to take credit. It was the posture of a mastermind.

Lumina and Tian exchanged a glance.

"The Scribe cannot speak of it openly," Lumina lowered her voice, summarizing the final war council. "We only need to coordinate and follow his lead."

Tian nodded with total seriousness. Then both of them turned their heads in perfect sync. Two pairs of eyes locked onto Uriel. One was gentle as water, the other cold as ice yet burning with fire. Two completely different textures, carrying the exact same expectation.

"What is the next move?"

Uriel nearly spat his rice across the room. He slapped his chest twice, grabbed his water cup, and chugged a massive gulp to force the food down his throat. He looked up at the two intense faces and his mind completely flatlined.

You are asking me? How would I know?

He swallowed the last bite of his meal and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He kept his head down the entire time. Looking up meant meeting those expectant eyes. When he put the napkin down, his expression was locked in. He rested his chopsticks on the edge of the bowl. They made a soft clink. His back was sweating.

"Play it by ear. We adapt on the fly."

Lumina's expression did not waver. She simply pressed a fist to her chest and gave him a crisp bow. Then she turned, pushed open the window, and let the night wind catch her short green hair. She vaulted over the windowsill with feline grace and vanished into the dark.

Uriel watched her go, then stood up and shut the window. The frame clicked shut, and the warm atmosphere of the inn room returned. Tian had stood up at some point and was bending over to collect his empty bowls. Uriel saw that same gentle curve on her lips.

She said nothing, but the quiet act of clearing his dishes was its own form of trust. Uriel pulled the curtains shut. Only one thought remained in his mind.

Please tell me nothing actually happened to her.

---

The next morning, the sky was still a dull gray.

When Uriel and Tian stepped out of the inn, Leo and Kai were already waiting at the entrance. His two useless bros were either squatting on the steps and yawning or rubbing the sleep out of their eyes with their sleeves.

Leo saw Uriel and offered a helpful reminder. "We have outdoor training today. Did you bring your gear?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Before Uriel finished answering, Kai let out a shriek. "Crap, I forgot mine!"

By the time Kai ran back and returned, several more minutes had passed.

The morning streets should have been buzzing with students heading to the Fourth Academy in small groups. The air felt wrong today. A massive crowd was gathered around the bulletin board at the street corner. Several soldiers in knight-order uniforms were power-walking through the intersection. Hoofbeats echoed from the distance, sharp and urgent. This was not a routine patrol.

"What is going on over there?" Leo stood on his tiptoes and craned his neck toward the intersection. "Did the Fourth Academy get blown up too?"

"Where are we supposed to go to class then?" Kai frowned. "The Fourth Academy is in the other direction. It is probably not that."

Uriel did not join the discussion. He stared at a knight-order clerk across the street who was pasting up a new notice. A bad feeling was rising in his chest and pushing against his ribs.

No way. It was just ten minutes. What could happen? He walked her to the station. The tram ran on the main avenue through public zones, and every stop had staff and patrols. She said it was a ten-minute walk through the villa district. What could possibly go wrong?

They reached the school gates. The Fourth Academy entrance usually had two guards. Today, an entire line of knight-order soldiers stood watch. The iron gate was half-closed, leaving only enough room for one person to pass. Two soldiers were stopping students and interrogating them one by one. The air was thick with high-pressure tension.

When it was their turn, a knight wearing a captain's badge stepped forward. His gaze swept across all four faces, then he spoke. His eyes lingered on Uriel for a beat. His voice was steady but rushed.

"Do you know Seraphina Waldrich? She went missing last night. When did you last see her? Do you know who she was with or what she was doing?"

Leo and Kai widened their eyes in unison. Tian's eyelashes fluttered, and her gaze shifted silently toward Uriel.

Uriel stood in the pale morning sunlight and felt a chill creep up from the soles of his feet. He kept his face neutral and stayed silent, his mind racing to calculate the best response.

Tell the truth? Dump every detail from the milk tea shop to the tram ride to the villa district platform? That meant admitting he was the last person seen with her. How would the Knight Order react? A regular male student, wandering the commercial district at night with a missing countess's daughter. That made him the prime suspect, not a witness. But staying silent was not an option either.

As expected, both of them were already looking at him.

He raised a hand and scratched the back of his head, forcing his tone to sound casual.

"I know her. We hung out after class yesterday afternoon. Went to the commercial street. She took the tram home later, and I went back to my inn." He paused deliberately and added one more detail. "We split up at the station. She said it was only a ten-minute walk from there."

Adapt on the fly. He had tossed that phrase out casually last night. Now he was terrified it was about to become his actual survival strategy.

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