#34
“Professor Raymond.”
Standing alone in the empty hallway and trying to recall his memories, Raymond quickly turned his body toward the sound when he heard someone calling him.
“This semester’s classes…”
After conversing with an administrative staff member, Raymond turned around once more to look at the place where they had disappeared.
* * *
Though they had planned to train with Raymond in the morning, that plan had fallen through. The Magic Tower had gotten busier, and Noah was also preoccupied with adjusting to the Academy.
“Noah! Let’s go eat lunch.”
After the lecture ended, as Noah was gathering his books, he hunched his shoulders at the cheerful voice of a certain person.
Please. Can’t you just leave me alone?
Right after the first lecture ended, Matthew and James had swept through, and Noah—the cherished only son of the Grand Duke of the North who kept the notoriously ferocious snow leopard as a pet—had become the Academy’s hottest insider.
Matthew, who had already memorized Noah’s entire schedule, would find Noah with uncanny precision whenever their break times overlapped.
And today was a day when their lunch times coincided.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Why? Are you sick? Or is there something else you want to eat?”
Noah let out a small sigh as he watched Matthew immediately feel his forehead and examine his face. The Matthew he knew wasn’t like this. He had been dignified, confident, formal… that’s the nice way of putting it. Anyway, from what he’d heard in his past two lives, Matthew was royal to the bone.
He wasn’t the type to accommodate or consider others’ feelings, but rather someone who reigned over others. Of course, as the future emperor, he would have been educated that way, and perhaps that was appropriate. While a friendly emperor is nice, having charisma and an unapproachable aura would be advantageous for ruling the masses.
But eleven-year-old Matthew was just like a large dog.
“Meat.”
Noah reluctantly answered as he raised his hand to touch Matthew’s brown hair. To others, it might look like a child playing with his older brother’s hair, but Noah was genuinely patting his head as if comforting a large dog.
“Really? Then I’ll eat meat too. Let’s hurry. If we go late, there won’t be any seats.”
Noah stood up at Matthew’s urging.
“Matthew.”
“Yes?”
“I have friends too, so you don’t need to find me every time like this.”
“Friends? Who?”
To be honest, I don’t have any friends. And the person responsible for that was standing right next to him.
At first, everyone had questions from “Is that a boy or a girl?” to those about alpha and omega traits, but their curiosity was quickly resolved.
The only son of the Grand Duke of the North, a male omega.
And the Crown Prince, an alpha.
Plus, the Crown Prince supposedly liked the only son of the Grand Duke of the North.
Their families match. Their traits match. With no issues regarding age difference or anything else to consider, the relationship between Noah and Matthew had already been simply defined in the minds of all students and everyone who heard this news.
Since they were still young children, nothing could be confirmed, but if their feelings became mutual, marriage would follow. If those feelings didn’t develop, they would maintain a good relationship as close friends. Of course, many saw it as a love triangle because of James, but regardless, Noah had become someone the Academy students couldn’t easily approach.
“I do have friends.”
Entering the cafeteria with Matthew while receiving everyone’s gazes, Noah quietly picked up a tray. But soon, Noah’s hands holding the tray became empty.
“What does our Noah want to eat? I’ll get it for you. It’s heavy.”
James. Aren’t Knight Department students supposed to use a different cafeteria? The distance from there to here can’t be short. And even though I’m young and might not have much strength, do you think I’m so frail that I can’t carry a single tray?
I’ve even learned how to use stone axes and such from Tom!
“Meat and tomato juice.”
Noah couldn’t help but smile a little as he watched Matthew, who didn’t carry his own tray but told James what menu he’d chosen. A royal is a royal after all. Though he seemed to be kind and considerate to Noah, he was still young, and as a royal, he probably couldn’t even imagine carrying something in his hands, let alone carrying something for someone else.
“Tomato juice?”
“Yes! Hyungs, I’ll go find a seat.”
No reason to refuse if they’re offering to help.
After leaving the long serving counter, Noah found an empty table, sat down, and dangled his legs while waiting for them. Seeing the small squabble between Matthew, who was carrying his own food with both hands, and James, who was carrying both his own and Noah’s trays with one in each hand, Noah covered his face with both hands.
“Can’t you both sit across from me?”
Having simply stopped their quarrel, Noah picked up his fork and knife with a resolute determination.
He was finally going to execute the plan he’d been contemplating for days. The life of a popular person wasn’t Noah’s path. It was best to just blend in naturally, like water mixed with water or alcohol mixed with alcohol. As they say, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down—living with this much attention wasn’t good for mental health.
The current problem was that he was close to such famous people. So if he distanced himself from them, the attention on him would naturally decrease. Or rather, what if he made them dislike him?
Having finished that line of thought, Noah decided to start behaving in ways they would dislike and formulated several plans.
According to his original plan, he was supposed to deal with them one by one separately, but since they were all gathered here now, it was an opportunity, so Noah decided to implement his plan immediately.
Ah, I don’t want to ruin my social standing or bring shame to my family.
But it’s better to do this when I’m younger—it’ll be less embarrassing.
With firm resolve, Noah put down the fork and knife he had just picked up. The sound of the fork and knife dropping onto the table was quite loud. Both Matthew and James immediately looked at Noah.
I can do this. I can.
A method devised based on the discomfort of eating with someone who has bad table manners.
For this moment, Noah abandoned being human.
And he grabbed the steak with both hands.
“Ah~ Hot, hot…”
This is kids’ food. School meals are usually served lukewarm anyway. According to the plan, he was supposed to grab the steak with both hands and chew it noisily with his mouth. But the steak was hotter than expected, and when he let go of it in surprise, as if throwing it, the steak hit Noah’s tomato juice cup precisely.
The tomato juice flew through the air and poured down on Matthew’s head, who was sitting directly across from him, and the thrown steak bounced off Noah’s tray and flew into James’s tray diagonally.
Simultaneously, James, who had been drinking orange juice, was startled and moved significantly, bumping into a student passing by. Naturally, that student’s tray flew through the air and landed on the head of another student who had been eating quietly—a chain reaction that literally happened in the blink of an eye.
“Aack!”
“Ugh…”
“What is this!”
How many people just got struck by lightning while trying to eat peacefully? And ironically, Noah, who had caused all this, only had a little steak sauce on his hands.
“How long has Noah been at the Academy…”
I think it’s still less than two weeks. Noah fidgeted with the tips of his fingers, which were neatly placed on his tightly pressed knees. Before transmigrating into the book, he had attended mandatory educational institutions for a full 12 years. He had attended elementary school diligently, and although he lived more like a playboy during his adolescent middle and high school years, he had only called his parents to school exactly twice.
Of course, he had never been called to the principal’s office alone.
But now, entering the Dean’s office for the third time, Noah had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.
The goal for this life was to show a diligent, earnest, intelligent, and proper attitude to find a way to inherit the territory in the future, even if not through marriage.
But that dream seemed to be waving goodbye to him.
“Two weeks…”
Noah’s voice sounded like it would crawl to the end of the earth as he answered.
“Well… this is troublesome. But it wasn’t intentional.”
Ah, Dean. When you stroke your beard, you always use your left hand to stroke from right to left twice. Then you put your hand inside the beard to arrange it.
Somehow, I’ve even come to know your habits.
And one more thing.
Seeing that you’re touching it briefly, it seems this matter will be decided quickly.
When you stroke it slowly, you think for a very long time.
“I apologize. I will teach him better.”
Is Elisa here because this is related to daily life? Noah glanced at Elisa from the corner of his eye.
“He’s still young, and although it’s not quite right to call the others victims, the students who were somewhat surprised and unintentionally harmed aren’t particularly expressing complaints. So, Noah, let’s be a bit more careful. You may go now.”
As he left the Dean’s office, Noah carefully took Elisa’s hand first.
This seems like it might become a routine, but I needed to express some sort of apology to the people who were called in with me because of my mistake.
“Young Master, is your hand alright?”
“Huh?”
“I heard you grabbed something hot with your hand. Was the knife not cutting well?”
Noah stared blankly at Elisa, who bent down to meet his eyes and pulled both his hands to check his palms.
“The Grand Duke probably won’t be contacted separately, so don’t worry. The tips of your fingers are red, Young Master. Let’s go apply some medicine.”
“Elisa.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Anyone can make mistakes. But remember that repeatedly making the same mistake is a problem.”
And so, the incident in the cafeteria was resolved, but Noah got his first nickname.
It was “One Shot, Four Victims.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
