In the darkness of her simulacrum pod, Cassandra was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions.
She couldn't tell whether she should be happy, angry, or sad thinking about the events that had transpired.
While her ego couldn't stand this public humiliation, another part of her traversed back in time through the library of her memories to one promise that she kept close to her heart.
She was only 5 years old, and this kid from a count family used to come to her house every other week to play with her.
Her father had told her to maintain her distance from the kid because he believed that the Count family only came to their estate to curry favor and leech off of their family's fame and connections.
She tried her best to be cold and uninterested in playing with the kid, but after a long enough time, she couldn't help but enjoy herself during these play meets that happened every other week.
Though her father had mentioned that the kid was probably only brought to play with her to get to him through his daughter, she realised that the kid was completely clueless to the politics at play because for some reason every time he came over, all he would ever talk about the stars and how much he liked the stars and how much he wanted to create magic that would allow him to reach the stars.
He was a complete airhead who didn't know anything about how he would manage to accomplish something that mages have been trying to accomplish for more than 200 years.
But something was endearing about his passion for such an obscure and impossible goal that made her unable to keep being cold to him anymore.
And then came the day when that kid asked for something from her for the first time.
"Your family has a lot of mages, right?"
"Yeah, they do. What about them?"
"Are those mages better than the mages back at my home?"
"Hah? Of course, they are better! Do you even know the difference between a Count and a Duke? We are leagues beyond anything at your home in every facet."
People could say that this little girl was incredibly full of herself due to her pride as being the sole daughter of the great Yenalova Duchy, but nobody could deny any of what she had said.
It was obvious that the duchy would be better in every aspect compared to a County.
The little kid understood it and didn't take any offense at it.
"Yes, yes, madam, I understand that the duchy is amazing compared to a county."
Adam said with a slight bow, even a 5 year old Cassandra could understand such obvious sarcasm.
"Hmph, someone has gotten very comfortable joking around with me, has he?"
"Of course I have, after all the times we have played together, it would be weird if I wasn't comfortable being around you."
While there was no complex meaning to the sentence that Adam had said, Cassandra couldn't help but feel her cheeks get a tad bit more red and warm.
For some reason, looking directly at Adam had gotten harder and harder for her as time had passed.
It's not that she didn't like looking at him, in her eyes he looked great, his mother's beauty was something that was talked about in the nobility quite often, nobody understood how a mere count was able to marry such a beautifule noble woman when she could have been married to a duke household with her social stature and traits.
Adam seemed to have inherited those physical traits as well, which had made Cassandra's imagination run wild on how he would look once he grew up.
Her expectations of Adam for the future were quite high
"What do you need to know about my mages for?"
"I was hoping the esteemed madam of the Yenalova Family would provide me with her Grace by allowing me to learn from her family's mages so I can create magic that will allow me to reach the stars."
This kid she had been playing with for so long now could have asked for anything, any sort of benefit for his country, a trade deal, or access to the Duchy's network.
Her father had said that the Count would be using his son as a way to get benefits for his estate.
Her father was wrong.
Everyone knew that The Swordmaster Dragunov Yenalova would always listen to any demands that his daughter would make.
The strict and ruthless Duke was incredibly soft when it came to his daughter.
This wasn't the first time lower nobility had tried to make connections with the Duke through his daughter.
Plenty had tried and exposed their intentions sooner or later.
Cassandra was used to that and had already discarded all those who would try to make a connection with her for political and economic benefits.
Even though she was merely 5 years old, there was a lot of pressure on her to learn about all sorts of aspects of the life of nobility due to the shoes she had to fill once she grew up.
Even after everything she knew, everything she had experienced, she couldn't wrap her head around this kid in front of her at all.
All this kid cared for was his childish dream of reaching the stars, solely because of how much he liked looking at them; all he wanted was to find a way to reach them.
Be it the comparisons she was making between him and all the other children of nobility she had met until now, she couldn't help but notice her cheeks getting warmer and warmer and redder and redder the longer she went without responding to his request.
She turned her face away while pouting; she didn't want Adam to see her in this state.
"Hmph! You think our Duchy is a charity? You have to give us something if you want something from us."
"What does Madam require from me for her to fulfill my request?"
As time had passed, conversations with Adam had gotten harder, and Cassandra would regularly feel like she was out of breath and her chest felt warmer and warmer the more time she spent with him.
There was something her body urged her to say, yet she never did; she was unable to hold it inside anymore and blurted it out in a hurry.
"If... if you want me to fulfill your request... You.. Yes! You will have to marry me!"
She suddenly froze up, realising what she had just blurted out in an impulse.
"If marrying you is what I have to do, then it will be done, madam."
This kid didn't even think about it for even a second and instantly agreed with her demand.
Even though Cassandra had frozen up, she couldn't believe how committed he was to his goal that he would immediately fulfill any demand she had of him to get what he wanted.
It took all of her sanity to speak the next few sentences because her brain could barely function anymore, and the heat in her body made her feel dizzy.
"You think you can just marry me? You need to be able to handle someone like me, you know?"
"I think I have done a pretty good job at handling Madam until now. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to do something like that in the future."
"I promise Lady Cassandra that I will become a man she will be proud to be married to."
As he said it, he stared right into her eyes, the earnestness and honesty of a child was something rare in the nobility, plenty of noble kids of her age had eyes like hers, full of caution and constant scheming.
You could never know who might betray you or take advantage of you in the politics of the nobility.
Yet somehow Adam's eyes showed that he knew none of that, and even if he did, he didn't care about any of it.
It was a very refreshing pair of eyes for Cassandra.
On that day, after Adam had left, Cassandra told her father that the only person she was willing to marry was Adam and that he should get them engaged as soon as he could.
Cassandra had a vision of her future, even though most people were scared of her temper and would roam around her with fear, there was someone honest besides her who cared for none of that.
As time passed, however, Cassandra's dream never ended up becoming a reality.
It was all Adam's fault.
His mother died due to unknown reasons.
It was said that the 1st wife of the count always had a bone to pick with her.
Naturally, rumours spread around nobility circles everyone could guess what was the cause of her death.
Along with her death, all of the support that the count provided to the Alastair family was promptly cut off, and a merchant guild took over and kicked the Alastair family out of their territory.
The Alastair family became fallen nobility and vanished into obscurity.
Adam was never the same; all the joy and passion in his voice was gone, he stopped talking about the stars became a husk of his former self.
Cassandra had thought that he would recover, but it seemed like things only kept getting worse.
The mages who came to teach him determined that he barely had any mana.
His body had zero talent for mana circulation.
When he tried to use the sword, it was too hard for him to lift it because of how badly he had let himself go.
The dreams Cassandra had about her future with Adam slowly cracked and shattered as time went on.
This was the first thing that Cassandra wanted but didn't get.
It was all Adam's fault.
He didn't give her what she wanted from him.
He failed her and her expectations of him.
Love is a fickle emotion that can quickly turn to anger or hate or vice versa.
Even though Adam had lost everything good about himself, he was still loyal to Cassandra.
After a while, Adam became nothing more to Cassandra than a means of releasing her frustrations with her daily life.
Things seem to stay the same for years until today.
The sharpness in his vision, the rage in his eyes, the malice in his speech, the dominance in his posture, these were all things that Cassandra had never seen in Adam before.
He looked like a completely different person, a stranger.
The way he defeated Cassandra and her followers was nothing to scoff at.
Another reason why Cassandra had tortured Adam was that she secretly wished that Adam would get his act together; maybe the shock from all the abuse would finally make him change and want to leave his pathetic past behind.
It seemed that it had finally worked; she didn't care about the humiliation she had experienced in the competition anymore.
She was secretly happy about losing to Adam, even though she couldn't show it to maintain her public image.
He had finally shown that he had what it took to be worthy of her.
She was excited to see what the future of their relationship held.
All that was left was to end past grievances and become a power couple that would shake the entire continent with its might.
Cassandra had started dreaming again.
As Adam lay in his simulacrum pod, he couldn't help but scream and rage with anger.
The entire competition was a sham and a joke to him.
It was all because of the invisible bananas.
Invisible bananas everywhere with every step he would take.
"If that's the case, why are the bananas invisible in the first place? Even if I could see them, it's not like I can avoid stepping on them since the entire ground is completely covered by them!"
The worst part about the whole ordeal was his standoff with Jake.
"This sh*tty protagonist used his signature killing strike in the f*cking entrance examination! And for what? MIA? How does he already care so much about her? Where is the relationship progression? Did I miss a few cutscenes or some sh*t?"
"And what did I even do to Mia that was so horrible that he has that much disdain for me that he is willing to go all out to take me down?"
"Oh god, oh no! Did she tell him the same lie she told her father??? That blue-haired b*tch! Just wait till I see her, I will teach her a lesson she will never forget!"
Whenever Adam was losing it, the system would never miss a chance to relish in its host's misery.
|| HOST IT WAS SO FUNNY THAT THERE WERE INVISIBLE BANANAS EVERYWHERE I LAUGHED REALLY HARD EVERYTIME THE HOST HAD TO DO A BACKFLIP TRYING TO MAKE SLIPPING LOOK COOL! ||
"You're the reason those bananas were there in the first place! Are you there to support me or make my already miserable life even worse?"
|| HOST THE SYSTEM DOESN'T APPRECIATE SUCH SLANDER, THE SYSTEM IS NOTHING MORE THAN A MESSENGER AND A HELPER, THE SYSTEM CAN ONLY INFORM YOU ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF CAUSALITY IN THIS WORLD AND STRENGTHEN YOU, THE SYSTEM HAS NO EFFECT ON THE REAL WORLD, PLEASE STOP THIS SLANDER OR ELSE THE SYSTEM WILL GET OFFENDED AND CANCEL YOU OUT OF USING ANY OF ITS FUNCTIONS. ||
"Is my system a woman or something? Getting offended over something so little? If that's the case, would you just let me know so that I don't accidentally offend you?"
|| THE SYSTEM DOESN'T HAVE ANY GENDER BUT IF THE HOST WANTS THEN THE SYSTEM CAN TURN INTO A LOVEY DOVEY ANIME WAIFU WHO SAYS UWU AFTER EVERY SYSTEM MESSAGE. ||
"Anything but that I'm sorry for offending you please forgive me if you do that I will die of cringe before I die of anyone trying to kill me."
|| APOLOGY ACCEPTED HOST, ENOUGH FOOLING AROUND NOW, ITS TIME TO FINISH THE MISSION AS SOON AS THE AWARDING CEREMONY COMES TO AN END THE FIRST MAIN MISSION WILL ALSO BE COMPLETED I URGE THE HOST TO MAKE HASTE AND FINISH IT QUICKLY. ||
As Adam opened up his pod's hatch an announcement was made throughout the venue.
"The entrance examination has come to an end, all students make way to the Arena grounds so that we may commence the awarding ceremony. "
Right on queue as if it was all according to someone's grand plan.
As Adam made his way out towards the Arena grounds he was being stared at by many fellow participants the entire way through.
There was some undiscernable emotion in their eyes as they stared at him, their whispers about him were too low in sound to him to be able to understand what they were saying.
Ignoring all the chatter about him he finally made his way to the Arena grounds where Archmage Cain stood on stage in front of a mic.
It was time to finish the first main mission.