"…Did someone just declare a lifelong vendetta against me?" he muttered.
Lilith slurped her pudding. "Hm?"
"Nothing."
Lilith, meanwhile, was radiant.
For the first time since entering this nightmare circus of an academy, she looked... happy.
Practically glowing.
Understandable, really.
Sam had — through his infinite strategic genius — purchased every single one of her favorite pudding flavors.
He'd remembered them from the novel.
That line had been gold:
"Lilith cannot resist pudding. Ever."
The author had practically highlighted it with mental neon.
A weak point.
A lever.
A potential ally whose tragic backstory and world-ending powers could be unlocked with gelatin and sugar.
He watched her eat with the pleased expression of a car salesman who'd just upsold a blind man a racing bike.
Nyra, standing behind them, watched this little display with narrowed eyes.
Samule was rarely this nice to anyone.
Not to his staff. Not to his fiancée. Not even to himself.
She crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze further, already calculating if this was part of some long con or if he'd finally snapped from stress and grown a soul.
Then it happened.
Lilith paused.
Spoon mid-air. Expression frozen.
She looked at Sam.
Then at Nyra.
Then back at Sam.
Her red eyes widened with sudden, dawning horror.
A terrible memory returned from childhood...
###
"Never trust strange men who offer you snacks," her aunt had once said gravely, pointing at a lineup of wanted posters.
"Especially if they smile too much.
That's how they get you."
###
Her pupils shrank.
She stared at Sam, who was currently grinning like a shady merchant in a back alley just moments before shouting
"LIMITED TIME OFFER!"
"...You're trying to lure me," she said quietly.
Sam blinked, mid-sentence, as he turned to Nyra.
"Can you go get the strawberry — huh?"
Lilith set her spoon down like it was a loaded weapon.
"What do you want?" she asked, slowly and seriously now.
Sam froze.
Nyra, visibly intrigued, leaned slightly closer.
She'd also like to know why her master — who once tried to sell her childhood blanket on auction for 'wasting closet space' — was suddenly acting like a nurturing pudding fairy.
Sam cleared his throat.
"Well," he said, adjusting his collar. "I, uh—"
Lilith's glare intensified.
"Are you trying to kidnap me?"
"What? No!"
"Is this a weird noble prank? Are you going to mock me later?"
"What? No! Gods, that's too much effort— I mean—"
"Then why?"
Sam sighed, dropped the spoon, and gave her a tired look.
"Fine. You want honesty?"
She nodded.
He leaned back with the grace of a man preparing to admit to tax fraud.
"I'm trying to make friends with you."
Lilith tilted her head, suspicious.
"Why?" she asked softly.
"I'm not noble. I'm not rich. And… I don't even look that good."
The words came out like she'd rehearsed them in front of a mirror a thousand times.
Not bitter.
Just… resigned.
Samule cursed internally.
That'll all change soon enough, he thought grimly, remembering what the novel said about her real appearance once she, you know… awakened her powers and maybe took a proper bath and dress well.
Still, he looked at her — really looked.
White hair like moonlight.
Red eyes like the last light before an apocalypse.
Soft cheeks that puffed slightly when she chewed.
And—
There.
Dimples.
She smiled as she ate her pudding, and dimples popped up like they were trying to assassinate his soul with cuteness.
Sam stared a bit too long.
Nyra coughed, politely but pointedly.
He blinked, snapped back to reality, and realized Lilith was staring right back now, confused and slightly pink.
"Friendship doesn't require equal money, you know," Sam said, hastily trying to sound wise and not like someone who just got caught simping.
"And you're wrong."
"…Wrong?" Lilith repeated.
"You are good-looking," Sam said.
A pause.
"Especially cute. Like, dangerously cute."
Lilith's mouth fell open just a little.
She wasn't used to compliments.
She could feel it — in her chest, somewhere behind her ribs.
A strange warmth. Not magic.
Just…
Samule Nightshade had said it like he meant it.
And he meant it.
She nodded slowly. Then smiled again.
Dimples. Fatal hit. Critical damage.
Sam grinned back. "Let's be friends, yeah?"
She nodded.
Sam's grin twisted ever so slightly — still friendly on the outside, but on the inside?
Evil Villain Checklist: First Ally — Acquired.
He leaned back with satisfaction.
And then—
The name hit him like a divine slap to the brain.
"Lyra Vessia."
His fiancée. The tantrum tornado.
Her turn.
He sighed like a man watching his ex post happy vacation pics the day after the breakup.
All attention turned as she walked toward the Awakening Crystal.
Lyra was beautiful, arrogant, and currently extremely nervous.
Her eyes flickered toward the crowd like she was imagining every possible future where she failed and got disowned, laughed at, or turned into a background character.
She placed her hand on the glowing mana crystal.
A second passed.
Then—
FWOOOOOOM.
A blinding flash of light exploded out.
The professors gasped.
The tired-looking female professor, actually smiled for the first time.
"Congratulations!" she announced, voice echoing.
"Epic-tier element awakened!"
In the Awakening Crystal, an image appeared — a radiant, jagged symbol, faceted like a diamond, unmistakably the mark of the Crystal Element.
"Crystal Element," the professor declared.
The crowd clapped politely — nobles a bit louder, commoners trying not to look jealous.
Lyra's face lit up like a spoiled princess who'd just found out her horse had been upgraded to a unicorn.
Sam?
He didn't clap.
He just leaned on his hand, bored.
"Right," he muttered. "Everything's going according to the novel."