The next day, Caelus settled into his seat in the commons. The hour after the mandatory Liberal Arts class was a time for students to relax, loosen their shoulders, and prepare for their elective classes.
Here, in the grand dining hall, students were up and about, filling the lecture hall with chatters and laughs. Some were eating, others were gathered in their social circles, and one particular trio was staring at a small bug crawling across their desk.
"Twenty gold says he's gonna make it to the end of the table," Rosalina said flatly.
"Nah," Kain disagreed with the same tone. "My bet is that it'll turn right around upon seeing your face, Rosalina. Forty gold on that."
"You guys have gold?" Caelus asked.
They both turned to look at him with blank stares.
"Sometimes, I forget that you don't even have a single piece of copper to your name," Rosalina sighed.
"That's not even true," Caelus mumbled. "I have... some."
Kain smirked, bumping his elbow into Caelus's arm.
"Hell yeah, you do. Otherwise, how would you have taken that fair lady out on a date? Who was she anyway? An upperclassman? Definitely seemed like it. She had that aura that made me wanna kneel before her."
"Shut up, Kain," Caelus muttered, flashing his gleaming eyes.
That was enough to make him flinch. He pulled himself back, sat upright, and faced forward with a single strand of sweat trailing down his face.
"Pfft. Idiot," Rosalina snickered, leaning forward to look at him. "This is why you shouldn't stick your nose in places it doesn't belong."
"Tch... Whatever."
Suddenly, a pair of students made their way down the aisle next to them. Normally, Kain never paid much attention to them because of how rowdy they were so early in the morning. Today was different. He found himself watching them slide by without uttering so much as a word.
"Ah... Damn," he mumbled as if remembering something unpleasant.
"Hmm? What is it?" Rosalina asked.
"Those guys over there. Used to be three of them. But now..."
"Looks like the college has swallowed yet another victim. Speaking of which..."—she looked around the lecture hall—"doesn't this place feel a little bit smaller?"
Kain followed her gaze.
"Huh... Now that you mention it, it does. Remember that one guy who sat all the way in the back of Professor Archeota's class? The one that tried to mess with him on the very first day?"
"You mean Maxwell Platinus?" she asked.
"Yeah. Haven't seen him around for a while."
"Do you think he got expelled?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. Rhodeia has a pretty high expulsion rate. Honestly, I'm surprised to see so many of us still standing. The top three percent of Rhodeia's first-years, yet some of us clearly don't belong here."
After a whole minute of nothing, no words, movement, or even the slightest breath, Caelus spoke up with just a single word.
"Oh."
"Eh?" Kain mumbled before his eyes widened. "W-wait! Hold on! I wasn't talking about you, man! I was talking about people like... l-like..."
Rosalina snickered from across the seat.
"I didn't even know it was possible to dig a hole without a shovel," she smiled mockingly. "You surprise me day after day, Kain Diadalin."
"You shut your goddam mouth, Sigurdia," he muttered, pointing a sharp finger at her.
"Oh my... First, you call out Caelus, and now you're threatening me? Where is your honor?"
"I didn't call out Caelus! You believe me, right, man?!"
"Huh?" he said. "Sorry, I zoned out."
A choked laugh escaped Rosalina as she turned away, holding a hand up to hide whatever smile lay beneath. As for Kain, he was in utter disbelief.
"Seriously...?" he sighed. "What do you mean you zoned out?"
"Someone was waving at me from over there," Caelus replied, pointing elsewhere, "but I don't think it was intended for me."
"What the... That's why you said, Oh? It wasn't because of me?"
"You? Why would it be because of you?"
"...One of these days, I'm gonna kill you, Luvelaine."
"Huh? Me? What did I do?"
At last, Rosalina settled down. She casually leaned her head on her hand, but that smile never went away.
"Nothing, Caelus," she said. "Kain's just being dumb per usual. It wouldn't be a great day at Rhodeia College without him spouting some useless nonsense."
"Oh. Is that so?"
"She didn't mean it literally!" Kain exclaimed.
"Oh. She didn't?"
Rosalina finally broke into laughter. Kain slumped in his seat, arms crossed and grumbling to himself... until a shimmer of gold drifted into the aisle beside him.
The air shifted. Conversations froze mid-sentence, silverwares paused before they could fall, and the restless hum of the commons fell into silence. All at once, every gaze turned toward the source of that golden flutter.
She stood there — radiant, composed, and untouchable — the embodiment of grace and authority. And what was more, she was looking directly at Caelus.
Then, without a word, she simply walked away. Kain and Rosalina watched her disappear deeper into the commons before twisting their heads toward Caelus.
"Dude... What the fuck did you do?" Kain whispered, calm yet bewildered at the same time.
"Huh?"
"What do you, Huh?! Why did the crown princess just give you the side eye?!"
"I'm not sure. Maybe it has something to do with the club I joined?"
"Club?" Rosalina asked, her brows curling.
"Yeah. It's called the Demon Investigation Club. Stumbled upon it by chance, and they asked me to join. After much... persuasion, I decided to give in."
He recalled yesterday's club meeting. It was very brief and more like an introduction for their new member. Shion was the club president, so he did all the talking. He went through the club's history, how it was founded, and what they did.
Much like any other club within Rhodeia, the Demon Investigation Club was treated more like an official organization than an extracurricular gathering of students. True to its name, they specialize in dealing with demon-related issues across the empire.
"Perhaps that was why not many students were willing to join," Caelus added. "We only have five members, including myself."
"So you're in a club with the princess?!" Kain rambled on. "That's bad news, man!"
"I mean, she was pretty much silent the whole meeting. Never once did she look my way or even acknowledge my existence, so it was certainly strange to have her stare at me like that just now. And besides, I wasn't really in a position to choose. With my reputation, I was lucky to even be considered."
"No, no, no! That doesn't matter! If you value your own freedom, you never get involved with the imperials! Never!"
"Why is that?"
"Because now you're gonna be on Prince Asta's list. If he suspects you of taking her side in the battle for succession, your life is gonna turn into a living hell."
"What does it matter? It's already a living hell. A bit more fire isn't gonna hurt me."
Kain had nothing more to say. He simply sat there, dumbfounded and worried about Caelus's fate.
"I can't tell if you're brave or if you're just really clueless as to what this all means," he sighed. "Just be careful. I'm telling you, getting involved with them isn't a good thing."
"He's not saying that without merit, Caelus," Rosalina chimed in. "Many young nobles fell victim to Prince Asta's wrath when their family decided to align themselves with Princess Aria."
Kain pointed at him.
"And one was even made into a fallen noble like you."
"Is that even legal?" Caelus asked.
"That's the tricky bit," Rosalina muttered. "When it comes to the imperials, nothing is illegal. They'll find a way to ruin you."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm already ruined. What's next?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. It looked more like she had something to say but was hesitating, and that assumption was proven to be true when she turned away.
"They'll have you executed under some false claims. I would know... because it happened to my best friend just three years ago. Or rather... it was Rudy who—"
Her words stumbled, leaving Caelus and Kain to share uneasy glances. She then took a deep breath.
"The point is that you need to be careful. Choose your words wisely. If you absolutely have to pick a side, stick to it. You don't want to make them both your enemies."
"Don't worry. I've been through too much in the last five years to be killed by a couple of petty children."
Kain was still reluctant, but he finally loosened his shoulders and let out a slight scoff.
"You're one crazy guy, you know that?"
"Go through what I did, and you wouldn't be surprised that I turned out this way."