The next morning, Linen woke up as usual. After cheerfully offering breakfast to Miss Theresia and receiving the delightful reply, "Guh...just kill me," he happily pocketed his system reward and headed to class.
Just as he expected, the sudden disappearance of a random barmaid raised no eyebrows at Eden Academy.
Though the Academy boasted formidable resources and hidden depths, these were reserved for nurturing the Empire's future leaders—not wasted on investigating the trivial matter of a missing janitorial worker.
Many students had already arrived, with Elena quietly studying at her seat, as usual.
"Good morning, Linen," Elena greeted him gently.
"Good morning, Elena. Isn't Hysteria with you today?"
Elena blinked and pointed helplessly toward the back of the classroom.
Following her gaze, Linen saw Hysteria enthusiastically playing cards with a group of students, clearly fired up.
Unlike her humiliating defeats against Linen, Hysteria appeared to hold an overwhelming advantage now.
Across from her, a male student wore an expression of utter disbelief.
"Why?! Why can't I beat her no matter how poorly she plays?"
"Damn it, luck-based cheat!"
"Strength! Invincibility! Supreme dominance! Crushing another small fry is only natural for Her Highness Hysteria!"
Yet, after beating her last opponent, Hysteria didn't seem thrilled at all—just strangely unsatisfied.
After all, someone had been mercilessly steamrolling her for five days straight. She turned her frustrated gaze toward Linen, who smiled innocently back.
"Damn it! Why can't I ever beat you, no matter what I do?" she complained bitterly.
"That's my secret, Your Highness," Linen chuckled lightly, throwing a sympathetic glance toward the devastated male student.
Trying to compete with a protagonist-level luck god through skill alone—he had to admit, this unnamed student was a real man.
From the start, Linen had never planned on relying on actual card skills to defeat Hysteria. Her plot armor-level luck was basically cheating, so surely it wasn't too much to use his own cheats in return?
With Elena's illusion magic capable of creating lifelike illusions, discreetly printing cards was effortless.
But, to preserve group harmony, Hysteria would never learn this little secret.
"Elena, stop reading and join us for a few rounds!" Hysteria turned to Elena instead, ignoring Linen.
"No thanks, Hysteria. The Magical Artificer exam is coming up soon. I need to study more," Elena politely declined.
Linen quietly perked up at that.
The Magical Artificer exam?
In the original story, wasn't this precisely the pivotal climax of Elena's first-year plotline?
It was also the very scenario Linen had originally planned for his confession-backstab attack against Elena.
In the original timeline, Elena overcame her doubts and external hindrances during the Magical Artificer exam, successfully earning her certification and foiling one of the Tower of Chronomancy's plots in the process.
"How are you feeling about it, Elena?" Linen asked cautiously.
"Oh, the exam?" Elena shyly scratched her cheek but answered confidently, "Honestly, thanks to your help, Linen, I'm feeling pretty confident about it."
Damn, it's over!
In the original plotline, the main antagonist causing trouble was their class instructor, Ken Listan. However, Linen had already sent Ken to an early retirement. Without Ken interfering, Elena's confidence soared smoothly, leaving no chance for the confession-backstab strategy he'd planned.
If Linen suddenly confessed to Elena now without any setup, forget rejection—he might actually succeed, which would utterly ruin his plan!
Could he really let such a valuable opportunity slip away? Linen felt a deep sense of frustration.
Just then, he overheard Hysteria ask.
"Is the Zijinghua Empire's Artificer exam different from our Flame Rose Empire's?"
"Not particularly," Elena replied. "They both involve examiners sent by higher authorities who set different challenges each year. Nobody knows what they'll ask until it happens."
Wait—examiners from higher authorities?
Linen shivered as realization struck him.
Of course! Ken was only a lowly class instructor. He alone couldn't have sabotaged such a critical exam. The real reason Elena had faced difficulties originally was because some examiners sent from above were actually Tower of Chronomancy infiltrators!
After all, it wasn't just a joke when people said half the Empire's mages were secretly affiliated with the Tower.
If Linen himself could become an infiltrator, wouldn't he then connect directly with the examiners and ensure the plot unfolded as originally planned?
When the right moment came, he could dramatically reveal himself as the infiltrator, confess his "feelings," and surely face immediate rejection.
Suddenly, his path became crystal clear.
At worst, after dealing with the traitors, he'd generously compensate Elena. When he became Emperor, he'd gladly lend her the Dragon Throne itself for a couple of days—never mind a minor Artificer qualification.
The only difficulty with this perfect plan was figuring out which of those senior examiners were Tower agents—but even this wasn't an issue Linen couldn't solve.
...
"You want to know which examiners in the Artificer exam belong to the Tower?"
That evening, in his dorm room, Theresia raised her eyebrows skeptically at Linen's question, chuckling disdainfully.
"Why ask a mere tool like me? Does a master announce his identity to the tool he uses? I don't know."
Linen sighed softly.
"Miss Theresia, you're joking, aren't you? You actually know exactly who they are."
Theresia's gaze sharpened slightly. She didn't deny it, instead asking:
"How did you figure it out?"
Because when you said 'I don't know,' my system just rewarded me for triggering a rejection scenario.
Of course, Linen couldn't actually say that. Instead, he answered earnestly.
"Because I trust you, Miss Theresia. You're not just a tool; you're a living, breathing person. You never completely trusted the Tower from the beginning. Everything I told you last night—you weren't completely unaware, were you?"
Before she could protest, Linen raised a hand to cut her off:
"Don't reject me yet. I know you don't have a good impression of me, but I'm asking you to give me a chance to prove myself. The Tower may be vast, but it's not invincible. Resistance can start right here, right now!"
He stared deeply into her amber eyes.
"What matters isn't how we feel, but what we actually do, Miss Theresia."
Theresia fell silent.
Though she desperately wanted to tie Linen up, throw him into a basement, and make him taste her suffering, she reluctantly admitted to herself that she felt ashamed compared to him at this moment.
Her own resolve to destroy forbidden magic had gradually turned into servitude to the very people she despised. Meanwhile, this young prince's determination was shockingly genuine.
"Fine. I'll tell you the Tower agents I know among the examiners. But until you've crushed those bastards and proven yourself, you absolutely cannot mention my name."
"I swear on the dragon blood flowing through the veins of House Norton—I'll keep your secret," Linen vowed solemnly.
Theresia nodded slowly.
"Your Academy's Arcana Master, Gust Franki."
"Professor Gust is a traitor too?!" Linen gasped in shock.
"No, he's not," Theresia shook her head calmly.
"Then why even mention him?" Linen asked, puzzled.
"Because the opposite is true. Aside from Gust Franki, I suspect every other examiner might be affiliated with the Tower."
Damn!
Though he'd mentally prepared himself, Linen couldn't help but silently curse his luck.