Bedroom.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
Miss Crownguard's voice came through the communicator, sounding a lot better now.
A moment later, she spoke again.
"By the way—Professor Mors won't be at the Royal Academy tomorrow, and I just had a very bold idea."
"Funny. I just had a very bold idea too."
"Heh. Tomorrow's Friday. If she doesn't show up, then it's Saturday and Sunday right after, and by Monday she'll definitely have forgotten about the homework."
"Exactly. And we've got credits coming in—on Monday we can even request leave. If we do that, we won't see Professor Mors for a long time."
"Right, right, that's what I was thinking too."
Talking through the communicator, their thoughts lined up perfectly.
Then Lux's voice asked, "So… are you going to do tonight's homework?"
Luke lowered his gaze to the homework in front of him—already partially done—and replied completely naturally, "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm not doing it. What kind of normal person does homework? What about you?"
At the same time, in Miss Crownguard's bedroom…
Lux was writing at full speed. Without missing a beat, she answered, "Of course I'm not doing it either. If I won't even see Professor Mors tomorrow, why would I be scared of her?"
"Right. I'm already lying in bed."
"What a coincidence—I'm lying down too."
"The moon is really round tonight."
"Yeah, totally."
"You're not still up, are you?"
"Of course not. Why would I be up at a time like this? Why are you asking?"
"Just asking."
Both of them were playing games, tugging back and forth through the communicator. And the more they lied, the faster their hands moved across the page.
They still had time to talk while writing.
"Your Highness, what are you doing right now?"
"Sleepy. About to go to bed. You?"
"Same."
"Then… good night?"
"Good night."
As she said it, Lux lightly covered the receiver, but there wasn't a hint of sleepiness in her eyes. If anything, her determination was maxed out—like she was fully prepared to pull an all-nighter.
Sleep?
Not happening.
She stared at the homework and wrote even faster. The more she wrote, the more excited she got.
This might've been the first time in her life she'd ever felt actual joy while doing homework.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Meanwhile, in Luke's bedroom…
A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. His pen flew across the page—scratch, scratch, scratch—clearly not the movements of someone who was "sleepy." He was just as ready to stay up all night.
Sorry, blondie. Don't blame me—blame how brutal this world is.
The next day, June 20—clear skies, not a cloud in sight.
Royal Academy.
It was Friday, and the students were noticeably more energized. The main reason was simple: the weekend was almost here.
Luke walked into class in a great mood.
He entered through the back door and immediately spotted Miss Crownguard with her head down, pen in hand, scribbling on a sheet of paper.
One moment she was squinting and thinking hard, the next she looked like she'd had a breakthrough, then she hesitated again.
She was so focused she didn't even notice Luke behind her.
Luke casually glanced over.
On the page was a hand-drawn game board, covered in marks and corrections—she'd clearly been working on it for a long time.
"If I go first, I place here on move one. Move two, no matter what he does, I go here. Move three, here—he won't understand my plan at all. By move four, the trap is set. Even if he notices, it'll be too late."
"Yeah. Perfect. When he gets here, I'll play exactly like this!"
Lux muttered to herself, the more she spoke, the more confident she became, her eyes gradually brightening.
Luke almost laughed. So she'd been "studying formations."
He quietly backed out of the classroom, deliberately made some footsteps, then walked back in like he'd just arrived.
Lux looked up, put on her cutest smile, and greeted him. "Good morning."
"Good morning."
Luke replied and sat down beside her.
"Ahem."
Lux cleared her throat, trying to look calm. "So… in this delightful morning, would you happen to be interested in a round of five-in-a-row?"
Luke gave her a surprised look. "Sure, but how are we playing?"
Lux smoothly pulled a sheet from her desk and placed it between them. "I drew a board real quick. We'll just draw solid and hollow circles as black and white pieces."
Luke nodded. "Works for me."
Lux continued, "And since it's five-in-a-row, there should be a punishment, right?"
Luke glanced at her. "You didn't win once yesterday. Why are you suddenly this brave?"
"Don't worry about that. Just tell me—are you in or not?"
Lux lifted her chin, confidence written all over her face.
Yesterday she'd lost a ridiculous number of rounds, but today was completely different. She'd already developed a strategy she was convinced was basically unbeatable.
"I'm in," Luke said. "What punishment? Same as yesterday?"
"No, not yesterday's."
Lux thought for a moment, then grabbed another sheet. "Paper strips. Whoever loses has to stick a strip of paper on their face."
Luke nodded, so she added with extra confidence, "And you can't take it off until school's out!"
Luke smiled. "Fine. Let's start. I go first."
"Huh?" Lux froze, blinking in confusion. "You're not letting me go first?"
Right out of the gate, it was already not going the way she planned.
Her whole strategy depended on going first.
Luke looked at her like it was obvious. "I let you go first a million times yesterday. Today it's my turn."
Lux's eyes went even more confused.
She was about to argue, but then Luke's voice came with a faint edge of mockery.
"Don't tell me Miss Crownguard is so strong now that she still needs people to hand her the first move?"
That immediately triggered Lux's pride.
She stiffened and said, "Fine! You go first!"
Luke didn't hesitate. He drew a black piece on the paper board.
Lux took a deep breath and got serious.
Today she wasn't reckless like yesterday. Every move was carefully thought through before she placed it.
Even so, a dozen-something moves later… she lost again.
So Lux ended up with one white paper strip stuck to her face. Furious and unwilling to accept it, she immediately demanded a second round—and strongly insisted she go first this time.
Luke agreed.
With the first move secured, Lux's confidence surged back. A cold smile tugged at her lips as she placed her opening piece exactly where she'd planned.
Now all she needed was Luke's response. Once she played her second move, her "formation" would be halfway complete.
Then she watched Luke mark the paper—
And instantly froze again.
"You can't play there…"
She said it in complete disbelief.
Luke looked genuinely puzzled. "Why can't I play there?"
Lux couldn't answer. In that moment, she fell into a bottomless confusion.
Formation, strategy… none of it mattered if your opponent didn't follow the script.
What do you do then?
Seriously, I need an answer right now.
Her plan was: first move secured, trap complete by move four.
Instead, Luke's first move landed exactly where her second move was supposed to go. Her setup was dead before it even started.
How was she supposed to play after that?!
Watching Lux's blank little face, Luke almost laughed out loud.
He kept his expression calm and said, "Your turn."
"Ah… oh."
Lux snapped back to reality, stared at the board, and suddenly had no idea where to place her piece.
Her mind was a mess now.
And once her head was gone, she was never beating Luke. This time she didn't even last as long as she did in the first round.
Lux exhaled, and the two paper strips stuck to her forehead fluttered slightly. Her delicate face was full of confusion and grievance.
Seriously. She'd planned out exactly how she was going to win.
So what—what part went wrong?!
Luke gave a soft laugh. "Another one?"
"No!"
Lux refused instantly.
She finally realized her skill still wasn't there. She needed more practice.
Just then, someone walked into the classroom through the front door.
The entire class went still.
"The emergency got canceled, so we're having class as normal today."
The person speaking was—very clearly—the teacher who was supposed to be absent.
Professor Mors.
Standing at the podium, she said seriously, "Everyone hand in yesterday's homework. Starting from the first row. If you didn't do it, don't blame me when I'm not gentle."
It had to be said—Professor Mors pulling that last-second reversal hit the entire class like a sucker punch.
Some students hadn't written anything at all. Others had half-done it lazily. Bitter expressions spread everywhere.
They were done for.
A bunch of them even suspected this was intentional—a trap Professor Mors set just to land a strong hit on the whole class.
And she caught a lot of people.
But that blow didn't reach Miss Crownguard.
In the very back row, the second Lux heard Professor Mors, the confusion and grievance vanished from her face.
In its place: a deliberately shocked expression.
"Oh wow," she said loudly, "how did a completed homework assignment suddenly appear in my backpack?"
Then she looked at Luke and gave him a wicked smile. "Surely nobody failed to write theirs, right?"
Luke opened his bag and immediately widened his eyes. "Huh? Why do I also have a completed homework assignment in here?"
Lux: "…"
Luke: "…"
After performing two of the fakest acting jobs imaginable, they exchanged one look—then both fell silent and looked away at the same time.
Then they stood up together and walked to the podium.
They handed their homework to Professor Mors.
Professor Mors glanced at Lux's face with a strange look. She didn't understand why Miss Crownguard had two paper strips stuck to her face.
She didn't ask. She just shifted her attention to the homework.
And the moment she read it, she genuinely looked surprised.
She hadn't expected the best-completed assignments today to come from the two students she had the lowest expectations for: Luke and Lux.
What was going on?
Had the world changed?
Professor Mors didn't understand.
Luke and Lux returned to their seats. After staying quiet for a moment—
"Nice weather today," Luke said.
"Yeah," Lux replied.
And just like that, the homework topic was silently buried.
Not long after, morning class began—boring as always.
Luke rested his cheek on his hand and stared out the window.
The teacher's voice droned on in the background. Outside, a light breeze passed by. Sunlight spilled across everything, willow branches swayed gently—
The whole scene was so peaceful it made Luke feel strangely disoriented.
Like he'd been in this world for a long time without even realizing it.
He turned his head and saw Lux leaning over her paper board, deep in thought, the two white paper strips bobbing slightly with her breathing.
She wasn't getting them off before school ended.
This one was entirely her own trap—she'd dug the hole and jumped right in.
At noon…
After lunch, the two of them went to the library together.
This place had basically become their home base. If they didn't have anything else going on at midday, they came here.
But today, the moment they arrived, they saw something unusual.
Normally, Fiora would be reading at this hour.
Instead, she was sitting there with a game board in front of her, eyes locked on it. Her beautiful brows tightened, then relaxed, then tightened again.
And beneath her eyes—faint dark circles.
She'd clearly stayed up late.
Hearing footsteps, Fiora looked up and saw Luke and Lux.
Her gaze paused for a second on the two paper strips on Lux's face before moving away. In her mind, she concluded Miss Crownguard had probably already fought two fierce battles.
That added a bit more pressure to Fiora's heart.
But looking down at the board again, Fiora steadied her mindset.
After half a night and an entire morning of studying, she could vaguely sense the true depth hiding inside this small game board. If she had just a bit more time, she'd be able to break through completely.
And when that happened, beating Luke should be easy.
With that thought, Fiora calmly swept Luke with a glance, then lowered her head and resumed her research.
Luke: "…"
Fine. If she was that focused, he wouldn't interrupt.
He said nothing, dragged a chair over, and made himself a little bed for a quick nap.
And the truly unbelievable part—
Normally Lux would also nap at this time.
But today, she sat down across from Fiora, pulled out her own drawn board from her pocket, and started studying too—without saying a word.
Luke couldn't help feeling speechless.
What was wrong with these two?
Why were they acting possessed, studying game strategy every spare second?
Were they really that desperate to beat him?
Luke snorted inwardly. With their beginner-level skills, no amount of serious studying would make them a threat to him.
So he stopped caring, lay down, and closed his eyes.
After a peaceful, comfortable nap…
The afternoon outdoor class passed like it always did.
Before long, it was time to leave school.
Today, Luke planned to check in on Navis. If nothing went wrong, the first hand-cranked printing press would be finished within the next few days.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.