“Are you admiring the mural? Shall we, the Luibic-dong, quietly clean up all the other guys so you can appreciate it in peace?”

Since when did the environmental beautification club start cleaning up people too?

Rukna awkwardly smiled and shook her head.

“I wish you’d clean yourself first, Hans. How many days have you gone without washing to smell like that?”

“W-was it me who was the culprit?”

Hans turned pale and sniffed his own body.

Then he was dragged away to the bathroom by the other Luibic-dong members.

Zvai, who had been waiting behind, immediately thrust his face forward.

“Lady Rukna, do you like this mural? Shall I take it down and bring it to your room tomorrow?”

No, how would you even take down a mural and bring it to a room? Besides, wouldn’t that lead to immediate expulsion? Rukna shook her head with a horrified expression.

“No, I was just looking because it’s interesting. Only Saint Closet’s face isn’t depicted.”

“Ah, I’ve heard that’s because her existence was erased.”

“Her existence was erased?”

“Yes. The saint’s face doesn’t appear in other hero illustrations either. They say after the saint sealed the Demon King’s soul in her body, no one could remember the saint’s face.”

People thought that after sealing the Demon King, the saint had also erased her own existence, it is said.

“But later generations were able to remember the saint’s deeds thanks to Hero Wiegratz. The hero kept remembering the saint for a long time and left records.”

Zvai gave an uncharacteristically detailed explanation.

“You know quite a lot, don’t you?”

“Thank you for the praise, Lady Rukna!”

Zvai stood at attention with a broad grin. However…

“Then why are your grades in such a state that you asked me to take your place as the last in class?”

As soon as he heard the follow-up question, he turned deathly pale.

“I have committed a mortal sin. Please punish this Zvai!”

Zvai assumed a prone position without being told and voluntarily banged his head on the ground.

The students murmured about Rukna being the ‘Judge of Death’ and quickly returned to their rooms.

The lobby that had been bustling just moments ago suddenly became deserted.

“…Well, you do need to reflect a bit, Zvai.”

Feeling like misunderstandings were only growing the more she went on, Rukna rubbed her throbbing temples as she climbed the stairs.

「Congratulations, Master.」

‘……?’

「Your reputation has risen one level from ‘Suspicious Club President’ to ‘Dark Power Behind the Scenes’.」

‘Oh, thank you so much for letting me know.’

Is it okay for a descendant of the saint to be called the ‘Judge of Death’ or ‘Dark Power Behind the Scenes’?

To think she’d earned two nicknames that would make her dead ancestors rise from their graves. It had truly been a valuable day.

A few days later, Rukna headed to the library.

On the way, she turned her head to look at the sky and saw early summer cumulus clouds luxuriously occupying one side of the sky.

Today had been as peaceful as that sky, but Rukna’s mind was nothing but complicated.

‘If I keep searching for materials, I should find some clues.’

Rukna began rummaging through the library to find out information that the holy sword wouldn’t tell her.

Books that looked boring at a glance, like ‘History of the Empire’ and ‘Greyton Empire Family Genealogy’, began to pile up at her side.

‘I got a lot of information from this summons, but there’s not much material to verify it.’

Rukna sighed as she flipped through a faded weekly magazine.

Ten years ago, after the mysterious carriage accident that drove the Closet family to their deaths, the name Closet was not found in any records.

There were just a few miserable articles about their extinction and some memorial articles, that was all.

‘Then, was this body miraculously survived the carriage accident, then adopted by the Golden count family and lived hiding its gender?’

And a few years later, to repay the kindness of the Golden count couple who had passed away, she might have voluntarily enrolled in the military academy in place of the sickly Perta Golden.

‘I was caught by Chad as a woman just before graduation.’

The reason she could be so carefree even after her gender was discovered was because she was certain that the fox-like Chad wouldn’t easily divulge it.

‘If he had intended to blab to others, he would have come to blackmail me as soon as he found out.’

The reason he didn’t was probably because the weight of Chad’s own secret was heavier than the fact that she was a woman.

‘Who was that woman Chad met on the Island of Wisdom? What connection did she have with the imperial family to possess an imperial crest pendant?’

Like a cliché in novels, that guy could be a prince hiding his identity.

Or a hidden mastermind.

‘Hey Bisbi, could Chad’s identity be……’

“What are you thinking about, Ruka?”

As Rukna was about to ask the holy sword a question, someone approached and covered her eyes. It wasn’t difficult to guess the owner of that languid voice. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Take your hands off, Chad.”

Rukna tried to pull Chad’s wrists down. But his hands didn’t budge an inch.

“Hmm, history of the empire and family genealogy.”

Chad scanned the books Rukna had been looking at.

“I wonder what you were so curious about.”

“Chad, I said take your hands off.”

“Were you perhaps thinking about me?”

According to the genealogy, Chad was the only son of the Vuto baronial family.

A family of ordinary origins with nothing special except for owning a huge vineyard.

‘It said that when the legitimate head of the family passed away 10 years ago, Chad’s parents, who were cousins, inherited the family.’

It was unclear how such a Chad came to possess the imperial crest that only members of the imperial family could have, but it was certain that there was an important secret.

‘If Chad’s identity is that of a hidden prince, he could possibly be the male protagonist of this world.’

Does that mean that trash would end up with Giselle, who is like the female protagonist? Ugh, just thinking about it gave her a headache.

‘Matian would be much better……’

Then Rukna was inwardly surprised. She didn’t know she held Matian in such high regard.

When Rukna frowned deeply, Chad finally removed his hands covering her eyes.

Those hands didn’t retreat obediently but playfully ruffled her platinum blonde hair.

“What are you thinking about so seriously, Ruka?”

“I was wondering if you’re the protagonist.”

Rukna blurted out whatever came to mind as she smoothed down her disheveled hair.

Chad, his eyes wide open, laughed out loud and took the seat next to Rukna without permission.

Ah, don’t sit here, go over there! Rukna rejected Chad, but Chad came on forcefully while giving a slight eye smile.

“You’re the first person to think of me as a protagonist, so I’m excited and want to sit next to you.”

“What?”

“I was never the first. Everywhere, first place or protagonist was always someone else’s. Here, Matian is hogging it all.”

Chad turned his body towards Rukna and propped his face with one arm.

“But I like that you thought of me that way, Ruka.”

“Then you should say thank you or something.”

Rukna ignored Chad’s gaze as she organized the weekly magazines and books she had been looking at.

She felt it was hopeless to sit here any longer.

“I’ll give you a reward instead.”

“A reward?”

Rukna asked back in disbelief. It seems he has a personality that makes it difficult to say thank you even as a joke.

“I’ll let you off once, Ruka…Ack?”

Just as Chad uttered those unfunny words, someone pulled his ear.

It was Aaron, a gnome as small in stature as Rukna and the student council treasurer.

“Who’s letting who off? I was wondering where you ran off to, and here you are flirting with a student of concern.”

Despite his delicate appearance, he must have incredible hand strength, as Chad kept making pained noises.

“Ugh, won’t you let go?”

When Chad deployed magic towards Aaron’s hand, Aaron said “Where do you think!” and shattered the magic circle with the wooden mallet he was holding in his other hand.

So that’s how it can be disrupted. Rukna’s eyes widened in surprise.

Aaron nodded his head at Rukna and then disappeared into the back of the library, dragging Chad along.

‘So, is Chad really the male protagonist, Bisbi?’

Rukna pressed the holy sword for an answer as she put the books back in their places.

「You’ve been repeating strange questions for a while now, Master. Have you gotten heatstroke?」

‘It’s because Chad seems like a hidden royal! In novels, guys with that kind of background even become emperors and stuff!’

「I told you he’s not a ‘hidden’ royal.」

Then does that mean he is a royal?

‘Then what about me? What’s my role in this world?’

「Master’s current position is ‘Dark Power Behind the Scenes’.」

‘I don’t mean that final boss-like nickname.’

「…….」

‘Why are you suddenly not answering? Am I really the final boss?’

「Master, you seem to have a tendency to overestimate yourself.」

The holy sword’s tone seemed mocking today.

Should I just put it back in the plaza? As her lips twitched, the holy sword continued its explanation.

「Still, your guess isn’t entirely wrong.」

‘Really?’

「Even now, Master is faithfully fulfilling the role of leader of the villains.」

Just then, from far away came a small shout of “Lady Rukna!” followed by club members who adored her rushing over en masse.

It was quite a sight to see guys as big as mountains tiptoeing to obey library rules.

Their expressions were fierce, but their eyes, purified by holy power, were more sparkling than anyone else’s, which made them even scarier.