Recalling Rukna’s words, Matian picked up a training dummy as heavy as an adult male and placed it upright in its proper place, then cleared away the broken wooden sword debris to one side.

Then belatedly, a question arose.

‘Why am I doing this now?’

Isn’t this something those foolish club members following Rukna should be doing?

‘Come to think of it, Rukna Golden also helped me when I was sick. I’m just repaying that debt now.’

Matian dusted off his palms and only then moved to the southern training ground.

At least today, Rukna won’t trip and fall over anything.

The misty rain that had been falling since late at night showed no signs of stopping.

Only Rukna was in the northern training ground, which was especially tidy today.

Following the holy sword’s instructions, she had done such intense training today that it was hard to tell if her clothes were wet from the misty rain or sweat.

‘Since practice ended earlier than usual, should I go to the Square of Honor?’

The campus in the predawn mist was hazy and peaceful.

The scent of tall oak trees lining the path wafted to her nose with each step on the stone pavement where rainwater had pooled slightly.

‘Security is strict even at dawn.’

When the tightly closed school gate appeared, Rukna briefly concealed her presence. The number of guards standing sentry on either side of the gate had increased.

After the airship incident, school security had become even tighter, making it seem impossible to slip out beyond the gates without permission.

‘I wanted to go to the square where the holy sword was embedded, but that’s too bad.’

Though she had no intention of returning the holy sword today, it was something that would need to be put back in its place someday, so mental preparation was necessary.

‘Then a true hero will protect the world.’

Turning back, Rukna closed her eyes for a moment, imagining a future where Matian corrected his mistakes and became a hero, differently from the prophecy book.

The misty rain created by the predawn air enveloped her face, making her feel as if she were walking through still water.

It was after about twenty steps like that.

Someone suddenly grabbed her arm and draped a thick towel over her shoulders.

“What on earth are you doing here?”

Rukna’s eyes flew open at Matian’s voice and she looked around.

Perhaps because she had been walking with her eyes closed, she had been heading in the wrong direction.

Right in front of her was an iron post with a gas lamp attached – if she had kept walking, she would have crashed into it.

“Just playing around a bit. Haha.”

Rukna looked at Matian self-consciously. He had already finished training and bathed, wearing only pants.

His body, at the boundary between youth and adulthood, was still as perfect as a museum statue, but that likely wasn’t his intention to show off to her.

‘Why did he put a towel on me when I’m fully dressed, while he’s half-naked?’

Rukna removed the towel from her shoulders and held it out to Matian again.

But Matian was too busy examining the wound on Rukna’s neck to take the towel.

“I cleaned up so you wouldn’t get hurt, but you’re about to hurt yourself in a strange place.”

“Huh? What did you clean up?”

“Nothing.”

Matian belatedly took the towel Rukna held out, then draped it properly over Rukna’s shoulders again.

What’s with this guy? Rukna grabbed Matian as he was about to turn away.

“Hey, Matian!”

“…?”

“Why do you keep giving this to me? I have my own towel.”

Rukna pulled out a small towel from the bag she was carrying and waved it.

“Your clothes are all wet. It’s see-through, so cover up.”

“What does it matter between men?”

“…”

Matian, at a loss for words at that response, turned his gaze to the bag Rukna was carrying.

His eyes narrowed as he saw various bath items like soap and perfume through the open top.

“Who are you meeting today?”

“How did you know? Bolton said he has a meeting with St. Agnes Girls’ School students today and asked me to go with him.”

Just yesterday, Bolton had asked Rukna for help, saying he needed to meet with neighboring girls’ school students about the graduation party but was short on numbers.

In exchange for that, he would give her five bottles of muscle-building elixir, so Rukna eagerly seized the opportunity.

Though she was disguised as a man, she felt the desire to look attractive to the girls’ school students and had packed too many bath items.

But Matian didn’t seem to like that.

“Only student council members can participate there, Rukna.”

Look at that expression. His mouth is smiling but his blue eyes are tense.

“Bolton said it was fine. He said the St. Agnes student council has five members total, so they needed one more from our side. He said the girls would be happy if I showed my face?”

“As if.”

“What?”

Rukna’s eyes widened.

Couldn’t he at least give a perfunctory response? Matian, who was good at making small talk with others, was always harsh only to her.

Fine, keep being prickly. I won’t be discouraged by that.

“Just watch. I’ll show you how charming I can be!”

Though nonsense came out, words once spoken couldn’t be taken back.

Rukna threw the towel draped on her shoulders back at Matian and headed for the bathhouse.

Though she walked quickly with large strides, Matian soon caught up.

A hand reached out from behind and draped the towel over Rukna’s shoulders again.

“The fencing club has morning practice today. You might run into those guys after you bathe, so cover up with this. And don’t walk around in wet clothes from now on.”

Then Matian went ahead back to the dormitory.

Rukna paused briefly, looking down at the large towel covering her upper body and frowned.

“Why is he acting like this?”

In any case, that neat freak seemed to hate seeing others in wet clothes too.

Before leaving the room, Rukna checked her face in the round wall mirror hanging by the entrance.

‘This looks pretty good, right?’

Using wisteria flower perfume to add volume to her hair was a stroke of genius.

Making her look 3cm taller made her seem like a different person.

Though she was meeting other women, she felt strangely excited and nervous.

Living as a man at the military academy, she may have become too immersed in the role.

Rukna leaned her upper body slightly forward and glared fiercely at the mirror.

She didn’t forget to raise one corner of her mouth in a fatal expression.

“Hello, my lady. I am Rukna Golden.”

Then she pretended to kiss the back of an imaginary hand.

‘I’m really crazy today. I don’t think anyone can surpass me today, Bisvi?’

Just as Rukna was getting lost in her own charms, giving a thumbs up and pretending to slit her throat…

“The mirror will remember today’s events, master. That’s enough.”

The holy sword, concerned about its master’s state of making death threats, stopped Rukna.

‘…You’re right. I’m sorry, mirror.’

Belatedly feeling the impact, Rukna stretched her lips into a long line and left the room before greater shame could overwhelm her.

When she arrived at the main gate, the student council was there. It seemed she was the only one excited about meeting female students, as the others except Bolton looked no different than usual.

‘By the way, where did Bolton get into a fight?’

He was wearing a training tunic with torn sleeves that had become sleeveless, paired with relatively intact uniform pants.

Judging by the metal chain decorations on his arms and waist, it seemed he had just come from sparring… but why had he removed the eyepatch he usually wore?

‘Surely he’s not trying to look stylish?’

He couldn’t be wearing torn clothes because he was short on money, given how many elixir patents he held.

“Hey, blockhead. What are you staring at? Are you envious of my manly outfit too?”

As expected, it was an intentional look. And it seemed she wasn’t the only one who found it strange.

Rukna glanced to the side.

Aaron, the student council treasurer, was looking at Bolton’s clothes with a disgusted expression, but when he met Rukna’s eyes, he quickly turned away.

Meanwhile, Bolton, who had been looking Rukna up and down, burst out laughing.

“Haha, did you put effort into your hair to meet girls? Good job, good job.”

“Yeah, it’s my first time seeing girls other than Giselle, so I paid some attention.”

Rukna calmly replied while staring at Bolton, whose short hair was spiked up like an angry hedgehog.

“Really? You’re unexpectedly innocent.”

Bolton laughed heartily and ruffled Rukna’s hair.

Oh no, the hair she had spent over 30 minutes styling with perfume strand by strand! Rukna quickly brushed Bolton’s hand away, but her hair was already a mess and couldn’t be fixed.

“You did that on purpose!”

Look at this. Male hedgehog jealousy is so scary.

“Don’t try too hard, blockhead. We’re going to have a meeting, not show off our looks.”

“And you…! Oh, forget it.”

Bolton’s style was too… to say he had put in effort.

But there was no point in arguing here. Rukna mounted the horse prepared at the main gate.

As Rukna adjusted her posture in the stirrups, Chad approached on horseback.