Mira stood at the edge of the assembly hall corridor, her breathing shallow as a fiery rage consumed her.

Mira stormed away from the gathering, her footsteps growing faster with every passing second. Why was she even angry? That was the question she kept asking herself. The sight of Nadia and Riley clinging to Lucien shouldn’t have bothered her.

Yet it did.

And that only irritated her further. "Stupid." She kicked a small pebble across the academy pathway. "Absolutely stupid."

A dark, overwhelmingly suffocating presence materialized directly behind her.

She whipped around, her eyes blazing. "What are you doing here, you scum?"

Lucien stood there, entirely unbothered by her venom. He adjusted the collar of his dark silks, a lazy, incredibly confident smirk playing on his lips.

"Well, nothing. Just wanted to check how you are doing—since you were clearly so jealous of my women."

Mira’s jaw clenched, a flush of anger hitting her cheeks. "Your women? Since when did you turn them into ’your’ women?!"

"Well, let’s just say I got the two at the exact same time," Lucien purred, taking a slow, predatory step forward.

His pitch-black eyes locked onto hers, his sweet tone subtly bleeding into her vision.

"And honestly, I was wondering when you would finally admit that you like me. I absolutely hate seeing girls get jealous of my women when they can really just have what they want. But make no mistake, Malia, the ones I like, I keep. The ones I don’t care for... they get disposed of."

Mira gasped, taking a sharp step back, disgust flaring in her eyes. "You are an absolute jerk for talking that way towards women! You use them and dispose of them like trash? Is that what you plan to do with Nadia and Riley?!"

Lucien laughed, the sound low and rich, echoing off the stone walls. "Why would you think that? I love them."

He closed the distance between them with terrifying ease. Mira’s heart began to race against her ribs, her instincts screaming at her to run as she took another hurried step backward until her spine hit the cold wall.

"I could kill you at any moment, Lucien," she threatened, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to sound lethal. "So don’t come any closer!"

Lucien’s smirk only widened. "Kill me?"

In a fraction of a second, his shadow stretched and he vanished from her sight. Before she could even blink, his voice brushed right against the shell of her ear from behind.

"Well, I gave you the space you wanted. Happy?"

Mira spun around rapidly, her breath catching as she found herself facing him again, but this time she could leave freely since he has left the oy side she could pass.

She looked up into his face. He wasn’t using any of his lecherous skills yet her mind went completely hazy.

Her heart hammered violently, and a strange, overwhelming intoxication turned her thoughts upside down. ’Who is this person?’

Driven by a sudden, uncontrollable impulse, Malia rose onto her tiptoes. She leaned forward and pressed her lips firmly against his in a sudden, desperate kiss.

-------

Few moments ago

At that exact moment a familiar blue screen suddenly appeared inside his mind.

[NEXT MISSION: Acquire Mira’s Unique Ability]

Reward: Mira’s Unique Skill, 500,000,000 EXP,

Time Limit: 15 Days

Failure Penalty: Removal of all skills and abilities.

Lucien stared, then stared harder, then looked toward the direction Mira had stormed off, then back at the system, then back toward Mira, then back at the system again. "...What the hell?" and to make matters worse, the announcement stage suddenly lit up because the examination results were finally about to begin.

______

But before Lucien could even react or wrap his arms around her to return it, she sharply broke away, panting.

She glanced past his shoulder and froze. Standing at the end of the hall, watching them with a stunned, wide-eyed expression, was Meghan. Mira’s face turned bright, furious red.

Overwhelmed by absolute embarrassment, she pushed past Lucien and sprinted down the corridor, her boots echoing as she fled the scene.

Lucien didn’t chase her. He simply turned around, crossing his arms as Meghan slowly walked up to him, her expression a mix of hurt and bitter disbelief.

"You really love playing with girls’ emotions, don’t you?" Meghan said, her voice strained.

"I like her. That’s why I wanted her," Lucien replied smoothly, his tone shifting back to that cold, unyielding indifference. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Meghan stepped into his personal space, her hands trembling at her sides. "Tell me why you did it."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. "Did what?"

"Don’t act like it didn’t happen!" Meghan yelled, her eyes flashing with a painful betrayal. "In the examination grounds! You broke my virginity, you made me feel things I’ve never felt, and then you threw me away like a broken tool!"

Lucien stared at her for a moment, then a look of realization crossed his face. He let out a sharp sigh. "That was not me. I didn’t do that to you."

Meghan blinked, completely thrown off. "What do you mean it wasn’t you?!"

"It was my clone," Lucien explained bluntly, his voice entirely devoid of emotion.

"Your... your what?" Meghan stammered, her mind reeling. "So... it really wasn’t you?"

"Yes. Why would I have sex with someone I don’t even know, who was actively trying to kill me?" Lucien countered, his logic cold and flawless.

Meghan stared at him, her chest heaving as the weight of his words sank in. Yet, as she looked at him, the terrifying reality of the system’s ’Absolute Protection Mark’ and vassal bonding hummed beneath her skin.

"But... but yet you still did. Or your clone did. It doesn’t matter! I feel so violently drawn to you now, Lucien. I don’t know why this is happening to me, but ever since that moment, I can’t stop thinking about you. It’s like... like my entire life suddenly revolves around yours, and I hate it!"

Inside his head, Lucien violently cursed his own system. ’Damn lecherous cheats,’ he snarled internally. ’The sex forces them into absolute submission whether I want it or not.’

He looked back down at Meghan, his expression hardening into stone. "Well... you have to kill that feeling. Because I can’t help you."

Without offering her another word, another look, or a single shred of comfort, Lucien turned on his heel and walked away, his long white hair swaying as he left her standing entirely alone.

Meghan stood frozen. She tightly clutched her hand over her heart, a massive, agonizing ache swelling in her chest.

She desperately fought the overwhelming wave of tears threatening to burst from her eyes, forcing herself to swallow the sob, refusing to let a single tear fall for a man who didn’t even care.