Chapter 684: The Melancholic Prince Of The Academy [Part 1]

A sigh escaped Alex’s lips as he sat down in the cafeteria to eat.

He was oblivious to the amount of attention currently directed at him. Had he looked around, he would’ve noticed that the early risers present, especially the ladies, were looking at him.

His new hairstyle made him really stand out. Alex was already quite handsome. And after Lotte styled his hair, his attractiveness shot up drastically.

It was like getting used to a bookworm guy wearing glasses. Then he took it off, and suddenly, he was Superman.

The transformation was breathtaking.

And yet, this prince that suddenly jumped out of the picture book looked melancholic, plucking the hearts of the ladies who were tempted to go to his side and ask him what was wrong.

Alex didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment, so he only got a sandwich for breakfast. He was about to take a bite when Lavinia walked into the cafeteria.

She almost did a double-take because she saw a young man who looked like Alex but also didn’t feel like Alex.

The Alex she knew had this bright personality. Yet, the person eating silently at the corner of the cafeteria near the window looked melancholic, as if he had lost someone important to him.

She also noticed several of the girls whispering to each other while glancing in the young man’s direction. Some of them giggled, while others had the same thought as Lavinia.

Was that person really Alex?

In order to confirm her suspicion, she decided to walk up to him.

"Is this seat taken?" Lavinia asked, making the other ladies look at her with amusement. They also wanted to know if this person was indeed Alex or not.

"Yes," Alex replied. "Good morning, Lavinia."

"A-Alex?" Lavinia asked to confirm her suspicion. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Yes, it’s me," Alex replied. "What’s wrong? Do you not recognize me?"

"I almost didn’t recognize you," Lavinia replied. "You look different."

Alex smiled faintly after remembering Lotte’s efforts to style his hair earlier. For some reason, Latifa’s Alter seemed very concerned about him earlier, so she helped him dress up and even fixed his hair.

"Mmm. Lotte helped me a bit earlier," Alex answered. "She’s also the one who fixed my hair."

He then took a bite of the sandwich and ate quietly. Lavinia was very tempted to hug and kiss him then and there, letting everyone know that he was her boyfriend.

However, she held back.

Alex looked sad right now, and she wanted to know why he looked that way.

When the young man finished eating, he gave Lavinia a confused look.

"Aren’t you going to eat?" Alex asked. "Classes will start soon."

"Oh... right." Lavinia blinked before standing up to line up to get food.

It was at that moment that Alex’s friends entered the cafeteria one by one. Vaan, Charles, Nessia, and Renard.

At first, they didn’t notice Alex because they headed straight to the line to get some food. However, when they saw Lavinia carrying a food tray before walking in Alex’s direction, it was only then did they notice him.

"Is that... Alex?" Nessia asked while fixing her glasses with her finger.

"That’s Alex," Vaan said firmly.

Renard frowned, while Charles looked surprised at his friend’s new look.

Nessia, on the other hand, glanced at her boyfriend with a serious gaze.

’I better make sure not to let Charles dress up properly,’ Nessia thought. ’The ladies might pay attention to him if he underwent a transformation like Alex.’

After getting their food, Vaan headed to Alex’s table to join them. He even sat right beside Alex, giving him a hug.

Alex smiled faintly before patting Vaan’s head. This made the ladies who were watching the prince-like Alex squeal.

If they only knew that Vaan was a boy, they would still probably squeal, but for a different reason.

"So, what’s with the new look?" Nessia asked in a teasing tone. "You suddenly got your heart broken?"

Vaan giggled in response, Charles smiled faintly, while Renard just scoffed.

They believed that the last thing Alex would feel was heartbreak.

Unfortunately, Nessia was spot-on.

However, Alex just changed the topic of discussion.

"So, how is Prince Edward’s team doing?" Alex asked. He hadn’t been visiting the training grounds as of late, so he wasn’t able to see their progress. "Did their teamwork improve?"

"Yes," Nessia answered. "Their teamwork improved by a lot."

"Even if their opponent has one Rank 4 among them, I think they now stand a chance," Charles gave him his honest opinion. "They’ll be in peak condition once the tournament starts."

"If they can survive Renard and Fran’s brutal assault, they can survive anything," Nessia chuckled.

What she said was a fact. If anyone could defend against the charge of these two juggernauts, they might have a chance of winning.

The discussion lasted for only a little while before Nessia, Charles, and Renard headed to the training ground to once again pummel—err, spar with Prince Edward’s team.

Since they also helped with training the Second Years, the stipend from their scholarship this month also increased a bit.

Meanwhile, Alex, Vaan, and Lavinia headed to their next class, Alchemy.

Alex noticed that Chuck was still nowhere to be found.

’He probably stayed overnight somewhere and decided to skip school today.’

It was Friday, so tomorrow was the weekend. However, Chuck wouldn’t skip classes without a valid reason.

The last time Alex saw him, Chuck said he would be spending some time with Princess Xenia and Mary.

And since Chuck was absent, he assumed that the Princess and her maid would be absent as well.

Suddenly, he felt a gaze lock onto his body, which made him turn in the direction where it was coming from.

There, Evangeline stood with her mouth hung open.

But this only lasted for a few seconds before a predatory smile appeared on her face.

It was at that moment Alex knew by instinct that he was going to get eaten later.

’I should probably tell her to go easy on me,’ Alex thought. ’Tomorrow, I have a date with Lavinia.’

He had promised her some quality time during the weekend and probably take that next step together. Because of this, he would ask Evangeline to do the blood sucking in moderation.

Though, from the look on the vampire lady’s face, Alex had a feeling that she might drink something else aside from blood.

This made him wonder if letting Lotte fix his hair this morning was actually a bad idea or not.