After setting the courses, Vlad checked their timetable. They had classes from early morning of the next day.

"Chloe, meet me at 7:30 outside the main building tomorrow morning."

"So early. Why?"

"We have Elemental Studies lecture from 8:00."

"I’m tired. I want to sleep the whole day."

"Fine then. I will become strong alone and leave you in the dust," Vlad said, wrapping his arm around Chloe’s neck and choking her.

She responded in an instant, stabbing his arm with a fork.

"I will come."

Vlad immediately pulled his arm back as three red marks remained on his forearm. Chloe certainly hadn’t held back with the fork. Now that classes had been settled, he unlocked the [Communication] feature on both phones and saved their contacts in each other’s device.

[Contact list:

H:

Hero Vlad]

[Contact list:

M:

Max

P:

Piggy]

"Chloe, you can send me a message by tapping here, or call me from a long distance," Vlad explained the calling function of the phone to her.

She listened to his explanation in silence while he wiped the food crumbs from her lips.

"Why is your name saved as Hero Vlad in my phone, and my name as Piggy in yours?" she asked, pointing at the two phones.

"The phone detects our inner personality and names us accordingly," Vlad answered with a deadpan expression.

"In that case, it should be Stupid Vlad, Idiot Vlad, or Narcissist Vlad. All three, even."

"Hey, now you are being rude."

"Change my name!" Chloe ordered, her tone sharp.

"No, I won’t," Vlad replied, grabbing his phone in a flash and slipping it into his trouser pocket.

She silently stared at his victorious smug expression and muttered under her breath, "I cannot wait for Beast Taming class."

"Guys, aren’t you just showing off at this point?" Max’s voice came from the other side as he yanked his handkerchief with his teeth in envy. "Have some mercy for singles like us?"

He wasn’t the only one feeling that way. The other freshers in the cafeteria shared the same sentiment.

How could a monster like him end up with a girlfriend this cute?

He must have lured that innocent girl into his schemes. Should I try to save her?

Do girls these days only go for handsome faces instead of personality?

These were the questions every young fresher was silently wrestling with, given that Chloe had anything but average looks. She had already been placed among the academy goddesses alongside Seraphina, entirely without her knowledge. What irritated them further was that, while they could question Vlad’s personality a hundred times over, there was one thing they could not deny. He was frustratingly handsome.

If not for his name, nobody could have guessed he was a commoner, given his unique blood-red eyes and striking facial features.

"What do you mean?" Vlad asked Max, tilting his head.

"You serious right now?" Max demanded with narrowed eyes. "No way you are oblivious to her—"

Smack!

"Mango boy is tired. He needs to go to the dormitory," Chloe said from the other side, the tip of her foot striking Max on the leg.

The kick was lethal enough to bring instant tears to Max’s eyes.

"S-so th-that’s how it is," Max muttered, clutching his leg as Chloe fixed him with her glare.

"You okay, Max? I heard something just now," Vlad asked, noticing the moisture in his eyes.

"I j-just stubbed my toe."

He was smart enough to know the difference between finding out and messing around.

As the trio left the cafeteria and reached the central hall of the main building, they were met by Sophia.

"There you are, the top three treasure hoard—I mean, treasure winners," Sophia said, her hands clasped behind her back.

The trio greeted Sophia.

"Senior, were you waiting for us?" Vlad asked.

"Exactly!" Sophia answered, both thumbs up. "The President told me to give you three something."

’So the punishment is already here,’ Vlad sighed inwardly. He had known it would come, but he hadn’t expected it this soon. From everything he had observed of Seraphina’s conduct so far, he had concluded that she wouldn’t do anything to publicly humiliate him. She was playing a longer, more personal game.

’Let’s see how she plans to make my life harder this time.’

"Senior, you are not playing a prank on us, are you?" Max’s flustered voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

In Sophia’s hands were three forms. At the top of each, in bold letters, read: Application Form to Join Student Council.

"I am dead serious. Miss President told me to recruit all three of you to the Student Council," Sophia explained. "It is your choice whether to join, but Miss President said you would suuurely~ agree."

"B-but only a select few can join the Student Council," Max exclaimed, already brimming with excitement. "It is even rarer for first-years to be admitted. Is this the punishment she was talking about? It feels more like a reward."

"What are you on about?" Vlad muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose. "It is definitely a punishment. A terrible one at that."

He was already dreading the one-on-one meeting with Seraphina, but that was a single, contained tragedy. If he joined the Student Council, he was in for a grueling ride across all three years at the academy. He absolutely needed to avoid that scenario under any circum—

"Oh, Miss President also asked me to pass along a message: it will not be a pin next time."

Vlad silently took the application form from Sophia’s hand, signed it, and handed it back.

"Oh, that was fast. I thought you were against the idea," Sophia said, visibly surprised by his sudden agreement.

"Haha, how could I pass up such an opportunity," Vlad replied with a strained smile.

He had understood perfectly well what Seraphina meant by her cryptic message. The pin she referred to was the one she had used to puncture his chest while fastening the badge to his jacket.

’I definitely need to find a way to get her off my back,’ He decided inwardly.

Chloe tugged at his sleeve from the side and muttered, pinching his skin along with it.

"Playboy jerk!"