The afternoon after narrowly escaping McHart’s attack.

Naturally, I couldn’t focus during the subsequent magic class, and my mind kept drifting back to the danger I had just encountered.

‘It was really close...’

I had almost been killed by McHart’s whims. Although I managed to escape by putting up a fierce resistance and exploiting his overconfidence, the threat to my life remained very real.

In fact, I might have gotten myself into more trouble than just a simple threat to my life. If he had only been threatening to kill me, I could have handled it by eliminating him first. But if McHart truly had his sights set on me, things would get much more complicated.

If I wasn’t careful, even if I killed him, I could end up branded as someone who conspired with demons.

Moreover, dealing with someone of McHart’s status as the Fourth Prince was problematic in many ways. Not only was he connected with demons, but his status was also annoyingly high.

There was even a chance that Ethan, who was currently my fiancé in name only, could get caught up in this mess.

‘I have to deal with this quickly and quietly.’

In the original storyline, McHart wasn’t someone who could be dealt with until the episode just before leaving the Empire after graduation. In the main story, he was the final boss of Part 4.

After battling him, the story would shift to Part 5, where the protagonist would fight against the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings and the Demon King himself as they advanced into the demon-occupied territories.

‘Theoretically, he’s the final boss of Part 4, but that doesn’t mean there’s no way to defeat him now.’

McHart accepted power from the demons about four and a half years ago. He likely killed the First Prince and Empress shortly after receiving that power, so this calculation was accurate.

And by the fifth year after accepting the power, McHart successfully transformed into a demon, making it impossible to hide his true nature any longer. He faked his death by killing his double, making it appear as if he had died at the hands of the demons, and then fled the Empire.

In other words, McHart only gained the final boss-level power after his transformation into a demon, and fortunately, he still had about six months left before that transformation would be complete.

While it wasn’t an abundance of time, it was enough to attempt to kill him. If I could gather the main characters of Luminor Academy and launch a concerted effort, it might be possible to take him down.

‘The problem is that gathering those main characters at this point isn’t easy.’

I didn’t have any real connections with the hero’s party, and approaching the hero would mean disobeying Ethan’s orders.

Even though I was acting to protect my own life, the fact remained that I would be defying Ethan’s instructions by making contact with the hero.

Additionally, since I had already met Agnes last year without telling Ethan, doing something similar this time would undoubtedly disappoint him.

Therefore, I would have to explain to Ethan not only that McHart was threatening my life, but also why I needed the hero’s help to resolve the situation.

Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could explain all of this to Ethan without mentioning my previous life.

‘It would be so much easier if I could just tell Bolt everything.’

From the moment I first saw his name, I was convinced that Bolt was indeed a player of Luminor Academy. After observing his actions, I was certain of it.

In other words, Bolt would likely understand and accept the fact that I was reincarnated and had played Luminor Academy in my previous life, without thinking it was strange.

However, Ethan was a person from this world, and convincing him that he was a character in a game would be challenging.

The concept of a computer game probably didn’t even exist in his mind, so I’d have to use some other metaphor, like comparing it to a novel.

...And above all, I didn’t want to reveal to Ethan that I had been a man in my previous life.

Because if I told him that, Ethan would either end up as a guy with a taste for men or as someone who fell in love with a girl without caring that she had been a man inside. Neither outcome was desirable, and there was no need to burden Ethan with such a harsh truth.

Moreover, if I told Ethan that I was a man in my previous life, it would...

“Lillis, Lillis.”

“Huh? Yes, yes?”

“Class is over. How long are you going to sit there?”

“Oh...”

...Come to think of it, it was the middle of the afternoon class.

I remembered entering the classroom, exchanging a brief greeting with Agnes, and then sitting down, but by the time I snapped out of it, the chalkboard had been wiped clean, and only Agnes and I remained in the empty classroom.

“Is something wrong? You’ve been staring into space for a while.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Agnes.”

“No need to apologize.”

Still, the fact that she stayed by my side until everyone else had left the classroom showed that she was a loyal friend.

Back when I was a player of Luminor Academy, I didn’t particularly like her character, but now that I’ve gotten to know her in the game, she’s really someone you can count on.

I silently apologized in my heart for the time when I used to refer to Agnes as a "hot-tempered red Chihuahua."

“I was just dealing with an important issue. One that’s deeply connected to my future.”

“Career issues? Are you worried about what to do after graduation?”

“It’s a more fundamental issue than that. It’s about whether I’ll even be able to graduate from the academy.”

“You’re the second-highest student in the Magic Department.”

“Well...yes, that’s true.”

...But that wasn’t the kind of graduation I was talking about.

In any case, this wasn’t the time to be picky about methods. It was time to seek help from anyone who could help me survive McHart’s threat.

Given that Agnes already owed me a favor, it would be relatively easy to enlist her cooperation.

“Miss Agnes.”

“Yes?”

“Before we head back to the dormitory today...could you accompany me to the Swordsmanship Department building?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

Agnes might not yet be in the ranks of a great magician, but her presence would at least deter McHart from approaching me easily, as he did last time.

If she could protect me for just a short while, that would be enough—at least until the end of this semester and the start of summer vacation.

By then, when McHart’s final semester would begin and before he could complete his transformation into a demon, I planned to take him down.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

With Agnes’s help, I made my way to Ethan’s Swordsmanship Department building, and from there, I walked back to the dormitory with Ethan.

After having dinner with him and returning to the dormitory, I immediately told Ethan about what had happened that afternoon.

I recounted how Prince McHart had approached me after I left Ethan at lunchtime, threatened my life, and then left after demanding that I become his wife.

Since it wasn’t something Isabella needed to hear, I made sure we were alone.

“...What... did you say?”

“This afternoon, Prince McHart approached me, threatened my life, and in the end, tried to blackmail me into becoming his wife, but he eventually gave up and left.”

Crack!

“E-Ethan, young master?!”

“That son of a...”

...I had tried to tell him the story calmly over a cup of lavender tea, but it seemed the tea didn’t have much of a calming effect.

The teacup in Ethan’s hand shattered along with his fist. Luckily, he was strong enough that he didn’t injure his hand, but the shards of the broken teacup scattered across the table and floor.

Cleaning up the pieces of the shattered cup was the least of my worries compared to stopping Ethan from grabbing his sword and storming out into the night.

“Young master Ethan, please calm down.”

“...No, I can’t calm down. Before dawn, I’m going to hang that disgusting bastard’s head on the academy’s main gate. And I’ll throw his body in the stables to be trampled by the horses all night...”

“If you do that, it will be considered treason and an insult to the royal family! Are you planning to wipe out the entire Blackwood family from the Empire?!”

“...Fine, I’ll just sneak in and kill him. If he threatened you with a blade, he should have been ready to be stabbed in return...”

“Young master Ethan!”

I hadn’t expected him to react without any emotion or to take the news lightly, but I also hadn’t expected him to lose his cool like this.

The reason I told Ethan about this wasn’t to encourage him to go assassinate McHart but to discuss how we could deal with him properly.

Acting rashly wouldn’t solve anything and would only make things much more complicated.

“I’ll say this one more time. I understand how you feel, but we can’t kill that prince right now.”

“If you’re talking about the consequences, I’ll handle them. It might take some time, but I can cover our tracks by creating a false identity. If we don’t use magic, there won’t be any traces left.”

“That’s not what I mean. While the aftermath of killing McHart is certainly a problem, what I’m talking about is the difficulty of killing him in the first place.”

“...What do you mean?”

"Prince McHart is using power he received from the demons."

"…He’s using demonic power?"

"Yes, young master Ethan."

Ethan's face grew more serious as he processed my words. Hearing about demonic power, he began to realize the situation was far more dangerous than he had initially thought.

For a moment, I worried that even after hearing this, he might still insist on going to kill McHart. Fortunately, Ethan, being a knowledgeable nobleman, wasn't so reckless.

"If I may offer some advice, acting rashly now could put you in even more danger, young master Ethan. From what I sensed when facing McHart directly, that’s how it felt."

"Then what should I do? Just let it go because the person who threatened your life is connected to demons?"

"Of course not. But if we’re going to handle this, I want to do it thoroughly and in a way that leaves no loose ends."

"…Handle it thoroughly?"

"Yes. And preferably in a situation where we can eliminate Prince McHart without any repercussions."

"Do you have a plan?"

"There are still some details to work out, but there is one person we must meet. Someone who knows best how to deal with demons... and they’re attending our academy."

"......"

Ethan’s expression hardened as soon as I mentioned someone who knew how to deal with demons.

He probably already guessed who I was talking about, but at this point, we couldn’t afford to be picky about our allies, no matter how personal the reasons might be.

"We need to meet with the current hero, Bolt."

"…The hero?"

"Yes. It’s necessary."

Ethan fell silent, processing the gravity of the situation and the implications of involving the hero. He knew as well as I did that this was no small matter, but if we were going to defeat McHart and ensure our safety, we needed the hero’s power on our side.