Chapter 87 - 21

The executive suite of the Apex Sovereign Estate hummed with sudden, ecstatic energy as the central terminal chimed. The glass screen of the main Aegis-Link terminal pulsed with a soft cyan light, signaling an incoming encrypted transmission.

In less than three seconds, Lyra, Vespera, Ignis, and Celeste hovered around the console, their administrative poise vanishing into pure, unadulterated eagerness. Lyra’s fingers flew across the runic interface, unsealing the daily status report sent directly from Arthur’s personal mana pad.

Location: District 4 Residential Complex, Room 204. Status: Operational. Environment quiet. Observations: Academic baseline is predictable; fundamental mana-dynamics formulas in Lecture Hall 101 remain unoptimized by three iterations. Student demographic exhibits high social stratification. Note: I have secured a quiet desk in the back row beside a commoner student named Katherine. Do not dispatch covert units. The coffee from the local bakery down the street is acceptable, though lacking our private estate roast. Directive: Proceed with the secondary central bank dividend adjustments as planned.

"He called the academy curriculum ’unoptimized’!" Celeste gasped, her cheeks flushing a brilliant pink as she adjusted her spectacles, clutching her chest with a mix of academic embarrassment and helpless admiration. "I knew we should have updated the freshman textbooks before the semester began! He spotted the old runic formulas in three hours!"

"Look at how concise he is," Vespera purred, leaning against the marble desk with a slow, seductive smile, her crimson eyes scanning the text repeatedly. "He’s sitting in a tiny, drafty commoner room, drinking cheap local coffee, and still managing our global dividends with a single sentence. Ah, my lord is truly irredeemable."

Lyra, however, had her violet eyes locked squarely onto one specific line. She puffed out her cheeks, her small lips pulling into a tight, possessive pout as her chest rose and fell with simmering jealousy.

"’Beside a commoner student named Katherine,’" Lyra read aloud, her voice dripping with sweet, dangerous envy. Her fingers pinched her dress fabric. "He’s been at that academy for less than twelve hours, and he’s already picked a desk partner! Valerie, fetch me the complete background file on this Katherine girl by midnight!"

"Already on it, CEO Lyra," Valerie deadpanned from the shadows, adjusting her leather gauntlet with terrifying military precision.

Meanwhile, outside Room 204 in the quiet student apartment complex, the evening was anything but peaceful.

The narrow, wooden-floored hallway on the second floor had become an unannounced, highly competitive promenade. Dozens of high-born female students and elite upperclassmen were casually "roaming" past Arthur’s door, inventing the most absurd excuses to loiter in the corridor.

"Oh dear! I seem to have dropped my handkerchief right in front of Door 204!" a noble heiress in a silk nightgown exclaimed dramatically, lingering near his brass lock.

"Is this the second floor?" another high-tier female adventurer asked loudly, leaning against the wall while casually showing off her rare enchanted rapier. "I am completely lost! If only a knowledgeable male student would open his door and assist me with directions!"

Down at the end of the stairwell, three of the spoiled aristocratic boys—including Lord Julian—stood watching the female crowd surround Arthur’s door with burning, venomous jealousy. Julian’s fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, his face twisted in pure arrogance and spite.

"Look at them! All those high-born heiresses groveling outside the door of a filthy commoner!" Julian hissed under his breath, his eyes blazing with hatred. "He doesn’t even have a noble crest! He’s just a low-born peasant from the southern badlands! How dare he ignore us down front and draw every girl’s eyes to his quiet, arrogant face?!"

"We’ll put that peasant in his place during tomorrow’s practical combat assessment," his companion sneered bitterly. "Let’s see how cool he acts when his uniform is ripped to shreds by real magic!"

A few streets away, in her small, cramped scholarship room, Katherine sat on the edge of her simple cot, completely unable to sleep.

She hugged her knees tightly against her massive, heavy chest, burying her flushed face in her arms. The events of the morning played on a continuous, breathless loop in her mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Arthur’s calm, handsome face, his dark, unwavering eyes, and the smooth, effortless way he had caught her falling ink bottle without asking for a single thing in return.

He... he said he’s coming back to sit next to me tomorrow, Katherine thought, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs, her deep violet eyes wide with overwhelming, sweet confusion. Why me? Why didn’t he choose those rich, gorgeous noble girls? Why did he look at me like... like I was just a normal person?

For the first time in her life, the heavy, suffocating weight of her insecurities felt a little lighter. A small, brilliant smile bloomed across her face, her cheeks burning bright crimson as she tightly hugged her pillow, desperately wishing for the sun to rise so she could see him again.

Inside Room 204, the noise of the whispering girls outside the hallway faded into meaningless background static for Arthur.

He sat alone at his oak desk, the soft, cool moonlight spilling over his clean, organized notebooks. The room was dark, saved for the gentle cyan glow of his Aegis-Link Mana Pad resting beside a warm glass of water.

Arthur leaned back against his wooden chair, crossing his arms as he looked out the open glass window at the glowing, modern skyline of Aegis City. The distant hum of mana-powered streetlamps and air-drakes echoed softly in the night.

For all his cold, mathematical genius and his absolute monopoly over a continent, a rare, quiet wave of nostalgia swept over his mind.

Memories of his past life on Earth—before the magic, before the corporate empires, before the reincarnation—floated up from the deep recesses of his memory. He thought back to those exhausting, concrete-filled years in his modern world. He remembered his older sister.

She had been a dedicated, overworked hospital physician—a strong, selfless woman who was the only person in his previous life who truly cared for him as a human being, rather than a corporate prodigy or a wealth-generating machine. No matter how late he worked, or how cold and distant Arthur made himself out of self-preservation, she would always burst into his apartment, forcing him to eat warm meals, fussing over his health, and scolding him for neglecting his sleep.

She always insisted I work too hard... Arthur thought, a soft, rare, almost invisible smile touching his lips in the quiet darkness of his room. She would probably hit my head with a medical binder if she saw me building an entire central bank and an industrial empire just to cure my own boredom.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep, peaceful breath of the night air. He had remade this world from the ground floor up, securing absolute peace, boundless prosperity, and an empire that no force could shatter.

Arthur opened his eyes, the cold, brilliant light of an undisputed sovereign returning to his dark gaze as he looked toward the horizon where the grand spires of the Aegis Academy stood under the stars.

Tomorrow, the noble boys would try their petty schemes, the girls would continue their frantic chases, and Katherine would be waiting in the back row. And the secret monarch of the continent was ready to enjoy every single second of it.