Chapter 84: The Forgotten Ruinbringer.

I walked through the calm streets of the academy campus.

My destination was the Staff Office Building but even as I walked, I kept my [[Eye of Usurper]] active, scanning every passerby in hopes of finding another hidden gem.

I did find quite a few.

Each one went straight into the small diary I carried with me.

Over the past few days, I had been pushing this poor body to its limits.

I was training twice a day under Ruan, meditating every night, wasting whatever free time I had socializing with Seles.

...And, of course, trying to spend as much time with Lily as I could.

There were even days when I would spar with Asher just to see his progress and honestly, that bastard had surprised me.

For someone who was a storyteller in past life, his instincts of this life were absurdly sharp and good enough to place him in the World Class.

But, in pursuit of his precious naps and under the excuse of keeping an eye on the Devil Contractor, he had deliberately let himself fall all the way to Wolf Class. Though I did at least introduce him to Liana, who happened to be in the same class.

And all of it actually helped a lot.

Lily had actually started replying to me, Asher was finally growing stronger and, more importantly, Seles trusted me far more than she had when we had first met.

Aside from all that, I had also made quite a bit of progress with my own body over the past few days.

I could feel myself growing stronger with each passing day.

Hell, thanks to my relentless training, I had already pushed my physique to the very peak of G-Rank, I was now only a single step away from the starting line normal people were born with.

F-Rank.

Lost in my chaotic thoughts, I arrived at the Staff Office Building and after asking one of the guards for directions, I was pointed toward Alya’s office. I wasn’t sure what reward she was planning to give me but whatever it was, her role in my plans was absolutely essential.

Within a few minutes, I arrived on the second floor of the Staff Office Building and knocked on a door with Alya’s name engraved on the plaque.

"May I come in, Ma’am? I am Zenith Ruinbringer from the first-year World Class."

I knocked once more.

"Come in."

Alya’s voice came from the other side.

Without hesitation, I stepped inside as a lavish, utterly devoid of modesty greeted me.

Artifacts of every kind were decorated on the shelves while expensive paintings hung on the walls as if their sole purpose was to remind every visitor that this office belonged to someone important.

A redwood desk similar to the one in the Ruinbringer Patriarch’s office, stood at the center of the room, behind which Alya was seated, her eyes fixed on a stack of documents.

"Sit."

She pointed toward the chair opposite her without even looking up. I didn’t say a word and simply took my seat while waiting for her to finish.

Only after a few minutes was she finally done.

She placed the stack of documents back onto the desk before looking up at me.

"What is it, Ruinbringer?"

Her voice was as cold as ever.

"You asked me to visit your office and collect the promised reward, Ma’am." I spoke politely, taking out the token that came out from the Maze Cube I had solved just this morning.

Her eyes narrowed at the token...

...and then at me.

"What kind of trick did you use?" Her gaze sharpened. "I refuse to believe someone like you could have solved it without cheating."

Her aura burst outward, pressing down on me in an attempt to force the truth from my lips.

I gritted my teeth, pretending her mana was actually affecting me and only after taking a good moment did I speak.

"Aren’t you becoming the very person you once hated... Aunt?"

The moment those words left my mouth, she froze and her oppressive aura vanished as if it had never existed.

"H-How...?" Her eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

She had hated me with a passion during my first year in my previous life as well and back then, I didn’t know why. It wasn’t until I became Duke of Ruinbringer family that I finally learned the truth.

She was a Ruinbringer herself.

After discovering everything, I brought her back into the family, only to make her work herself to the bone as revenge for making my academic life a hell.

Honestly, watching her beg me to stop assigning her work was a pretty amusing sight but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that this time since I didn’t have any intention to become the duke.

So instead, I let my expression shift into something pitiful.

"Because I learned everything about you, Aunt." I met her gaze. "You are the only person in that entire damned family who hated them as much as I did."

"You may resent me for not sharing your fate but mine was even worse. You were exiled and at least that allowed you to escape that cold and lifeless house but I didn’t even have that mercy."

"I was forced to live there... surrounded by those snakes and heartless bastards, mocked and bullied even by the servants because I was too weak."

I stared directly into her eyes.

"You know, I respected you and even imagined what our first meeting would be like."

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

"But you’re no different from them."

Her eyes trembled.

"Just like they tormented you, just like they dismissed everything you achieved as nothing more than a trick and just like how they refused to acknowledge your worth, you are doing exactly the same thing to me."

"So tell me, Aunt, how are you any different from the Ruinbringers you despised?"

She flinched.

"I... I didn’t..." Her lips parted, but no words came out. "U-Um... I..."

For the first time since I had met her, Alya couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Meanwhile, I barely managed to keep the grin threatening to spread across my face.

Bullseye.