Low ceiling, paint peeling off in strips, two small windows barely letting in any natural light, and just enough space to fit a bed that looked more like a prison cot.
And to top it off?
No mattress. None.
“Oh, come on! Five thousand for this dump?!” I rolled my eyes exasperatedly.
Juliana loudly huffed beside me, arms crossed, eyes filled with homicidal rage.
We stood at the doorway of my room. It was barely wide enough to fit us both.
Also, she had not stopped glaring at me like that since we left the Admission Office.
Honestly, she looked like she was considering all the ways she’d murder me without leaving any evidence.
No, really!
I wish I was exaggerating!
If she had a gun with three bullets, and it was just me, Hitler, and Stalin in a room, I was pretty sure she’d toss the gun and just strangle me with her bare fucking hands!
That was how much she hated me!
Can’t say I blamed her, though.
I basically dragged her with me to this glorified closet.
In fact, even making her pay for my dorm on Alaron street would’ve been better than forcing her to accompany me in this hellhole!
“Haha,” I chuckled thinking how petty I was, but nearly choked when Juliana’s scowl deepened into a look that suggested she was ‘actively plotting my demise.’
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not that bad!”
Lie. Such a lie.
But hey, maybe it really wasn’t that bad!
If I remember correctly, Michael — the game’s protagonist — had to camp in the gardens until the Evaluation day.
So, yes!
Compared to spending nights in the woods with pestering bugs and bloodsucking mosquitos to keep me awake?
A shoebox with no mattress like this was luxury!
“Oh well,” I shrugged, flopping onto the creaky wooden bed. Its frame groaned but luckily didn’t collapse under my weight. “I think I’ll take a nap.”
Juliana grunted like a dragon that was about to burn down a village and turned for the door. “I’ll go get my stuff and head to my room.”
She was almost out when a brilliant idea hit me.
“Oh, Juli,” I sat up, innocent as can be. “Could you do me a favor?”
She paused at the edge of the room, her eyes narrowing as she looked back at me. “Sure. How could I be of service to you, my benevolent lord?”
Wow.
Her tone dripped with more venom than a pit of snakes. It was almost enough to send chills down a man’s spine.
If only looks could kill.
“Bring my stuff back too, would you?”
Juliana blinked at me, her face going through several stages of disbelief at my utterly shameless request.
“You… want me to carry your luggage?”
I nodded like it was the most reasonable thing to do in the world. “Yes. Both of ours. But mine first. You’ve got time, right?”
It was already late in the evening. The whole interview and the admission process took much longer than I had expected.
The landing platform where my jet was parked was more than five blocks away. It would be night by the time I was done moving my luggage.
Besides, as Mahatma Gandhi once said – why do something yourself, when you can force others to do it for you?
Wait, that doesn’t sound like Gandhi now that I think about it…
Juliana’s voice cracked when she spoke, and I swear I saw her eyes twitch. “Young Master, it’ll take two hours to get all that back here by myself!”
I gave her my most encouraging smile. “Exactly. You’d better get started. I’d hate for you to miss your beauty sleep. You won’t look good if you get ugly.”
Her mouth dropped open, stunned into momentary silence.
Then, taking a sharp breath, she whirled around and stomped out the door, slamming it so hard behind her that the whole room quaked.
I thought the walls might cave in. They didn’t.
After I was left alone, I couldn’t help but take a deep breath and collapse back onto the bed.
I shuddered. “Oh god, she’s going to kill me, isn’t she?”
I wasn’t a fool. I knew I was playing with fire. But in this case it was necessary.
Completely necessary! It was all part of the plan!
No, really! I wasn’t tormenting her solely because I enjoyed it. I didn’t!
I swear I didn’t!
…Okay, fine, maybe just a little.
•••
The days after the interview passed in relative peace.
Well, at least as much peace as one could manage with a high-functioning sociopath murderously staring at you at all times.
Yes, Juliana still wasn’t pleased about me dragging her to this godforsaken dormitory.
And again, I couldn’t blame her.
I had reason to suspect that convicted criminals in prison get better things to eat than what this place served its residents.
No, really!
The bread here was like chewing on a brick!
The soup was just salted water!
And the rice and mashed potatoes were so strictly portioned out like they were made of gold!
I even heard a rumor that someone tried the dessert once… and spent the next day bedridden from food poisoning!
Like what?!
But somehow that wasn’t even the worst part.
The worst part was that the walls here were thinner than a sheet of paper. You could hear your neighbors whisper as if they stood right beside you.
There wasn’t a single moment of quiet in these halls, not a single moment of comfortable silence!
The people were even worse. Unsophisticated mongrels! Noisy and uncivil!
Well, what did I expect from peasants?
Fucking commoners.
…Okay, perhaps I was being a bit biased due to the fact that not a single person approached me since I arrived here.
No neighbors, no floormates, and not even the Resident Assistant!
It was understandable.
Most of the teens here came from poor households. They had suffered from crippling poverty all their lives, and all their lives they only had nobles to blame for it.
And while many of them didn’t recognize me outright, they all still knew. The way I dressed, the way I carried myself – it was enough to tell them who I was.
I was a noble.
So, they scornfully distanced themselves from me.
I shouldn’t have cared that none of them bothered with me. In fact, I never wanted to associate myself with them either.
I didn’t care… until I saw how they swarmed her.
That insufferable wench!
Juliana was showered with unwanted attention the moment we arrived here.
The boys flocked to her like bees to a pretty flower, buzzing with a pathetic eagerness, hoping she would spare them even a moment of her attention.
The girls, while mostly envious, couldn’t help but also gravitate toward her, feeling the way you feel for someone you both hate and admire.
There were many things I couldn’t stand about my cocky Shadow. Her subtle smugness, the cold look that was always present in her eyes, her infuriatingly calm demeanor…
But what I hated the most about her was that she was, in fact, undeniably beautiful.
Even among noblewomen, her beauty had a grace to it like none other. An effortless and easy charm that set her above the rest.
Don’t get me wrong – I couldn’t care less about her looks.
I’d been a high-noble by birth. I was more handsome than most and had been surrounded by beautiful girls all my life.
I’d been with women – older, younger, softer, sharper, prettier, plainer.
Looks didn’t sway me anymore.
But most people weren’t like me. Especially teenage boys. Boys my age were fools, easily led by a pretty face.
And girls like Juliana, who knew exactly how to use their beauty like a weapon, were the worst in my eyes.
Even in the game, she was infamous for using her looks to make people dance to her whims like mindless puppets.
And she was doing it now.
She didn’t need to speak or even smile much. Just a flicker of interest, a glance that lingered a second longer than usual… and they were hers.
The whole dorm.
Yes, she had enthralled the entire dorm already. She had silently made them follow her like willing slaves.
Slaves that she would soon put to good use.
Ughh, I hated her so much!
It was so easy for her to execute her schemes and manipulate others. Most people would be willing to do anything to please her. It was easy for her to take advantage of them.
Meanwhile I had nothing!
Why?! Why are the heavens so unfair?!
Why couldn’t I have been born a beautiful girl instead?!
“What?” Juliana frowned, giving me a sidelong glance. Her tone was as polite as ever but held that familiar undercurrent of coldness.
“What?” I echoed, my voice sharper than I intended.
“You were glaring at me,” she said, tilting her head slightly. “Did I do something?”
“Tsk.” I clicked my tongue and frustratingly looked away, unable to come up with a proper response.
Her frown deepened. “What? Young Master, what?”
“Nothing!” I snapped.
She held her gaze on me for a moment longer then gave an uncaring shrug and turned away.
I sighed and looked around.
Currently, we were standing in line at the northern edge of the Academy City.
Today was January 1st.
The sky above… and around us… was thick with clouds, heavy and dark but not quite ready to rain or snow.
The Ascent Isles had finally returned to the Central Safe-Zone after journeying around the world for the past few weeks.
It should have been late winter here, but the Isles had their own ecosystems and weather cycle that was different from the rest of the world.
The wind here was warm, carrying the scent of late spring, completely out of place for the season.
Despite the oddity, though, it was a good day — a perfect day, even.
Perfect for the start of a new year.
Perfect for the start of the Evaluation Exam.
Perfect for the start of this story.
And so, the first act of the story began.