"Ethan Carlien," a young man called out. Lorelle had noticed him glaring for a while now.
Crap. I just keep making more enemies and I'm not even strong enough to defend myself. Lorelle clicked his tongue. His situation was beyond messed up—chances of surviving until the grading exams were slim to none, given how everyone seemed to hate him down to their souls.
"Arton Urien," came the next name.
While waiting, Lorelle's mind wandered. What if he just made friends with the protagonist?
No. That wouldn't work. The protagonist would eventually meet the other heroines, most of whom would trade a limb to kill him. Plus, there was always the chance they'd tell the protagonist about his past, making the idiot try to kill him himself in some twisted sense of justice.
So that left two options.
One: side characters who'd later become major assets. Characters who eventually became the protagonist's allies. If he could win them over, maybe they'd protect him. But that sounded like a stretch—no matter how strong they were, it was only a matter of time before those heroines got to him... THEY WERE HEROINES!
The other option was more dangerous. Getting close to the villainesses. The insanely powerful ones.
"Rizel?" The thought made him raise an eyebrow, but it scared him, too. What if, for some messed-up reason, he became her object of curiosity? Not only was she way more powerful than he, but as a villainess, she was bound to grow stronger just like the heroines. If she got obsessed with him the way the novel described... she could probably chain him up and he wouldn't be able to do shit about it.
Definitely off the list.
"Liliana?" He almost slapped himself for even thinking about her. There was a chance she'd just turn him into a love slave, given her bloodline. He'd lose himself completely—and if she ever fell for him, or reached that point of obsession like Rizel, he'd be in deep shit. No escaping someone who literally manipulates emotions.
Also off the list.
"How about Scarlet?" But the more he thought about it, the more futile it seemed. The novel described her as madly in love with Michael, so chances of changing those feelings were probably nonexistent.
"Well, there are others... Maybe Selena?" He sent a sweeping gaze around the enormous room, but the place was just too big, too many people to pinpoint anyone specific.
That's when he spotted her—a girl staring at him so intently it made his skin crawl. She had a smile on her face that actually scared him to death.
"What the hell?" he muttered.
That's when he noticed how many girls had been stealing glances at him, some straight-up flirting from across the room.
What the fuck is this? Wait... could it be I'm considered good-looking? He shook his head after a moment. He couldn't be sure they were all looking at him—maybe his eyes were playing tricks. He'd never focused on what others thought of him, never once considered himself handsome. Maybe it was his past life's perception messing with him.
But that didn't explain Selena—a dead-on villainess, future cause of countless deaths—gazing at him with such dreamy eyes. The moment their eyes met, she looked away, but after a while she looked back. Since he never stopped watching, their eyes always met, and she'd avert hers again.
Something's definitely not right here. Could I have met her before? But nothing came to mind. For the past three years, all he'd thought about was finding his lover. He could barely remember encountering anyone like her, so why did she look at him with such familiarity?