"The professor smiled, a rare sight, almost as mythical.
Rix barely paid attention to him. His gaze had already drifted toward the girl standing quietly at the front of the class.
There was something about her.
She wasn't doing much just standing there, yet there was a composure to her, a quiet discipline in the way she held herself. Arms folded gently behind her back, posture straight like she'd been trained for it. Not stiff, not forced… just naturally controlled, like someone used to being watched, or obeyed.
Rix found his eyes narrowing, instinctively picking up the small details. The way she scanned the class, calm and confident. She didn't need to speak to command attention. She already had it.
She wore casual clothes nothing flashy or attention-grabbing but somehow, she made them look like a uniform. There was a certain precision in the way she carried herself, something sharp and deliberate. Rix didn't need much time to form a theory.
With his usual level of hyper-observation, he was almost certain: military background. Maybe not officially, but her composure screamed discipline. Beneath that calm surface, he could practically sense martial arts training, elite combat skills and if he really let his imagination run, she probably had a black belt in kendo and could take down a man twice her size without breaking a sweat.
His thoughts were interrupted by the teacher's voice.
"Good morning, students," the professor said, voice a bit straighter than usual. "This here is..."
He glanced to his side even his posture subtly shifted, a little more respectful, a little less casual.
The girl stepped forward and offered a faint smile. It wasn't wide, but it was enough to ripple through the classroom like a silent wave. A few students were already staring like they'd just seen a celebrity. Her eyes, though... cold, clear, and unreadable.
"Good morning," she said softly, her tone calm and composed. "My name is Seraphine Ashbourne. Nice to meet you."
"Ashbourne…?"
The name came out from somewhere in the middle row just loud enough to pull a few eyes toward the voice. Even Seraphine glanced over, and that alone made the student sink into his seat, quietly covering his mouth like he hadn't meant to speak at all.
A beat of silence followed. Not the kind filled with gasps or wide-eyed shock just a quiet shift in the air. Like something important had just settled in the room.
A few students exchanged glances. Some leaned toward their neighbors, their voices low.
"Is that really her?"
"Wait… Ashbourne, as in the Ashbourne?"
"You're kidding, right? Like, military Ashbourne?"
"Yeah… it has to be."
"No way. That family's basically part of the government…"
The Ashbournes weren't just a family. They were a legacy, a name that carried weight in every major military division across the country. Their reputation was built over generations of high-ranking officers and tacticians, the kind who didn't just follow history, they made it.
Her father, Commander-General Thorne Ashbourne, wasn't just some desk-bound official. He ran the Central Defense Forces, the beating heart of the military and from what Rix had heard, he was the kind of man who didn't need to raise his voice to be obeyed. Ruthless when needed, but respected by all.
And now, his daughter was standing right there at the front of the classroom. Calm. Composed. Completely unfazed by the attention.
Even the professor, who usually didn't bat an eye at anyone, had shifted his posture slightly when speaking beside her. Respectful. Careful. Like even he wasn't sure how to treat her casually.
She had already introduced herself as Seraphine Ashbourne, spoken with quiet confidence. She didn't need to say anything more. The name alone had done the rest.
Rix leaned back in his chair, one arm lazily propped against the desk as he stared at the girl up front. He hadn't expected that name.
"Ashbourne, huh..." he mumbled under his breath.
He wasn't exactly shocked but he was surprised.
It explained the presence, the posture, the way she stood like she came straight out of a military training manual.
Still, Rix just blinked once, let out a quiet sigh, and leaned further back. "Definitely outta my league," he muttered.
And just like that, with the kind of smooth apathy only someone with Olympic-level procrastination could manage, he closed his eyes again.
The classroom noise faded into the background.
Ashbourne, elite lineage? Martial arts prodigy? Nah, nap comes first.
Sleep mode: resumed.
The class continued to buzz with quiet murmurs, low voices trading rumors. Some were curious, others cautious. A few just wanted to sound like they knew something.
Truth be told, the Ashbournes didn't hold much sway here in Ashford City. Their reach wasn't as deep in this part of the country. Their real presence--headquarters, command centers, and most of their influence was rooted in the central districts and along the national borders. That's where their name carried real weight.
But still... even here, far from the heart of their power, the name meant something. Enough to shift the tone of a classroom the moment it was spoken.
Hearing the murmuring start to spiral, Professor Harin shouted, "Silence!"
The noise tapered off, slowly but surely, though a few whispers still clung to the corners of the room. This wasn't school, after all. It was college. Professors couldn't exactly bark orders and expect absolute control like they could with kids in uniforms.
After regaining control of the class barely, The professor cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, looking more nervous than usual which, in itself, was already suspicious.
"Ahem… everyone, please welcome… Miss Seraphine," he said, stumbling slightly. "She's… transferring here to continue her studies due to some, uh… family circumstances."
He glanced sideways at her, clearly unsure whether to say more or less and ended up somewhere awkward in between. It was the kind of nervous energy usually reserved for speaking to a government official or filing your taxes late.
For a moment, the class just blinked.
Then came a low murmur from somewhere in the back, just loud enough to ripple through the row
" what the actual....fu.c...Did he just… call her Miss? Like she's his boss ?"
A wave of quiet snickers spread across the room. Some students tried to hide their grins behind their hands, others exchanged amused glances. Even Professor Harin looked like he'd realized the awkwardness a second too late, but the words were out, and there was no pulling them back now.
Still, the laughter stayed muted. No one dared get too loud, not with Seraphine standing at the front.
Seraphine offered a faint smile, clearly amused.
"Sir, there's no need to be so formal," she said gently, her voice calm. "I'm just a regular student. You don't have to call me 'Miss'."
Even she hadn't expected that level of respect from a professor, the title caught her a little off guard, though she didn't show it beyond that small smile.
The professor offered an awkward smile.
"Ah, alright then... Seraphine it is," he said, before gesturing toward the room. "Please, feel free to take any seat you'd like."
The front rows were already packed, as expected. Without hesitation, Seraphine made her way toward the back. A few rows near the rear were mostly empty, quiet, unclaimed spaces that suited her just fine.
As she walked through the aisle, If one watched closely, they'd notice it, the quiet grace in her stride. There was nothing showy about it, but every step carried a faint echo of discipline. A kind of subtle sharpness, the kind that didn't come from charm, but training. Military training.
As Seraphine walked through the rows, a wave of attention followed her like a quiet tide.
Heads turned.
Some students watched in awe, drawn by the calm confidence in her stride. Others looked on with a surprising sense of respect.
But most… well, most were exactly what you'd expect. Whispers broke out. Elbows nudged. Expressions shifted from curiosity to that unmistakable "how do I talk to her?" kind of panic. A few were already calculating imaginary chances they never had.
But among the scattered wonder and half-mocking talk of love at first sight and spontaneous marriage proposals, one pair of eyes narrowed not with admiration, but with calculation.
Sitting near the middle row, crossed-legged with a casual elegance of her own, was Rina Velmont, the unofficial campus belle. Known for her sharp wit, perfect social instincts, and an Instapick following that dwarfed most clubs combined, Rina wasn't used to being outshined, not on her own turf.
And yet, even she had gone still.
Her gaze followed Seraphine with a practiced, neutral expression, too perfect to be natural. She didn't frown. But the tilt of her head, the tiny twitch of her jaw… it was enough.
The students around her felt it, too.
"She's gonna hate this," one girl murmured, glancing sideways at Rina.
"Velmont's turf just got a new queen."
The clash wasn't loud. But in that moment, a quiet rivalry had begun.
Only Seraphine seemed entirely unaffected. Like none of it mattered.
To their misfortune or perhaps Rix's fortune, or misfortune (only the gods could say for sure) Seraphine came to a halt beside him.
Her gaze lingered for a moment.
There he was, slouched over the desk at the very back, arms folded like a pillow, head buried as if the class didn't exist. It wasn't just unusual, it was borderline sacrilegious by her standards. Raised in a family where discipline was second nature, such behavior would've earned a scolding, if not laps around a courtyard.
But what surprised her more was how no one else seemed to care. The rest of the class was utterly unfazed, like they'd long accepted that this was just part of the landscape. Rix Alder: back-bench sleeper, honorary class mascot.
She didn't comment, Getting into someone else's business wasn't her thing.
Instead, without a word, she pulled the chair beside him and sat down, silent and composed, as if the sleeping anomaly beside her wasn't even there.
Hearing the screech of a chair dragging next to him, Rix cracked one eye open from where his head lay buried in his arms.
His drowsy gaze landed on the figure settling into the seat beside him and immediately sharpened.
His eyes widened, not in some cliche "Whoa, the goddess is sitting beside me" reaction.
No, it was quite the opposite.
'Of all the empty seats in this damn classroom... why the hell is she sitting beside me?!'
The thought rang loud in his head, tinged with disbelief and a dash of dread.
Sure, if it had been any other student, they probably would've been grinning ear to ear or silently losing their mind in excitement.
But Rix? Rix was built different-unfortunately.
Sure, he wanted a girlfriend, what college guy didn't? But unlike most, Rix was very aware of two very important truths:
One, he knew exactly where he stood in the grand hierarchy of attractiveness--somewhere between "background character" and "guy who's only noticed when taking attendance."
And two, thanks to his deeply introverted nature and a track record of "never-talked-to-a-girl-without-sweating" syndrome, and yeah… he'd pretty much accepted that he was destined to ride solo.
And the girl now sitting beside him? She wasn't just out of his league, she was in a whole different sport. It was like comparing heaven and earth.
So, why not just keep his distance from people like her? That was Rix's philosophy, one that some might call overly cautious, others might call plain ridiculous. But Rix knew better.
Because right then, he could already feel the invisible daggers of death aimed directly at him. The unspoken warning from a dozen jealous stares practically echoed in his ears:
"Try flirting with her, and you're done."
Rix shuddered slightly under the weight of those murderous stares. Of course, he knew they wouldn't actually do anything beyond glare but sometimes a glare was enough to ruin your whole day.
Trying not to look like he was sweating under the pressure, he slowly turned his head toward Seraphine. His eyes, half-lidded with sleep and a hint of disbelief, drifted her way.
"...Hey?"
Seraphine turned her head, her expression calm, already anticipating the typical half-baked attempt at flirting. But when she looked at him--disheveled, drowsy, and clearly not operating at full capacity, there was no smug confidence or slick pickup line waiting. Just a sleepy guy with a confused look on his face, like even he wasn't sure why he'd spoken in the first place.
"Yes?" she replied, politely, more out of habit than expectation.
But the next words out of this guy's mouth shattered whatever polite expectations Seraphine had.
Rix mumbled, deadpan, "Are you seriously here just to make my life worse?" His tone was flat, his face unreadable but there was a flicker of irritation behind his eyes that she caught instantly.
Seraphine blinked. What did I even do?
She was genuinely taken aback. That wasn't the reaction she was used to, definitely not from someone she'd just met, and certainly not in that tone.
"…Excuse me?" she asked, unsure whether to be confused, amused, or offended.
Rix was frustrated to the core by now, and he didn't bother to hide it.
"Don't play dumb," he muttered, clearly annoyed. "You can see all the death glares I'm getting just because you sat next to me. Out of all the vacant seats, you had to pick this one? You seriously planning to ruin my entire sleeping routine?"
In truth, he knew it wasn't her fault, just a coincidence. But that didn't matter to him right now. When it came to defending his precious nap time, Rix showed no mercy. How was he supposed to drift off peacefully with all these laser-sharp stares drilling into the side of his head?
Seraphine glanced around, and sure enough, the moment her gaze swept the room, several students suddenly found the classroom board very interesting. Heads snapped forward, eyes locked onto the board like their lives depended on it.
She immediately caught on to what Rix was getting at.
Truth be told, she'd never paid much attention to her own appearance. She didn't see herself as particularly beautiful or worth all the fuss. But judging by the reactions in the room, she finally understood, maybe this poor guy had a point.
Seraphine wasn't the type to snap at someone just because they spoke rudely or didn't use the right tone. She wasn't that petty. So instead, she simply let out a quiet sigh and stood up from her seat.
"I'm sorry," she said calmly, her voice composed but cool.
Before sliding over to the next empty seat nearby, she paused, just for a moment and added softly,
"That's not the way you talk to a woman."
She cast a brief glance back at Rix. It wasn't sharp or angry, just... pointed. But even that was enough to send a small shiver crawling down his spine.
Rix was genuinely caught off guard. He'd braced himself for some dramatic comeback maybe a sharp "How dare you talk to me like that?" or one of those icy, self-righteous retorts he'd seen in dramas. But instead… she apologized.
and then just quietly moved to the next seat.
It threw him off more than he'd admit.
He blinked, mumbled something under his breath even he didn't know what and slouched back down, burying his head in his arms like nothing had happened. A faint flicker of regret nudged at him, but he shrugged it off. Sleep was calling, and honestly, he'd already used up his emotional energy for the day.
Class felt like it would never end. The teacher kept talking, but no one was really listening, especially the guys up front, who kept sneaking glances toward the back where Seraphine sat like she was in a completely different world.
As for Rix, he had already tapped out. His head was on the desk, half-asleep, looking like he'd given up on life. If sleeping through class was a skill, he'd probably be top of the leaderboard.
Seraphine, though? She was the complete opposite. Sitting straight, eyes on the board, not even blinking. She looked more focused than the teacher himself.
Finally, the bell rang, and students stretched and groaned like they'd just finished running a marathon. Rix didn't even move. Pretty sure he was in a different dimension by now.
That's when Rina Velmont stood up from her seat a few rows ahead and headed straight toward Seraphine.
The room went a little quieter.
Rina didn't just walk. She had this smooth, confident way of moving, like she knew exactly where she was going and how many people were watching. And yeah, pretty much everyone was watching.
Her long black hair swayed behind her. Her amber eyes looked warm, but there was something sharp about them too like she could smile and see through you at the same time. She was tall, calm, and just… cool. The kind of person people wanted to be around without knowing why.
She stopped in front of Seraphine and gave her a small smile.
Um… you're Seraphine, right? I'm Rina Velmont. I was just wondering if… maybe we could be friends?"