"Please... Please help me... You're the only one who can do this..." A woman's voice spoke into Anastasius' (Yuu's) dream, she sounds desperate, trembling even. It was an unfamiliar voice and Yuu swore he'd never heard it before.

Anastasius squirmed in his bed, cold sweat covering his body, he couldn't open his eyes, he couldn't breathe properly.

"You're my only hope....Please..." Then suddenly, the voice faded, along with it was the feeling of being restrained. Anastasius opened his eyes immediately, running breathless as he tries to remember his dream.

"Who was that..."

Anastasius went to his classes with a heavy feeling in his chest, he's still bothered by the dream he had. By this time he'd already forgotten all of it, he just remember feeling uneasy when he woke up. He tried his best to remember the details of his dream but his memory is now blurry.

"-tasius? Anastasius!"

"Uh what? I- I mean, yes?"

"You've been spacing out since our Etiquette class. Is there something wrong?" It was Brittany who asked.

"N-No, I, maybe I'm still a little bothered by what happened yesterday...Surely that must be it...." He knows he doesn't feel any negative feelings or emotions by what Cassandra did yesterday anymore, he's not the type of person who would hold grudges because he easily forgets about such things. But still... He couldn't shake off the feeling that his dream had something to do with yesterday's incident.

Was it the trauma coming back? Or is it something completely different this time? Is it a premonition? A flashback? What is it? Anastasius pondered, he couldn't even listen to his classes anymore.

"That bitch really needs a good whipping, or better yet, she should be expelled." Brittany hufffed, still angry with what Cassandra did to Anastasius.

"That's too much..." No matter how Cassandra acted yesterday, she's still the novel's heroine. It's not like she actually hurt someone or did a grave sin on the Academy and the whole kingdom itself. I'm just a Villain here, who knows what would happen if the heroine gets kicked out of the story just because of me...

After thinking of that, he suddenly felt cold and prickly. It's similar to the feeling you have when you feel sad or betrayed, but a bit more intense, as if it's more than that, but since Anastasius really felt dejected by the thought, he brushed it off as the latter.

"By the way, how did the Prince react?"

"Charles?"

"Yeah? What? Don't tell me you didn't inform him about what happened yesterday?"

"I- I didn't..." Anastasius said, while wearing an apologetic smile.

"You- Are you nuts?!" Noticing that she raised her tone and had said something rude, she immediately ducked her head down and whispered "Okay I'm sorry, but excuse me? What would you do if she tells it to the Prince first and twist the whole story to her convenience? You shouldn't belittle two-faced bitches like her!"

"I know, but I just have the feeling that Charles wouldn't believe her you know? It may seem presumptuous of me, I apologize for that, but..." Anastasius trailed his statement, blushing a little earlier when he realized how assuming he sounds.

"You guys are really sooooo adorable, Especially you." Brittany cooed.

🔹🔷🔹

Meanwhile, in the student council, everyone could just grunt inwardly by hearing Cassandra's sniffles. It seems that she wants to be checked upon on by the members, be coddled and comforted, but also don't want to seem persistent by taking the initiative.

Little did she know though, that everyone in the Student Council is either uninterested with conflicts and drama, or are in Anastasius' side because of the Prince's fondness of him (or just because he had already gained their favors by simply being cute).

"Could you shut her up?" Whispered the Vice President, Émilien Ardouin, youngest son of a Count whose only interest are discipline and knowledge; to the secretary, Lorraine Bain, also daughter of a Count, who's known to be a genius in the field of graphs and documentations. Both are uninterested in drama but are extremely sensitive to noises,

"Why would I? Shouldn't YOU be the one doing it? What does a Vice President even do? Besides isn't she your assistant or something."

And, they're also always at each other's throats because of their conflicting beliefs.

While the two is currently poking each other with their elbows, trying to pass the task they're unwilling to do. Leomarcel Verninac, the Public Relations Officer, just sighed and decided to act on it before the Crown Prince even hears the commotion from his seat.

He slowly walked over to Cassandra and held out a clean handkerchief,

"Is there something wrong, Lady Adalene?"

"Oh! I- I'm really sorry Lord Verninac, My weeping must've been a bother for you."

'For all of us, you mean.' Everyone thought.

"No, Not at all," Leomarcel lied through his teeth, "is there something bothering you?"

"N-No, this- this is nothing. It's just that my things are missing from my locker. Things that I'm embarrassed to show to anyone because of my lowly status...I-It's not like I'm saying that someone's bullying me though!"

'It's not like anyone said something about bullying though?' Everyone thought, again.

"I see, If it's not bullying then I guess it's no serious matter, right?" The Crown prince suddenly interfered. Wearing an unreadable smile as he clasp his hands under his chin.

Cassandra was taken aback, she didn't think the Crown prince would react this way, she thought he was gentler than this as she have seen him around Anastasius. She thought he would ask for an investigation, she even put her things in Anastasius' locker for that.

"A-Ah y-you're right, Your Highness." She fidgeted in her seat. 'This couldn't be the end, I should think about other ways to pin it on him.' She thought.

"Well then, I already finished checking the budget report for each departments and have approved some changes as well. Finalize the overall report by tomorrow and submit it to me for checking so I can deliver it to the Principal. I shall attend my classes now." Charles announced before nodding to his butler to give the copy of the budget to the Vice President and finally leaving the student council room.

On his way to his Economic class, he received a report that a letter from Gabriel was sent to him. It must've had something to do with their investigation regarding Duke Leclair's activities.

He was suddenly reminded of what happened in the Student Council room. The tramp really tried to act like a bullied saintess in a room filled with people on his side? He may have cut her off coldly but it's not even enough for what she had done to Anastasius.

'Just wait before I can finally get my hands on the evidences of your promised family's corruption. Then you'll have something more worthy to weep about.'

His butler suddenly got the chills by Charles' expression, he was like a predator waiting to bite the terrorist of his possession, and everyone knows that his bite isn't short-lived, not a pain that will quickly come and go, it's something that will last forever and would leave a trace even to his enemies' future generations, that is, if they would still have any after his punishment.

*** A/N: clues... 👀