Amy smiled and packed her bag. During her 6 years in the academy, Sharelle Portrisse was her one and only friend. She was a chatterbox no different than any other kid her age, but she did her job as a student better than most. Her ranking in Class 4 was 6th from the top, so being placed in the Advanced class would not pose a problem.

Amy liked Sharelle, who was a respectful competitor who could enjoy and share a mature rivalry.

After encouraging her friend for a bit, Amy left the reading room.

Everyone except those on night duty got off work, so the hallway was quiet. Students came to the academy to achieve their dreams, but employees were just here for the job and to make money.

Amy descended down the stairs, stretching out her day�s fatigue. But suddenly, she saw someone standing in the dark stairway.

Pale face with large dark circles. Black hair covering the cheeks. Amy�s face wrinkled once when she identified who the person was.

It was Jake Ardius.

He was 2nd-class nobility, and the family head was the financial executor of the royal castle. It was known that the power his family held was no less than that of a 1st-class noble family. Perhaps it was because of the family head�s job.

Jake was arrogant and had a rough personality. But the main reason why Amy didn�t like him was because he was a student who had little to no talent. He never even put in any effort to try and compensate for it.

Although he was taking the same class as her, Jake had a long way to go before he could be placed in the Advanced class. Furthermore, there had been rumors that he was the president of a research group called �Black Magician�.

In Amy�s opinion, Black Magician was a group that researched how to bully students who were better than them.

Since they were not a research group approved by the school, they were not financially supported. Essentially, it was a dark circle in which kids who had an inferiority complex harassed students.

Of course, they did not openly pick a fight or extort money. Since most were children of high-class nobles, if they were to act like snotty, back alley kids, they would be immediately expelled.

Nevertheless, it was clear that some students in the group were active, seeing that rumors of students being attacked by Black Magician still existed.

�Amy, you finished early today. I was going to wait until midnight.�

�Why were you waiting for me? Don�t you have anything better to do?�

�Don�t be like that. I heard a rumor about you. You accepted a lowerclassman way below your level� Shirone was his name, right?�

Amy sighed, rubbing her forehead.�

�Is he sane? Out of all the places, he came to talk about such a pathetic thing in front of a library?�

Jake put forward his coffee with an overly cheesy smile. Amy could tell just by the smell. It was the civet coffee that was popular among the nobles.

�I even warmed it up. The Amy I know deserves this much. I can�t dirty your mouth with substandard coffee, right?�

Amy looked at the coffee and raised her head in absurdity.

�What are you doing?�

�As you can see, I�m courting you. You already know of my family�s power, and I�ll be the next in charge of the finances of the royal family after my father. Am I not the perfect man for you?�

�Sorry, but I don�t have private chats in the library. So you�re wrong to court me in such a place and time. Oh, but you forgot the most important thing� The fact that I hate you. Something like this better not happen again.�

Amy stepped aside and walked down the stairs. However, Jake placed his hand against the wall and blocked her way.

�What the hell are you doing?�

�I guess I�ve been too soft. I also have to consider my family�s reputation, so you coming out like this puts me in a very difficult position. Isn�t it the same for you? Aren�t you studying that much harder so as not to disgrace the Karmis family? Look, we�re concerned about the same thing.�

Amy snorted. No matter how prosperous the Ardius family was, the Karmis family was not one to be pushed around by small fry either. Most of all, she did not like Jake�s way of talking.

�Says the cheapskate that only counts money.� JrNovels.com