Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Welcome to the weather forecast. It is now 8:05 AM, Capital Time. Today's temperature: 15°C to 27°C, west wind force 3, sunny. Students are advised to set their school uniforms to spring mode, level one..."

"Newly enrolled students, please proceed to the dormitory indicated on your admission notice to check the system email delivered to your door. Collect your spare keys, school uniforms, and class schedules at the front desk..."

A gentle electronic voice looped over St. Maria. A flock of white pigeons flew past the brick-red rooftops, their pristine feathers shimmering with a sacred glow under the sunlight.

The renowned St. Maria Noble Academy featured a Romanesque style of red roofs and white walls. The campus was dotted with white marble Greek Corinthian columns.

—Only a few red-brick churches in the western part of the campus adopted a Gothic style: massive stained-glass windows splintered the sunlight into magnificent colors, and red spires, clad in white roses, soared into the clouds.

The entire academy spanned over 1500 acres. Student dormitories were concentrated in the northern district, built in a twin-tower style. Each room was individually equipped with a bathroom, study, and kitchen.

The academic buildings were clustered in the central area. Besides the red-and-white teaching blocks, there were auditoriums, libraries, giant fountains, lakes, and clock towers... The gymnasium even housed dedicated underground boxing rings, shooting ranges, and equestrian grounds.

Second-year students were primarily taught in Zhixing Building. The second floor housed study halls, the third floor was for compulsory classrooms, and the rest were for elective courses.

St. Maria's course offerings were always extensive, with relatively few compulsory courses. For first-years, only experimental courses were required. For second and third-years, combat training was added; all others were electives.

However, St. Maria had strict credit requirements for each subject area per semester. Students who failed to earn the required credits would face immediate expulsion.

...

Beside Zhixing Building grew several century-old Longmei (Dragon Plum) trees. Although a type of plum blossom, this plant bloomed in spring.

Now, in the full bloom of spring, the flowers were flourishing. Clusters of pink dotted the drooping branches, swaying in the wind like willow branches.

Layer upon layer of pink and white petals seemed to glow with a faint halo in the morning light. The gnarled trunk, so thick it would take two people to encircle, began to branch out at four meters, its rugged bark crisscrossed with deep, winding cracks.

On a sturdy branch lay a silver-haired Alpha, his eyes half-closed.

His lithe form was supported by the tree. The wind lifted his high-ponytailed silver hair so that it flickered in and out of sight amidst the brilliant, delicate blossoms, like scattered snowflakes.

The Alpha seemed like a spirit born to blend with the spring scene. His jade-green eyes, under the dappled sunlight, held a clear, detached look.

Sitting up slightly on the tree, Meng Shijiu held a glass of fresh pomegranate juice. He peered through the second-floor window of Zhixing Building.

Ever since Butler Lin found out he'd recently taken a liking to pomegranate juice, he had arranged for fresh pomegranates and a juicer to be ready at home.

—Even Butler Lin, who had always seen to Meng Shijiu's daily care, did not know he had come to St. Maria.

Meng Shijiu was 19 years old, already an adult under Lottelance law. In Butler Lin's view, Meng Shiyan's demands on Meng Shijiu were the overprotectiveness of a wolf pack alpha.

—It was reasonable for an adult wolf to choose to leave the family pack.

In the Frost family precepts, derived from the ancient wolf clan's nature and spirit, trust and support for family were as important as loyalty and unity.

...

The transparent glass was no barrier to his Alpha-sharp vision.

Second floor, study room. Independent study room for Class 2.

The students had been divided into classes last semester during their first year, so besides the large common study hall, each class had its own separate study room.

Morning light passed through the colorless glass, forming monotonous beams, grid by grid, pale and desolate.

The spacious classroom was sparsely populated.

Malicious, cloying gazes clung like rust on damp, lightless corners—scrape off one layer, and another remained.

A tall, thin Beta was roughly pressed against the wall by several students. His pale face was distorted by the pressure. His overly long black hair made him look like a creature that shuns the light, timid and frail.

The black-haired Beta let his head hang, his dull gray eyes downcast.

His numb gaze, like rusted gears, fell on the marble floor imprinted with the golden iris school emblem. His expression seemed ashen and hard to discern.

The tall Alpha standing before him snorted disdainfully and reached a hand towards the back of his neck.

The moment Zou Yun's hand touched the Beta, the previously defeated boy suddenly struggled violently, his movements so forceful that the students holding him were caught off guard.

—"Thud!"

—"Crash!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Several consecutive sounds followed as desks and chairs toppled over every which way, leaving the place a mess.

After a few seconds of confusion, the classroom quickly settled down.

Zou Yun and the other Alphas instinctively glanced towards the back of the room, near the window.

—Seeing that the person there was still wearing headphones, head bowed, reading without reaction, Zou Yun breathed a sigh of relief.

He motioned for the other Alphas, and together they dragged the now-subdued Beta out of the study room.

The empty study room fell quiet. The overturned desks and chairs remained scattered. The Alpha sitting at the back near the window casually lifted his head.

The Alpha had deep crimson eyes, profound like whirlpools of blood, reminiscent of red wine in the dark night, with translucent ice cubes floating within.

He called to mind an elegant vampire living in the darkness of ancient times.

The black strands of hair across his forehead were framed exquisitely by Pei Ruji's exceptional features. The wolf-tail hair at his nape curled slightly, untamed.

Matte black headphones hugged the shape of his head, half-hidden by his hair.

On this face, sharpness and morbidity, otherworldly charm and nobility, were perfectly fused.

Pei Ruji closed his book and cast a cold glance out the window, his gaze landing on an Alpha who had been coolly watching everything in the study room from the very beginning.

Pink petals stirring in the wind spun and scattered in the air before drifting down.

Separated by a pane of glass, a few pale pink petals near Pei Ruji suddenly seemed struck by fine, invisible raindrops. Like a broken pearl necklace, they plummeted towards the ground.

—The silver-haired Alpha raised his eyes and looked over.

Dappled light and shadow danced across his beautiful face, partially hidden among the flower clusters. The Alpha's slender arms were crossed, pillowing the back of his head. He lay there lazily, half-reclined, revealing only a section of pale wrist.

Pei Ruji plunged into a clear, empty expanse of jade-green lake, yet failed to stir even the slightest ripple. It was like chasing an illusion, a mirage, or a reflection in water.

The soothing, romantic violin music continued to play in Pei Ruji's headphones.

"I don't know you, yet I once dreamed of you."

Seeing him, the youth on the tree showed no surprise. He merely sat up a bit straighter, raised an eyebrow, and made a gesture towards him.

The clean, sharp lines of his wrist bone flashed briefly amidst the vibrant flowers. Meng Shijiu placed his left hand, back facing up, horizontally across his chest with fingers joined, then slowly raised it as his long fingers spread open.① With his other hand, he gave a thumbs-up.

—Using sign language.

—“Good morning.”

The color of pomegranate juice still lingered on his lips, like a mischievous demon who had just devoured a human heart yet pretended nothing had happened.

“In my dream, your gaze was as clear as a fairyland lake and as bright as stars reflected.”

Sancta Maria’s uniform comes in two sets: a custom formal uniform and a training suit.

The formal uniform worn for classes features a dark black-and-gold design, with a dark red silk lining against the black fabric. The well-tailored jacket has a waistline adorned with an exquisite silver chain, and the cuffs are embroidered with a subtle dark purple iris pattern.

The uniforms all have built-in temperature regulation and protection systems. The difference lies in the crow feather insignia on the shoulders—

Nobles wear standard silver crow feathers, while commoners who passed the general exam wear black crow feathers.

Then there’s the school badge: aside from the lifelike twin irises at the center and the artistic “Sancta Maria” lettering, the biggest and most obvious difference is the color.

Color is a seemingly minor yet strikingly conspicuous form of special treatment.

Students with S-level mental power wear purple badges. In descending order, A, B, and C-levels are blue, white, and red respectively.

Meng Shijiu, who had dressed and left the dormitory half an hour ago, had gained admission to Sancta Maria via the general exam and had not yet been tested. The black crow feathers on his shoulders gave off a faint, colorful glow, and the red badge on his chest was particularly bold.

The youth amidst the blossoms leaped down from the treetop, startling the petals into a misty shower, his silver hair streaking like a meteor through the air.

The Alpha disappeared from the window.

“I got lost in my dre…am.”

He missed a note.

In the quiet classroom, Pei Ruji’s terminal emitted a long “beep—”

Pei Ruji tapped the constantly flashing screen.

“! Detected that your pheromone concentration exceeds the normal range. Navigate to the nearest medical testing point?”

“Yes” “No”

The black-haired Alpha idly twirled the electronic pen in his hand, propped up his chin, and said blandly:

“I know.”

It was the pheromones interfering with the Bluetooth.

—

See explained in a calm, measured tone within Meng Shijiu’s mind: “Pei Ruji is the F1 of this story. He is a noble gentleman, the friendliest of the F4 toward the protagonist shou, and usually remains an aloof observer…”

The machine voice was too hypnotic. The silver-haired Alpha brushed off the petals that had fallen on his uniform. But he did not interrupt See’s lengthy exposition.

Just as he hadn’t ignored Jue Ning’s inquiry back then.

Pei Ruji was indeed the only one among the F4 who attended classes dutifully. He also had the best reputation.

But recalling the frank scrutiny in Pei Ruji’s eyes when he looked over earlier, Meng Shijiu felt that See’s judgment about him was open to debate.

He tossed away the cup that had held the pomegranate juice. The transparent cup traced a graceful parabola through the air.

Meng Shijiu prepared to leave.

A voice tinged with laughter sounded from behind.

“Climbing trees. Minus three points.”