Chapter 5: The Two Male Leads?

Chapter 5: The Two Male Leads?

When Louis saw Helen chatting with two people and glancing at him frequently, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he pretended not to notice.

But Louis noticed something strange.

Originally, Lufield and the other seemed to act as if he didn’t exist at all. But now, they occasionally glanced his way.

Puzzled, Louis looked at the Storybook and saw that his Presence seemed to have increased just a tiny bit. His eyebrows raised involuntarily.

“Ahem, Helen, lend me your Magic Notes.” Louis suddenly put down the book in his hand and casually reached out to Helen. “I don’t know what will be tested today, and I don’t know a single Magic Spell yet.”

Sure enough, after these words were spoken, Lufield and Tyrus exchanged a glance, almost laughing out loud.

You say you know nothing, yet you should just stay quiet. How can you say so confidently that you don’t know a single spell? What a way to seek attention.

Seeing that this guy was still showing off, Helen glared at Louis in annoyance. She took out her Magic Notes, slapped away his outstretched hand, and said, “Then you better do well on the exam. We’ll be counting on you later.”

To be honest, although this was just a polite remark, Helen actually felt a little bit of anticipation. She thought Louis might have been preparing for this examination for a long time.

“Just some Defense Against the Dark Arts Magic Spells.” Louis took Helen’s book and flipped through it arrogantly, looking like a naive bookworm.

Helen’s eyes had held a bit of hope, but after hearing these words, she couldn’t stop the corner of her mouth from twitching.

Just Defense Against the Dark Arts Magic Spells? Does he even know what that is? That’s advanced Magic! Even Ocris wouldn’t dare say something like that.

On the other side, after hearing this, Lufield and Tyrus looked at each other with strange expressions. Then Tyrus clutched his stomach, laughing too hard to speak.

This ‘Louis VI’ was really something else! He hadn’t cast a single Magic Spell in six years, and now, on the day of the Wizard Examination, he not only plans to learn spells on the spot but also boasts wildly. And when Helen politely said they were counting on him, he actually took it seriously!

Lufield was also amused. He put down his nail clipper, crossed his legs, and looked over at the bookworm sitting opposite him. “Illiterate? Our eminent Archmage Louis VI, you’re not really planning to learn it now and use it immediately, are you?”

Both “Louis VI” and “Archmage” were nicknames given to Louis by others, carrying strong negative meanings.

In everyone’s minds, Louis had a bookish arrogance. He often loved to point out others’ mistakes in Magic with the air of an Archmage—an Archmage? Does he even know what an Archmage is?

Yet, in these six years, he hadn’t successfully used a single Magic Spell. This led to many jokes, making him seem like a ‘Ren’.

“Learn now, use now? No, no, no.” Louis flipped through the book without looking up, speaking in his usual tone. “It’s ‘impromptu speech’, ‘impromptu speech’.”

(In this world, there were no Chinese idioms. “Impromptu speech” was similar to ‘sharpening your spear just before battle’. The origin of this phrase came from a King, meaning that for those who are prepared, even impromptu performances can be astonishing.)

Upon hearing this, Tyrus laughed even harder. Even Lufield, who usually kept a straight face, couldn’t stop his mouth from twitching.

This foreign exchange student was truly a piece of work. Not only did he always create various jokes, but he also constantly bothered Her Highness the Princess. It was like a toad wanting to eat swan meat. Today, they would let him thoroughly embarrass himself and make him leave the academy as soon as possible.

As Tyrus and Lufield roared with laughter, Helen rubbed her forehead, not knowing what to say. She quickly tried to change the subject.

But no matter how she tried to steer the conversation, Lufield and Tyrus always brought the focus back to Louis. Gradually, Louis became a topic among the three. It seemed that as long as Louis was there, Lufield and Tyrus, who didn’t get along, could always find a common topic and source of amusement.

Watching his ‘Presence +0.1’, ‘Presence +0.2’, Louis couldn’t help but look delighted. This expression made him seem like a bookworm who had found something amusing while reading.

This made Tyrus and Lufield laugh even harder. Even Helen, after seeing Louis’s silly look, couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle secretly.

At this moment, Louis discovered that perhaps because the interaction had reached a certain level, descriptions of Lufield and Tyrus appeared in the Storybook.

After reading their descriptions, Louis suddenly remembered the two male leads mentioned at the very beginning of the Storybook! And it was that cliché setup of a black/white knight and a domineering CEO.

It was Lufield and Tyrus!

Lufield was the son of the Grand Prince of the ‘Byron’ Kingdom. Not only did he hold the title of Duke, but both he and his father had inheritance rights to the kingdom.

Tyrus was the son of a Grand Duke from a certain duchy, and his status was no lower than Lufield’s.

They were both sent by their families to represent their support for Ocris.

At the same time, both families advocated against marrying the Princess off to outsiders. The reason, naturally, was their hope that the Princess would marry into their own families. Or rather, they hoped the Princess would choose one of these two in the future to become her husband.

So, in the hearts of Tyrus and Lufield, they did not truly regard Ocris as a teacher.

And according to the cliché nature of the story setting, one of them would indeed become Ocris’s husband.

‘These foreign names are really hard to remember. Just by listening, you can’t distinguish the four characters for ‘Lufield’.’

Louis rubbed his chin. He saw that his own Presence was now 3.67, while Tyrus’s was 309 and Lufield’s was 393.

Oh, so these are the two male leads. Not my fellow background characters.

That’s a bit sad.

Curious, Louis also checked his favorability in the hearts of Helen and the other two.

He discovered that Helen’s favorability was actually 79%! This greatly puzzled Louis because when the story began, he should have left an extremely bad impression on her. This suggested that Helen’s initial favorability setting toward him seemed to have been quite high.

This made Louis even more curious.

As for Tyrus and Lufield’s favorability toward him, it was between 20% and 30%!

‘That can’t be right?’ In his confusion, Louis carefully observed these two. He noticed that the way they looked at him seemed slightly different from before.

At first, their gazes seemed to treat him like a dispensable extra. Now, although they still seemed to see him as an extra, their looks held more mockery, disdain, and even a trace of wariness.

This didn’t seem like how you’d look at an unlikable classmate.

It was more like looking at a clown.

Louis felt very strange inside.

Could it be that I, this background character, have the duty to be humiliated by the male leads? But what is my background? What kind of identity do I have in the eyes of these two male leads?

Louis grew curious again.

From the current situation, it seemed that Ocris’s three students were all extraordinary in terms of talent and background.

Helen was a given. Tyrus and Lufield were the black/white knight male leads. One of them would marry Ocris, and the other, after failing to win her hand, would marry Helen. So, in the story, all of Ocris’s students should be quite special.

Then who am I?

【A person originating from Ocris’s imagination, gradually made real by the Book of Fate…】

‘???’