“What a vast difference there is between one Omega and another!”
Several freshman Omegas from noble families outside the mainstream upper-class circles had gathered together. As they watched Faan, who had just stepped off a private spacecraft and entered Lian’s gates, they all sighed at his retreating back in unison.
On his upper body, he wore the vest issued uniformly by the school. He had personally embroidered flowing initials in the lower-right corner of the beige fabric. Beneath the ornate golden lettering hung a long, slender fringe made of “frost-sand”—a special material only recently discovered by imperial troops stationed on extraterrestrial frontier worlds. Frost-sand had no military value, but its silvery-white appearance and the way it refracted tiny, star-like points of light around itself made it extremely popular with upper-class ladies and young masters. Because it was currently rare, demand far exceeded supply, and the price was extraordinarily high.
His trousers were chiffon harem pants. The lower half was somewhat translucent, allowing glimpses of the slender, snow-white calves within. The cuffs gathered just above his ankles, revealing the beautifully shaped ankle bones at exactly the right point. Around his left ankle was a band made of some unidentifiable material, jade-green in color, with two tiny golden bells hooked onto it.
His long honey-gold hair fell loosely down his back. He held himself perfectly straight and walked at an unhurried pace. Every now and then a breeze lifted his hair, exposing a glimpse of his pale, slender nape.
Even from behind, he radiated the beauty, reserve, and nobility every Omega longed to possess.
“Sigh—”
The Omegas secretly watching Faan sighed together again once his figure vanished completely from sight.
“Did you see that? The stuff on his vest looked like frost-sand! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen real frost-sand. It’s so much prettier than in pictures!”
“Waaah! I’m such an idiot! I should have embroidered something on my vest too. His uniform suddenly looks so special!”
As an elite academy established for Omegas, Lian did not constrain their sense of beauty with a rigid standardized uniform. It merely issued every student a double-layered vest. In summer, the thick outer layer of fluff could be removed, and students were free to wear whatever they liked underneath.
But many Omegas had spent the entire day before enrollment agonizing over how to coordinate their outfits and had forgotten they could alter the vest itself. Now, seeing Faan’s clothes, they whimpered endlessly in regret.
“Oh my god! Lord Faan is even more captivating than he is on the posters!”
Quite a few of Faan’s beauty fans sighed dreamily. “What kind of garbage was the main poster for the last ‘Empire’s Most Elegant Omega Competition’? It didn’t capture even a third of Lord Faan’s beauty!”
“Speaking of that, weren’t Xiweier and Sister Lili’an, who were also in the top three, supposed to enroll this year? Are we going to see them too? Ah, I’m fainting—”
…
Naturally, Faan could not hear the jealous, envious, and infatuated voices behind him. He was currently exploring the campus with curiosity and delight. His restrained expression did not reveal either emotion very clearly, but his bright black eyes were already darting everywhere as he constantly examined his surroundings.
Lian’s campus environment was completely different from Hain’s. Hain was almost a pure military fortress, like a silver-white mechanical beast. Lian, by contrast, drew on surviving architectural plans of ancient Eastern winding corridors, while its teaching buildings featured the pointed and domed roofs of old European architecture. The two styles merged into a unique aesthetic that was pleasing at every turn.
The first day was registration day. Once students had checked their files with the academic affairs office and received their student terminals, there was nothing else official to do.
By rights, the rest of the day was free time, and they could simply return to their dormitories. But Lian had a tradition of welcoming new students in Pear Blossom Hall, where upperclassmen had already arranged afternoon tea. Freshmen who had received their terminals usually went there to speak with their seniors or seize the opportunity to socialize with other new students.
Faan was no exception. After putting on his student terminal at the academic affairs office, he headed toward Pear Blossom Hall.
Pear Blossom Hall was called a hall, but it occupied an enormous area. During the years of study ahead, school dances and most other major events would generally be held there. Its roof was retractable. On a bright, sunny day like this, it would be opened, and the tightly clustered pear blossoms in the sunlight looked like white snow suspended in midair.
By the time Faan followed his terminal’s voice navigation into Pear Blossom Hall, there were already quite a few people inside. The instant he pushed open the door, many people near the entrance turned to stare at him.
Faan smiled at them, declined several enthusiastic upperclassmen who came over to invite him to sit at their tables, and moved through the crowd with complete composure, following the winding blue-green corridor deeper inside.
“Faan, are you here yet?”
The terminal chimed. After Faan nodded, Lili’an’s voice sounded. “We’re already in Pear Blossom Hall. We’re waiting for you in Pavilion Five.”
Faan looked up. He had already passed Pavilion Three. Pear Blossom Hall contained seven round pavilions in all, and Pavilion Five was quite deep inside. He actually had a poor sense of direction, and the corridors of Pear Blossom Hall did not simply lead straight through. The round pavilions bloomed throughout the hall like pear blossoms, connected by a complex network of corridors. Fortunately, he had voice navigation to guide him.
Even so, he accidentally took one wrong turn and spent extra time before finally reaching Pavilion Five.
By the time Faan entered the round pavilion, a fine layer of sweat had appeared on his forehead. He gave the area a quick glance. Once he realized that everyone in the pavilion belonged to the social circle he normally moved in, he relaxed his continuously tense back a little and pursed his lips unhappily.
“Faan, we’re over here!”
Not far away, Lili’an waved at him.
Faan walked over. Xiweier saw his gloomy expression and immediately smiled, pulling him down to sit beside him. Turning sideways, he used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Faan’s forehead.
“Did you get lost?”
Xiweier and Lili’an were brother and sister, both Omegas, and children of General Aogeli. They were also Faan’s best friends.
“Oh my god…” Hearing her brother, Lili’an widened her eyes in exaggerated surprise. “Faan, you can still take a wrong turn even with navigation?”
“What? Am I not allowed to?”
Enjoying Xiweier’s gentle attention, Faan lifted his chin at her. “Don’t you know voice navigation always has a two-second delay?”
“Pfft.”
Lili’an burst out laughing and made a helpless face. “So it was all the navigation’s fault?”
“Could it possibly have been mine?” Faan shot back without hesitation.
This time even Xiweier could not help smiling. After wiping the sweat from Faan’s forehead, he affectionately tapped the tip of his nose.
“That’s right. Blame the navigation.”
Faan smiled at him coquettishly. Xiweier was one year older and always spoiled both him and Lili’an. Xiweier had beautiful smoke-gray hair, loosely braided and draped over one side of his neck, with long, slender earrings hanging from his ears.
He was the eldest prince’s fiancé, and the eldest prince was one of André’s close friends. That was how Faan had met him, and the two had quickly become close.
“Oh?” Lili’an noticed something and reached out to lift a strand of Faan’s hair.
“Did you curl your hair?”
Faan’s hair had originally been straight. He had only gone to have it styled into loose, natural curls just before school started. It was hard to say which looked better, but the curls gave him a faint additional touch of allure.
“Yes.” Faan nodded and turned his head toward her. “Does it look a little prettier this way?”
“Hmm…”
Lili’an considered it. Her hair was the same smoke-gray as Xiweier’s but only reached her shoulders, and she wore earrings from the same series as her brother. She tucked Faan’s hair behind his ear, revealing pale skin, studied him for a moment, then nodded.
“It looks good. A little more mature than before. But aren’t you going to consider getting your ears pierced? Otherwise you can’t wear earrings!”
Faan was just about to answer when someone walked over and stopped behind his chair.
Xiweier’s expression changed slightly. From that alone, Faan knew who was standing behind him without needing to turn around.
Without making it obvious, he straightened his back. Chin raised, he gracefully braced one hand on the table and rose, turning to meet the other person’s gaze. Worry flashed through Xiweier’s eyes beside him, while Lili’an looked ready to enjoy the show.
“And here I was wondering who it could be. So it’s the little princess.” Faan smiled and extended a hand. “Long time no see.”
The newcomer was none other than Tili, the youngest daughter of the Emperor—an Omega who had been shouting that she wanted to marry André since she was three years old!
Tili happened to have curled her hair as well, though hers was styled in large waves and tied into two ponytails. The ribbons holding them were made from exactly the same frost-sand material as the fringe on Faan’s vest.
Their eyes paused for a moment on each other’s frost-sand, then both discreetly looked the other up and down at the same time.
Under her vest, the little princess wore a hand-spun, modified linen dress in an elegant academy-lady style. Faan’s gaze landed on the Hundredhide Dragon-leather backpack she was using to pretend at innocence, and he clicked his tongue inwardly. Tili, meanwhile, stared at the pure crystal-glass ankle ring around his ankle and ground her teeth.
—Round one: dead even.
Tili put on a smile as well and reached out to shake his hand.
“Hello, Brother Faan.”
Her voice was soft and sweet. Cherry-pink polish covered her fingernails, making her slightly plump, pale hands look round and adorable.
Faan clasped her hand. His own hand was small, with long, slender fingers and narrow knuckles. So unlike his round toes, he wore no nail polish on his hands. On his index finger, however, sat a discontinued “Heart of the Blue Sea” gemstone ring.
Their gazes dropped to each other’s hands at the same time.
Sparks almost seemed to collide between them. Their eyes lingered on their clasped hands for several seconds before both immediately released the other at the exact same moment.
—Round two: almost no difference.
“I just saw Brother Faan and came over to say hello. We’ll be studying together from now on, so I’ll be counting on you to take good care of me!”
Tili felt disdain inwardly but showed a broad smile. She turned and pointed toward another table, then nodded to Xiweier and Lili’an. “I’ll head back first, then. Have fun!”
Faan smiled and nodded back. After she turned and took a single step away, he lightly tapped his terminal and replayed a pinned voice message.
André’s deep voice sounded across the small area—
“I’ll be back in a month. Happy first day of school. Wait for me to come see you.”
Watching Tili’s back abruptly stiffen, Faan narrowed his eyes in delight.
Hah. I win.
