"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told a lie like that." Cassius apologised solemnly as he took a seat on a nearby bench.

I exhaled in annoyance as I sat down alongside him. "You were just trying to cover for me, right?" Cassius looked up with an unreadable expression. "You could probably tell that I didn't want to go on a date with Oliver..." I continued.

Cassius looked down at his fingers as he started to twirl them around. "Ah, right. That's why I lied..."

Ah, maybe that was just a wrong assumption on my part. Cassius didn't seem so sure in his response after all.

"Unless..." I started. "There was a part of you that wanted it to be true."

Cassius swallowed a gulp as he straightened up his posture. Before answering me, he looked off into the distance before his eyes roamed towards the stone fountain before us.

"Would it be wrong of me to say yes?" Cassius dropped his head in shame. "I know someone like me doesn't deserve love, but I wanted to stay by your side."

Cassius rose to his feet as he covered his mouth. "Ah, I'm being too greedy, aren't I?" Cassius turned to look at me with suppressed tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I won't bother you anymore!"

Just as Cassius turned to make a quick escape, I grabbed him by the tie and pulled him in close.

"W... What are you–" Cassius stuttered before I cut him off.

"Are you feeling anything right now?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes commandingly.

A blush slowly crept upon Cassius' face as he nervously averted his gaze to the side. "Y-You're making me... nervous."

Cassius' hand shakily went to touch his chest. "My heart is beating like crazy. Y... You got me on the edge by standing s-so close to me."

"Is that so?" I remarked absentmindedly as I leaned in close to whisper into his ear. "But couples do stuff like this all the time. And sometimes... even more."

A high-pitch squeak could be heard from Cassius as he clumsily took a step backwards. Someone really is a novice when it comes to human interaction. Cyrus was an alien but at least his understanding was better than this!

I released Cassius and I covered my mouth to prevent the giggling from leaking through. "Sorry, sorry," I mumbled between giggles. "I just felt like toying with you."

Cassius stiffened as he threw his head to the side to sulk. "Well don't!"

As my giggling eased my eyes slowly trailed down to his hands as I gently went to hold them. "But I don't mind going along with the lie."

Cassius perked up with joy. "Really?"

"But only as a pretend couple." I elaborated. Immediately, Cassius' shoulder's sunk in disappointment.

From my perspective, if everyone believes I'm dating an evil demon then perhaps it'll help to ward off any potential yanderes.

I know it's unfair seeing as Cassius is sincere about wanting to date me but to be completely honest with you... I don't think I could offer my heart to him. There's someone else I wish to reunite with.

Cassius' mouth twitched as he mulled my words over. "A fake couple, huh..." Lazily, Cassius kicked some dirt with his foot. "What would that even entail?"

As Cassius stared at our hands in a perplexed manner, I slowly intertwined our fingers together. The action caused the blush to rise on his face once more.

"Hand-holding is acceptable. Oh, and I think we could give gifts to each other too!" I piped up excitedly.

Cassius furrowed his eyebrows at me. "What do you mean you think? Don't you have any experience when it comes to relationships?"

Eh. It's debatable if you ask me. So far, my romantic relationships with all of my capture targets and... him have been both toxic and unrequited. So, I can't say I'm well-versed in what a healthy relationship should look like.

Rather than come clean about my past, I opted for brushing Cassius' question off instead. "I'm no expert when it comes to love, so let's just take things as they come, okay?"

Just as Cassius was about to speak up once more, Ophelia came running into the courtyard, nearly out of breath. "There you are! I've been looking for you all over the place!"

As Ophelia finally caught her breath, she hesitantly looked at Cassius before looking back towards me firmly. "Have you heard about the masquerade party?"

A masquerade? I can't say it rings any bells. I slowly shook my head in response which caused Ophelia to open her mouth in alarm.

"SERIOUSLY?" she exclaimed. "Everyone in our year is talking about it! People are freaking out about getting dates since it's happening next week!"

"I see... it looks like the masquerade will be our big debut as a couple then, Cassius."

Cassius narrowed his eyes in doubt. I suppose he's still not keen on us being a pretend couple. Hopefully, he'll come around eventually.

...

Ha, who am I kidding? There's no way he's going to relent. He'll probably turn out like the other three capture targets sooner than give in. Which is why I should aim to complete my mission as soon as possible!

As Ophelia and I returned to our dormitory, we overheard the sound of items being flung around along with loud crying. With both of our interests piqued we decided to investigate the commotion.

Taking a hesitant step forward, I witnessed countless boxes being thrown out of a room without any care. As two security guards proceeded to make their way out of the room, I quickly hid behind the corner.

"PLEASE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" A sobbing voice pleaded. "MY FAMILY IS POOR! S-S-SO I CAN'T SURVIVE ON MY OWN!"

Unfortunately for her, the security guards didn't care for her pleading in the slightest. Instead, they simply seized her arms and dragged her away without uttering a single word.

I slowly turned my trembling head to face Ophelia who was staring sombrely at her feet. "W... What just happened?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"This is what happens when poor students like us get expelled." Ophelia looked up with a hardened expression. "We don't have our family's wealth to depend on. So, we're exiled without question."

"Exiled?" I repeated in disbelief.

Ophelia's eyes rolled to look at me lazily. "Being exiled is the only way us poor folk can make money to sustain ourselves."

Is that so? I can see why everyone wants to... no. NEEDS to graduate from this school. It's the only way you'll be set for life. Based on what Ophelia has said about being exiled, I doubt it's a path many would like to go down.

As Ophelia dusted her pinafore off, she took another step forward with her head held down low. "For men, manual labour is the usual job."

That doesn't sound too bad. It could be gruelling, but it sounds manageable-

"But for us women, we're usually auctioned off." Ophelia looked at me fearfully. "It always ends in prostitution."