Editor : Amethyst00



Leo ate breakfast with Carl while glancing around.

Everyone was buzzing about the Great Families Assembly.

Simply producing a hero doesn't earn a family a spot among the noble houses.

Only families that consistently produce heroes—or individuals of comparable achievements—are considered noble.

Among those, the families with the highest frequency of hero appearances were called "heroic noble houses."

In that sense, even within Lumene, there weren't many families worthy of being called heroic noble houses.

"There are a few representative families in our year—Zerdinger, Lewellin, and Hergin."

At Carl's words, Leo rested his chin on his hand.

"That's fewer than I expected."

"Our year just happens to have a lot. Being called a heroic noble house is no easy feat. Across the whole school, you could count them on one hand."

There were no heroic noble house students in the 1st, 2nd, or 4th years, and only Elena in the 5th year.

Leo was impressed by Carl's explanation.

"So my maternal family is more amazing than I thought."

"Celia would grab her own neck and faint if she heard you say that so casually. I'm more surprised that you didn't know any of this. Then again, maybe it's natural?"

Carl had been keeping track of influential families and their connections since enrollment to build relationships—a strategy that had served him well.

But from Leo's perspective, there had been no reason to care about others' families—or even his own.

'He didn't even know he was a Zerdinger by birth, so he probably wasn't interested in his maternal lineage.'

If others had known that Leo's maternal family was a heroic noble house like Zerdinger, they would've been ecstatic.

But from Leo's perspective, as the Hero of the Beginning, even if Grandpa Zerdinger showed up, it wouldn't have mattered much.

"Well, there should be a fair number of participants this time, since we have a lot of noble house kids."

The Great Families Assembly lasted a week.

Since it required students to leave school for a while, applications were currently being accepted.

"Ahem!"

At that moment, Eliana arrived with her food tray and sat next to Leo.

Leo greeted her as she cleared her throat and raised her chin.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, class rep!"

"Weren't you feeling down yesterday? You look pretty happy today."

"Yeah! Our family received a gold-thread invitation this time! Last time, it was silver-thread!"

"Oh. Congratulations."

"Hehe."

Eliana elegantly swept her hair back.

Obviously, even among noble houses, there are rankings.

Depending on a family's prestige and importance, invitations are embroidered with gold, silver, or bronze thread—or sent as plain invitations.

A gold-thread invitation is reserved for heroic noble houses.

Silver-thread invitations go to families known across the continent, bronze-thread to the top family of a region.

Plain invitations are sent to less significant families.

"Good morning."

"Carl, today your remedial classes start, right? Bummer."

"Shut up."

Nella and Tade joined them with their trays.

"What were you talking about?"

"The Great Families Assembly. The Raden family got a gold-thread invitation."

At Carl's words, Tade was impressed.

"Really? Congrats. I only got bronze-thread."

"Hmph!"

Eliana puffed up with pride.

"Our family got silver-thread."

Nella smiled gently, causing Eliana to puff up even more.

Carl admired the scene.

"Every time I think about it, it's amazing how all my close friends are so elite."

"Don't worry, I won't ignore you after graduation."

"Oh, I'm honored."

Carl chuckled at Nella's teasing.

"Still, I'm jealous."

Tade looked at Eliana and clicked his tongue.

"I have to attend the assembly this time."

"Huh? Aren't you not the successor? I thought your sister was taking over?"

At Carl's question, Tade scratched his head.

"Yeah."

Though Tade was more skilled as a summoner than his sister, she had been trained as the successor from a young age.

Tade didn't mind—she was better suited to lead.

"But since I'm a Lumene student, they want me to show my face."

There's always some power struggle among families at the assembly, so having a student from Lumene—especially one from the golden generation like Tade—was valuable.

"They asked me to attend too. I'm jealous, Eliana."

Nella sighed softly.

"Hehe!"

Eliana folded her arms and raised her chin even higher, beaming.

Then she glanced smugly at Carl.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well. I'll get a valid excuse to skip remedial class next week, unlike you."

Just yesterday, Eliana was grumbling about why the sun even rises—she'd been dreading remedial classes with Harrid starting today.

But that morning, she received the gold-thread invitation from her family.

As the heiress of the Raden family, it gave her a legitimate reason to skip the dreaded remedial sessions.

That's why she was so happy.

Nella and Tade exchanged odd looks.

"Eliana. Did your father explicitly tell you to attend the assembly?"

"No. He just said we got the gold-thread."

"If he didn't say you should attend, maybe you're not going?"

"……"

Eliana froze.

"A gold-thread family is already prestigious enough. They probably don't need to flaunt their Lumene student heir."

Nella's words drained the color from Eliana's face.

Come to think of it, they never said to clear her schedule.

"I—I'll go call my dad real quick!"

She hurriedly cleared her tray and dashed out of the cafeteria.

Off to use magical communication.

bl

"Class reeeep! Waaahhh!"

That lunch, while Leo was eating a sandwich on a bench in the school park, Eliana showed up bawling.

"Dad said I shouldn't go to the assembly and should just take the remedial class! Waaah!"

Watching Eliana sob, Chelsea shook her head while sitting beside Leo.

Chen Xia looked at Eliana with disbelief.

"Is that really worth crying about?"

"Mom and Dad were so mean to me!"

"What did they do?"

"I begged them, crying, to let me go… and Dad yelled at me, saying, 'With grades like that, how dare you ask about the assembly!' I was so hurt. Then I tried complaining to Mom… and she just told me to stop crying, that she didn't want to hear it! She's so cold… Hic! Waaah!"

"I can't even understand her. Chelsea, can you make sense of what she's saying?"

"Well… I shouldn't laugh, but watching from the side… it was kind of funny."

Chelsea shrugged after overhearing the story.

"Eliana was bawling about not wanting to take remedial class, and her mom shouted, 'Stop crying! What are you crying about!' It was scary but also funny."

"It really isn't worth crying over."

"Right?"

When neither Chelsea nor Chen Xia sympathized, Eliana pulled away from Leo and buried her face in Chelsea's chest.

"I'm not going to comfort you like Leo does."

"Sniff!"

"Ack! What are you doing?!"

"Sniff. I should've hugged Xia instead. She's calming. You're emotionally bankrupt."

"I'LL KILL YOUUUU!"

Chelsea lunged with fire in her eyes, and Xia grabbed her from behind.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Calm."

The pressure from behind made Chelsea's face twist more.

"Anyway, I hate Mom and Dad."

Eliana pouted.

Xia tilted her head.

"Is remedial class that big of a deal?"

"It is."

"Definitely."

Leo and Chelsea answered firmly.

Xia chuckled awkwardly.

Then Eliana declared,

"I'm running away from home."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"I'm quitting being Raden family's heiress."

Chelsea gave her a look.

"Then what will you do?"

"Eliana Plov."

"What?"

"Class rep, take me in."

"What the hell are you saying?"

"Yup. Let's all run away from our families. Chelsea can be Chelsea Plov, Xia can be Xia Plov. The class rep's house is practically a castle now anyway!"

"Get a grip."

Leo sighed at Eliana's rampage.

Just then, Carl arrived with Chloe.

"Judging from the mood, Eliana didn't get to go to the assembly after all?"

Chloe smiled warmly.

"I'll help you study."

The MĂĽeller family wasn't a noble house, so they weren't invited.

"Carl! My comrade!"

Eliana lit up and jumped to her feet.

"Let's tackle remedial class together!"

Carl and Eliana were the only ones from Harrid's class who'd flunked.

Misery loves company, after all.

But Carl gave her a pitying look.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to the assembly."

"……"

Everyone but Leo widened their eyes.

"Are you going with the class rep? Class rep! Take me as your attendant!"

"Leo isn't attending the assembly."

Although Leo was a direct Zerdinger, he was also the King of the Arhi Kingdom.

Royalty cannot officially attend the assembly.

As everyone stood stunned, Carl grinned.

"Don't be shocked. I'm attending as the Hergin family's representative!"

"That means…?"

"You're… marrying Eliza?"

Chloe and Chelsea asked, shocked.

"Basically."

Chen Xia teased him.

"Planning for seven kids?"

"Hey."

"Hehe."

Then Eliana stepped up to Carl.

"Carl."

"What?"

"Need a handmaiden?"

"You do realize showing up like that would disgrace your family, right?"

"What does that matter? I can skip remedial class."

"……"

Carl looked baffled.

"Why did Dad even work so hard to get a gold-thread invite?!"

Eliana wailed with unjustified resentment and slumped.

"Class rep, Chloe, Xia. Help me study."

At that, Leo replied,

"Sorry. I'm planning to attend the assembly too."

"Isn't that officially impossible?"

Chloe asked, puzzled.

Leo smiled.

"Unofficially, it's possible."

Everyone who saw that smile thought the same thing:

'He's smiling like a demon king again.'