To call it a "chance encounter" wasn't strictly accurate.
Given Catherine Roman's habitual way of doing things, she would never allow coincidence or accident to dictate a key meeting in her plans. Every seemingly casual encounter was usually backed by precise calculation and arrangement.
The reason she happened to appear on this path—the only way to the Student Council building and the Main Teaching Area—was, naturally, due to a series of corresponding preparations.
In the early morning hours, while Catherine sat at her desk, sipping black coffee at just the right temperature while quickly scanning summary documents on recent family investment trends, her well-trained personal maid had entered silently. Leaning in, she whispered a freshly obtained piece of intelligence into her ear:
"Miss, three minutes ago, on the academy's eastern tree-lined path, there was a reliable sighting. Greg Sass and Her Highness Vivian Kahn, the Student Council President, are walking side-by-side. They seem to be heading toward the Student Council building or the central teaching area."
Catherine's finger, flipping through the documents, paused slightly.
Greg Sass and Vivian Kahn, walking side-by-side?
Her first reaction was to raise an eyebrow in slight surprise.
As a future merchant who was extremely sensitive to information and well-versed in the various hidden relationships within aristocratic circles, Catherine was naturally aware of the former engagement between Greg and Vivian—one that had long since been unilaterally severed by the royal family.
According to the various pieces of information she held, these two should have become total strangers after the annulment, avoiding any unnecessary contact in public.
Especially after Greg was exiled by his family and his reputation hit rock bottom, someone with Vivian's proud and rigorous character should have avoided him like the plague.
"So why are they walking side-by-side now?"
The question flashed through her mind, but immediately, her calculating brain caught the potential opportunity hidden behind this surprise.
An opportunity that might allow her to invite Greg for a private talk while making it significantly harder for him to refuse on the spot.
Previously, after learning that Greg had been admitted to the academy's affiliated hospital due to unknown injuries, Catherine had retracted the commission that carried a reward of 50 Gold Coins.
Her reasoning was direct: since the target had appeared in a public area of the academy and was in an immobile, comatose state, she only had to wait for him to wake up. She could find a suitable opportunity at any time—under the guise of a hospital visit or some other pretext—to engage him in private contact and negotiation.
She liked to keep the initiative in her own hands.
However, Greg's actions had once again defied her expectations.
Not only did he wake up quickly, but he also processed his discharge immediately upon waking and vanished from the academy's sight again, leaving her no window to issue a dialogue invitation.
This elusive behavior made Catherine feel a faint sense of trouble.
She disliked this feeling of losing control.
Although much of the intelligence suggested that Greg was actively avoiding a meeting with her, Catherine did not intend to pin her fate on another person's whim.
Therefore, she had to have a conversation with Greg with clear terms for an exchange of interests and reach a binding agreement if possible, ensuring that the secrets of the "Screech" project would not leak from his end.
And now, the scene of Greg walking with Vivian seemed to provide a perfect entry point.
Based on her observations over nearly two years of academy life, there had been zero interaction between Vivian Kahn and Greg Sass; they even deliberately avoided eye contact in public.
This was enough to prove that on Vivian's side, the cut after the annulment was thorough and absolute.
Even if she didn't hate Greg, she certainly didn't have any favorable feelings for him.
The fact that they were walking together now couldn't possibly be due to a rekindled flame or a private friendship; there had to be a specific reason they were standing together.
But the specific reason didn't actually matter; what mattered was the fact that "they were forced to walk together."
Since Vivian had no affection for Greg and might even feel displeased by being forced to walk with him, what would Vivian's reaction be if Catherine stepped forward in public, with a formal and polite attitude, to invite Greg for a private chat?
Catherine's judgment was: Vivian would most likely not block it and might even be happy to see it happen.
Because this would provide Vivian with a perfectly logical excuse to escape the awkward situation of walking with Greg.
"A perfect timing. I can use Vivian's reluctance to facilitate the talk and use the pressure of public etiquette to make it hard for Greg to decline. Two birds with one stone."
In the time it took for a spark to fly, Catherine had already made her decision.
She set down her coffee cup, rose gracefully, gave a few brief instructions to her maid, and left the study.
She needed to choose a location that was just right—not too deliberate, yet guaranteed to intercept them.
And so, this encounter on the tree-lined path took place.
"No."
However, the development of events completely deviated from the script Catherine had so precisely calculated.
After her flawless greeting and invitation to Greg, the response she received was not a hesitant or helpless acceptance from Greg, nor was it the silent acquiescence she expected from Vivian.
It was Vivian Kahn's cold, yet utterly firm and unquestionable refusal.
In fact, before Greg himself could even react, she had already stepped forward and answered for him.
Greg was stunned too, looking at the blue-haired girl beside him with some surprise.
He had been rapidly thinking of how to handle Catherine's sudden invitation.
If he agreed, he hadn't figured out how to deal with this shrewd merchant's daughter yet.
If he didn't, it seemed too disrespectful to do so under everyone's gaze, and he worried about entering a hostile state with this heroine immediately.
He hadn't expected Vivian to actually step in and block it for him.
"Is she... helping me out of this?"
An absurd yet vaguely hopeful thought bubbled up uncontrollably from the depths of Greg's heart.
"Could it be... this aloof beauty of an ex-fiancée actually... still has feelings for me? So she felt displeased seeing another girl come looking for me?"
Greg felt his heart flutter for a moment at his own thought.
After all, this classic plotline appeared quite often in Galgames, so it was only natural for him to have some expectations now.
What man wouldn't hope that a girl so beautiful and high-born actually still liked him?
Rate on N.U.
