The professor was smiling, which was rare enough to deserve a photo.
Rix barely noticed. His eyes were already locked on the girl at the front of the room.
There was something different about her.
She wasn't actually doing anything, just standing there with her arms folded loosely behind her back. Her posture was straight without looking stiff or robotic, like someone who'd been trained from a young age to stand that way. As she scanned the room, her expression remained calm and completely unbothered.
Her clothes were casual, but she wore them with a precision that made them look like a uniform. She wasn't nervous. She wasn't trying to impress anyone, either. Standing in front of a room full of staring strangers didn't seem to affect her in the slightest.
Rix watched her for a second longer, piecing it together.
That posture. That control.
Military, maybe? Or something close to it.
His gut said discipline-the kind you don't just pick up from self-help books or online videos. He wasn't entirely sure, but his gut was rarely wrong about these things.
"Good morning, students," Professor Harin said.
There was a subtle shift in his tone, a little more formal than usual. A little more respectful.
The girl offered a small smile. It wasn't wide, but it rippled through the room anyway. A few guys in the front rows instinctively adjusted their hair, and one dude in the third row actually straightened his collar like he was about to propose.
Her ocean-blue eyes swept across the room, totally indifferent to the reaction she was causing.
"Good morning," she said quietly. "My name is Seraphine Ashbourne. Nice to meet you."
Short, polite, and to the point.
Yet half the guys in the room suddenly looked awake, deeply interested, and completely delusional about their chances.
Rix watched the scene unfold with one eyebrow raised.
Then, somewhere in the middle row, someone's brain finally finished processing the words.
"Wait—Ashbourne?!"
The voice cracked through the quiet, loud enough to make half the class turn around. Even Seraphine glanced over. It was just a flicker of her eyes, but it was enough to make the guy instantly shrink into his seat, slapping a hand over his mouth like he'd just blurted out a state secret.
A beat of silence followed. Then the room exploded into hushed chatter.
"Wait, what? What's an Ashbourne?"
"Dude. Ashbourne," the first guy whispered aggressively, eyes wide. "Are you serious right now?"
"I don't... what's the big deal?"
"Where have you been living? Under a rock?"
A quieter voice chimed in from the side, barely holding back a laugh. "Even people under rocks would've heard about them by now."
A few snickers rippled through the row.
"Okay, okay," the confused guy started defensively, before freezing mid-sentence. His eyes widened as he looked back up at her. "Hold on. Ashbourne... as in that Ashbourne?"
The guy beside him let out a sharp whisper. "Which Ashbourne did you think we were talking about? The bakery down the street?"
More muffled laughs broke out.
"No, I just... I didn't connect it at first, alright?" the guy stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Damn. You can't just drop a name like that first thing in the morning."
"Oh my god..."
"No way. There's no way she's..."
"Look at her," someone whispered urgently. "Look at how she stands. You think that's normal?"
"I thought they were just... I don't know, a family you only read about in news headlines."
"Headlines don't enroll in your college, genius."
"Her dad's literally a general. Not just some officer, either—a big one."
"Like, runs-half-the-military type," another added dramatically.
"Okay, now you're exaggerating."
"I'm not! Just Gollologle it."
"Shut up, don't Gollologle it right now! What if she sees?"
A nervous wave of laughter passed through them, dying down quickly when Seraphine shifted slightly at the front of the room.
"...Why is she even here?" someone murmured.
"Yeah. Out of all places... here?"
Rix sat perfectly still in the back, listening to the murmurs bounce off the walls. He glanced back at Seraphine. She hadn't moved an inch, nor had her expression changed. She just stood there, calm, as if this happened everywhere she went.
Ashbourne.
Yeah. That explained the posture.
The Ashbournes weren't just a family; they were an institution. The kind of name that carried massive weight in boardrooms, military bases, and government offices across the country. Generations of high-ranking officers, strategists, and leaders who didn't wait for history to happen, they shaped it.
And her father was Commander-General Thorne Ashbourne.
He didn't just shuffle paperwork behind a desk. He commanded the Central Defense Forces—the absolute core of the entire military infrastructure. The man made decisions that moved thousands of troops, altered national defense strategies, and settled conflicts most civilians would never even hear about.
From what Rix had gathered over the years, Thorne Ashbourne was the kind of man who didn't need to raise his voice to command a room. You listened because if you didn't, you were already finished. Ruthless when necessary, but universally respected. Even his worst critics respected him.
That was the weight behind her name.
And right now, his daughter was standing at the front of a college classroom, smiling politely like it was just another regular Tuesday.
"Whatever. Not my problem," Rix muttered to himself.
He adjusted his position, folded his arms over the desk again, and buried his face in them to get back to sleep.
Hearing the chatter spiral out of control, Professor Harin raised his voice. "Silence!"
The noise died down, though a few stubborn whispers still lingered in the back rows. This was university, after all, not high school. Professors didn't have total iron authority over adults, and there was only so much a quiet command could do.
Once the room finally settled, Professor Harin cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. He looked visible off-kilter-decidedly more nervous than usual, which was strange for a man who was normally completely composed.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat again. "Everyone, please welcome Miss Seraphine. She will be joining us this semester to continue her studies due to... certain family circumstances."
A brief silence followed the announcement.
Then, someone snorted.
"What the fuck? Did he just say Miss Seraphine?" a guy whispered, barely hiding his grin.
A few quiet laughs slipped out across the rows.
"Bro," another muttered, "he hasn't called anyone 'Miss' in his entire teaching career. He calls me by my last name like I owe him money."
"She's been here two minutes and already gets more respect than we'll see in four years."
A girl covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
Professor Harin realized his mistake a second too late, but the word was already out there, hanging awkwardly in the air. He pressed on anyway, trying to regain his composure as the low chuckles continued.
"Bro, 'Miss'... he actually said 'Miss'..."
The laughter remained hushed, though. Nobody was stupid enough to laugh out loud in front of her.
Seraphine stood through the awkwardness with effortless composure. Then, turning gently toward the professor, she spoke up.
"Sir," she said, her voice calm and surprisingly warm, "there's really no need for all the formality." A faint smile touched her lips. "I'm just a regular student."
Even she hadn't expected that level of deference from a lecturer, and the title had caught her slightly off guard, though she didn't show it beyond that faint smile.
Professor Harin offered an awkward nod. "Ah, right... Seraphine, then. Please, feel free to take any open seat."
The front rows were already packed, naturally.
Seraphine scanned the room once before making her way toward the back. Every step she took had a quiet, deliberate grace to it-less like a casual walk and more like a practiced habit.
Heads turned as she passed. Some students watched with open admiration, while others instinctively sat up straight.
Then came the quiet exchanges as she passed the middle rows.
"Bro."
"I know."
"She's walking this way."
"I know."
"Should I say something?"
"What are you even gonna say?"
"Sit down, you're embarrassing yourself."
Delusional fantasies of first conversations were already crumbling before they even started.
Sitting in the middle row, cross-legged with the kind of casual elegance that usually stole the room, was Rina Velmont. Campus figure, sharp-witted, and with a social media following that rivaled most university clubs combined, Rina wasn't used to being outshined on her home turf.
Yet she had gone completely still.
She tracked Seraphine across the room with a neutral expression, but the subtle tilt of her head and the faint tightness in her jaw didn't escape the girl sitting next to her.
"She's going to hate this," the girl whispered under her breath. "Velmont's turf just got a new contender."
Seraphine moved past them completely unaffected, walking as if none of the chatter existed. She scanned the back rows, mostly empty, quiet, and isolated.
Then her eyes landed on him.
There he was, slouched over his desk at the very back, arms folded beneath his head, completely unconscious.
Actually asleep.
Seraphine paused for a fraction of a second.
By her standards, it was practically sacrilegious. Raised in a household where discipline was an absolute baseline, behavior like this would have earned a severe reprimand. What surprised her even more was that nobody else seemed to care.
Interesting.
She didn't comment on it. Inserting herself into other people's habits wasn't her style. She simply pulled out the chair beside him and sat down.
The screech of the chair legs against the floor intruded on Rix's sleep.
He cracked one eye open, heavy-lidded and groggy, trapped somewhere between a dream and reality. His gaze drifted lazily to the side-and then his eyes snapped wide open. The sleep vanished instantly.
It wasn't because a striking girl had just sat next to him. It was because he could feel the sudden, concentrated weight of a dozen glare-fueled death stares locking onto the side of his head.
The silent message echoed clearly in his mind: Try anything, and you're dead.
Rix mentally winced under the pressure. He knew nobody was actually going to fight him, but having half the room glaring at you was enough to ruin an entire morning.
Rix had many traits, but being delusional wasn't one of them. Any other guy might have been thrilled, but Rix was painfully grounded. He knew two facts with absolute certainty: first, his personal standing on the social ladder hovered somewhere between "background extra" and "guy noticed only during taking attendance "; second, his introverted nature meant he was perfectly comfortable staying off everyone's radar.
A girl like her was from an entirely different world.
His entire philosophy was simple: avoid unnecessary drama at all costs.
Trying not to look like he was sweating under the sudden pressure, he turned his head toward her, his eyes still half-lidded.
"...Hey."
Seraphine turned, her expression cool and neutral, already bracing for some generic, half-baked attempt at small talk.
"Yes?" she replied politely.
The words that came out of his mouth completely shattered her expectations.
"Are you seriously here just to make my life harder?" Rix mumbled in a flat, deadpan voice.
There was a subtle flicker of genuine irritation in his eyes.
Seraphine blinked. "...What?"
Of all the things she had anticipated-compliments, awkward introductions, nervous stuttering—this wasn't on the list.
"Don't play dumb," he muttered, keeping his voice low. "You see these stares I'm getting? All because you picked this seat." He gestured vaguely toward the classroom. "Out of every empty chair in this room, you chose the one right next to the guy who was peacefully minding his own business. Are you trying to ruin my morning?"
Logically, he knew it was just a random choice on her part. But right now, protecting his peace took priority over logic. How was he supposed to sleep with half a dozen intense glares boring into his skull?
Seraphine glanced around the room. The moment her eyes swept over the surrounding rows, heads instantly snapped forward, and everyone pretended to be intensely focused on the blank whiteboard.
She caught on immediately.
Truthfully, Seraphine rarely spent time dwelling on her appearance or the effect she had on people, but seeing the reactions now, she realized the poor guy actually had a point. Still, she wasn't the type to pick a fight over a little bluntness.
She let out a quiet sigh and stood up.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, her tone calm.
She moved to take the next seat over. But just before she sat down, she paused and looked back at him. "That's not a very polite way to talk to a woman."
Rix looked up, still drowsy. "I talk to everyone like that."
"Then the people around you must have very low standards."
It was said quietly, meant only for the two of them, but Rix's eyes instantly sharpened. The last remnants of his drowsiness vanished.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You literally just transferred here," he said, his voice quiet but sharp. "You don't know a single thing about me."
"I know enough."
"Oh, really?" He leaned back slowly. "Enlighten me."
"You're the kind of person who blames others for their own discomfort," she said, her voice entirely measured. "People like that usually end up very alone."
A few heads in the row ahead shifted subtly.
Rix's jaw tightened.
"At least the people around me are there because they actually want to be," he replied, his voice dropping an octave. "Not because they're terrified of a last name."
The students sitting nearby who caught the remark went completely still. A girl in front of them stopped her pen mid-sentence.
Seraphine froze.
It wasn't a flinch-it was a sudden, dangerous stillness. She turned back to face him fully.
"What did you just say?"
Two rows ahead, a guy named Ravi glanced sideways at his friend Dev. Dev gave him a tiny, sharp shake of his head: Don't get involved.
Rix met her gaze. His heart was hammering against his ribs, but he didn't back down. "You heard me."
At the front of the room, Professor Harin's chalk stopped mid-stroke against the board. He didn't turn around, but his hand remained motionless. Even Rina Velmont, who had been watching the interaction with quiet amusement, straightened up in her seat.
Seraphine stared down at Rix for a long, heavy moment. Something cold shifted behind her eyes.
"I would think very carefully," she said softly, her voice so tightly controlled it sounded almost gentle, "about what you say next."
The warning was quieter than a threat, but infinitely heavier.
Rix opened his mouth to drop it. His brain was screaming at him to shut up, to cut his losses and walk away.
His mouth, however, had other plans.
"Or what?" he said, his voice steady despite the tension in his chest. "Your father deploys a squad?"
The air in the back of the room went completely dead quiet.