[Main Quest: Maintain Identity]
Status – Ongoing
Description – You are currently inhabiting the body of Ronan Ashbourne. Iris has very sharp instincts, and her suspicion rising prior to attending the Academy will cause problems
Goal – Avoid raising suspicion from Iris Lockhart during your first interaction
Warning – Significant deviation from expected behavior may result in suspicion
Penalty – Inability to escape your fate
Reward – Basic System Functions Unlocked
Ronan stared at the system screen in front of him, unable to hide shock on his face. His pupils widened as he read the contents of the message.
What was this screen?
Main quest? Goal? Penalty?
What was this, some game?
Iris seemed to notice his shocked expression, and her face twisted for a slight second before returning back to normal.
"Ronan, will you please stop gawking at me like a pervert and sit here," Iris all but sneered.
Ronan snapped out of his trance.
He put on his best lecherous expression.
"I apologize my lady, you are simply too beautiful."
Iris's expression tensed up slightly, but then returned back to normal.
Her fingers tapped against her slender arm as Ronan walked towards the sofa.
Her gaze was sharp.
Iris was watching him.
Not just looking at him… watching him.
Like she was unpeeling the layers of his very being and seeing through him.
She's sharp, Ronan noted internally. Just like the system described. And far sharper than the novel detailed.
In the novel, Iris Lockhart was always portrayed as the intelligent beauty – someone that the main character Luca could rely on if he didn't know the answer.
But this… this felt suffocating.
He sat down on the table, keeping a slight smile on his face while his gaze was fixed below her face, on her modest breasts.
She seemed to notice his gaze but didn't say anything.
"So, my beautiful finance," Ronan smirked. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Her eyes narrowed.
Warning – Iris' suspicion is rising
What?
"You're more coherent than usual today."
Ronan didn't react to the warning. Not externally.
Internally his mind was moving gears.
So this level of deviation was enough to trigger her suspicion? Simply speaking more coherently than usual? This woman is dangerous.
The system said not to raise her suspicion – at least before the Academy started.
Ronan didn't know what this system was, or what its goal was, but he decided to trust it for now.
"Well, I try my best in the face of my lovely finance," Ronan stated, tone unchanging. If he suddenly started stammering now, it would have the opposite effect and raise suspicion.
Iris didn't smile or scoff.
Her expression remained neutral.
"You're trying too hard."
Ronan's fingers tapped briefly against his knee.
Too much?
He adjusted instantly.
A faint scoff left Ronan.
He raised the cup of tea and brought it to his lips, but he deliberately shook ever so slightly, showing nervousness.
"Or maybe," Ronan started, crossing his arms. "You're just not used to me putting in any effort."
It was a gamble.
Shifting to a more defensive response, more along the lines of someone putting up false bravado.
Iris' eyes narrowed at his fingers gripping the cup.
Warning – Iris' suspicion is stabilizing
Good.
Ronan continued.
"Is it really so strange that I am acting more coherent?"
"Yes."
There was no hesitation in her voice.
"I have an exam coming up," Ronan said with a scoff. "I don't have time to be acting like a bumbling idiot all the time."
Iris paused.
"The Academy exam," she muttered. "You seriously plan on taking it?"
Ronan nodded.
Iris clicked her tongue, seemingly not interested in hiding her emotions.
"You will fail."
She tried to remain emotionless when discussing it, but Ronan caught the venom in her voice.
"You have no faith in me, Lady Iris."
Iris responded without missing a beat.
"Do you think I have not seen your results? Your disgusting personality aside, you have no discipline, your grades are in the gutter, and you have above average talent at best. Do you seriously think you can get in?"
Iris' voice came out degrading, as if she were telling a sewer rat the reasons why it was a sewer rat.
Ronan's eyes lowered, a look of frustration on his face.
It was a performance.
"Then… why come here?"
Ronan looked up and met her eyes.
Iris' eyes were cold, and held deep hate for the man sitting across from her within them.
"Do you remember what happens to you should you fail?"
Ronan nodded.
"I lose my place in the family."
He paused.
"And we lose our engagement."
Ronan's expression turned grim, and he clenched his teeth.
Warning – Iris' suspicion is drastically reduced
Iris sipped her tea.
"Good."
Iris placed her cup down with a soft clink.
"Then let us end it."
Ronan paused.
"End what?" He asked. He already knew.
"Our engagement."
Iris lifted her gaze off her cup to match his.
It was clear she expected an angry response. Maybe surprise.
But Ronan simply leaned back in his seat and sighed.
"Ah… that makes sense. Honestly there wasn't much of a point to begin with was there?"
Warning – Iris' suspicion is rising
But Ronan didn't stop.
He didn't correct himself.
"For someone like you," Ronan started. "Being tied to someone like me just causes problems, isn't that right."
Iris blinked, but she didn't refute.
"That is correct."
Ronan nodded, his expression a mix of grief and uncertainty.
But inside he was smiling.
"Then let us end it."
Warning – Iris' suspicion has risen above the threshold!
"You…" Iris paused. "I did not expect this. You agree to breaking this off?"
Iris voiced her surprise.
For the first time since this conversation had started, Iris hesitated. She couldn't predict what the man in front of her was going to say.
"Why not? You wanted to, after all. Isn't that right?"
"That is correct… but this is unlike you. Very unlike you."
Ronan laughed. It sounded hollow.
"Is it now? Then perhaps you do not know me as well as you may think, Lady Iris."
Iris' eyes narrowed, but Ronan didn't stop.
"I believe it is best that we end it here and not embarrass ourselves. If I fail the exam like you say I will, it will just embarrass my family along with the Lockhart family. Better to cut it off cleanly than to drag it out."
Ronan felt her eyes on him, the pressure of someone who could read people like a book.
Could read the original Ronan like a book.
If before she looked hesitant and unsure, now she looked like she had regained her confidence in reading the man in front of her.
"You're speaking as if you've already accepted your failure."
Ronan smiled sadly.
"That's right."
Iris sneered.
"You're more pathetic than I originally thought."
Warning: Iris' suspicion is lowering
As expected, revealing such a reason may align with the original Ronan's personality.
It was a high risk high reward gamble Ronan was willing to take.
Iris' venomous expression remained on her face longer than she had intended, and she quickly returned to an expression of neutrality.
Before she spoke, she whispered something under her breath that Ronan couldn't make out.
"Very well," Iris said. "We will dissolve the engagement after the Academy exam is over."
Ronan gave a small nod, his expression still carrying a hint of regret and doubt.
"Do as you please, Lady Iris."
She stood up.
"I always do."
Iris gave Ronan one last look before she left the room, her bodyguards following close behind her.
Ronan grimaced on the outside, but internally he was cheering.
He had successfully managed to dissolve the engagement with Iris Lockhart, which would save him a lot of trouble along the way.
In the original novel, Iris told Luca about Ronan Ashbourne and how he was a lecherous, pathetic man who wanted to have her for himself. This caused Luca to dislike Ronan and when he saw him bullying a commoner girl, that dislike was increased by multiple times.
This was something to celebrate.
As Ronan walked back to his room, he was bombarded with questions from his three personal maids – mostly Lucia though – about why he ended the engagement.
But Ronan ignored them, only giving vague answers.
When he reached his room, he ordered his maids to leave, and with some hesitation they followed his commands.
When they left Ronan grinned to himself.
A sharp, mechanical bell ringed in his head.
[Main Quest: Maintain Identity]
Status – Completed
Evaluation – High risk, suspicion passed threshold once.
Rewards: Basic System functions unlocked.
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