The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-210

Chapter 210 Night of the Festival (5)

Bianca Usher, 18 years old. Hailing from the divine archery family, The Usher House, she was an early admission student at the Colosseo Academy. As a member of the festival preparation committee, she once again found herself entangled in an annoying situation.

“Um, excuse me… I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time. I like you!”

A male student standing in front of her, extending a letter. She vaguely remembered encountering him during joint classes with the Hot department.

Bianca furrowed her brow and, as if dismissing the situation, stroked the artificial mustache under her nose. She carefully examined the face of the male student standing before her once again.

Her sharp eyes, like shooting needles from a hundred paces, sparkled brightly. “Flawed makeup -13 points, skin peeling -11 points, unruly eyebrows -12 points, uneven lip tone -14 points, scars from shaving -4 points, untidy cuticles -4 points, mismatched personal color and attire -5 points, split ends from excessive bleaching -8 points, awkward cross-dressing -22 points, a total score of 7 out of 100.”

Despite the male student in front of her being quite handsome, he did not meet Bianca’s aesthetic standards. Above all, his poorly executed cross-dressing was an additional deduction factor.

“If you’re going to cross-dress, at least be pretty. But you’re not even pretty. No need for unnecessary ugliness.”

From a young age, Bianca loved pretty things—beautiful clothes and dishes were, of course, a given. Beautiful dolls, beautiful weapons, beautiful men, beautiful women, beautiful words, beautiful saddles, beautiful scrolls, beautiful carpet, and even a beautiful carpet cleaning broomstick stand…

Thus, Bianca was known for her discerning aesthetic taste even within the Usher organization. Perhaps it was because she had been so selective about the appearance of her nanny even in her infancy.

Was it because of this that Bianca generally lacked interest in men? Men, by default, were not pretty. They didn’t dress up or groom themselves as well as women did. If, by chance, they put on makeup to look better, their male friends criticized them for not being manly enough.

As a result, Bianca had lived her life so far without much interest in men. For her, men were fundamentally unattractive creatures, beings she had no intention of being close to throughout her life.

Therefore, despite numerous confessions from seniors and peers since the beginning of the semester, she had always rejected them outright.

“Bianca! Would you like to go see the newly opened play ‘Worn-Out Newbie 2’ this time?”

“I’ve already seen up to the third one.”

“Bianca! Have you had dinner? If not, want to eat together?”

“I already ate until tomorrow’s lunch.”

“Bianca! Let’s go to the temple for worship together this weekend!”

“I believe in a different religion, so I worship at the altar.”

“Bianca! When are you free this weekend?”

“I’m not free on weekends.”

“Bianca! How about spending Christmas together this year…”

“I don’t want to.”

She simply had no desire to socialize with unattractive men, preferring to spend time with her beautiful female friends. The only exception might be her childhood frenemy Tudor, with whom she had fought and grown up with since a young age.

‘…But I just like pretty people. What can I do?’

She tried to change her personality and preferences, even blaming herself, but her taste stubbornly refused to change. From her infancy, she insisted on having only pretty maids or servants. How could she suddenly change that?

Even if there were men who scored over 20 points out of 100 in terms of appearance, they were few and far between in the academy. Even if there were men who barely met the external criteria, none of them had the remarkable ability or status to make her approach them first.

“Yeah, I am who I am. I don’t need to go out of my way to change my essence just to fit in with others.”

So, since entering school, Bianca had completely given up on meeting, dating, or befriending men.

However, her determination had long since shattered into pieces.

“100 points. It’s 100 points!”

Vikir, stirring a wok in the kitchen, caught half of Bianca’s gaze.

Crazy. Dazzling. Enchanting. Dreamlike and decadent. Such dangerously beautiful looks were unprecedented even among women.

Where on earth did such absurdity come from? It felt like a character torn out of a 19+ rated fan comic she used to read with bated breath, breaking through the pages with a decadent and filthy charm.

Bianca was thankful to her parents at this moment. They had given her the ability to focus on objects from even kilometers away.

‘Wow… how can a man be so pretty? It’s unbelievable.’

If you focus your eyes as if blowing mana into them even from a great distance, you can see things as if they were right in front of you.

So, while distributing cafe flyers from kilometers away, Bianca continued to marvel.

Skin as white and smooth as finely crafted ivory, long and lush eyelashes that fell like snow, thick and straight eyebrows, and beneath them, crimson eyes like a lake of blood.

She already knew he was handsome, but after applying makeup, his beauty became even more insane.

It was natural for onlookers to gather with mana screenshots and cameras.

‘Should I take a mana screenshot too? But capturing without permission is a crime. Should I just ask to take one together? Ugh… the cross-dressing day only comes once a year. If I miss it today, who knows how it will be next year.’

Even in the bustling crowd of people dressed as zombies, skeletons, ghouls, vampires, death knights, witches, werewolves, etc, Bianca couldn’t take her eyes off Vikir.

Then, at that moment…

Tock!

Bianca’s shoulder shook suddenly.

Flyers she was holding fell to the ground. It was a collision of shoulders in the crowd.

“Ugh, seriously, where are you looki…” Bianca turned her head with an annoyed expression.

At that moment, a face caught her eye.

Bones. A skull mask. And within it, bloodshot eyeballs.

“Huh?!” Bianca involuntarily swallowed a breath.

[……] A woman with a skull makeup was staring at her quietly.

An eerie chill emanated from her whole body, making it difficult to describe in words. The skull mask and armor were so intricately and well-made that they surpassed the typical Halloween makeup.

‘…W-who is she?’ Bianca silently swallowed her dry saliva.

Even though she had never been pushed around in a fight in her 18 years of life, at this moment, she couldn’t muster the courage to face the woman with the skull mask.

The atmosphere she exuded was overwhelming, even surpassing Bianca Usher and the top student of the Cold Department.

“….Who on earth is she?”

If she had put so much effort into wearing a Halloween costume, she must be a student at the academy, and if that were the case, there was no way Bianca wouldn’t know her.

“Did she come from the Mage Tower or the Varangian Academy? But even there, there shouldn’t be such a skilled person. …Or is she a returning student?”

Bianca sweated coldly and stepped back, eventually heading towards the cafe of the Newspaper Club.

She looked nervous and jittery the entire time.

‘I should go to the cafe and ask Vikir to switch with me. Honestly, he’ll probably be more helpful in attracting customers… ‘

Bianca, who was confident in her cooking skills, thought that would be more efficient.

And, above all, she needed to get away from that woman as soon as possible.

‘…What’s the worst that could happen?’

Bianca quickened her pace. Toward the kitchen of the pub of the Newspaper Club. Toward where Vikir was.