Jinglan City

A thriving metropolis neighboring the capital, Jinglan City was filled with towering skyscrapers and modern villas. Its total area ranked among the largest in the nation. In recent years, it had developed at a breathtaking pace, with commerce, finance, education, and entertainment serving as its finest representatives.

If someone wandered alone through the crowds and neon lights at night, they could even feel the rich heritage gathered within the city center.

As a key educational institution backed by the city’s development plans, the prestigious aristocratic high school—Yingshengya Academy—stood head and shoulders above the rest.

The academy valued more than just its students’ grades. It placed equal importance on their refinement, offering instruction in academics, music, sports, morality, and more.

However, its exorbitant tuition fees stopped most interested graduates in their tracks. They never got the chance to glimpse the academy’s interiors, decorated in a distinctly European style.

The academy’s first principal had been a devoted believer in the Virgin Mary. At the center of the academy stood a stone statue of the Virgin, more than four meters tall and surrounded by a sixteen-nozzle fountain.

“Cough, cough~”

Spring was nearly upon them, yet the lightly dressed girl still couldn’t help coughing twice.

A delicate figure soon appeared at the academy’s main gate.

The girl kept her little head lowered. A pale-yellow woven straw bucket hat covered her head, while her slender hands clutched the hem of her clothes, revealing her nervousness around strangers.

Her skin was fair as snow, and her eyes resembled a pool of moonlit water. Every glance she cast carried an exceptionally pure and elegant charm.

Passersby stopped one after another to stare.

Unfortunately, the oversized hat concealed half her face. The only thing they could clearly see was a small, captivating pair of cherry-pink lips.

“Hey, hey, look! Doesn’t that girl resemble Long Xueer? Could she actually be her?! I’m going to ask for her autograph!”

“You mean the top fashion model from the best-selling magazine Angel Show, who retired three years ago? She’s a celebrity. How could she possibly show up here? Stop dreaming in broad daylight. Come on, we’ll be late~”

“Now that you mention it, I guess you’re right…”

The girl who had noticed her was reluctantly dragged away by her companion. She still felt certain that she hadn’t mistaken the girl.

…

Mu Yao.

That was the girl’s name—or perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a boy.

Because he was, from head to toe, a boy.

Even if he did possess a waterfall of long hair cascading down his back.

He had heard the conversation between the two girls. That was right. Three years ago, he hadn’t merely been Jinglan City’s wildly popular fashion model.

He had also been the heir apparent of the Mu Clan, once the foremost of the city’s four great families.

Before leaving to enroll at Yingshengya Academy, his mother had given him one especially important warning:

“Yao-Yao, our clan may have fallen on hard times, but your engagement contract with the Nangong Clan still stands. Take this contract to your fiancée at Yingshengya Academy. I’m sure she’ll look after you.”

“Don’t be surprised. It’s a childhood engagement. It was arranged before you were even born. The two clan leaders were joking, but they also meant it seriously.”

“If both children were boys, they’d become sworn brothers. If both were girls, they’d become best friends. If one was a boy and the other a girl, they’d wait until adulthood and get married right away.”

“Mom doesn’t even know whether she’s a boy or a girl?”

Mu Yao slapped a hand against his forehead and fell into deep thought.

A moment later, Mu Yao came back to himself at the academy gates.

He had no idea how this would turn out. What if his fiancée looked at him with cold disdain?

Mu Yao had three older brothers. He was the youngest boy in the family.

A great clan needed a child of the opposite sex for this task. Since he had been born with delicate, feminine features and a petite build, he had naturally become the only suitable candidate.

Therefore, no unrelated person could find out that he was a boy during his time at Yingshengya Academy.

Just then, a melodious and soothing violin piece drifted over.

The music washed over Mu Yao’s ears. He gathered his courage and decided to go inside and take a look first.

At that moment, on the platform beside the broad athletic field—

“Whoa! It’s Schubert’s *Ave Maria*! President Nangong actually came in person to play this piece for the new students today. He’s so gentle~”

A girl watching from below had stars practically sparkling in her eyes.

“Exactly! Even if President Nangong just stood there without moving, I’d still think he was incredibly handsome!”

Another girl’s heart raced as well.

“I heard President Nangong is the son of the academy’s current chairman. But he never brings it up. Despite being so young, he became the undisputed student council president with the terrifying highest score on the entrance exam. He had a full thirty-eight-point lead over second place!”

“That’s absolutely true! President Nangong’s academic results are already beyond anyone’s reach. He’s also skilled in music, art, calligraphy, and painting. He’s best at piano and violin, and he’s won first and second place in citywide competitions for them!”

“Ah, I’m fainting…”

The newcomer had already lost herself in fantasies of a handsome prince. She collapsed onto the ground, yet still remembered to mumble:

“I want President Nangong to hold me in his arms~”

Several warmhearted students nearby had been preparing to help her up.

But after hearing that, they all abandoned her and continued enjoying the performance onstage.

“This President Nangong must have quite the background. I bet one punch from him would make someone cry for a long time, huh?”

At the edge of the crowd, a boy with a face resembling the Judge of the Underworld sneered and compared it with his own sandbag-sized fist.

The first girl rolled her eyes at him.

“Heh? You? President Nangong excels in both academics and martial arts. He’s a ninth-dan red belt in judo. Do you really want to test him?”

“Ninth-dan red belt in judo? I don’t believe it! You fangirls who can’t even walk straight when you see a pretty boy are obviously exaggerating!”

“Tch. Believe it or don’t. President Nangong happens to be looking for a few punching bags to practice on. If your skin’s itching, go ahead. I’ll tell him to put on gloves, so he won’t get your filthy body fat on his hands.”

“Damn it, you sharp-tongued brat. Let’s go.”

The grim-faced boy left the scene resentfully with his two lackeys.

*My fiancée… I can’t wait to meet you~*

At that very moment, Nangong Ruihui smiled faintly without realizing it.

That single smile sent ninety percent of the girls below into a frenzy of screams.

The remaining ten percent of boys silently moved farther away. They had only come to listen to the violin. They didn’t want to be caught in the collateral damage of Lion’s Roar.

Nangong Ruihui had stylish, flowing medium-short hair. A small braid—one that only some boys would wear—was tied at the back.

His handsome face lacked even the slightest of the sharp angles typical of men. He was a perfect example of a beautiful, delicate-looking pretty boy.

He was immensely popular at the academy. If he wanted to, he could change girlfriends by the minute and never run out of options.

Yet Nangong Ruihui, as the student council president, had never done so.

That upright behavior earned him even more favor among the girls.

It was fair to say that some girls at the academy might not care about money.

But there wasn’t a single girl who disliked the cold and aloof Nangong Ruihui.

He was simply that charming.

He was, without question, the academy’s ultimate heartthrob.

The name Nangong Ruihui was fairly gender-neutral. It wasn’t particularly feminine.

There were boys at the academy named Yingying or Xiaohong, too. No one could determine someone’s gender based on a name alone.

Using natural harmonics, spiccato bowing, and other advanced light-arrangement techniques, Nangong Ruihui finished the second performance of *Ave Maria*.

Thunderous applause filled the air as he took his elegant bow. Then he stepped down from the stage.

By then, Mu Yao had removed his woven straw bucket hat. Dressed in a sky-blue chiffon dress, he happened to be walking toward Nangong Ruihui.

The two passed shoulder to shoulder.

Nangong Ruihui gave him a smile, and Mu Yao politely returned it with a sweet smile of his own.

As a male, Mu Yao naturally had no interest in men.

He had only smiled because he thought Nangong Ruihui played the violin beautifully—and because he had noticed the violin in his hands.

“Hey, look, look! Doesn’t that girl resemble Long Xueer?”

The crowd below erupted into commotion. One girl cried out in surprise.

“Who’s Long Xueer? I’ve never heard of her.”

A bespectacled girl with a silver badge pinned to her chest looked at Mu Yao again.

“She’s so beautiful. It feels like only she could be worthy of President Nangong…”

“Don’t say things like that. President Nangong belongs to everyone.”

The two figures gradually walked away in opposite directions.

The bespectacled girl opened the old fashion magazine another girl handed her. On the first page, the name “Long Xueer” was printed in a striking, lightning-styled font.

“My fiancée can’t possibly be a man!”

Mu Yao didn’t even turn his head.

“Please, don’t let my fiancée turn out to be a girl~”

Nangong Ruihui tightened his grip around the violin’s neck.

Today’s wind—the two of them—was still as perfectly in sync as ever.