“Annie Campbell?”

Long red hair. A mage robe and pointed hat, full of that astrologer vibe.

The girl standing at the door of the love fortune-telling booth, looking like she was waiting for someone, should be the target Maur had come to bribe.

The freshman, Annie Campbell.

Maur had actually already seen every single freshman at the earlier entrance ceremony.

He didn’t have Tabitha’s perfect memory, but he was still an elite Lv3 mage. Remembering the general impression of one person wasn’t a problem.

That included Tami Megan Orange from the maid afternoon tea café.

He couldn’t recall their faces as clearly as Lilith’s or Mavis’s, not to the point of picturing them with his eyes closed.

But if those freshmen stood in front of him, he could absolutely recognize them at once.

Even if they’d only met once.

“…But something feels off.”

This Annie Campbell in front of him looked a little different from how she had before.

Maur felt that the atmosphere around her was slightly different from what he’d sensed at the freshman entrance ceremony.

But if you asked him what exactly was different, he couldn’t say.

“Her features and build are clearly the same as before.”

He was absolutely sure of that.

He hadn’t painted in recent years, but an artist’s instinct was still there. He wouldn’t misjudge something like this.

“…Maybe it’s because of that magic robe?”

“And that pointed hat too.”

“As expected, astrologers are all a bunch of weird mystics.”

On the Kachibia Continent, extraordinary professions had always been broadly divided into three types.

Mages, warriors, and scholars.

Mages and warriors were easy enough to understand. Scholars referred to those who didn’t specialize in combat, but were instead good at brewing potions and other support abilities.

For example, Maur was a mage, Lilith was a warrior, and Mavis was a scholar.

But that was only a very rough classification. Under each major profession, there were many finer branches.

For example, under the mage profession, there was the astrologer branch.

In Maur’s impression, people who specialized in astrology and prophecy were generally very strange.

Whether it was how they dressed, or how they spoke and acted, they were different from normal people.

A normal person would say, “It’s going to rain today.”

An astrologer would answer, “It is destiny’s guidance.”

A normal person would say, “I failed the exam. I’m done for.”

An astrologer would answer, “It is destiny’s guidance.”

A normal person would say, “I…”

No need to continue. An astrologer would only answer:

“It is destiny’s guidance.”

High-level astrologers really were good at prophecy.

But the things they said could be interpreted in countless different ways.

Unless it was the simplest kind of fortune or misfortune reading.

Otherwise, until the moment something actually happened, no one knew how an astrologer’s prophecy was supposed to be understood.

Especially since there weren’t any truly powerful astrologers around Maur.

At Divine Grace Academy, they were just a bunch who hadn’t even reached Lv3. What kind of prophecy could he expect from them?

“When you get down to it, if fate can be foretold, doesn’t that mean it was already decided from the start?”

Maur hated that feeling.

What he hated even more was that, as the villainous young master in the game and Athena’s fiancé, his fate really had already been arranged.

Though according to his dreams, there were slight differences each time.

In the end, however, they all led to ruin.

“I don’t want that. No matter what, I don’t want that!”

Whether it was before reincarnation, when he had lived as a pampered young master of a powerful family in a greenhouse.

Or after reincarnation, as a villainous noble fated for destruction.

Maur hated that feeling all the same.

“My fate should obviously be decided by me.”

So no matter what, he would find the game’s heroine, kill her, and reclaim a free life for himself.

That was also why he had come here, to buy information from Annie Campbell.

This world was, at its core, an otome romance game. And if it was a romance game, then love fortune-telling was very likely an important way to advance the protagonist’s romance route.

“A classic affection-boosting event like the Initiate Festival? If that heroine is at Divine Grace Academy, she’ll definitely slip up.”

Maur was extremely confident about that.

As for Annie Campbell saying she’d been waiting for him for a long time, who would believe that crap?

There wasn’t a single student in Divine Grace Academy who didn’t know Maur.

Even freshmen who had only just enrolled would be told the “rules” of Divine Grace Academy by the older students.

In that case, seeing him walk over and saying a few deliberately mysterious lines because she was an astrologer wasn’t exactly hard, was it?

Still, he could use this chance to test whether she had any real skill.

Maur crossed his arms, raised his chin slightly, and looked down at the red-haired freshman.

“You already knew I was coming? Then do you know why I’m here?”

Annie Campbell shook her head.

“If you were the old Young Master Maur, I could easily see through your fate. But now, it seems something about you has changed.”

“With only my eyes, I can no longer see through your fate.”

In other words, she didn’t know.

“Tch.” Maur clicked his tongue.

She made it sound impressive, but wasn’t it just ignorance in the end?

Sure enough, this freshman in front of him was totally unreliable.

But Maur hadn’t really come here for any fate reading anyway. He was only here to buy information.

So he didn’t care. He directly pulled out a large bag of purple gold coins and said bluntly,

“Tell me all the more unusual prophecies you made today, or the ones with especially good endings, and this money is yours.”

Annie Campbell looked at the heavy pouch of purple gold coins in Maur’s hand. A clearly visible hunger appeared in her eyes.

“Of course! Young Master Maur, you’re so generous. I’ll tell you everything I know without holding anything back!”

This red-haired girl really was as money-loving as the rumors said.

Maur had only taken out the money pouch, and she was already practically drooling.

Just as Maur thought buying the information was a sure thing, Annie Campbell suddenly changed her tone.

“But my instincts as an astrology mage are telling me that something extremely incredible must have happened to you. It’s crucial to my training.”

“If I can figure it out, I might be able to push open the gate to the extraordinary in one leap.”

Huh? The gate to the extraordinary?

Wasn’t that way too exaggerated?

Maur remembered Annie Campbell’s profile. Wasn’t she only Lv2?

One divination and she could reach Lv4?

Who was she trying to fool?

The red-haired freshman kept pleading, “So no matter what, I want to borrow my crystal ball and give you a careful reading just once.”

“If you let me read your fortune once… I can cut the fee you’re paying for the information in half!”

The Annie Campbell who had just been putting on a profound and mysterious act now wore a pained expression. That mystic air vanished on the spot.

Her whole vibe suddenly turned worldly.

“Ha! Do I look like I care about that little bit of money?”

Maur had no intention of letting anyone divine his fate.

“Please, Young Master Maur. This is really important to me. No matter what, please let me use my crystal ball to read your fortune just once.”

“I-I’ll only take a quarter of the purple gold coins! No, no, an eighth! Please!”

“A tenth? I really can’t go any lower, I really can’t!”

Seeing that Maur refused no matter what, Annie Campbell put on a miserable expression and dramatically collapsed to the ground.

She looked up at him pitifully.

“Y-you really won’t agree, no matter what?”

Maur snorted and rejected her mercilessly. “As if I would. I already said I don’t care about that little bit of money.”

The red-haired astrologer lowered her head. She sniffled twice, then suddenly looked up and tested the waters.

“If Young Master Maur won’t let me read your fortune… then I won’t sell you the information.”

Maur: “…”

The red-haired astrologer’s eyes lit up. Thinking back to all her begging just now, she suddenly broke into a sly grin.

“I know you’re much stronger than me, Young Master Maur. Even one-on-one, I’m nowhere near your match.”

“But forcing me won’t work. It’ll only make me give you false information.”

“And I’m sure Young Master Maur doesn’t want the wrong information, right?”

Maur clenched his hardened fist and stayed silent for a long time.

“Hahahahaha!” Annie Campbell looked at Maur like that and suddenly burst into wild laughter. She sprang to her feet and looked at him arrogantly.

“This is all because Young Master Maur was too heartless earlier. So now I’m setting the terms. Not only do you have to let me use my crystal ball on you, you also have to pay me double the original price!”

“No! Triple!”

“No, no, no, quadruple!”

As the red-haired astrologer got drunk on her own success and kept raising the price, Maur’s expression grew uglier and uglier.

“Pfft.” Mavis suddenly laughed out loud.

“…” Lilith couldn’t bear to watch.

Tabitha stared at Maur’s head in horror.

“Lord Maur, your head is on fire!” the fox-girl attendant cried out in alarm.