IRHWSDD 12

The Male Lead’s Personality Is More Twisted Than Expected

The next day, 4:30 a.m.

「Taran tararan. Taran tararan. Tararara lalalala lalalala.」

A ridiculously loud alarm rang inside her head.

Every single day at this exact time, the Holy Sword rang the alarm like this.

Rukna buried both ears under her pillow and crawled deeper under the blanket, but a pillow couldn’t block a mental link.

「Master? Even though I’m ringing the alarm this diligently, are you going to keep lying there like trash?」

‘Why are you even setting an alarm?! Let people sleep!’

Even in her past life as Kim Hayoon, she had considered herself extremely hardworking. She had literally died from overwork.

But even then, she hadn’t pushed her body this far.

‘At this rate I’ll die from overwork again!’

Rukna shot upright and punched the blanket repeatedly.

The wall clock in the dim room clearly pointed to 4:30 a.m.

「Did you sleep well?」

‘Does it look like I slept well?’

「Unwell Master, it’s colder than yesterday. Time limit to the training ground: 6 minutes and 30 seconds.」

‘School life is already exhausting—do I really have to go to the training ground at dawn too?!’

She flopped around on the bed like a freshly caught fish.

Ever since entering the academy, she had been forced to train every dawn because of this damned Holy Sword.

It said she needed to build fundamentals if she wanted to survive.

There was some truth to it, so she had trained diligently for a few days—but the intensity was extreme.

Thanks to the sword’s ridiculous buffs, her stamina and swordsmanship had indeed grown faster than others.

But at this rate, she would meet the Grim Reaper faster than anyone else too.

‘I’m really tired, Bisbi. If someone challenges me, I’ll just avoid it. Let’s stop this.’

「Yes, Master. Then would you kindly return me to sword form?」

‘Why?’

「So I stand out clearly to others. That way, even if you are miserably murdered, Bisbi can quickly find a new master.」

‘…Fine. I’m going. I’m going.’

Was that a curse?

Rukna jumped out of bed.

Her necklace sparkled, and a soft light wrapped around her entire body before fading.

「Your body has been enhanced for physical improvement. Time limit to the training ground: 4 minutes and 12 seconds.」

‘Damn it, even sprinting to the northern training ground takes four minutes!’

She ran without even fastening her shirt properly.

If she exceeded the time limit, the ill-tempered Holy Sword might increase her training again.

Panting heavily, she arrived at the usually empty northern training ground and began the exercises the sword ordered.

Push-ups. Endless laps around the field.

And so, after a full month of training without a single rest day—

A shadow flickered in the far corner of the training ground, which no one usually used.

‘Isn’t that Martian?’

Judging by how drenched his shirt was—so soaked it was nearly see-through—he must have been training for quite some time.

The thick silhouette of his upper body beneath the clinging fabric was impressive.

His tightly woven muscles looked perfectly sculpted, like carved stone.

‘I feel like I shouldn’t run into him. I’ll use another training ground today.’

She carefully tried to leave.

“Who is it?”

Martian had been far away, yet his voice came from right behind her.

Cold metal brushed against the back of her neck.

‘Don’t tell me that’s a sword against my throat?’

If she moved wrong, her head might roll off. Her life was precious. She couldn’t die this meaninglessly.

But her tongue felt stiff as her limbs, refusing to move properly.

Then a question struck her.

‘He could recognize me just by seeing the back of my head. So why is he asking?’

She was the only small, platinum-blonde cadet in this academy.

Yet Martian deliberately asked her identity and didn’t lower his sword.

The back of her head tingled—he was definitely glaring at her coldly.

“H-Hi, Martian.”

Her stiff tongue finally produced an awkward greeting. Her head creaked around like a rusty tin can.

She needed to show her harmless expression—like foreigners shaking hands to prove they held no weapon—just to survive.

“Oh, it’s you, Rukna. You’re up early.”

As if he had only just recognized her, his greeting was soft.

He was smiling gently as usual. The motion of lowering the sword at her neck was strangely a beat too slow.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

Even with his kind voice, she couldn’t relax.

“This has always been my training spot.”

“Training? You?”

Martian’s blank expression widened as if he had heard a shocking confession.

“I thought your soul had changed. So you’ve been training consistently?”

If that were true, it would explain how she defeated Hans’s group.

“I just didn’t want to graduate as last place forever. That’s embarrassing.”

“The recent magic exam too?”

“I studied so hard my nose bled. Worked to death, haha.”

At the word “effort,” his eyebrow twitched.

Yes, let’s solidify the diligent image.

Maybe he’d suspect her less.

“Graduation’s coming, so I came to my senses. But nothing’s easy. I hate dawn training, but I come every day. I feel like I’m dying.”

That part was completely sincere.

Something in her words seemed to reach him. His dry, pale-blue eyes curved slightly.

“I didn’t know you were this hardworking, Rukna.”

His smiling eyes carried something sharp.

Her limbs trembled unintentionally. Why was her body reacting like this? As if he controlled it.

Stubbornly, she didn’t avert her gaze.

“Lately, I keep learning new things about you.”

At the same time, Martian suddenly struck her left side with his sheathed sword.

‘So suddenly?!’

Whoosh. Even the scabbard cut through the air threateningly.

Rukna quickly ducked her head right, barely avoiding the blow.

One month of training finally paid off.

She lost her balance and fell flat onto the dirt, but still—

“Ow! What was that for?!”

So this was why the Holy Sword trained her like a stray dog—so she could react to ambushes.

If she hadn’t trained, that blow might have knocked her unconscious.

“Nice dodge. Impressive, Rukna.”

Martian smiled brightly, praising her.

Was this punishment and reward at the same time?

She stood up, brushing dirt off her hands. Just as she nearly finished rising, he offered his hand as if to help.

She didn’t take it.

“How can you suddenly swing a scabbard at someone?”

“If I had really meant it, you wouldn’t have dodged. Since sparring is allowed here, I simply started one. If you’re surprised, I apologize.”

He didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“That was a spar?”

“All the conditions were met.”

He counted on his fingers.

An official training ground with a referee.

Both parties entering with weapons.

Mutual consent.

“And for your information, I was the referee.”

“How can a participant be the referee? That’s unfair.”

“Unfortunately, the rules don’t specify qualifications for a referee. So anyone can serve.”

He exploited a loophole smoothly.

“That’s because it’s obvious!”

“What in this world is truly obvious, Rukna?”

He smiled sweetly and tilted his head.

Who called this man a proper student council president?

She lacked a solid counterargument, so she attacked another condition.

“I never consented.”

“You did. When you met my eyes.”

He pointed between his eyes and hers.

“Usually, people look away.”

That wasn’t wrong.

When Martian smiled while releasing killing intent, most people lost their will to fight and averted their gaze.

But that didn’t mean eye contact equaled consent.

“If eye contact is consent, then you’d marry every woman whose hand you’ve held.”

She muttered resentfully.

But his reaction was strange.

His previously composed face twisted slightly.

His eyes trembled, as if she had hit a nerve.

‘…No way.’

Even if he looked innocent, the heir of a Grand Duke wouldn’t be raised that naïvely.

Nobles constantly held parties and socialized to maintain power.

There was no way women had left a sculpted man like him alone.

‘He didn’t grow up in some remote mountain village only seeing other men. Don’t act innocent.’

After brushing the remaining dirt off her pants, Rukna prepared to leave.

“Wait.”

Martian grabbed her wrist.