Three days had passed since Alex received the document approving their club application.
Now that their club, Endless Horizon, was official, he and his friends decided to look for a place to be their club room.
"Sorry, but this room is already taken," said the secretary of the student council, Cassandra, to Alex. "Actually, due to the number of club applications we received, all the rooms designated for club activities are already taken."
The lady, who was in her early twenties, looked at the handsome young man with a sweet smile on her face.
She had taken it upon herself to meet with the members of Endless Horizon after receiving their request for their own club room.
Although they were now an official club, the student council president, Theo, refused to make things easy for them.
Not only were they not given any funds, but they were also deprived of a club room.
He believed that by doing so, the members of Endless Horizon would feel disillusioned, prompting them to dissolve their club on their own.
"Is that so?" Alex replied with a smile as sweet as Cassandra’s. ’You b*tch, do you really think I don’t know what kind of person you are?’
The young man was so tempted to give the secretary of the student council the middle finger, but he knew that if he were to really do so, he would immediately be sent to the disciplinary room.
She was Theo’s underling and thus moved according to his wishes. This was why she was one of the most hated ladies in the academy, especially those who opposed Theo from the shadows.
"Yes, I’m really sorry about this." Cassandra pressed her hands together in apology. "But all the clubrooms are already taken, and there is nothing that we can do."
Alex nodded, pretending to believe and understand the secretary’s apparent helplessness while secretly laughing in his heart.
’Kukuku! Let’s see how long you can keep up this farce,’ Alex thought as he stole a glance at his club members. As expected, they looked very disappointed.
Cassandra was paying close attention to Alex and his friends. The moment she saw their disappointed expressions, she knew she had succeeded in the task assigned to her by Theo.
"It’s really a shame," Alex pretended to concede before sighing dramatically. "Then I guess I have no choice but to ask the Headmaster. Come on, guys, let’s go!"
Alex immediately walked away, making Cassandra’s body stiffen.
"W-Wait, why are you going to look for the Headmaster?" Cassandra demanded as she blocked Alex’s path. Her hands were now on her waist, and her eyes were fixed on him in a glare that betrayed her real opinion of him and his friends.
"Have you not seen our club application form?" Alex asked innocently, but the corner of his lips rose into a smirk. "We clearly listed the Headmaster as our Faculty Advisor."
"But the Headmaster has told the president that he will find a different advisor for your club," Cassandra replied, doing her best to keep her voice from breaking.
"Right?" Alex’s smirk widened. "But before the Headmaster assigns a new advisor for our club, he’s still technically our advisor. Since you said there’s no longer any club rooms available, I’ll just have to report exactly what you told me so we’ll know what to do next."
Alex watched in satisfaction as realization dawned on Cassandra. "I’m sure he will understand," he continued, "and will not cause trouble for the student council. Well, then, Miss Cassandra. Have a good day."
Dim Dim smiled evilly and even gave Cassandra a wink.
The Headmaster visited the Dim Sum God from time to time in an attempt to get the sigils back. Without fail, Dim Dim always said no. Rather than getting offended, the Headmaster was amused.
In fact, he would offer bribes like cookies, candies, and other snacks and desserts to Dim Dim, hoping to redeem the sigils back cheaply.
However, who was Dim Dim?
It was the Dim Sum God! Such obvious schemes wouldn’t trick it!
Lavinia, who seemed to understand what was happening, narrowed her eyes.
However, she didn’t make any move to stop Alex’s subtle blackmail since she also felt angry.
Her grandfather had won a bet against the Headmaster during the second trial.
They had been friends for a long time, so she knew that Rowan wouldn’t try to make things difficult for them.
She already knew they wouldn’t receive any funding for their club because the Headmaster had personally sent her a message to inform her about this.
However, denying them a club room was something that Rowan would not do, especially since her grandfather would definitely nag at the old man for being stingy.
"Wait, give me a moment!" Cassandra took out an artifact that looked like a small notebook from her pocket and opened it.
Everything under the jurisdiction of the academy was listed in it, including the rooms allocated for the new clubs that had been recently approved.
"I just double-checked and found that there is still one room that is available," Cassandra said as if she were doing Alex a huge favor. "I will be awarding this room to your club. You guys are very lucky!"
But contrary to her expectations, Alex simply raised his hands, rejecting her offer.
"No thanks," Alex replied. "That room you overlooked was probably a small random area. Maybe it’s also inconvenient to locate. I’m still going to the Headmaster. He’ll certainly come up with a better solution."
"Hey, are you making fun of me?" Cassandra asked, her tone dripping with venom. "I just said we are giving you your club room."
"And I just said that I am going to talk to the Headmaster," Alex retorted. "What? You’re going to stop me? Can you stop me? Don’t you know that Dim Dim and the Headmaster are BFFs?"
Before Cassandra could react, Alex moved closer to her and whispered something in her ear.
"Tell this to the president," Alex said in a voice low enough that only Cassandra could hear. "If he thinks he can bully us, think again. You have no idea who you’re dealing with."
The young man pulled back and walked away. Or rather, he tried to walk away. However, Cassandra grabbed his hand, stopping him in his tracks.
"What do you want?" Cassandra asked.
"What do you think?" Alex asked back.
"I can’t read minds."
"Then you should learn how to read minds."
Cassandra longed to slap the young man and use any means necessary to make herself out to be the victim.
However, she didn’t dare to.
Alex was staring straight at her like he could see through her soul and knew everything about her.
Also, if the Headmaster got involved, an investigation might be conducted. In that case, everything would be brought to light.
This would become very disadvantageous for the student council president and her because their enemies might use this opportunity to complain about them abusing their authority.
"You... Do you really want to make an enemy of the President and me?" Cassandra asked. Any vestige of friendliness in her tone was long gone. "Can you handle the consequences of going against us?"
"Is that consequence something the Headmaster can’t deal with?" Alex sneered.
"I think you’re underestimating us too much," Cassandra said coolly. "There is nothing we can’t do."
"Perfect!" Alex gave Cassandra a thumbs-up, making the latter frown. "Chuck, did you get that?"
"I recorded everything perfectly!" Chuck showed the recording crystal, which made Cassandra’s face turn grim.
Without any ounce of hesitation, Cassandra snapped her fingers. The crystal in the teenage boy’s hand promptly shattered.
"Ooops." Cassandra smirked. "It seems that your evidence is gone. What can you do now?"
"Ooops." Alex chuckled. "Do you think we only have one recording crystal?"
Cassandra’s smirk lost its mirth after she heard Alex’s reply.
"Where is it?" Cassandra grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him to her until their faces were only a few inches apart.
"Do you really think I’ll show it to you?" Alex replied casually. "I am going to give you five seconds to release me. Or else...
Cassandra reluctantly released the young man, but she was still glaring at him.
If looks could kill, Alex would have died a thousand times already.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Cassandra asked. "Let’s settle this civilly."
The secretary of the student council was too dense to notice that Alex had manipulated her into escalating things from the beginning.
He knew that if he mentioned the Headmaster, Cassandra would backpedal and try to smooth things out. The young man was well aware that the secretary of the student council was just testing the waters.
She wanted to know more about Alex and try to understand what made him tick.
But Alex didn’t want that.
He knew that Cassandra was a sadist who liked to step on the weak and helpless behind closed doors.
Even if he talked to her politely and tried to patch things up, it would only be a temporary solution.
He knew what kind of people Theo and Cassandra were.
They would continue to test him and use any schemes at their disposal to deal with them.
Alex didn’t want that to happen, so he needed to escalate things, which would make the two understand that he was a ticking time bomb that they shouldn’t poke lest it blow up in their faces.
In the highest tower of the academy, a young lady wearing a fox mask was observing Alex’s exchange with Cassandra.
The mask covered most of her face, making it difficult to discern what she was thinking.
However, her eyes gleamed with a tinge of amusement, as if she were finding this incident quite entertaining.
"I guess Theo failed, huh?" Rowan, who was standing behind the young lady, chuckled. "It seems he has found his match. What do you think?"
"Theo is not his match," the young lady replied.
"You think highly of him." Rowan was surprised by his disciple’s response.
"..." The masked lady didn’t reply. However, that was more than enough to tell the Headmaster of Frieden Academy everything he needed to know.