Was I embarrassed?
No. Definitely not.
Absolutely not.
Okay, maybe just a little.
But that wasn’t the real issue here.
The real issue was—I had no idea how Leona Harper was going to react.
She was a sheltered noble lady from birth, barely exposed to the outside world, let alone everyday life with a stranger... especially one with a Y chromosome.
I snuck a quick glance at her.
She looked completely unbothered, lounging on the top bunk and scrolling through short videos on her phone like any other bored teen.
But I knew better.
That calm, composed exterior? A front. I was sure she was paying attention.
I didn’t have proof—just a gut feeling.
And that gut had a decent track record, unfortunately.
Still, I couldn’t blame her.
Her mission here was literally to observe male students as closely as possible. That was the whole reason she was cross-dressing her way through the academy.
Contrary to popular belief back in the novel, she didn’t hate men.
She just hated uncultured ones.
Unrefined. Rude. The loud, grabby type.
Like Ryen.
God, I still remembered that infamous scene from the novel—where she pulled a sword on him because he joked about bathing together as roommates.
And then there was that time Leo Taylor tried to recruit her to his team by grabbing her shoulder.
Her glare alone probably shaved ten years off his life.
She shut him down on the spot.
From then on, Leo Taylor was blacklisted. Permanently.
I knew she wasn’t the type to just lash out for no reason. She was cool-headed, logical, didn’t overreact.
But still... crossing the line with her? Yeah, that wouldn’t end well.
And considering she’d ranked just under the protagonist and Leo Taylor in the practical entrance exams, there was no way I’d survive a scolding—enhanced body or not.
So yeah, I played it safe.
I slipped into the shower room, closed the door quietly, and only then started undressing.
Thankfully, there was no reaction from the other side of the door. No comments, no awkward coughing. Just silence.
I took that as a win.
◇◇◇◆◇◇
Contrary to Rin’s worries, Leona didn’t mind having him as a roommate.
In fact... she found him surprisingly easy to live with.
Not bad at all.
Sure, she’d grown up in luxury, pampered and mostly shielded from the chaos of everyday life. But that didn’t mean she was clueless.
She’d studied. Prepared. She knew how guys acted when they were comfortable—especially when they thought no one was paying attention.
But Rin?
He wasn’t loud. He didn’t strut around the room shirtless or leave his clothes lying everywhere. He kept to his side of the room, respected boundaries, and—most importantly—he didn’t treat her like some kind of fragile noble girl.
That was rare.
Most boys back home either bowed and fumbled their words around her... or tried to act cool, throwing around big words they didn’t understand, hoping to impress her.
Both were exhausting.
But Rin was different.
He was polite without being stiff. Casual without being careless.
And while he clearly tried not to look at her too much, she noticed the subtle glances. The way he measured his words. The way his eyes flicked toward her and then darted away like he’d committed a crime.
It was... oddly charming.
He wasn’t trying to flirt.
He was just trying not to die.
She appreciated that.
Leona let out a small exhale through her nose—something close to amusement—and went back to her phone. Her thumb scrolled lazily through the feed, but her mind wasn’t on the screen anymore.
’He’s smarter than I expected,’ she thought.
Not just academically. He had a good read on people. Social awareness. The kind of thing you couldn’t fake.
That was going to make him dangerous.
Or useful.
Maybe both.
For now, she’d observe. Just like she’d promised her father.
No interference. No unnecessary attachments.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Alright, time to scrub everything. No smelling like sweat, got it?"
The sharp, clean scent of body wash filled the tiny shower, but it didn’t do much to calm my nerves.
I was jittery. Anxious. And no amount of rinsing would fix that.
Why?
Because in the original story, the only reason Ryen didn’t get his head cut off was because Leona thought he was too stupid to understand the implication behind his words.
But me?
I wasn’t stupid.
I knew exactly how tense things could get if I made the wrong move or said the wrong thing. Even accidentally.
And if she ever caught on that I knew her secret—that I recognized her as Leona Harper, not just some pretty-boy first-year cadet named Leon?
Yeah. I’d be dead before I could even towel off.
So I kept my mouth shut.
Scrubbed my arms. My hair. Even my ears. Twice.
Played it safe.
No humming. No muttering. No narrating my shampooing process like I usually did at home. Just quick, efficient movements like I was in a military barracks.
I stepped out of the shower feeling cleaner... but no less tense.
My towel was firmly secured around my waist. My spare clothes clutched tightly in hand. I opened the door slowly, half-expecting Leona—Leo—to be standing right there, arms crossed, giving me that signature glare.
But the room was exactly the same.
Dim. Quiet. Peaceful.
Leona was still up on the top bunk, phone resting on her stomach now, her eyes closed.
Asleep?
Pretending?
Did it matter?
I tiptoed toward my bed like I was sneaking past a sleeping dragon.
Halfway there, her voice cut through the silence.
"Shower hot?"
I froze.
"...Uh. Yeah. Decent pressure too."
She hummed, almost thoughtfully. "Good to know."
And that was it.
No other questions. No accusations. No dagger flying toward my jugular.
I exhaled, slow and steady, and collapsed onto my bed like a man who’d just survived an assassination attempt.
Okay, I told myself. Maybe this won’t be so bad.
Rooming with the cross-dressing daughter of a noble family while trying not to die or expose the plot of a fantasy novel I somehow got isekai’d into?
Totally manageable.
Right?
...Right?
I just wanted to sleep.
But of course, the universe said: "Nah."
"Hey."
I froze under my blanket.
"...Yeah?"
"You’re not gonna snore, right?"
What kind of question was that?
"I... don’t think so?"
"Good. I hate snorers."
Wow. Okay. Tough crowd.
A long silence followed.
Then, just as I thought she’d gone back to her video, she spoke again.
"You worked out too hard today."
"...Were you watching me?"
"Nope. Just saw you collapse in front of the cafeteria like a medieval peasant who hadn’t seen bread in three days."
"...Fair."
I rolled onto my side, trying to hide my embarrassment behind sarcasm.
"I was testing my limits."
"You nearly tested them into the afterlife."
Another beat of silence. Then a small, almost amused huff from above.
"You’re weird, Rin Evans."
I peeked out from under my blanket.
"Thanks...?"
"It’s not a compliment."
"Yeah, I figured."
But even with the backhanded remarks, the air between us wasn’t heavy. If anything, it felt... casual. Almost comfortable.
For a moment, I forgot I was sharing a room with someone who could end my existence if I accidentally walked in on her changing.
Maybe she really didn’t mind having me around.
Maybe she actually thought I was harmless.
...Which I was, to be fair.
"Hey, Leon?"
"Hm?"
"You’re not gonna stab me in my sleep, right?"
There was a pause. A long one.
"...Only if you snore."
I snorted. "Noted."
And just like that, the lights went out. The room fell into silence, save for the distant hum of the academy’s heating system and the faintest rustle of bedsheets from the bunk above.
Tomorrow would bring more problems.
More training.
More pretending I wasn’t living a plotline that could get me killed.
But for now?
For now, I could sleep.