CHAPTER 53: GRAY

Richard glanced upward instinctively and found that it was done by a beautiful woman who looked around twenty years old, with short black hair, wearing an academy uniform but in different colors—blue with white stripes.

It was clearly also a royal academy uniform, but perhaps from a different branch.

Richard suspected it was from the royal academy of another province since there was only one in each province.

After covering his mouth, the woman pulled him into a narrow alley before running while dragging him along.

Richard was not incapable of resisting, though he felt this woman was indeed stronger. She seemed to be among the top ranks of Magi in the Aether Will Realm.

However, Richard was somewhat curious about who this woman was, so he allowed himself to be taken for now.

If there was danger, he would rampage for a bit before shouting.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the woman leaped through the window of a luxurious inn room, a window that happened to be open—or perhaps it had been her room from the start.

"Darling, I caught one of the students from this province’s royal academy. He’s only seven years old. You can use your disguise skill to become him and sneak into the academy building. After all, with his age, fewer people would be suspicious of his movements. As long as you can find Wren and sabotage his preparations, you’ll definitely win tomorrow. The important thing is that you win here, then my father surely won’t refuse you anymore as my husband." The woman spoke after entering the room.

Richard saw the luxurious room, brightly lit, with a large bed seemingly covered in silk.

A young man of about twenty with white hair sat on the bed, wearing the same uniform as the woman except he wore trousers.

He was very striking for a man, in a different way, with a few sword scars on his handsome face that actually added to his charm.

For a moment, he seemed surprised by what the short-haired woman had brought.

"Darling, why did you do this? I won’t lose to that Wren," he said with a wry smile.

"I know you won’t lose, but it means you’d have to pay a heavy price. You are indeed stronger than Wren, but he has a vile trick that is very dangerous. Our intelligence has discovered that Wren has prepared everything so his vile trick could defeat you," the woman replied.

At this point, Richard finally realized he had been kidnapped by the lover of a man named Gray, one of the finalists, Wren’s opponent.

He was from the Nine-Star Province, rather phenomenal because he came from an ordinary background and was now dating the daughter of that province’s governor, Laura.

Richard had heard quite a lot of people talk about him tonight because many commoners preferred to support him.

After Laura spoke, Gray seemed to ponder while staring at Richard, who had now been released by her.

She then approached the man and touched his face.

"I just don’t want there to be any more obstacles between us," Laura said softly.

As she spoke, Gray, who initially didn’t want to resort to cheating, suddenly looked hesitant.

"Wouldn’t this mean I wouldn’t be passing your father’s requirement in a fair way?" Gray said.

"Why do you care about that? From the start, this has always been about our relationship," Laura replied.

"Come on, copy this boy’s appearance," she added, glancing at Richard.

Gray looked at Richard, doubt still on his face.

But in the end, he nodded to Laura.

"Boy, don’t worry, this won’t hurt and won’t affect you at all. I’ll only store the data of your appearance in my memory," Gray said to Richard.

After saying that, he placed his finger on Richard’s forehead, which suddenly glowed and enveloped his whole body.

Richard realized it wasn’t dangerous because it only touched the surface of his skin, not penetrating into his flesh.

In just a moment, Gray withdrew his finger from his forehead.

Without sending his power into Richard’s body, he did not detect that Richard also possessed immense strength.

Of course, Richard would never allow foreign power to enter his body.

He would rather rampage even if it exposed his identity.

"Eh..." He was then stunned.

The tall Gray suddenly shrank, and his appearance changed exactly into Richard’s.

Even his clothes turned into the same as Richard’s.

"What did you do?" Richard asked instinctively.

"I promise this won’t cause you any trouble. I’ll only use your appearance to enter the academy, and I’ll make sure my actions won’t be detected," Gray replied.

"You can’t do that, I’m not a student of that academy," Richard answered.

"What?"

This time, the pair were the ones stunned.

"Boy, I caught you at the academy," Laura said, only for Richard to cut her off.

"I was just wandering around there. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try. The academy building definitely won’t let you, who’s using my appearance, enter."

Gray, "..."

Laura, "..."

Gray returned to his original form, looking at Laura, and she now seemed awkward.

"Darling, I can kidnap another one," Laura said, but Gray shook his head.

"I always follow the guidance of fate, and this clearly proves fate wants me to stay on my path without cheating," Gray replied with a look full of determination.

When he had shown that gaze, Laura could only open her mouth without speaking.

"Can you both let me go now?" Richard asked.

Gray nodded, saying nothing, but headed toward the door.

"Thank you," Richard said with a smile before walking to that door.

Just as he opened it, he saw the white-haired man already embracing Laura, as if trying to comfort her for making the mistake of catching the wrong person.

And Laura returned his embrace.

Soon, it might begin, but Richard, who had already left their room, was too lazy to close their door.

He saw the stairs and went down.

Now, he decided he would just go home to Lilith’s house and sleep.

Wandering alone in this city at night didn’t seem entirely good.