Could become an accomplice (there are plenty of real-world examples of illegitimate children inheriting Western noble titles

Feeling the hand resting on her waist, the red-haired girl nearly lost her composure.

Fortunately, she steadied herself at the last moment. Gritting her teeth, she forced down her revulsion and put on an awkward, uneasy expression as she said:

"M-my family was poor when I was little..."

Eros nearly laughed at the sight, but managed to hold it in. He patted the red-haired girl on the shoulder and declared magnanimously:

"Stick with me from now on, and I'll make sure you get enough to eat every day. Just look how skinny you've gotten."

"N-no, thank you!"

The red-haired girl hurriedly refused. Was he kidding? Hang around this pervert who seemed to be into men? Not a chance!

"It's fine! That settles it! From now on, I'm your big brother!" Eros patted the red-haired girl's shoulder, leaving no room for argument.

"I..."

"It's fine, it's fine..."

The red-haired girl nearly ground her teeth to pieces. Her undercover mission had been going perfectly well, so where had this freak suddenly come from?

What frustrated her was that she still had to maintain her cover and couldn't do anything out of character. It was infuriating.

Meanwhile, Wendy watched Eros chatting and laughing with a scrawny male classmate, feeling rather puzzled herself. Had Eros known Thomas before? That was impossible.

Just then, a blue-haired young man entered the classroom. It was Saliba, the prince of the Chris Empire.

After entering, he swept his gaze around the room, then fixed his eyes on Wendy and headed straight for the seat beside her that she had saved for Eros.

When Wendy saw Saliba approaching, she immediately stood, gave him a disgusted look, and walked over to Eros.

Saliba narrowed his eyes without saying anything, but the followers beside him couldn't stand it and spoke up on their master's behalf:

"That Wendy thinks far too highly of herself!"

"Exactly! She should count herself lucky that His Highness has taken an interest in her."

Seeing Eros standing there with his arm around someone else's shoulders made Wendy angry, lending her voice a sharp edge:

"Thomas, right? I want to switch seats with you."

It wasn't a request for discussion, but practically an order.

Yet the red-haired girl showed no displeasure at all. Instead, she was overjoyed and hurriedly wriggled free of Eros's arm.

Praise the Goddess! She could finally get far away from this pervert.

The red-haired girl swiftly grabbed her belongings and scurried away.

Eros sighed, feeling he hadn't quite had his fill. Wendy sat down beside him, her pretty face full of puzzlement:

"Is there something strange about that person?"

Eros saw no need to hide it from Wendy, so he said:

"Do you remember the red-haired woman I mentioned to you two months ago?"

Wendy recalled asking him what he was looking at that day, and his reply that there was a rather pretty red-haired woman over there.

But what did that have to do with Thomas today? She grew even more confused.

"Of course there's a connection. I reckon that red-haired woman is her older sister!" Eros rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.

"How can you tell?"

"They look very alike!"

Wendy caught the key detail this time. She noticed that Eros had said "her," which left her startled and uncertain. She leaned close to his ear and whispered:

"You mean Thomas is actually a girl?"

"That's right! She's probably just used some method to disguise herself as a man."

"I reckon she isn't working with the Three Great Churches of the Chris Empire, or she wouldn't need to skulk around like this."

"If you figured that out, why were you putting your arm around her?" Wendy gritted her teeth. That bastard probably thought she was pretty and deliberately...

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, until she reached out and gave Eros's waist a twist.

Eros sucked in a sharp breath and explained, "I was just trying to see if I could win her over. After all, she isn't on the Churches' side, so maybe she could become our accomplice."

At that, Eros paused and corrected his choice of words. "Our ally. Ally!"

Wendy narrowed her beautiful eyes, her expression dangerous. "Are you sure it wasn't because you realized she was pretty, and then..."

"Of course not! However pretty she is, how could she compare to my big sister Wendy?" Eros said with an awkward laugh.

Hearing that, Wendy gave a soft huff and proudly lifted her pretty face. "At least you have good taste."

Eros chuckled. Wendy was so easy to coax. Wonderful.

Before long, a priest in golden robes entered the classroom. He looked around, letting his gaze linger briefly on Eros before speaking:

"Today, I will be teaching you second-level spells..."

The priest lectured eloquently at the front, but Eros felt rather bored down below.

The reason was simple: the elders of his family had already taught him the second-level spell the priest was explaining. These were all commonplace, general-purpose spells.

Besides, he had a whole compressed package of skills in his head, containing everything from first- through sixth-level spells to forbidden spells and divine arts. He really couldn't think much of these ubiquitous, general-purpose spells.

Bored, he began looking around the classroom. It felt a little like being back in his school days in his previous life, and he found himself oddly nostalgic.

As he looked around, he noticed that the blue-haired fellow kept glancing in his direction.

Eros found this genuinely puzzling. He couldn't understand where that blue-haired guy's strange possessiveness came from.

Wendy had already made her disgust so obvious. Did he seriously have no fucking clue?

When Saliba noticed Eros looking back at him, he turned away and scribbled on a piece of paper. A moment later, he held it up toward Eros.

"Come with me after class!"

Reading the words on the paper, Eros was at a loss, unsure what the blue-haired fellow was trying to pull.

Still, he followed him after class. Saliba dismissed his followers and led Eros to a secluded spot, then got straight to the point:

"Give Wendy to me, and I'll help you become the next Rose Duke."

Hearing Saliba's words, Eros was amused:

"You seem to be trying to make me laugh! Clearly, you've succeeded."

Seemingly picking up on Eros's sarcasm, Saliba's expression darkened, but he still said in a low voice:

"I know you're the legitimate son. Even without my help, you'll still be the next duke."