Repeatedly Revealing My True Identity

Jerion Academy.

Mock battle prep, sparring practice.

Students were gathered here and there, engaged in conversation.

“Assistant Professor Vinesha abruptly took a vacation, did you hear?”

“Professor Auroria actually allowed it, imagine that.”

“She seemed terribly flustered, though. Perhaps Assistant Professor Vinesha has some powerful backing?”

“Isabel went on a field trip with the White Woodworker, I’m so envious.”

“I wonder when the Saintess will show herself again.”

Amidst the conversations of the martial arts students,

*Clang!*

A young boy was sparring.

Hanon Airei.

A boy with a penchant for wandering, a love for archaeology.

He is a character with many mysteries, a somewhat pretty boy of small stature.

But that’s just according to the official story.

Here, at Jerion Academy where he currently attends, Hanon is quite the opposite.

Lightning b*stard.

A rake.

He was referred to by many epithets and treated as an enemy of women.

But even so, his accomplishments were not to be dismissed.

The achievements Hanon made were all enough to astonish the world.

Because of him, the Jerion Academy being in an uproar wasn’t a rare occurrence.

And now.

Hanon, completely different from usual, was here.

“Wahahaha!”

Hanon, chuckling, darted back and forth.

His opponent, face flushed with frustration, swung their weapon wildly.

But each time, Hanon dodged every attack with ridiculous skill.

A girl watched this scene quietly.

Seron, a girl with her forehead exposed and crimson hair, rested her chin on her hand, gazing intently at the spectacle.

“So, that’s the real Hanon, huh?”

“Seems like it.”

Beside her, Eve sighed, answering Seron.

The fake Hanon, Vikaman.

He had subtly informed those who knew his secret beforehand that someone else would be coming in his place.

Especially for Eve, this news was incredibly important.

She would have to single-handedly manage Iris’s nightmare care while Hanon was away.

The others had vaguely heard that a different Hanon was arriving.

And that it would be the real Hanon, not himself.

“Real?”

“Ah, this look is fake.”

Watching Hanon nonchalantly say that, Eve felt flustered.

She’d felt it before, but this man truly was unpredictable.

“…I really can’t figure out what his goal is.”

Surely, he left to do something dangerous again.

“I just hope he doesn’t do anything too reckless.”

Seron sighed, voicing her worry.

She knew well that Vikaman had a personal goal.

A goal he had to achieve, even if it meant eroding his own emotions.

She didn’t know what it was, but it was constantly driving Vikaman forward.

Therefore, as someone watching from the sidelines, she couldn’t help but fret.

However, separate from that, there was another worry.

‘Isabel said she went on a field trip with Baekmok?’

Baekmok was looking after Vikaman.

This was something Seron also knew.

That Vikaman and Isabel were both absent at the same time in this situation.

‘The two might be together.’

Seron lightly gnawed on her thumb.

Seron was the first to acknowledge her feelings for Vikaman.

Therefore, she was keenly aware of the feelings of others.

Recently, Isabel’s reaction to Vikaman had changed.

That detail kept nagging at her.

‘Really, I want to think it’s just a silly notion.’

Seron knew all too well the ill-fated connection between Isabel and Vikamun.

In the past, Vikamun’s statements made it impossible to imagine him in such a relationship with Isabel.

But the time Vikamun and Isabel spent alone, just the two of them.

From then on, Isabel’s attitude began to change noticeably.

That time was considerably long compared to the rescue team’s presence.

And it was enough time for something significant to happen.

A flicker of unease crossed Seron’s face.

It was already bad enough with Sharin as a formidable foe.

Not to mention Nikita, another hidden threat.

She was in no mood for more rivals to emerge.

‘Why does that potato-head keep attracting women around him?’

Seron pouted, annoyed for no reason.

It felt like he was constantly adding to the number, no matter where he went or what he did.

‘Somehow, I bet he’s stuck in another place full of women this time too.’

Her fist clenched.

She felt like tackling him the moment he returned.

“Blue Light, more than that,”

Just then, cutting through her complex thoughts, Seron spoke.

Eve, who had recently acquired the nickname “Blue Light,” seemed slightly pleased for some reason.

She had never been addressed with a personal nickname, apart from her designation.

“If that guy is really Hanon, isn’t he going to get caught by Lady Iris?”

The real Hanon might look the same, but his essence was vastly different.

Vikamun might show a frivolous side at times, but he was fundamentally serious.

However, the current Hanon displayed nothing but a frivolous demeanor.

Seron pointed this out, and Eve turned to look at Hanon again.

“If his true identity is revealed here, won’t Prince Potato-head be executed?”

Eve opened and closed her mouth, hesitating.

Being executed for making a fool of the princess wouldn’t be undeserved.

“…Even so, I don’t think it’ll come to that. Lady Iris has been struggling with insomnia, after all. His intention to help her is certain.”

“And it’s also true that a stranger disguised his appearance and snuck into her bedroom.”

Eve and Seron’s eyes met.

The two of them slowly turned their gazes towards Iris.

Iris was watching Hanon fight, her head tilted slightly.

It seemed she also subtly sensed that Hanon was different from usual.

Just then, their eyes met with another person.

Hania was there, staring at them the whole time.

Hania squinted at them before saying something to Iris.

Then, she abruptly started walking towards them.

“Oh, uh, Hania’s coming this way?”

“…This doesn’t feel good.”

Seron was flustered, and Eve felt a prickle of unease.

But they couldn’t very well just flee the scene.

Hania walked right up and stood tall before them.

“Seron, Eve.”

She pointed a long finger at the fake Hanon.

“That… who is that?”

Eve and Seron froze solid.

They hadn’t expected Hania to catch on so quickly.

Contract relationship or not, she was still the ex.

She’d had opportunities to act as Hanon’s partner, so while not as sharp as Isabel, her eye for detail was considerable.

And as a result, she’d noticed that this Hanon was not the Hanon she knew.

“Ah, w-well, that is…”

Seron couldn’t hide his agitation and his lips flapped uselessly.

Eve tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

Hania had already noticed, her brow furrowing.

“Hanon hired a stand-in and went outside the Academy with Isabel?”

Eve and Seron’s eyes flicked to meet each other.

Hania was Iris’s closest aide.

She assisted her at all times, meaning everything that reached her ears also reached Iris.

What answer should they give here?

Both of them wrestled with the question.

“The White Arbor Duke came to see you a while ago, didn’t he? This has something to do with that, right?”

Typical Hania.

She quickly deduced a chain of events with impressive acuity.

Except for one thing: she didn’t realize that *that* was the real Hanon, and that the one she’d known all along was the fake.

Eve and Seron wore complicated expressions.

Was it right to protect Vikamon’s lie?

Or should they tell Hania, and perhaps subtly alter the course of things?

Both of them agonized over Vikamon’s situation as if it were their own.

Hania, sensing their hesitation, tilted her head in puzzlement.

“What’s with you two? It’s not like *that’s* the real Hanon, and the Hanon I know is some kind of impostor, is it?”

Hania asked with a joking laugh.

And the moment they heard that joke, even Eve froze completely.

An unconsciously rigid reaction.

And Hania, with her sharp eyes, didn’t miss it.

Hania looked between them, confused.

Then, slowly, her eyes began to widen.

“Don’t tell me… it’s the tr…!”

The moment Hania was about to cry out, Eve and Seron pounced.

They clamped a hand over Hania’s mouth and, while everyone was engrossed in the game, swiftly dragged her out.

Hania, pulled along by the two, found herself in the corridor.

And then, as if in disbelief, she stared blankly at them.

Eve and Seron exchanged troubled glances.

Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that they would be the cause of Bikeman’s secret being exposed.

“…Is it…true?”

Hania asked, catching her breath, and the two reluctantly lowered their heads.

Hania’s lips moved, but she couldn’t form words.

Then, she slowly cupped her own face, and exhaled deeply.

“…You certainly had me fooled all this time.”

“Hania, he didn’t do it with bad intentions…”

“I know that much.”

Eve began to explain, but Hania wasn’t about to argue over that.

If Bikeman had harbored ulterior motives, Hania would have stopped him long ago.

Hania was incredibly sensitive to people’s emotions.

There was no way she wouldn’t have noticed if he had any hidden agenda.

More than anything, she had seen how Bikeman had been treating Iris all this time.

Bikeman sincerely wanted to erase Iris’s nightmares.

Hania knew that much was true.

Therefore, Hania wasn’t about to scold Bikeman immediately.

Still, the fact that he had been deceiving them was a reality.

And she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about it.

“So…if that person isn’t Hanon, then who is he?”

Seron and Eve exchanged glances, wary.

They weren’t Bikeman, so they didn’t know if they were even allowed to reveal it.

Hania narrowed her eyes, then sighed.

She had known from the start that these two wouldn’t give her an answer.

But there was an even bigger problem.

“What does he plan to do now, anyway?”

What would happen if Iris found out that he hadn’t been Hanon all this time?

Bikeman had become more important to Iris than they realized.

So much so that even Hania couldn’t predict the fallout.

“We’re worried too.”

Eve’s distress was evident.

“Ha, Hania, isn’t there anything we can do? Gogu-ma didn’t do it with bad intentions either.

Besides, he’s definitely going to reveal it himself when the time comes!”

“Yeah, you know he genuinely wants to help Iris.”

Hania was silent for a moment.

Then, she inhaled deeply, exhaling a long breath, and looked back and forth between the two.

“I knew what both of you were saying. I’m not belittling Hanon’s efforts either.

But lying to Lady Iris is another matter entirely.”

Hania was Iris’s knight and attendant.

As her closest confidante, she could never lie to Iris.

“Instead, I won’t be the first to speak about it.”

But at the very least, she’d grant him silence, considering all that Vikamann had been doing.

“Though, aren’t you both forgetting something?”

Hania pointed behind her.

There, Iris was, steadily watching the real Hanon.

“I don’t think Lady Iris is so oblivious she wouldn’t see through Hanon’s façade.”

Iris wasn’t someone lacking awareness.

She must have already sensed that the real Hanon was someone else.

“It’s your job to package that, then.”

“We will.”

Theron declared with a resolute expression.

“You sweet potato prince, just you wait, you’ll repay this debt twice over later.”

His words were gruff, but he was more than ready to act for Vikamann’s sake.

“As his ex-girlfriend, this is quite the scene.”

Her ex-boyfriend was quite popular.

Hania scoffed at the thought.

The fact that he’d hidden his identity from her was a separate issue, though.

‘Honestly, what’s he thinking.’

Hania sighed, thinking of Hanon.

It was a day of worrying about how he would handle the aftermath.