The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL]-Chapter 921: Carrots for the Delusional

Well, Luca wouldn’t have minded.

But there was something important he wanted to know before Deputy Officer Curtis whisked Lady Eden away like the building was on fire.

Curtis didn’t really waste a second.

The moment the announcement gave him an excuse, he reached for Eden’s wrist and practically hauled her toward the exit with military efficiency. It wasn’t rough, but it was decisive enough that Luca jolted in his seat.

It was the fastest extraction he’d ever witnessed that didn’t involve an actual emergency and teleportation to the dungeon space—just pure desperation.

But as the two soldiers walked away, Luca suddenly leaned forward.

"Lady Eden!" he called out.

Both figures paused.

Curtis turned slightly.

Luca swallowed, then asked, voice trembling just a little, "D-do you hate him?"

This time, even Curtis, who looked like he still wanted to run away, stopped completely.

It was a question he’d always wanted to ask seriously.

But he never had.

He wasn’t sure what kind of answer he’d hear and what answer he’d be able to accept.

Yet now, somehow, this golden-eyed cadet had asked it so simply.

Curtis’s heart thumped wildly in his chest.

His palms went cold.

He couldn’t possibly be prepared for this.

But Eden didn’t seem to hesitate.

She glanced over her shoulder before relaying her verdict.

"No," she said plainly. "I don’t."

No.

She said no.

Curtis swallowed the lump forming in his throat as his shoulders straightened slightly.

His hands weren’t shaking anymore. Not that he even realized they were.

But unbeknownst to him, Luca asked a second question.

This one didn’t simply travel through the air.

It brushed against Eden’s senses instead, carried by spiritual energy like a whisper against her ear.

"Then, Lady Eden," the golden-eyed cadet asked quietly, "do you like him?"

Eden blinked.

That surprised her.

These kids, seriously.

Amused, she let her gaze drift back to Luca.

And Luca, in turn, grabbed at the sleeve of the Imperial Crown Prince beside him as if bracing for impact.

Eden raised her hand slowly.

Her index finger pressed lightly against her lips.

"Shhhh," she mouthed, giving him a deliberate wink.

Then she turned and continued walking.

Behind her, Curtis frowned.

"What was that?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Eden replied breezily. "I suggest you care more about that vein in your neck that’s been working overtime."

She sauntered forward like she hadn’t just left an entire group of cadets spiraling into speculation.

And Luca stood there, clutching at his husband, thoroughly shaken while D-29 whirred with absolute delight and questionable interest.

__

Well, to a unique group of cadets, that meeting felt extremely fruitful despite not learning everything.

In fact, Curtis would argue they hadn’t learned anything important at all.

Then again, the same Deputy Officer had no idea how currency worked in the land of the delusionals. He hadn’t been informed that sensational stories were the best kind of carrots.

As such, one little system became even more determined to look for one missing brother while everyone returned to their remaining duties.

[D-29: External Access Node Established]

[Scanning...]

House Orell’s digital perimeter wasn’t exactly amateur.

There were layered firewalls, rotating encryption keys, and several watchdog programs meant to sniff out irregular traffic.

D-29 didn’t force its way in.

That would’ve been crude and barbaric.

Instead, it slipped into a peripheral node tied to public communications—an under-patched relay server meant only to archive outbound notices, and masked itself as residual data from a routine audit, and slowly began mapping the mainframe.

Evade detection first.

Penetrate later.

While such an exciting adventure was taking place, the cadets had returned to their shifts with renewed vigor.

Princess Kira could be seen whistling faintly as she moved around the booth, receiving regular updates about Bunbun’s whereabouts for peace of mind. Every time her terminal pinged, she straightened with visible relief before resuming her duties with twice the enthusiasm.

__

[D-29: Secondary Firewall Identified]

[Deploying mirrored handshake...]

A loop was introduced.

Small.

Unnoticeable.

A fraction of a second of delay that most complacent humans would generally never question.

D-29 narrowed its search parameters.

Keywords: Harcrest. Enzo. Desertion. Federation. Sanction.

Cross-reference.

Filter.

Tag anomalies.

Ollie, on the other hand, had gone into full upsell mode.

After experiencing what he confidently described as a covert yet volatile kiss—prompted by his relentless pestering of his boyfriend to "try the charged kind"—he was practically glowing.

"If you’re interested in some of the featured items, you might want to check the following Star Mall stores!" he announced brightly. "And don’t forget the loyalty perks!"

Customers who had no idea what emotional chaos had transpired minutes ago were enthusiastically looking them up.

__

[D-29: Core Directory Located]

Restricted sectors required biometric authorization.

D-29 didn’t exactly have that.

But it did have a cloned terminal signature.

It threaded Tavian’s credentials through a subroutine, creating a ghosted access path.

Not fully open.

Not just yet, but was most definitely good enough for a peek as everyone else went about their day.

__

The live cooking demonstration was especially lively.

Luca stood at the front, trying very hard to suppress his excitement as he demonstrated the proper way to caramelize sugar without burning it.

It was unusually challenging.

Because every time Eden and Curtis bumped shoulders while reaching for the same utensil, Luca practically twinkled.

It was subtle but not subtle enough, especially for several key individuals.

Across the dividing pathway, two other people were gritting their teeth.

Tavian’s day hadn’t gone as expected.

Not only had Eden and Curtis disappeared from his radar earlier, but he’d also ended up on the ground looking startled when Curtis greeted the Orc Princess with what had nearly been a devastating punch.

Tch.

His pride still stung.

And it didn’t help that he had to keep moving around with Celine, who couldn’t even mask her thirst for another man whenever she caught the faintest glimpse of Curtis’s shadow.

Who did she even think she was?

If not for his family’s influence, would she have even gotten inside DG’s booth?

Definitely not.

__

[D-29: Suspicious Archive Detected]

Old records.

Flagged but not erased.

Sanction reports.

Internal correspondence.

And something else.

Something that didn’t align with the public narrative.

D-29 slowed its extraction rate.

Just as usual, no alarms.

No spikes.

Just a gradual siphon of data into an isolated partition. The little system just wanted a little look.

As such, maybe instead of worrying about his non-existent reputation, Tavian should’ve been more concerned about the number of skeletons in his family’s closet.

Because one little system had started seeing a few interesting finds.

And it wasn’t even halfway done.

Shhh!