The Inauspicious Route to my Happy Ending

Adrien nodded mechanically, looking rather stunned and overwhelmed.

Mikyle sighed inwardly, wanting nothing more than to kick himself. He had wanted to pursue the boy, not confess after knowing him for only two days. Even he could feel that he was rushing into things.

I just hope that I didn't scare My Little Kitten away. Even I could tell that I had come on a little too strongly.

* * * *

Adrien wandered the walking paths aimlessly, no longer wanting to go back to his room.

How could he say all those things with such confidence? No, how could he come to like me when he doesn't even know me? Is he more like Prince Nathaniel than people realize; jumping head first into things, impulsively acting on his desires?

Wow, I'm making Prince Nathaniel and Prince Mikyle sound completely irresponsible. Crown Prince Nathaniel is anything but irresponsible in the novel; he just knew how he felt about Lianna on day one and acted on it even when the council members disapproved of his engagement with her.

Adrien looked up into the clear blue sky. The sweet scent of the flowers filling the air contradicted with his current mood.

I'll admit it, the guy was right when he said I was attracted to him. But I'm not sure if this is the right time to be thinking about jumping into a relationship. I've only just arrived in this world a little over two weeks ago, and I'm still trying to figure things out, not to mention my crappy family, my lack of money in case things go south with my new family, and the fact that I'm apparently inheriting the Vespa Countdom from my maternal grandfather.

"Ah, Lord Adrien."

Adrien snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone call his name. He looked around to find out where the voice had come from and realized that he had made his way to the main lecture buildings. Dr. Lee was just coming out from the building.

"I was getting ready to send a letter out for you, but since you are here, I might as well tell you in person," she pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I've finished grading all of the assessment quizzes and would like to extend an invitation for you to take the advancement test to move up a level."

Adrien's mood lifted with the news. This meant that he could finish with two of his classes without worrying about them next year or the year after that. "When will the next test be held?"

"Tomorrow morning. I figured you could take it while I am teaching the rest of the class. But if you are free now, we can go ahead with it since you are the only one taking the advancement for your class."

"Yes. That would be preferable." Adrien made a mental fist bump; a distraction was exactly what he needed. . . not that he was running away from his princely problems. "Do you already have the test made, or should we wait until tomorrow?"

Dr. Lee held up her satchel, a smile curling her lips. "I was planning on using the second-level's test." She turned around. "Follow me."

Adrien followed the petite woman up to her office. The office was clean with everything neatly stacked. Pushed to the back of the room was a chalkboard with various formulas scribbled onto it in a disorganized way.

"Have a seat."

Adrien sat down in the only available chair that wasn't the one located behind the ornate desk. Dr. Lee handed him a piece of paper.

Flipping it over, Adrien silently read over the problems. Taking the fountain pen that Dr. Lee had provided for him, he quickly worked out the problems.

It seems that level two of the math course corresponds to the Algebra they taught in high school in my previous world.

"I'm done." Adrien laid down his pen. He then handed the paper over to Dr. Lee. "Shall I leave now?"

Dr. Lee grabbed the test paper and flipped it over. "If it's alright with you, would you like to take the advancement quiz for Chemistry while I grade this?"

"Sure," Adrien answered enthusiastically.

Dr. Lee handed him the Chemistry test. She then graded his math advancement test while he worked on the problems before him, easily falling into the mindset that the school system from his previous world had ingrained into him.

"I'm done. Would you like me to stay while you grade them?"

Dr. Lee looked up with startled eyes. "I'm almost done with grading this one. Will you stay for a few more minutes?"

Adrien stayed. As it turned out, he had scored a perfect score on the math assessment quiz. Dr. Lee allowed him to take the advancement test for the math course's third-level, which happened to be advanced algebra.

Unfortunately, he did struggle through this test. He felt good about most of his answers except for two questions.

"You also qualify for the Chemistry advancement. Would you like to take that one as well?"

"Sure." Adrien brimmed with excitement. Next year was looking to be a breeze.

* * * *

Adrien returned to his dorm room. Dr. Lee had graded his last test papers in front of him. He unfortunately missed one question on the math quiz, surprisingly, and three questions on the Chemistry quiz. That meant that he couldn't opt out of the courses since he didn't score a perfect score, but that did mean that he could start taking the third-level courses for math and chemistry at the start of next week.

He couldn't start it this week since his schedule would have to be reworked, and he still needed to hear back from his other courses just in case he was invited to take the advancement test for them. He was looking forward to History being the only class that left that would allow him to take the advancement test.

He grabbed a change of clothes and decided to take another shower since he had worked up a sweat during his Mana Training class earlier that morning.

Upon his return to his room, he found two letters sitting on his desk. One was from his History professor who was inviting him to take the advancement test tomorrow at five in the afternoon. The other letter was from Nadeline.

[Good Afternoon Young Master Adrien.

I have received good news from Nathaniel Noam.] Nathaniel was the art broker that Nadeline had found for him. [He has found a buyer for one of your paintings. The buyer is Duke Ceciles and they are offering 365 Shekel for it. That is an extraordinary offer for an unknown artist just getting started. They must think highly of your work, Young Master. Shall I tell Nathaniel to take it?

From Nadeline]

Adrien leaned back in his seat, feeling his heart pounding in excitement. Nadeline had brought him the best news possible. The art broker had found him a buyer, and it was none other than a Duke. Having such a Noble to take interest in his work could either make or break him as an artist.

It was a chance worth taking.

Adrien grabbed his stationary and quickly penned a letter.

[To Nadeline,

Tell Nathaniel that that is excellent news and to take the deal.

Thank you for all your hard work, Nadeline.

From Adrien Mallorne]

He wanted to tell Nathaniel that he had done an excellent job, but he wasn't sure how the man would take the praise since he didn't know that Ephraim Godric was an alias, or that the person behind the alias was a noble.

Adrien went to bed that night forgetting all about the sudden confession he had received from a certain prince. He fell asleep dreaming about coins and printed money falling from the sky.