Monday brought an unexpected gift in the form of a rest day, something about faculty meetings and administrative reorganization that William didn't fully understand but wasn't about to question when it meant sleeping past dawn for once.
He woke around mid-morning feeling more rested than he had since arriving at the academy, and the absence of immediate obligations made him realize just how exhausting the daily grind had become.
Kai was already awake and occupying his usual spot on the couch with a different novel, barely acknowledging William's existence beyond a grunt that might have been a greeting.
William grabbed some food from the dining hall and spent the early afternoon in his room reviewing magical theory because even rest days didn't mean he could completely ignore the mountain of coursework, but by three o'clock his brain refused to absorb any more information about essence meridians.
He decided extra training practice would be more productive than staring at textbooks, so he changed into training clothes and made his way toward one of the smaller practice courtyards that was usually empty during free days.
The courtyard was peaceful with afternoon sunlight making the magical barriers shimmer, and William started running through basic sword forms while trying to smooth out the roughness that kept getting him beaten during sparring matches.
He'd been practicing for maybe twenty minutes when he sensed someone watching him, and he turned to find Seraphina Ashenheart standing at the courtyard entrance with her crimson eyes fixed on him with that same unreadable intensity from before.
"Your footwork is wrong," she said without preamble while walking closer, "you're putting too much weight on your back foot which makes your forward strikes predictable."
William lowered his practice sword and tried to figure out why the first heroine was suddenly offering combat advice when she'd barely acknowledged his existence for the past two weeks.
"Thanks for the tip," he said carefully while maintaining enough distance that he could potentially escape if this turned violent, though realistically he knew running from someone like Seraphina would be pointless.
She tilted her head slightly while studying him with an expression that reminded him of a predator examining interesting prey.
"Show me again," she commanded while drawing her own practice sword with fluid grace, "I want to see something."
William hesitated because sparring with someone who could probably kill him without breaking a sweat seemed like a terrible idea, but refusing a direct request from Seraphina Ashenheart also seemed like it might lead to getting stabbed, so he resumed his forms while trying not to think about how this could go wrong.
She watched him complete one full sequence before stepping forward and physically adjusting his stance with hands that were surprisingly gentle despite the casual violence she radiated.
"Here," she said while positioning his back foot differently, "try the same strike now and feel the difference in power transfer."
William executed the movement and immediately noticed the improvement in both speed and force, and he looked at Seraphina with genuine surprise that she was actually teaching him instead of just criticizing.
"Better," she said with something that might have been approval, "you have the technical knowledge but no practical experience, which means you overthink everything instead of letting your body respond naturally."
They spent the next thirty minutes with Seraphina correcting his forms and occasionally demonstrating techniques that made William's attempts look pathetic by comparison, but her instructions were clear and actually helpful in ways that regular class drilling hadn't been.
"Why are you helping me," William finally asked when they took a break, and Seraphina's expression shifted into something complicated.
"Your essence signature interests me," she admitted while sitting on the courtyard's stone bench, "it's unusual in ways I can't figure out, and I don't like mysteries."
William sat down on the opposite end of the bench while trying not to think about system notifications he'd been ignoring regarding curse activation, because apparently spending thirty minutes alone with the first heroine was enough to trigger whatever supernatural nonsense controlled his life now.
"I'm really not that interesting," he said honestly because maybe if he was boring enough she'd lose interest and he could avoid the whole yandere situation, "just a late bloomer with control issues trying not to fail out."
Seraphina looked at him with an expression that suggested she didn't believe him but wasn't going to push the issue yet.
"We should spar regularly," she said while standing up, "you need practical experience against someone who won't go easy on you, and I need to figure out what makes you different."
Before William could respond to that somewhat ominous statement, she walked away with the same predatory grace she'd arrived with, leaving him sitting alone in the courtyard wondering how his peaceful training session had turned into whatever that interaction was.
He practiced for another hour before his body demanded rest, and he was heading back toward the dormitory when he literally ran into someone coming around a corner, nearly knocking them both over in the collision.
"Watch where you're going," snapped a familiar voice, and William looked up to find the violet-haired girl from House Luminara glaring at him with irritation, "do you have any idea who I am."
William recognized her as Lyanna Stormweaver, the second heroine who specialized in magic and came from some important political family, and he really didn't want to deal with another main character today.
"Wasn't paying attention," he said while stepping back to give her space, "won't happen again."
He tried to walk past her but she grabbed his arm with surprising strength, and he felt essence crackling around her fingers like barely contained lightning.
"Wait," she said while her irritation shifted to curiosity, "you're William Cross, the Duke's son who everyone says bought his way in."
William resisted the urge to snap back that yes, he was that disappointing waste of resources everyone liked to gossip about, because antagonizing someone who could probably electrocute him seemed counterproductive.
"That's me," he confirmed neutrally while trying to extract his arm from her grip, "is there something you needed or can I go."
Lyanna studied him with sharp intelligence that felt different from Seraphina's predatory focus but equally uncomfortable in its intensity.
"Your essence capacity is significantly higher than your control suggests," she observed while apparently sensing his internal energy through physical contact, "that's unusual for someone with your reputation."
William finally managed to pull his arm free and wondered why both heroines seemed obsessed with analyzing his essence signature when literally hundreds of other students existed at this academy.
"Late bloomer," he repeated the same excuse he'd given Seraphina, "my abilities didn't manifest properly until recently."
Lyanna's expression suggested she was filing that information away for future consideration, and William felt his stress levels climbing because having two dangerous women suddenly interested in him was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.
"Interesting," she said before walking away without further explanation, leaving William standing in the corridor wondering if the curse was just going to activate on every heroine he encountered or if he could possibly avoid the remaining ones through careful planning.
He made it back to his room and collapsed onto his bed while staring at the ceiling, and Kai wandered in looking mildly curious about why William seemed more stressed after a rest day than he did after regular training.
"You have that expression people get when they realize they accidentally did something that's going to complicate their life," his roommate observed, "what happened."
William explained the encounters with both Seraphina and Lyanna while Kai listened with his usual detached interest that occasionally flickered into something resembling concern.
"So both of the academy's most dangerous first-years have decided you're interesting," Kai summarized when William finished, "that's unfortunate for you."
William groaned and wished he could go back to being completely invisible, because being noticed by powerful women with violent tendencies was absolutely not part of his survival plan.
"Any advice on how to make them lose interest," he asked hopefully, and Kai actually laughed which was so out of character that William stared at him.
"No," his roommate said while returning to the common room, "once people like Seraphina Ashenheart and Lyanna Stormweaver decide something interests them, they don't lose focus until they've figured it out or destroyed it, so you're basically screwed either way."
That was not encouraging, and William spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to navigate having the attention of two heroines when he could barely handle regular academy life without constantly failing.