Chapter 55: Announcement to the World

"There’s no way he could fail the test," Victoria Sterling smiled slightly, her tone soft yet absolute. "I believe in Julian, and getting first place won’t be difficult for him at all."

Secretary Evelyn looked at Victoria through the rearview mirror, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately held herself back.

President Sterling, your filter for Young Master Julian seems a bit too thick...

Young Master Julian had always ranked near the absolute bottom of the class. Going from dead last straight to first place in the entire department? Was this a joke? If Young Master Julian could actually get first place, Secretary Evelyn swore she wouldn’t eat a single bite of meat for a whole month!

"Let’s go to the company headquarters," Victoria instructed coolly.

"Yes, President Sterling," Secretary Evelyn agreed respectfully.

Meanwhile, back in the dormitory, Julian Vance woke up. Even though he had slept for a full nine hours, he still felt completely drained and physically exhausted.

Last night, he had wanted to call it quits much earlier, but Victoria’s seduction techniques were simply too sophisticated, enticing him to continue over and over again.

He had read the original web novel, and in the text, Victoria clearly had zero experience in physical romance. During his first and second intimate encounters with Victoria, she had also seemed quite awkward. When he had suggested different positions back then just to get her to unlock his chains, Victoria had looked completely bewildered.

How could her seduction skills have progressed so drastically in just a few short weeks? Was this some kind of extraordinary innate talent? She truly lived up to her reputation as the formidable female lead of the novel!

If only I were the overpowered male protagonist of a fantasy novel, I’d definitely be ridiculously untiring in bed, Julian thought wistfully.

Lying on the edge of the mattress, Julian picked up his phone and logged onto the official student forum of Capital University. He scrolled through the latest threads, but still didn’t see any gossip or posts about Victoria Sterling scaling the balcony to enter the male dormitories.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness," Julian muttered with a sigh of relief.

His primary consolation was that nobody knew Victoria had come to see him in secret. His concern wasn’t just about their relationship being exposed; his main worry was that he would be completely mobbed by envious students or questioned by campus security. His high-profile girlfriend secretly scaling the balcony wall at night just to sneak into his dorm room—if word got out, he felt he wouldn’t be able to hold his head up at Capital University ever again.

Julian quickly washed his face, put on his clothes, and headed out to class.

"Julian," Sean looked at Julian with deep suspicion the moment they met in the hallway. "Didn’t you get enough sleep last night?"

With those dark circles, heavy under-eye bags, and pale complexion, Julian gave off the strong impression of someone who was thoroughly overindulging.

"I’d love to get proper rest," Julian sighed heavily. "But I can’t help it—my girlfriend is driving me crazy."

Every single time he was with Victoria, it wouldn’t stop for at least two hours straight.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean rolled his eyes in disbelief. "You’re clearly staying in our dorm and haven’t even left campus grounds! Do you honestly expect me to believe your wealthy girlfriend scales the dormitory walls in the middle of the night just to find you?"

Julian: "..."

Well... she literally did climb onto the balcony.

"What if I told you she actually did?" Julian said earnestly.

Sean sneered, "I don’t believe a single word! You’re great in every way, man, except you love to joke around way too much. Climbing over dormitory walls at night just to visit you? What, are we living in a web novel or something?"

Julian completely gave up trying to explain. Never mind—if Sean didn’t believe it, so be it.

Julian let out a long yawn, feeling incredibly sleepy, though thankfully his physical fatigue didn’t hinder his mental focus or studies.

System, system, Julian asked curiously in his mind. Did you grant me this incredible mental processing, like the photographic memory?

[Yes, Host,] the System’s cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind. [As my Host, your capabilities across all academic and intellectual fields must be the absolute strongest.]

Julian countered, Then how come my physical stamina and endurance in bed aren’t even as strong as Victoria’s? System, shouldn’t you upgrade my abilities in that department too?

The system remained completely silent.

It was a system specifically designed to repair the worlds of unfinished web novels. It had discovered that the original male lead, Ethan Mercer, possessed insufficient capability and presence to carry the story, and more importantly, he did not love the Victoria at all. Thus, it simply replaced the male lead. Since Julian Vance was willing to be with a yandere chaebol, it designated Julian as the new protagonist.

As a system, it couldn’t directly force Victoria to fall in love with Julian. It had originally assumed it would take Julian a long time to win Victoria over, which would make the story richer. What it never expected was that Victoria would fall in love with Julian at absolute first sight! It could only compel Julian to complete various tasks in order to flesh out the narrative.

[Host,] the System finally replied in its flat, robotic voice. [Apologies, but I cannot modify those physical traits. You will have to rely on your own real-world training and endurance.]

You Madara Uchiha ..Motherfuc##

You can’t even help with that? What good are you to me then?! Julian grumbled. You won’t let me just sit back and live off a rich woman, and you can’t even boost my physical stamina! You’re useless!

The System promptly went silent and vanished into the background, refusing to respond no matter what else Julian said.

System really know how to play dead when it suits them, Julian thought in annoyance.

Fearing that Victoria Sterling might come by to exhaust him again that evening, Julian decided to turn off the lights and go to sleep exceptionally early. He desperately needed to recharge his energy. Otherwise, if Victoria snuck in again, he really wouldn’t know how to survive the night.

Victoria did indeed arrive; she scaled the balcony precisely at midnight.

By that time, Julian was already fast asleep. Half-asleep, he felt a soft, delicate body slide onto the bed and press gently against him.

In his original world, Julian had been a lifelong bachelor. Having lived in this novel world for only a month, he still hadn’t fully adjusted to waking up with a stunning woman lying right next to him in bed.

Julian instinctively reached out, touched the soft warmth beside him, and woke up with a slight start.

However, upon seeing Victoria’s face in the dim moonlight, his initial anxiety quickly subsided.

Normally, Victoria would arrive before eleven o’clock, but today it was past midnight. He had assumed she wasn’t coming, yet she had simply arrived later than usual.

Julian braced himself, assuming Victoria was going to drag him into another round of midnight physical activity.

"Julian... don’t move. Just go back to sleep... I’m so tired," Victoria murmured, wrapping her slender arms tightly around his waist. Her voice carried an unmistakable tone of sheer exhaustion.

Huh? Sleep???

Julian was still dazed as he looked down. Victoria already had her eyes closed, her breathing slow and steady as she drifted into a deep sleep.

Julian let out a massive sigh of relief. Thank goodness! Victoria was actually letting him off the hook tonight. Otherwise, he genuinely wouldn’t have had any energy left to give.

___________

The next morning, inside the executive penthouse of the Sterling Group headquarters.

The chancellor of Capital University personally placed a phone call to Victoria Sterling.

"President Sterling," the chancellor asked respectfully over the line, "are you planning to conduct an official campus inspection today?"

The chancellor was secretly calculating. If President Sterling came to inspect the campus today, the university administration had to make an flawless impression. If he performed well in front of President Sterling, he could firmly secure his administrative position as chancellor for years to come.

A dark, calculating glint flashed deep within Victoria’s beautiful eyes as she leaned back in her leather office chair.

It was time to officially announce to the entire university that Julian Vance was her man—so that no blind, foolish women on campus would dare covet what belonged to her.