"This way, My Lord." The entry is quite a sight to behold, and I couldn't finish my lunch any sooner.

Duke Ethan Al Hannan has everyone turn when he enters the cafeteria.

Aratsuki by his side is one head shorter and less eye-catching in the sea of other female students.

Her eyes gleam with excitement though, even if the tall figure overshadows her.

"I'll arrange for a board and figurines, please, wait here."

She bows, a rare sight from the Princess Knight, and even rarer to see her make a mistake like this.

She won't introduce us.

I clear my throat, embarrassed with all eyes on us, even with my new set of uniforms.

Nobody will forget those morning shenanigans with me collapsing during training. But oh well.

It's a nice challenge to win from here. I bow to the tall figure, and do the introduction myself.

This is at least something I picked up from the manga from all the greeting scenes.

"Your Highness, I'm Max Baker. It is an honor to attend your magnificent establishment."

It's all about embellishing everything, I act humble and bend at the waist, the deeper the better.

"Yeah, it makes me wonder how you end up here." He waves me off, settling down at my table.

At least I'm not alone with that question.

What did the mangaka have in mind?

Why would a random — sorry, mysterious — guy end up in an elite girl's college?

It's like he wanted to introduce an interesting character.

But he didn't have any ideas, so it remained blank.

"I apologize for my earlier conduct. I only joined the Knight's training and was too nervous. I made the mistake of skipping breakfast and donning the wrong outfit." These aren't lies.

But I make sure to sound eloquent and provide plausible excuses to cover up that blunder.

He waves again, leaning against his fist, looking bored moments after he arrived. Shit.

"I will look into how this could happen." His promise sounds menacing.

He's not saying this to comfort me, but rather as a threat, that I'll be out of this institute as soon as possible.

If at least I knew what the deal was with my character.

With no inherited memories, I keep firing in the dark, grasping at straws. Why did the mangaka introduce this mysterious guy?

It's a huge departure from his earlier work, as most guys in The Princess Knight were comic reliefs at best. They didn't last long. They came and went, with the focus remaining on the girls.

"I'm sure Your Highness knows I wasn't sent here for my strength, haha."

The joke doesn't land and yes my strength is a joke and a weak one. Let's not push it further.

The Duke must be the only exception to the rule in the manga. Every other male character is weak, dumb, or both, but he led the armies to victory in an earlier chapter.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

He's only mentioned though, the reader never gets to see him, and finding out that he leads the Academy is a surprise. And he's not standing out in the way I expected.

"Fine, let's get on with this. Where did the Princess Aratsuki go for this long?"

He looks around, and every girl blushes when his eyes glance past them.

Ugh, this guy. Why can't I be this hot?

He wears a uniform like all the other teachers, a color variation of mine.

But given he's a man, he's already different from most.

And the girls in the cafeteria are all over him.

I want to hate him, but the attention is well deserved.

He's a handsome guy in his late thirties, sporting a short, full beard and tousled hair.

Both are dark, almost black, with a hint of gray.

I ran out of things to say, I never had to engage in small talk, so things could only get more awkward if I tried.

His looks are effortless, but I bet I couldn't get the same result even after hours.

"I'm here, My Lord, I had to borrow this board from the Strategy Faculty's lecture hall."

The Princess Knight rushes to the rescue, cutting through the crowd around us.

This can't end well. I'm already struggling with stage fright, and she's still working on setting up the board.

Once every piece is in place, the Duke waves at me to start, and I gulp hard.

Yes, this looks like Petteia, and Odysseus is a master of this game, but I never played it.

I want to say something to ease the tension, but Ethan is already impatient, drumming with his fingers.

I push a piece forward, and he reacts faster than light. He's underestimating me, but that's good.

He moves to intercept my first piece, but this way my leader can capture it right away.

"Good, you understand the rules at least." He shrugs, moving his leader to try and enclose mine.

It's a low-effort attack, and my response forces him to retreat. I have the momentum.

Five steps later he leans closer over the board, and his initial arrogance disappears.

Ten steps in I notice a droplet of sweat forming on his forehead.

Once he's down to half his pieces, he scoffs.

I only lost one and am about to drive his leader into a corner. He sacrifices one soldier after the other, but he can't turn the game around. In his frustration, he knocks over his main piece.

"That was the warmup, kid. Now I won't hold back." What a classic loser line.

He rearranges the board and opens with a more conventional move. I let out a sigh.

Since I recognize what he's trying to do, I relax. Odysseus' inherited memories will win me this game too.

I have no reason to worry, the Duke is not bad in Petteia, but I'm better.

Even with all the girl's gasps distracting me, and him doing his best to focus, I beat him one match after the other.

Aratsuki's eyes gleam the whole time. It looks like I can stay after all.