A heart-wrenching girlish scream came from the equipment room.

The surrounding glass vibrated along with it, seeming as if it would crack.

"Viloti! Are you insane?!"

In Isabella's outstretched palm lay a few strands of hair that had just been cut by Viloti. For her, who paid great attention to her appearance, this was absolutely unbearable.

"You really are a lunatic! They weren't wrong about you!"

Isabella roared, the anger she had been accumulating for so long finally erupting at this moment.

If it weren't for her two followers desperately holding her back, Isabella would have taken out her sigil and fought Viloti to the death.

Felyn's gaze darted back and forth between Viloti and Isabella. He couldn't figure out what had happened at all.

Felyn hadn't heard the words Isabella had muttered under her breath.

Isabella's eyes were red with anger now, completely disregarding noble etiquette as she tried to lunge at Viloti.

"Don't think you're not afraid of anyone just because you got into the Royal Capital District academy. You only got in because of your father. What does it have to do with you?"

"Your father donated an entire academy to the Royal Capital District, who doesn't know that? Does the title of 'genius girl' have anything to do with you? You're just lucky, born into a family like that. Anyone could have gotten in. What's there to be proud of? Do you really think you're a genius girl? You're just a lunatic!"

Viloti's figure didn't waver in the slightest.

She had heard such slander countless times.

Before Felyn appeared, during the period of rapid expansion for the Silafiel family, the insults from competitors were much worse than this.

"You're still putting on a cold face. Don't you have any expression on your face at all!"

The sunlight from the window divided the equipment room into two distinctly different worlds: on one side was the frenzied Isabella, and on the other was Viloti, whose face showed no fluctuation at all.

Seeing that her provocations didn't make Viloti angry at all, the fire in Isabella's heart burned even brighter. What is this attitude?! Does she think I'm an insignificant, unimportant person? Does she think she can't be bothered to argue with me?!

"I just can't stand this expression of yours, always with a cold face, enjoying the convenience brought to you by those around you while being indifferent to everyone, as if everyone owes you something!"

"Elisa and her whole family left Seiea because of you. They weren't driven away, they fled. Your father was going to kill them!" she shrieked, growing more and more agitated.

But Viloti still stood there quietly, as if Isabella's words had nothing to do with her.

"No one will ever like you! Understand? Always being so cold to others, enjoying their adoration. Do you think they like you? They're just after your family's money and status, after your looks."

"The proof is, do you have any friends now? Do you have a single friend you can talk to? No, right? I'll tell you why."

Isabella took a deep breath and continued to yell at the expressionless Viloti, "Because after anyone gets close to you, they will discover you're just a selfish, annoying person. Everyone will leave you, do you understand?"

Isabella's words relentlessly smashed against Viloti, causing her hands to slowly clench into fists.

Her breathing quickened, and her emotions began to become unstable.

In Viloti's vision, it wasn't just Isabella, but many people who appeared.

The voices that had once accused her constantly resurfaced in her mind, causing Viloti's vision to slowly blur.

I don't know what she's pretending for.

Just because she's a little prettier, who does she think she's looking down on?

Acting like that just because her family has a little money. As expected of a new noble family with no culture.

If I were her, I wouldn't be like this.

Viloti felt as if she had returned to that time when she was accused by everyone.

She clearly didn't think that way. She just didn't know what to say. When someone wanted to strike up a conversation, she didn't know how to reply, that was all.

The image of Isabella seemed to split into double visions, floating restlessly in front of her.

A seemingly endless ringing sounded in her head, and Viloti found it a little difficult to breathe.

But...

At this moment, a figure appeared in her mind.

Like a beam of light in the darkness, it illuminated her world, purifying all those voices.

As long as he was there, there would be no problem.

As long as he was there, the world would still be beautiful.

Felyn, as long as you are here.

The ringing in her ears disappeared, and her vision began to clear.

Viloti suppressed the emotions in her heart, her gaze refocusing on Isabella.

"Speaking of which, you and that bootlicker of yours seem to be quite lovey-dovey now, don't you?" Isabella's finger pointed at Felyn, which for the first time caused a change in Viloti's face.

But Isabella didn't notice this detail. She was completely enveloped by anger at this point.

"The only one who stayed by your side during that time was this bootlicker Felyn, right?"

Isabella, of course, knew Felyn's name. The down-and-out eldest son of the Sorester family was quite famous.

"Do you think he likes you? He just wants to marry into your family, to get your family's money."

"It's not like that," Viloti retorted to Isabella for the first time.

Only he could not be slandered by others.

"It's not? Fine, if you say it's not, then it's not." Having received a response from Viloti for the first time, Isabella had finally found Viloti's weakness. She knew that Felyn was the soft spot in Viloti's heart.

She had never believed that Felyn liked Viloti as a person; she had always felt that Felyn had ulterior motives for getting close to Viloti.

"Let's assume Mr. Felyn isn't after money or looks. Then what is he after? Does he like being abused by your side? Is he the type of person who feels uncomfortable all over if he doesn't get an eye-roll from you for a day?"

"If it's not for money, then it's also possible your family or someone paid him to get close to you, just to make a pitiful thing like you mistakenly think someone still likes you! Do you really think someone would like you?"

This sentence exploded in Viloti's mind like a sigil bomb.

Paid, hired?

An idea she had never considered before was forcibly stuffed into Viloti's head.

Viloti felt her heart stop. Her whole body felt like it was floating in the air, and the ringing in her ears that had just subsided appeared once again.

The lights blurred into a sickly yellow, and her vision began to distort.

She looked down at her hands and found that her nails had, at some point, dug deep into her palms, yet she still felt no pain.

Isabella's voice continued from a distance, but it sounded as if it were coming through a thick layer of frosted glass.

She mechanically took two steps back, her lower back hitting a storage cabinet with a dull thud.

Did Felyn get close to me for this reason?

It seems... it's really possible.

Father would do anything for me.

And during that time, Felyn, who had never spoken to me, suddenly got close and stuck to me.

Then... then did he suddenly separate from me before the matriculation banquet just because his contract with my father ended?

Could that be the possibility?

So that's why Felyn has been avoiding me all this time, always making me feel like he's hiding something from me.

Felyn... the thing you wanted to tell me you lied about just now, was it this?

Viloti's body suddenly went limp, and she fell backward.

She felt the world before her eyes begin to collapse. The ceiling began to fall rapidly, about to bury her deep within.

And in these ruins, Viloti knew, no one would ever be able to find her again.

(End of Chapter)