Chapter 276

Chapter 276

After finishing all the Monday exams, the four girls from Class A gathered at a café near the classroom building instead of returning to the dormitory.

While it would have been better to go back to the dormitory and study, they were all quite upset.

“I think she’s really a crazy bitch.”

Surprisingly, it was Adelia who said that.

It was shocking that Adelia, who was usually a bit timid, used such harsh language. Riana, Harriet and even Ellen stared at her with their mouths agape.

“O-Oh... Was that too harsh...?” Adelia said.

Her face turned red and she scratched her cheek, afraid that she had been too forceful.

Riana took a sip of her lemonade through a straw and shook her head.

“You’re not wrong. Well said, Adelia. I mean, if she wants to enter Miss Temple, she can just do so. Why come to the first-year classroom and cause a scene? What’s her problem? And what? No competition? That’s ridiculous.”

Riana had strong words for her as well.

Harriet crossed her arms and frowned. “I really don’t like her,” she grumbled as she stuffed a mocha macaron into her mouth.

Olivia had been picking fights with Ellen at every turn lately, and the incident that day had been the culmination of that.

It had led to Ellen, who was usually able to maintain her calm, openly expressing her dislike for someone.

However, the fact that Olivia had overpowered Ellen in terms of strength was enough to shock everyone.

Ellen was seen as someone extraordinary among her peers, regardless of her actual grade.

There were only two people in the first year of the Royal Class who received such treatment: Ellen and Reinhart.

Ellen was Ellen, and Reinhart was Reinhart.

Both had something unique that made them stand out and receive special treatment in their own ways.

Of course, for Reinhart, it was never in a good way.

Even though her opponent was an annoying fifth-year student, Ellen was still Ellen.

The fact that the annoying fifth-year senior had overpowered Ellen had stunned everyone.

“But that senior... Does she really like Reinhart?” Riana asked, tilting her head.

Harriet and Ellen both stared at Riana.

“She likes him... doesn’t she? Otherwise, why would she do that?” Adelia said cautiously as she glanced over at Harriet.

“I don’t know. Right now, it seems like she’s just having fun tormenting him. Honestly, what good does it do her?”

That was true.

Her past behavior might have seemed cute from a certain perspective, but the way she had been behaving in class just prior to this was certainly not. She was just picking a fight for no reason.

It wouldn’t look good to Reinhart, and it wouldn’t be good for her either.

“Tormenting him?” asked Ellen.

“I thought Reinhart might actually like her despite her behavior, but the more I see it, the more I realize he genuinely dislikes it. If she really likes Reinhart, shouldn’t she stop after he says he doesn’t like it a few times?” answered Riana.

That made quite a bit of sense.

Why would someone keep doing something that the person they liked found distasteful? Reinhart had indeed constantly told Olivia Lanche to stop such behavior.

Ellen had her doubts, but Riana’s words made sense to her.

Olivia Lanche kept doing things that Reinhart disliked.

Ellen knew something that others didn’t as well. Olivia had purified the cursed Tiamata, and because of that, she was seen as a lifesaver to Reinhart.

Ellen knew that, because of this, Reinhart couldn’t be too harsh on Olivia.

However, Olivia was using this as leverage to keep bothering Reinhart.

Whether it was out of affection or not, Olivia was indeed tormenting Reinhart.

“ ”

Ellen quietly sipped her chamomile tea.

She thought about it long and hard, but came to the same conclusion: she couldn’t let Olivia Lanche continue like this.

Even though she had been overpowered once, and might face a rough situation again, Ellen had no intention of hesitating.

***

Ellen did not head to the fifth-year dormitory with a particularly serious mindset.

What she wanted to say was simple and not complicated.

She didn’t intend to fight. Not because she lacked the strength, but because she felt ashamed of her impulsive action of making the first aggressive move in the classroom, regardless of the outcome.

She did not intend to fight, and had only one thing to say: ‘Stop bothering Reinhart. He’s not comfortable with it, so why keep doing it?’

That was what she planned to say. After returning to the dormitory, Ellen headed alone to where the fifth-year students were staying.

Everything was fine when she called Olivia Lanche, who came out wearing her usual slightly frivolous smile.

Even when Olivia looked at her with a teasing expression and asked her what she wanted to say, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad.

Ellen’s business was simple. There was only one thing she wanted to tell Olivia. ‘Stop bothering Reinhart. It’s rude to keep doing something he has repeatedly said he dislikes. Please refrain from it.’

That was exactly what Ellen said, and Olivia Lanche tilted her head in response.

She offered up a weak laugh. “Haha... Reinhart has already given me a piece of his mind...”

‘Did Reinhart already say something to her? No wonder he left the classroom a bit earlier.’

“Did Reinhart ask you to tell me all this?” Olivia asked her.

“... No.”

“Really? Then why are you speaking on his behalf?”

Olivia, who had been smiling, now wore a cold expression.

It was as if she’d heard the one thing that could worsen her mood while in an already unpleasant situation.

“Who are you to Reinhart?”

“... Sorry?”

Olivia stepped closer to Ellen.

Ellen didn’t back down, but stared at Olivia with a hardened expression.

“Who are you to Reinhart?” Olivia demanded again. “Why do you talk as if Reinhart belongs to you, saying things like ‘Stop bothering my Reinhart’?”

“...”

“It’s disgusting to hear that from a third party.”

Olivia’s gaze was frigid.

Olivia wanted to make her look ugly. There was no need to play along with that.

Olivia would dislike her and be envious of her. She didn’t know what Olivia wanted her to acknowledge, but there was no need to do so.

Olivia gritted her teeth, seemingly searching for words, and finally said in a trembling voice, “A year is quite a long time, you know?”

“Yes. I wish you luck,” Ellen replied.

Ellen looked at Olivia, and the corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

She felt like she was doing something very wrong, but it was also very satisfying.

Having always been on the receiving end, it felt good to finally land a blow. No, it wasn’t just landing a blow; it was a realization that her opponent had been fighting from an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position from the start.

Olivia had finally lost her composure, and her eyes turned red.

She bit her lip and glared at Ellen.

She seemed frustrated.

No matter how much she tried to provoke Ellen with her words, she knew there was an unbridgeable gap between them.

‘What if Olivia Lanche had been a classmate?’

Ellen couldn’t say for sure, but she probably wouldn’t have been able to look at her with this mocking sense of superiority.

Hypotheticals were meaningless.

When all was said and done, Reinhart would eventually spend more time with her than with Olivia, no matter how much time she tried to spend with him. That truth would never change.

“D-Do you think being in the same class as Reinhart is everything?”

“Yes, I do.”

‘It’s a place you can never enter. A place you envy the most.’

Once Ellen said that, there was no other reason to be angry.

‘She’s just envious and jealous of me.’

Olivia bit her lip and glared at Ellen, disturbed by her blunt statement.

Ellen smirked and walked past Olivia Lanche. “It would have been better if you had been born a bit later,” she said in parting.

“You... you... you! Did you really just...! You... little...” Olivia stammered, her mouth agape, as she watched Ellen walk away.

After Ellen disappeared, Olivia’s eyes turned red, and she bit her lip.

“Damn it...” she muttered, “I shouldn’t have messed with her... I didn’t even get anything out of it...”

Olivia was so frustrated that tears began welling up in her eyes.

***

Although it felt pointless to engage in such emotional battles, Ellen felt a kind of satisfaction she had never experienced before. She wouldn’t have felt this good even if she had punched someone.

“It would have been better if you had been born a bit later.”

Olivia’s expression upon hearing those words had been priceless. It felt as if she had taken revenge for all the times she had been wronged in one go, and that whatever Olivia said moving forward would not matter anymore.

Knowing why Olivia had said such unreasonable things to her made it all irrelevant.

She was just envious that she was not in Ellen’s place, and that frustration and resentment had led her to pick those fights.

As Ellen walked back to the dormitory, her steps light, she encountered someone in the hallway.

“Ellen. Did something good happen?”

“Oh, um... no. Just...”

Ellen’s buoyant mood dampened upon seeing Harriet.

Selfish.

Olivia had definitely said that about Ellen.

She didn’t want to lose Harriet, and she didn’t want to lose Reinhart either.

She was clumsily trying to hold onto both of them.

That was what made her selfish.

Olivia Lanche’s words echoed in her mind.

Ellen wanted to ignore it, but she wasn’t foolish enough not to understand the message behind those words.

‘Harriet likes Reinhart.’

Ellen didn’t want to think about it, but she knew it was entirely possible, since Reinhart always paid attention to Harriet.

‘If Reinhart starts to like Harriet, what should I do?’

Ellen didn’t want to lose Reinhart to Olivia.

Similarly, she didn’t want to lose him to Harriet either.

It was too frightening to think about.

“What’s wrong, Ellen?” Harriet asked kindly, tilting her head as if wondering if Ellen was feeling unwell.

“... It’s nothing. I’m just a bit tired.”

“I’m going to study with Reinhart. Are you going to rest then?”

Harriet was carrying a bunch of study materials in her arms.

She was going to study for the exams. More precisely, she was going to help Reinhart.

“What about the others?”

“They’re studying for their own majors, so if you don’t come, it’ll probably just be me and Reinhart.”

That meant they would be alone together.

“I’ll come too.”

“Okay, grab your books and come.”

“Okay.”

Harriet walked briskly towards the study room, and Ellen watched her go.

Ellen thought Olivia’s words wouldn’t affect her, but thinking about Reinhart being alone with a friend stirred an unpleasant emotion within her chest.

‘I...’

Ellen bit her lip, watching Harriet walk away.

‘What should I do...?’

Ellen realized she was already preparing herself to hate her friend.

As Ellen walked back to her room to get my study materials, her steps felt heavy.