Chapter 34
Henry stormed off, huffing and puffing. The kids who had gathered dispersed with a “typical” shrug.
It didn’t make sense logically. By Henry’s standards, being first meant treating all the other students at school as enemies. How could he possibly have the time to interfere with every single one of them?
Henry Leris or Race or whatever—he was just excessively self-absorbed.
Riet snorted in anger and stared at the spot where Henry had disappeared, thinking how everything got tangled because of these petty nuisances.
But soon, Riet had to face this absurd situation again.
Bang!
Riet slammed the door open and marched into the teacher’s office.
“Riet… you’re here?” The teacher looked at her nervously, eyes darting around.
“You called me,” Riet said, her eyes blazing with anger. It was clear she already knew why she was there.
“Pierre’s been pestering me… saying you deliberately threw away his book.”
Riet’s fist trembled.
After the commotion with Henry Leris, things had been quiet for a while. But a few days later, another troublemaker appeared.
His name was Pierre.
A badly torn book had been lying near the desk for days, so Riet had thrown it away in the trash, thinking no one claimed it—and the book was in tatters anyway.
Turns out it was Pierre’s secret notebook or something.
She had been patient, but Pierre kept nagging about it, so much that the story reached the teacher, and now Riet had to come all this way.
“I didn’t do it on purpose. The book had been lying around my desk for days, and no one cleaned it up. It was totally destroyed, so I thought it was trash.”
“But it’s a really important notebook to Pierre…”
“Well, then he shouldn’t have left it like that!”
Riet slammed her fist on the teacher’s desk, venting her frustration.
“Alright, I called you here to check, so don’t take it too hard. You know grades are a sensitive topic for everyone.”
The teacher carefully placed a hand on Riet’s shoulder, who was still huffing angrily.
“And… Riet. There are rumors that you’ve been interfering with other students to get good grades lately. You’d better watch your behavior carefully.”
The teacher’s words were true. These ridiculous nuisances kept getting tangled up around her and wasting her time.
She thought Henry’s matter had settled, but when Pierre showed up, things got worse—especially since Henry, who had been quiet, was excited to join in. With an ally at last, Pierre got bold and enthusiastically spread exaggerated stories alongside Henry.
Once the rumors multiplied from one to two, the kids began to get restless.
Even after leaving the teacher’s office, Riet’s mind was tangled. She frowned as she walked down the hallway, overhearing whispers behind her.
“Do you think Riet really did that on purpose to sabotage others?”
“Come on, no way. She barely has time to study, always in the library late until night.”
“But if being first is that important, what wouldn’t she do?”
Hearing these whispers, Riet’s mouth tightened.
Lucas, who had come down to the office with her on some errand, approached and tried to comfort her.
“Don’t worry. These rumors won’t last long.”
Riet thought the same but couldn’t help feeling down. The whispers were everywhere, and it wasn’t easy to ignore them all.
“Honestly, Samuel’s grades dropped because of Riet, right? He was holding 4th place well, but after getting close to Riet, he fell to 5th.”
At that, Riet stopped walking. Just as she turned around to say something,
“Who said that, you jerk!”
A huge figure grabbed one of the boys whispering and lifted him up by the collar. It was Samuel, the one the talk was about.
“My grades dropped because I was lazy!”
…Uh, thanks for the honesty?
Riet was momentarily speechless at Samuel’s bold self-criticism. Watching the scene silently, she grabbed Samuel’s arm firmly.
“Stop it.”
Samuel stopped immediately and looked at Riet. His fierce attitude seemed to soften.
“…Is that good enough? You should teach him a proper lesson.”
Samuel’s words made Riet shake her head. She wanted no more fuss.
Samuel reluctantly put down the boy by the collar and growled,
“If you spread that nonsense again, I won’t forgive you.”
The boy’s face turned pale as he disappeared quickly. Samuel relaxed his expression little by little.
He then asked Riet,
“There are lots of idiots spreading rumors these days.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Those damn pests! Why do they do that?”
Samuel rolled up his sleeves, fuming. Riet suddenly remembered past events. Did Samuel know he was once one of those pests? He had reformed now, but still.
Riet rubbed the back of her warm neck, showing signs of fatigue.
“I don’t know.”
At first, when she met Henry, she just thought it was bad luck. But now, two similar troublemakers appeared one after another.
Like fish in water, they happily spread absurd slanders about her.
Moreover, those who didn’t like her but couldn’t show it openly cowardly joined in, strengthening the rumors.
Even though her image had improved somewhat, envy and jealousy still existed among certain groups, and they were always looking for any small chance to criticize her.
Of course, they’d be even happier if it was a big scandal.
“Riet, don’t worry too much. I’ll make sure this ridiculous rumor stops spreading!”
Suddenly, what seemed stranger than the situation was that Samuel didn’t care about dropping to 5th place.
“…Don’t you care about your grades?”
“I gave up.”
Riet looked at Samuel with surprised eyes. He scratched his head awkwardly.
“To be honest, the three of you are too much like a fortress. I didn’t really want the top spot that badly. When I was in 1st year, I just stubbornly tried to become the heir because I was annoyed by my eldest brother.”
That was true.
As Samuel said, the top three spots never changed. He, Evan, and Lucas always took the top three places.
Still, Riet secretly admired Samuel. Whether it was his basic skill or effort, he never dropped below 5th place even after saying he gave up.
“Well, even if you don’t become the heir, there are plenty of ways to make a living, right?”
Samuel shrugged carelessly.
“So don’t worry about me, Riet. I’m happy just being able to help you.”
“You never worried about me.”
Riet’s cold reply made Samuel mutter bitterly,
“You’re so cold… but that’s why I like you.”
Chatting about trivial things with Samuel slowly lifted Riet’s mood.
Yeah, I shouldn’t care.
Since the rumors were baseless, kids chasing gossip would lose interest soon. Riet consoled herself with this thought.
As time passed, the rumors gradually faded as Riet expected.
In fact, it wasn’t just natural fading. There were three main reasons why the rumors stopped.
First, Riet’s consistent ignoring paid off. Henry and Pierre were crazy, so feeding them was a mistake. Riet ignored them thoroughly and acted confidently.
School kids initially wavered by the rumors but soon reacted, “Riet wouldn’t do that. It’s just kids who can’t measure up getting jealous.”
Second, Samuel made a huge contribution. He cut off the rumors spreading behind the scenes.
Though he looked like a clumsy giant to Riet, he was intimidating enough at school that his threat to those spreading nonsense about her had some effect.
Most importantly, Henry and Pierre suddenly changed their attitude.
At some point, their once-spirited postures wilted like boiled vegetables, as if someone had scolded them badly.
The prime suspect was Samuel, so Riet questioned him,
“It’s not me, Riet! You told me to ignore them thoroughly.”
Samuel raised both hands in protest, looking innocent.
Of course, Samuel wasn’t lying. If he tried to scare them, they’d just say it was Riet making him do it.
Then why did they suddenly lose their spirit?
She was glad but curious. They didn’t seem like the type to get intimidated easily.
No, it’s good that way.
Only a week left until exams. It was time to focus fully now. It was a relief not to have to waste energy on nonsense anymore.
Riet felt her eyelids grow heavy and looked at the ticking clock. It was nearly seven in the evening.
She closed her textbook and stood up. Since it was summer, the sun was still bright, but she had to hurry home for sword practice.
Unconsciously, she picked up her books but then put them back on the desk.
I won’t be looking at these today, so no need to take them.
It would just be a burden to carry books she wouldn’t have time to read.
Without hesitation, she pushed the textbooks into the space under her desk, a substitute for a drawer, and left the classroom.
The next day.
Riet rubbed her sore shoulders as she arrived at school. Her muscles were stiff from practicing swordsmanship for hours the day before without properly stretching.
Still, it was manageable. After yesterday’s practice, she planned to stop practical training for a while and focus on the written exams.
She reached under her desk to take out her textbooks.
“…What?”
But her fingers touched only cold air. No matter how much she felt around, nothing was there.
A wave of anxiety spread through her whole body.
Riet hurriedly looked under the desk. Sure enough, the space was empty.
Her essential notes were all in the textbooks. She had a summary notebook for important points, but to study flawlessly, she needed to skim through the textbooks thoroughly until the very end.
Caught off guard, Riet’s mind went blank.
Soon the teacher came in, and before she could think of a solution, the class began, forcing Riet to awkwardly clutch her pen with her drained energy.
