Chapter 43.1

It wasn’t me, right……? Surely, it wasn’t.

I tried to ignore them and continue on my way, but one of the students approached me and grabbed my shoulder.

“Hey, you.”

“Ye-yes?” I turned my head, frightened

The person who had stopped me was an upperclassman, a sunbae in the 3rd year, going by the blue name tag. And come to think of it, it was a familiar face, one I had seen once when I was with Gloria sunbae . She had dissed our club in a bid to bring Gloria sunbae into their own club.

Thinking of how that first meeting had ended on a bad note, I became nervous.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Ah, yes……” I replied, with a somewhat grim face.

“Come with us for a moment.”

“Huh?”

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me. I tried to pull out my wrist because it hurt, but my other hand was grabbed too. All the snacks fell to the ground.

Oh, no.

I struggled, straining towards the fallen snacks.

“Excuse me, I have to go to my club……”

My feeble resistance was completely ignored, and I found myself being dragged down the corridor.

* * *

So that was how I was kidnapped and taken to the social club.

The entire room looked like a noble lady’s salon, from the frames to the bookshelf, and even the tea set. As expected of the club that received the most funds.

I was obviously seated in àn expensive, luxurious-looking chair, but I felt so uncomfortable. Afraid, I sat with my legs slightly folded. My legs trembled unconsciously.

Why am I here? What business do they have with me?

One of the students had forced a cup of tea on me. As my hands shook, waves rippled through the black tea in the cup. My mouth was dry, but I didn’t dare drink the tea.

Maybe I was shaking too much, One of them spoke.

“If you bully her too much, the professors will get mad. She’s good at studying.”

“What do you mean ‘bully’? Have I done anything to her?” replied the sunbae that had dragged me there, as if she had been falsely accused. She had curly, dark brown hair.

I coughed and rubbed the red bruises that had been left on my wrist. Those very marks had been left by her, not someone else.

But she turned her head away, without a care.

Eventually, I couldn’t bear it anymore and called out to them.

“Excuse me, but why am I here? I have to attend my club meeting……”

“Ah, we called you over because we had something to say.”

Called? Called ? In what world would dragging me over be considered ‘calling’?

I screamed internally.

To make matters worse, the sunbae continued.

“You can understand, right?”

Unbelievable. I have to get out of here.

Dumbfounded, I tried to stand, but my father’s face passed through my mind. To be admitted to the social club, one’s family had to be at Count rank at the least. And their family had to have entered the political scene. This meant that the people in the room were all high ranked nobles that I would never dare to look in the eye if we were outside the walls of the Academy.

Any mistake I made here would not only get me in trouble, but could also bring harm to my family.

Tears streaming inwardly, I grasped the teacup with more strength.

“Do you want more tea?”

“No……”

The cup was still full, since I was yet to take a sip. Was she making fun of me or something?

I groaned inside, but only shook my head.

“Good. Then I will speak now,” said the sunbae with dark coloured hair.

“The social club is a club with a long history. One that several prestigious nobles have been part of. Your book discussion club is nothing in comparison.”

Not this again. What was wrong with our club?

‘Ah, that reminds me. The sunbaes must be waiting for their snacks. Surely they’ll come looking for me if I was late, right?’ I prayed silently.

‘And also, what about the snacks? They must be scattered all over the corridor. Will someone take them?’

“The children of the Marquis Lupinus family have also been part of the social club for generations.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So, in any case, we need the Marquis Lupinus family.”

“Ah……” I agreed perfunctorily, nodding my head. As I chimed in, the sunbae ’s chin seemed to rise even higher.

Good for you, sweetie [1]

So what they needed was not Gloria sunbae , but the Lupinus name.

“And you, you are nothing special.”

“Pardon?”

“I saw you with her the past weekend. You were coming out of that styling shop. You know that place is very expensive, right?” the sunbae with dark hair went on proudly.

Of course I knew. Afterall, I expended so much energy trying to stop her from buying everything.

“Anyway, are you also trying to get some benefits from her?” [2]

“I am not,” I answered with a straight face. Her words were very offensive; they were insulting to me, and to Gloria sunbae who cared for me.

“Oh, you can drop the innocent act.”

I had meant that seriously, but they all laughed as if they had heard something comical.

‘Do they think everyone is just like them?’ I thought, scoffing at them on the inside.

“But why does she like you so much? Do you have some secret technique for coaxing her?” one of them asked. Rather than being truly curious, it was more like she was deriding whatever lowly means I had used.

“Yeah, I am curious. Tell us. So we can learn one or two things.”

I am the only one that knows that she was reborn .

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