“Is Rhiannon Berta in this class?”

Natasha Grunehals, with her ginger-colored hair hanging down, was famous in many ways, so when she peeked into the freshman classroom and spoke, the children unhesitatingly looked at Rhiannon.

Rhiannon was flustered. She couldn’t understand why a student council member was looking for her.

Natasha smiled when she saw Rhiannon. Feeling overwhelmed by how pretty and confident that face was, Rhiannon stood up. Natasha chuckled as Rhiannon hesitantly approached.

“Why are you so nervous? You’re the one who sent the letter.”

Letter? Rhiannon blinked blankly, not knowing what she meant. Natasha held up a letter and waved it for the whole class to see.

“You sent this, right?”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

Why would she send a letter to Natasha? Besides, the letter Natasha was showing looked unfamiliar at a glance, so Rhiannon shook her head. Natasha furrowed her brow.

“Aren’t you ‘Nona’?”

There was no one else in the class who used that nickname. The closer Rhiannon got to Natasha, the more strangely intimidated she felt, and she answered in a shrinking voice.

“Yes, that’s me……”

“Then it’s you. Unless there’s another freshman named Nona besides you.”

To Rhiannon, Natasha seemed displeased. Afraid of daring to upset the daughter of a duke’s family, known for her fierce temper, Rhiannon just rolled her eyes.

Rhiannon’s guess was right. Annoyed, Natasha read the letter aloud in a slightly raised voice.

Her orders were simply to bring Rhiannon to the student council. But since the child was cunningly denying it outright, it seemed okay to make her admit it in a slightly rougher way.

After all, isn’t recognizing one’s mistake the beginning of repentance?

“To the most wonderful and kind Nelrysion Elandria. Hello? I want to be friends with you, Nelrysion. On the first day of class that I was looking forward to, you kindly and gently informed us about the exam we’ll soon have to take. I can’t forget how you looked then. I’m still young, but I’ll grow up to be wonderful soon……”

The whole class’s ears focused on Natasha’s voice. Megara frowned and Alecto burst out laughing. Idalia’s face turned pale.

Rhiannon Berta wrote such content? When she usually pretended to be so well-behaved?

Rhiannon, her face reddening from the embarrassing content, shook her head hard.

“I didn’t send that letter. I’ve never heard this content before.”

“Aren’t you Nona?”

“But I never wrote such a letter.”

“Your signature is here? Anyone here who can confirm? Who’s close to her?”

When Natasha looked around the class indifferently, Idalia immediately stood up. Megara tried to stop Idalia, but everyone’s attention had already shifted to her.

Idalia, who would normally have been intimidated by such attention, spoke surprisingly boldly.

“I’m close to her. I, I know Rhiannon’s handwriting.”

“Oh really? Then take a look.”

Judging by the letter’s content and spelling level, the sender was clearly a freshman. The student council was sure of that much. But since the signature could be faked, they needed to verify the handwriting.

Natasha thrust the letter at Idalia. Rhiannon looked at Idalia, protesting her innocence with her whole body.

Idalia’s face flushed as she read through the letter. After reading the final signature, she spoke in a voice suppressing something.

“It is Rhiannon’s handwriting.”

“Hey!”

Rhiannon was dumbfounded. Natasha folded her arms and watched how the two freshmen were behaving.

“I’m telling you it’s not me!”

“Look for yourself. If this isn’t you, whose handwriting is it?”

Idalia showed Rhiannon the signature at the bottom of the letter. Rhiannon gaped at the familiar handwriting spelling out ‘Nona’. Her face turned bright red with shame and anger.

“This can’t be!”

“The misspelling here, this is also what you usually get wrong. You liar!”

The children had never seen Idalia get so angry before.

Rhiannon was confused. Certainly, the letter, not just the signature but the content too, was written in her own handwriting. But she had never written such a ridiculous letter.

And to Nelrysion of all people? How could she dare to send such a bold letter to someone of such high status and popularity?

“Look, see here. The way the dots are made is similar, but my writing is worse……”

“Alright, that’s enough. I’m a busy person, little ones.”

Natasha clapped her hands to stop the fight between the two as it seemed to be dragging on.

Watching Idalia crumple the letter without realizing it, Megara fell into thought. It seemed odd that the timid Rhiannon would send a letter to a boy she wasn’t even close to.

But Idalia seemed so certain. She said both Rhiannon’s handwriting and spelling were correct.

“For now, come with me, Rhiannon. Nelrysion ‘sir’ says he has something to ask you.”

Rhiannon felt like she would die of embarrassment and confusion, but she couldn’t refuse the student council’s summons. Neris watched that reluctant retreating figure with secret pleasure.

Neris knew why even Natasha had come to fetch Rhiannon.

When Nelrysion had documents to hide from Abelus’s eyes, he would put them in a secret drawer he had made in one corner of his desk in the student council room. Neris knew this because she had secretly disposed of documents Nelrysion had left from his school days after she was adopted into the Elandria family.

She deliberately inserted a letter she had written in Rhiannon’s name and handwriting—Neris remembered Rhiannon’s handwriting, and to be precise, she had intentionally checked Rhiannon’s notes during class—in a noticeable way at the entrance of that secret drawer.

Judging by the fact that Natasha came instead of Nelrysion himself, it seemed Abelus had discovered the letter well.

In principle, the student council room was a space where all students could freely come and go. As Neris remembered, female students often lingered around trying to talk to Nelrysion and Abelus.

The hypothesis that ‘Rhiannon visited the student council room looking for Nelrysion, witnessed him opening the secret drawer, and thought it was Nelrysion’s personal locker’ was the most rational among the existing possibilities.

After all, no one would think that ‘someone who knows Rhiannon’s handwriting well deliberately inserted a fake letter into Nelrysion’s secret drawer to trap her.’

Neris had acted carefully, observing when no one was in the student council room. Whether Nelrysion or Abelus saw the letter sent in Nona’s name first, Rhiannon would be in trouble either way, so it didn’t matter much.

But if possible, she wanted Nelrysion to be in trouble too, and it worked out as she wished.

By the next day, the rumor that Rhiannon Berta had presumptuously sent a love letter to Nelrysion Elandria, and not even directly, but by sneaking into the student council room and leaving it on his desk, had spread even to the upper classmen.

“I heard Nelrysion was really angry. This year’s freshmen are noisy.”

Ren, who had now become Neris’s permanent partner in Berlenian class, said in an odd tone. Neris paid no attention.

Finally, Ren revealed his true feelings. That is, he asked Neris with a worried face.

“Are you okay? It seems like there are a lot of weird kids.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

Neris replied nonchalantly. Ren grinned. He had large eyes and a short lower jaw, making him look a few years younger than his age, especially when he smiled mischievously.

“You’re a busybody, aren’t it?”

“No, I’m not.”

Perhaps because of the truly unnecessary meddling at their first meeting, Ren seemed to have a solid misunderstanding about Neris.

She knew well that she was cold, mean, and selfish. She wouldn’t bat an eye even if someone died in front of her, and she could even kill directly. For the sake of the Elandria family and the Bista Imperial family, she had used and discarded more than a few people.

Unaware of such circumstances—of course—Ren just giggled as if Neris’s reaction was cute. Lord Voltaire cleared his throat strictly.

“Escas buz havete fini a ecaril (Have you finished writing what I instructed?)”

“Wi, sior. (Yes, sir.)”

It was time to read the given text and write an essay. The students wrote quietly at first, but soon fell into chatting, and only quieted down again after Lord Voltaire asked the question.

Neris quietly submitted her writing. Mahradi Ennim grumbled lowly.

“Acting all high and mighty.”

Neris showed no interest in Mahradi’s blatant provocation.

Since the mistranslation incident in the first class, he had been nitpicking at Neris’s every move, but as long as the class atmosphere wasn’t swayed by him, there was nothing to deal with.

Besides, to refute, the other party needs to have an argument, but he was talking nonsense, so it wasn’t even worth paying attention to.

Instead, Ren glared.

“What’s your problem, Ennim? Why are you picking on someone who’s just minding their own business?”

“What did I do?”

Mahradi raised an eyebrow. Neris inwardly sighed.

There was no need to deal with fools, but Ren couldn’t stand even minor annoyances. Was this his innate personality, or was it due to frustration with his situation?

Either way, one should be confident in turning the situation to their advantage before speaking, but he was still too young.

“Come to think of it, you’ve been stepping in when she’s just been quiet all along? Ren Feyel. Is that your thing? A six-year-younger kid?”

Sure enough, Mahradi sneered as if he had caught something.

Lord Voltaire looked displeased but didn’t immediately step in to stop it. This was partly because the school rules allowed students as much freedom as possible, but also because Lord Voltaire was originally a teacher who liked to test.

Neris, who had expected this, finally raised her eyes to look at Mahradi. If she stayed quiet any longer, it would now be an insult to herself. It didn’t seem like Ren could handle it either.

Facing those calm purple eyes, Mahradi flinched without realizing it. And as he recognized this fact himself, his face turned bright red.

The opponent was a low-ranking noble without much of a family name, and much younger. Yet what was with that relaxed attitude? That attitude of looking down from high above, as if such things didn’t matter at all.

Neris’s small, plump lips opened slowly.

“It’s funny hearing you say that, senior Mahradi. How many years older are you than senior Megara? Five years?”

Arthur Pendlant, who had seen Mahradi trying to talk to Megara only to be coldly ignored, burst out laughing without realizing it. Mahradi’s face turned red and blue.

“Watch your mouth, freshman. You’re disrespectful.”

“You spoke carelessly first, senior. Does saying ‘don’t pick on someone who’s minding their own business’ mean you like them? Why? Because it’s common sense?”

This time, more people burst out laughing. Mahradi glared at Neris.

“Hey, you’re annoying. Are you always like this?”

“I’m always annoying. And I have a bad personality too. So I’ll say it straight without beating around the bush. If you have something to say, come and say it directly, properly. Don’t mutter to yourself without the guts.”