The Wind Is Turning Wrong!

“What are you doing?”

The young lady’s face darkened, her voice carrying a bone-chilling cold.

“Young Miss, I—”

She gave me no chance to answer.

“What are we doing? We’re friends. I just wanted to share a little secret with her! That’s perfectly normal between friends, right? Right, Miss Ailena?”

As she spoke, she grabbed my hand again.

“It’s true that Sophia and I are friends, but you and I are complete strangers!”

Slap!

This time, an even louder smack rang out, drawing every gaze in the vicinity.

“Hey, hey… look over there…”

“That golden-haired one… isn’t she the duke’s daughter?”

“The pink-haired girl… isn’t she that special scholarship student with the rare attribute?”

“Did the pink-haired kid just get hit?”

“I saw the whole thing… that’s the second time she’s done it…”

“No way…”

“I thought she was a good person because she paid to rebuild the boys’ dormitory, but I might have to change my opinion…”

“Yeah…”

The atmosphere definitely felt off…

Yet the young lady paid no attention to the surrounding whispers and sneered coldly.

“Who gave you permission to touch Ailena’s hand?”

The girl who had been struck cradled her bright red hand, looking utterly wronged.

“Isn’t it normal for friends to hold hands? Do I need the duke’s daughter’s approval just to touch Miss Ailena’s hand?”

“Exactly. Ailena is mine. If you want to touch her, you need my permission… I let it slide before, but I have no intention of tolerating you anymore.”

At those words, something like a smile flickered across “Sophia’s” face.

She puffed up her cheeks and declared indignantly.

“Miss Ailena is not an object! She is a living, breathing human being! She has her own will! I would never hand kind Miss Ailena over to a villain like you!”

The young lady’s eyebrow twitched.

“You—”

“Sophia! Are you all right?!”

Just as the young lady was about to explode, several of the male leads rushed to Sophia’s side.

“Your hand…”

“You did this!”

One of them—an orange-haired boy—glared at the young lady as though threatening her.

Yet she merely folded her arms and replied without the slightest hint of intimidation.

“And if I did? Who told her she could touch my personal maid so casually?”

“It was just holding hands! Did you really have to hit her?”

“I was simply brushing filth off my maid. How is that wrong?”

“You—”

“What’s going on here? Why is everyone gathered?”

The commotion had grown too loud; even a teacher was drawn over.

“Oh…”

Seeing the teacher arrive, the male leads stopped pressing the issue and left with Sophia.

“Miss Ailena, since you helped me, I will definitely help you in return! At the very least, I’ll make sure you’re treated like a human being!”

Before departing, she made sure to throw out that line.

“The young lady has never treated me as less than human! She values me greatly!”

My feeble explanation probably didn’t reach anyone’s ears.

Leaving “Sophia” aside… I could only hope the others might change their opinion!

Rustle, rustle…

Yet judging from the hushed whispers around us, nobody had listened at all.

“What are you all staring at? Get back to class! The first period is about to begin!”

The teacher began dispersing the crowd.

“Let’s go too, Ailena.”

“Oh…”

The young lady seemed utterly unconcerned by the incident, taking my hand and heading straight to the classroom.

After that commotion,

Sophia began deliberately approaching me,

and always when the young lady was present.

Inevitably, the two clashed…

Private arguments would have been one thing, but every single time it happened in public.

On one side: the overbearing young lady with a prior record of violence.

On the other: the pitiful commoner girl backed by multiple male supporters.

To the onlookers, it was obvious whom they should root for.

I tried speaking up for the young lady, but no matter what I said,

Sophia would silence me with a single line: “You’re only saying that because she forced you, right?”

With just that one sentence, all my defenses turned pale and powerless.

Bad rumors about the young lady gradually spread among the students.

By the second conflict, I had already mostly figured out Sophia’s goal—

She surely wanted to push the young lady back into the role of the villainess, didn’t she?

Yet I was helpless… With only my own strength, there was no way I could reverse public opinion.

From the moment she “bumped” into me, my defeat had probably already begun.

If only I had realized her intentions sooner…!

A wave of powerlessness and regret crashed over me…

“Ailena, are you all right?”

Warmth traveled through our joined hands.

Beside me was the golden-haired girl wearing a worried expression.

“I… I’m fine.”

Come to think of it, we were on our way to the student council room…

“Are you sure? Don’t push yourself.”

“Mhm… I won’t.”

The young lady acted exactly the same as always… There was no way she hadn’t heard the recent rumors.

What an admirably broad-minded attitude…

Yet that attitude didn’t help the current situation much at all.

Little Katarina

The moment we entered the student council room, even Olivia—who had been giving us the request—looked troubled.

“It’s great that you’re enthusiastic about completing requests, but… your reputation lately is really not looking good, you know?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. She’s the one who keeps provoking me.”

“That may be true from your perspective… but that’s not how everyone else sees it. And those surrounding opinions will affect His Majesty’s evaluation too.”

…

The young lady fell silent.

For her, the emperor’s favor was essential. Without his approval, she could never achieve her grand ambition.

The same went for “Sophia”… which was precisely why she was scheming to frame the young lady.

“Well… let’s put that aside for now.”

Olivia forced a bright smile back onto her face.

“Today’s request comes from within the academy.”

“An in-school request?”

It must have been novel for the young lady; until now, she had only taken monster-subjugation quests outside the academy.

But requests like this were extremely common in the early game for building reputation—probably three out of every five—mostly just helping other students with miscellaneous chores.

“That’s pretty much what I expected the content to be.”

“You know our academy has an enormous library, right? Some students keep borrowing books and never return them, making endless excuses. The student librarians are at their wits’ end… so they asked the student council for help.

As for the details, just ask the librarian when you get there!”

…

“Wow…”

The moment we pushed open the doors, countless towering bookshelves greeted us. Crammed full of books, the air was thick with the scent of paper; combined with the elegant interior design, the whole library felt antiquely refined and utterly soothing.

As expected of a national academy building—whether classrooms or library, everything was magnificently grand.

We looked around in wonder as we approached the front desk.

“Hello, we’re from the student council… hm?”

Yet we found the counter completely unattended.