Chapter 66: Oblivious
"I... I’m sorry," Leah squeaked, her voice barely audible.
She then turned to Lara. "I’ll talk to her, but only if it’s just the two of us. Go on ahead."
Lara raised an eyebrow, but ultimately nodded, assuming her sister was simply too embarrassed to apologize in front of her.
"Speak from the heart," Lara said, patting Leah’s shoulder before taking her leave.
Left alone with her, Shani crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing Leah with a lazy gaze as the girl waited until her sister was well out of earshot.
"Did you really think I was going to apologize?!" Leah spat sarcastically.
"Of course not," Shani replied, feigning a yawn as she turned to head back inside. "Dealing with you is a total waste of my time."
"Wait!" Leah blurted out quickly. "I came to give you information that’ll benefit you!"
Shani paused, turning back toward Leah. "Make it quick."
"Don’t be so arrogant!" Leah’s temper flared at Shani’s attitude.
"Oh? So you’re the only one allowed to strut up to me and talk down to my face, but I’m not allowed to match your bullshit with arrogance?!" Shani pinned her with a sharp glare.
Leah instinctively stepped back, her palms clammy with sweat. Once again, that overwhelming, dominant aura radiated from Shani, making her deeply unnerved.
Leah gritted her teeth, deciding to throw her strike. "Vivienne Ashbourne has set her sights on you!"
Shani’s gaze turned icy.
"In case you don’t know who she is, she’s the only daughter of the head of House Ashbourne, one of the top ten prestigious families in this kingdom," Leah continued, lifting her chin high to intimidate her.
Yet, she couldn’t hold Shani’s chilling gaze for long.
Eyes darting left and right, Leah pressed on. "She even sent her maid to work with me just to get you into trouble!"
"I don’t know what you did, F-Rank, but you’re in deep trouble now. She’s the successor to the family head. House Ashbourne could crush you effortlessly if she wanted to."
Feeling like she had delivered a devastating blow, Leah sneaked a glance at Shani’s face.
Instead of fear, anxiety, or panic, Leah was met with a sinister smirk. It was the exact expression of a villain straight out of her favorite drama.
Leah’s hands began to tremble with fear. Even so, indignation roared inside her. She couldn’t stomach the fact that an F-Rank refused to acknowledge her, that an F-Rank was acting superior to her!
"Are you done?" Shani asked coldly.
Leah’s eyes flushed red with anger and suppressed tears. Her fists clenched tight.
"You’re really... Just wait until you’re destroyed!" Leah shrieked, spinning on her heel and storming off at a frantic pace.
Shani didn’t bother waiting for Leah to vanish down the end of the corridor before shutting the door. A heavy sigh escaped her lips.
She scooped Nyx into her arms, hugging the little panther close to calm herself down.
"So Nora’s making her move..." Shani wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
"But is Vivienne really involved...? Well, it’s totally plausible if Nora’s whispering schemes into her ear."
Shani stayed up all night, mulling over what kind of trouble they were cooking up for her and planning her countermoves.
...
During morning class, Shani blew through her Resonance quiz in just thirty minutes before retreating straight back to her room.
She was still running on low sleep and remained on high alert in case Vivienne tried anything.
She only left her room when her package arrived. After double-checking its contents, she carried it straight to the library. However, the person she was looking for was nowhere to be found.
"He’s probably at the training hall," Noella chimed in out of nowhere, unprompted.
"Huh?" Shani blinked in confusion.
"You’re looking for Jeryon, aren’t you?"
Shani nodded. "How did you know?"
"Analysis," Noella replied simply.
Shani stared blankly at Noella’s answer, but ultimately decided not to pry any further.
Once Shani left the library, Sonny leaned in toward Noella and Kiran, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Are those two official yet?"
"Wait, you noticed?" Kiran stared at him in shock, remembering how clueless Sonny had seemed over the past few days.
"Of course I did! Honestly, I’m just dying to know what stage they’re actually at."
"Mind your own business. That’s private," Noella interjected.
Sonny pouted like a child.
"Sob... The Prince has been glaring daggers at me from the start whenever I get anywhere near Shani. Is it really so wrong for the guy taking all the collateral damage to be a little curious?"
Kiran glared at Sonny sitting next to Noella, itching to smack him over the head. "Stop asking so many questions."
Sonny clutched his chest, dramatically faking a heartbreak. But his two female friends only spared him an indifferent glance before returning to their books.
"I’m the real victim here, you know," Sonny whined, intending to bother Noella. But suddenly, his entire body froze.
"There’s another death glare I need to avoid," he squeaked out. With stiff, robotic steps, he shifted over to sit beside Kiran.
Noella and Kiran exchanged bewildered looks but didn’t question it, writing it off as just another one of Sonny’s bizarre antics.
Sonny shook his head at his two friends. "You call me dense, but you two are even denser."
...
Meanwhile, Shani arrived on the sixth floor. The Training Hall, which was the classroom for Essence Combat practice was located at the far end, requiring quite a walk.
She didn’t run into many students along the way. Most were still practicing resonance in their respective classrooms on the fifth floor.
However, every student she did pass immediately began whispering behind their hands.
’Have Vivienne and Nora already started spreading rumors about me?’ Shani wondered silently.
As she passed a small crowd of students, Shani intentionally slowed her pace to overhear their hushed conversation.
"Did Leah really drop out of the academy because of her?"
"They had an argument in front of her room yesterday. It seems like it really was her fault."
Shani was quite surprised by what she heard. ’So that’s why Lara brought Leah to apologize yesterday... Leah is dropping out.’
Instead of the satisfaction she might have expected, Shani felt a sense of relief that one source of trouble was officially gone.
At the same time, she saw Lara in a new light. ’Instead of blaming me or sweeping it under the rug, Lara actually made her sister apologize in person. She really isn’t a bad person.’
Lost in thought, Shani finally reached the training hall. Jeryon was indeed inside, practicing hand-to-hand self-defense.
Catching sight of Shani, Jeryon hurried over to a bench to grab a towel, wiping the sweat from his face so she wouldn’t feel disgusted.
Little did Jeryon know, Shani’s eyes actually lit up at the sight of a hardworking, sweaty guy.
She swallowed hard, averting her eyes from Jeryon’s slightly parted lips as he panted softly to catch his breath.
"Did Lara and Leah come see you yesterday?" Shani asked, trying to force her focus back.
"Yeah. They came to apologize. Lara said she was going to apologize to you, too."
"Yeah, they came..." Shani held back from mentioning that only Lara had actually apologized, whereas Leah...
"Leah dropped out today," Shani added instead.
"That makes sense. It’s almost the end of the first month and she still hasn’t found a partner. There’s no way she’ll hatch her egg before next month’s test."
Shani nodded in understanding.
She sat down on the bench next to Jeryon’s small bag, which contained a water bottle and a towel, while Jeryon remained standing beside her.
Silence settled between them for a moment.
They spent plenty of time alone together, but right now felt considerably more awkward because Shani was working up the nerve to give Jeryon her gift.
"Jer," Shani called out in her usual casual tone.
"Hmm?" Jeryon hummed softly in response.
Shani pulled out a small square velvet box. "This is for you."
Jeryon stared in surprise and confusion at the box, which held a watch.
"My arm’s getting tired," Shani complained playfully, thrusting the velvet box toward him.
"I was browsing online yesterday and stumbled upon this gorgeous watch. I saw they had a men’s version too, and it made me think of you, so I bought two," Shani added rapidly.
She waited nervously for Jeryon’s reaction. In truth, the two watches were obscenely expensive, totaling 620,000 Credits.
Shani had even drained her entire Cashback Balance just to afford them. That amount could cover 600 flights from Anemone to Lunarion!
She was deliberately taking this nerve-wracking leap because she desperately needed cash for her investments.
Jeryon accepted the velvet box. Glancing at the signature RR logo on top, he instantly knew the watch was far from cheap. At least, definitely not cheap for Shani.
"This watch is too expensive, Shani. You—"
"Just accept it. I already bought it anyway. Besides, I haven’t given you a proper gift since we became partners, have I?" Shani took a step back so Jeryon couldn’t hand it back to her.
Exhaling exasperatedly, Jeryon opened the box to reveal a satin-brushed rose gold octagonal case paired with a textured grid-pattern dial in an eye-catching icy blue.
His gaze drifted to the matching rose gold watch already resting around Shani’s wrist.
The difference was that his featured an exhibition caseback showcasing an engraved gold movement rotor, while Shani’s boasted a bezel wrapped in brilliant-cut diamonds.
"I’ll accept it this time. But next time, just give me your usual gifts. Milk, drinks, or... flowers."
Jeryon didn’t even realize how soft his voice and expression had become.
Shani noticed it, and a sudden thought crossed her mind, ’Jeryon... Does he like me?’
...