“Are you… saying it’s the Chancellor’s daughter, Irina Zi?”
Field asked Liyakade again for confirmation.
If it had been anyone else, Field would probably have just felt disappointed that it wasn’t Liyakade, smiled it off, and not cared much about the person who secretly liked her.
“Are you serious? You’re not joking, right?”
But hearing that it was Irina Zi instantly filled Field with fear and even a bit of disgust, overshadowing the awkwardness from her earlier behavior.
“Uh…” Liyakade twitched at the corner of her mouth. Even Alice, standing beside her, could clearly see Field’s fear. Liyakade answered seriously, “I really am not joking.”
“W-What kind of clues were those you gave just now?!”
Field recalled the narrow range of hints Liyakade had mentioned and couldn’t help but complain, “Good grades, higher rank than me, and having hair as long as yours, fine—but tell me, what’s so good-looking about Irina Zi?!”
“Well… I think she fits the general aesthetic pretty well. I often hear other students say they like her,” Liyakade explained the reason behind her words.
Although Liyakade herself didn’t find Irina Zi attractive—especially since Irina often wore a sour face in private and sometimes acted crazily, which Liyakade considered ugly—Irina Zi always put on a gentle, well-mannered, approachable appearance in public. Many people were fooled by it.
“What? Doesn’t anyone find that fake smile of hers stiff as a corpse? She looks like a zombie, definitely not a good person just by looking at her!”
“Is that so?”
Alice asked with confusion. “I also think Irina Zi-sama is quite kind. She even helped me out before.”
“Ah???” Field couldn’t believe Irina would do that and shouted in disbelief, “She helped you? Impossible, absolutely impossible! From what I know, Irina Zi is one of those nobles who hates commoners the most, looking down on all of us. There’s no way she helped you.”
“It’s definitely you, Alice, being too naive, not seeing the cruelty beneath the surface, so you were fooled by her façade!”
Field added sharply.
“R-Really!?”
Alice was shocked by this.
“Of course it’s true,” Field nodded firmly and then pressed for details, “So, what exactly did she do to help you? How did she help? Tell me everything; I want to analyze it.”
“Irina Zi-sama…”
“Wait!”
Liyakade heard their conversation and hurried to stop them. Because what Irina Zi called ‘helping out’ was just having Liyakade bully Alice, then Irina appearing as the ‘good person.’
If Alice revealed the whole truth, the original owner’s prior bullying of Alice would be exposed. To Liyakade, what the original had done was very cruel.
“Hm? Liyakade, why are you so anxious?”
Field’s eyes sharpened as she looked at Liyakade. “Weren’t we talking about Irina Zi helping Alice? Why are you so worked up? Could it be… this has something to do with you? Are you hiding something?”
Under Field’s harsh questioning, Liyakade knew it was impossible to hide anymore.
“Sigh, looks like it can’t be hidden. Let Alice tell it then,” Liyakade sighed. Field, as the Third Princess, was very perceptive when serious, immediately noticing something was off about Liyakade.
Now there was no way to hide it at all. Liyakade could only sit down and nervously fiddle with her fingers, watching Field’s reaction after hearing the truth.
If Field hated Liyakade just like in the original story, Liyakade would be completely isolated and helpless.
No, it could be worse—because she’d also revealed Irina Zi, Field might drag both of them out and they’d both face punishment.
But since she had already been sold out to Irina Zi, utterly alone and under the constraints of Irina’s Spell Command, Liyakade was bound to suffer severe retaliation.
She could only obediently wait for her judgment to come.
Alice nodded and began recounting the bullying she had suffered since enrolling—being dragged into a grove and beaten by the original owner, having water “accidentally” poured on her, and even nearly having her hair shaved off by the original.
“…Liyakade!”
The more Field listened, the angrier she became. Her earlier suspicions about Liyakade were right—Liyakade was gaslighting Alice. She had just toned it down after Field switched classes.
Rising angrily, Field scolded Liyakade, “So this was your real goal all along? You and Irina Zi have been working together!”
“I…” Liyakade felt as if a heavy stone was pressing down on her heart. She looked at the furious Field, unable to find words.
“I get it,” Field said, piecing together Liyakade’s motives from her earlier words.
“One of you plays the villain, the other the sweetheart, just to boost Irina Zi’s reputation at the Academy? I knew she wouldn’t be this kind-hearted, given how she looks down on commoners… Also, you were sent by her to spy on me, weren’t you?”
“And you say you like me? That excuse is pathetic. No matter what your goal is or what you want to do to me and Alice, I won’t let you succeed.”
“Now, get out! Immediately!”
“…” Liyakade wanted to defend herself, but judging by Field’s expression, she clearly wasn’t listening. Alice was also frightened by Field’s demeanor.
“It’s not what you think. Actually, I…”
“Shut up!” Field cut her off impatiently. “Didn’t you hear me? Get out!”
“…Sorry.” Liyakade opened her mouth but only managed a single apology. Her eyes were filled with loss and despair. She quietly stood up, gently pushed the door open, and left the dormitory.
“Tch…” Field watched Liyakade’s retreating figure and bit her lip in frustration, collapsing weakly back into her chair.
Their time together had been so wonderful these past days. Just moments ago, they were shyly discussing love. For the first time, she had someone she liked, someone she could open her heart to…
But she turned out to be this kind of person—casually bullying her friend, willingly acting as Irina Zi’s pawn, even approaching her with some unknown ulterior motive.
Field’s anger flared up immediately.
She had promised to spar with her until she could defeat Stern, but was that just a way to get close to her?
Those gentle smiles, the daily bickering—were they all lies?
Field shook her head, lamenting how foolish and silly she had been.
Now, all she wanted was to get a good night’s sleep.