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The words that came from Serena’s mouth were so disgusting that I could hardly bear them.

“You’re saying… I was a sugar baby… no, wait, that I sold my body?”

“Y-yeah…”

“What kind of nonsense is that…?”

According to Serena, last night, a girl with purple bobbed hair was spotted at the red-light district.

They even claimed to have seen her entering a place with what looked like a wealthy nobleman.

In the Empire, people with purple hair are quite rare. In fact, Stella was essentially the only one.

“Of course, I know you wouldn’t do something like that! But suddenly, there’s such a rumor going around among the kids…”

Stella was completely dumbfounded and could not understand.

Me? A sugar baby? What kind of ridiculous talk is that?

Who on earth was spreading such absurd rumors?

At that moment, Stella finally understood what the students’ gazes directed at her meant.

The murmurs began to echo throughout the classroom.

“What? Acting all prim and proper, but doing things like that behind the scenes?”

“How embarrassing to be attending the same academy as a filthy whore.”

“Ex-excuse me! What are you saying right now?!”

Shia raised her voice against the excessive accusations.

The boy laughing at Stella had confessed to her at the beginning of the semester.

Of course, she had flatly rejected him, but perhaps he was holding a grudge, as he started to mock her.

“What, did I say something wrong? You’ve been hanging out with commoners; maybe you’re just out of cash and had to sell your body.”

“Seriously, that’s what I’m looking at here.”

As Stella stepped forward, fist clenched, the boy flinched and shouted.

“Y-you’re threatening me with violence? Trying to silence everyone here?”

“What?”

At that, the students’ whispers grew even louder.

“This is why commoners…”

“Just look at them throwing punches like that, completely lacking in class…”

Even the students who usually approached her, seeking out my name and reputation, began to mock Stella as though they had donned new masks.

Some shook their heads, while others acted like they had discovered an amusing joke.

Stella instinctively flinched and stepped back under those gazes.

[The hero tried to assault me!]

[Can we really entrust our lives to such a scoundrel?]

[How dare you try to kill us? You traitor!]

[This filthy person must have intended this from the start.]

Why was it?

The nonsensical situation felt strangely familiar.

It reminded me of times in a past life when I had been wrongfully accused and mocked, facing ridicule.

“No, no… I’ve never done anything like that…”

“Don’t lie, you filthy whore!”

“Just drop out of the academy? Just being in the same space is filthy…”

“No!”

Despite her heartfelt cry filled with injustice, the gazes around her remained cold.

“You all just can’t leave it be, can you?!”

Shia stood in front of the shrunk Stella and shouted to the crowd.

“There’s no way that nonsense is true! Do you have any evidence?!”

“I heard the beggars hanging around the red-light district said that, and some staff members saw it too.”

“That can’t be! …There’s no way…”

Upon the claim that several people had witnessed it, Shia’s confidence began to waver.

Stella desperately called out to Shia, whose eyes were trembling as she looked at her.

“No! I’ve never done that!”

“Come to think of it, I loaned her some jewelry, and I still haven’t gotten it back…”

“What…?”

This time, a female student among the crowd looked at Stella and spoke.

“You borrowed my earrings last week… you still haven’t returned them…”

“That’s such nonsense! When did I…?”

“Y-you even threatened me like that last time to take them…”

The girl seemed genuinely wronged as she spoke.

“What? Is it not enough to be a prostitute? Now you’re threatening others as well?”

“Seriously, you don’t seem to have any limits to your shamelessness…”

“No, that’s not true! I’ve never done that!”

Stella tried to declare her innocence by opening her bag.

But then an unbelievable situation unfolded from her open bag.

“Oh…? What is this necklace…?”

Stella blurted out in a voice mixed with panic upon discovering the necklace inside.

Seeing that, the crowd began to mock her even more.

“Is it so bad that she’d want to earn money like that…?”

“Her body is filthy, and her behavior is even filthier…”

“I didn’t do it! Someone must have put that there…!”

“Ugh… just take it; it’s dirty anyway.”

Under the filthy gazes cast upon her, Stella could do nothing but stare blankly around.

“It’s really not true…”

“Guys! This is all a misunderstanding…”

“Serena, you step aside.”

“Those two always stuck with Stella, right? I can’t trust you.”

As the voices of suspicion continued to grow, Amelia slammed her palm against the blackboard to gain attention.

“Everyone, quiet down.”

At Amelia’s icy warning, people began to hush.

“As Shia said, there is no proper evidence.”

“B-but the witness’s accounts…”

“So what if there are?”

“If anyone here has actually seen Stella with their own eyes, raise your hand.”

The students looked at one another, but no one raised their hand.

No, they couldn’t raise it to begin with, as everyone knew that an academy student going to a red-light district was disgraceful.

“Stella, for now, please come with me.”

Amelia called out to the bewildered Stella with a kind smile to reassure her.

Stella felt somewhat relieved as she stepped forward.

“I don’t think that’s appropriate, Miss Amelia.”

A deep voice from the back of the classroom halted Stella’s steps.

“Vice Principal…? What are you doing here…?”

The Vice Principal, Davores, dressed in an elegant noble outfit, adjusted his monocle as he looked at Stella.

“In this academy, we cannot accept the unclean.”

“…Did you say unclean?”

Amelia asked back, but the vice principal did not respond.

“Vice Principal, it’s still just an unfounded rumor.”

“An unfounded rumor, you say…?”

“Yes.”

“Unfortunately, that rumor has turned out to have solid evidence.”

“Excuse me?”

A murmur rippled through the crowd.

Amelia looked around and shouted, “Quiet!”

“It has been reported that a magical tool used for surveillance in the red-light district captured footage of Stella entering.”

The Vice Principal silently activated the magical tool he had in his pocket.

The image reflected in the crystal ball clearly showed Stella entering the red-light district.

“This is unbelievable…”

“How interesting.”

The Vice Principal exclaimed as he watched the footage.

“The talented student touted as a promising resource for the Empire, and yet here she is selling her body in the red-light district… It seems she has been quite suppressed at the Magic Tower.”

“It wasn’t me! There’s something wrong with this footage…”

“Moreover, to extort a classmate and threaten them for their belongings… I can’t believe it.”

“I told you, I didn’t borrow it! I was only in the classroom in the morning!”

“What does that matter? The evidence is that you have stolen items, and that’s the only thing that holds importance.”

“No!”

“Then who is the one who did it?!”

The Vice Principal shouted as he gestured for the students to raise their belongings.

The brown-haired student nearby shook their head vigorously.

Another student across from them had a similar reaction.

“To check if there’s any other stolen items, I will confiscate your bag. Now, follow me to the counseling office.”

As Stella stood there in a daze, the Vice Principal reached for her bag.

What else could he be looking for in there?

There won’t be anything.

Except for her notes to inform Nova and her staff.

But.

“Letters…”

Why was it that during this moment, the fact that she had placed a letter for Nova’s parents in her bag came to mind?

And that strange feeling of not wanting to lose it, even more so.

It contained, after all, the sincerity that Stella had agonized over and written during the night.

Stella pulled her bag closer to herself, wanting to protect it from the Vice Principal.

The half-opened bag easily returned to her possession.

She intended to say that she absolutely could not give up that single item.

But just as she was about to speak—

Slap—

The Vice Principal delivered a sharp slap to Stella’s cheek.

“You should feel ashamed of your actions.”

He forcibly pulled away the bag Stella was clutching.

Thud.

The bag’s handle broke, and everything inside fell to the floor with a clatter.

Everything from several books and notebooks to a thin letter.

Bang!

And atop all that, a black ink bottle shattered and smudged everything black.

Stella stood there, dazed, as she watched the white letter become stained.

[How about sending the letter before leaving?

I’m sure Mom and Dad would be glad.]

Why was it that, amidst this ridiculous situation, Nova’s words echoed in her mind?

 

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