They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System Chapter 646: Who’s That?

Linda’s fingers twitched. "What?" she whispered under her breath.

"Do you want her to excel again? Or do you want George to finally see who truly deserves him? Move. Now."

She hesitated, but then stood, pretending to adjust her shoe before slowly walking down toward the front, where the view was clearer. Security did not stop her, students often moved closer to watch major performances.

From her bag, she subtly pulled out a small handful of shiny stage confetti pellets she had picked up earlier, tiny and harmless looking, barely visible when thrown under the bright lights.

"Just a little distraction," she muttered.

Then, as Nnenna spun across the stage in a dazzling mid turn, Linda’s hand flicked, scattering the tiny beads across a narrow section of the stage floor near the front edge. No one noticed.

But Nnenna did, or rather, her body did.

Mid spin, her left foot slipped slightly. The movent faltered, her balance breaking for a fraction of a second. The crowd gasped softly, thinking it was part of the choreography, but Arthur and Carl imdiately caught the subtle change.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

Carl frowned. "That was not part of the routine."

But before either could react, Nnenna steadied herself. Her eyes flashed with quiet determination as she quickly adjusted her rhythm, turning the slip into a fluid recovery step that flowed perfectly into the next beat of the music.

The applause grew even louder, unaware that she had just avoided disaster.

Linda watched with disbelief. "No way... how—?"

"Useless girl," the voice hissed darkly in her ear. "You can’t even get a simple thing done."

Linda’s face drained of color. The voice’s tone was laced with venom, each word sinking like a knife.

"B-but I tried—" she whispered shakily.

"Try harder next ti... if there is a next ti."

Linda bit her lip hard, grabbing her bag as she moved abruptly from the stage. Her chest burned with a mixture of fear and humiliation. The cheers for Nnenna only made it worse.

She stord off quietly, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor, vanishing down the corridor.

On stage, Nnenna finished her final pose to a standing ovation. Her breathing was heavy, her eyes shining, though a faint trace of unease lingered. Sothing had happened, she knew.

Arthur and Carl exchanged a knowing glance, both sensing sothing wasn’t right.

But the crowd only saw perfection.

And though the results weren’t yet announced, everyone could already feel it, Nnenna had excelled again.

Other students went through their third and fourth major exams one by one before the session finally ended. But Nnenna didn’t wait for the closing remarks, the war was getting intense, and every minute she could spend helping out mattered.

"That question during your third major was out of line. They had no right to do that," Darius lanted from the front passenger seat as soon as Nnenna got into the car.

"I can’t believe you guys didn’t stop them," he added, clearly upset.

"I knew she could handle it. And she did," Carl said calmly, pulling the car away from the academy gates.

Arthur turned slightly from facing the driver’s seat, his voice cool but edged with concern. "How was it?"

"It was fine," Nnenna shrugged, catching the hint of worry he tried to hide behind his usual icy expression.

"That’s not what I an," Arthur pressed.

"I know what you an," Nnenna cut in softly, not rudely. "At first, I wasn’t sure what to do. I was scared I would fail. But then... all that self developnt training kicked in. I faced the fear, cleared my head, and just worked through it."

She turned to Darius, a small smile breaking through. "By the way, your last minute prep helped a lot. Just like you said, the foundation of everything matters, it’ll always guide you when things get complicated."

Darius blinked, rembering the sa words he had told her that morning. "Really?" he asked, turning in his seat to face her.

"Yeah," she nodded.

He exhaled and smiled faintly. "I’m glad I could help," he said, finally calming down.

"Are you sure you’re alright?" Arthur asked again, his tone still cold but laced with quiet concern.

"I’m fine," Nnenna nodded, turning her head from side to side as if to convince him, and herself. Then, after a pause, she added, "Though... sothing else happened during my fourth major exam."

"Yeah, we noticed," Carl said from the driver’s seat, glancing at her through the mirror. "You made a mistake midway. That’s unusual. You’ve practiced that routine so many tis, flawlessly. Then suddenly, a slip on stage? What was that about? Were you nervous?"

His tone wasn’t accusing, just puzzled, no one was perfect, after all.

"I know," Nnenna sighed. "But it wasn’t nerves. I slipped... soone must’ve put sothing on the stage. I don’t know who. That’s what caused the mistake." Her brows furrowed. "Did any of you see soone go near the stage?"

Carl shook his head. "No. We were too focused on your performance and making sure you got back on track." He frowned. "Still, who would do such a thing?"

"You made a mistake?" Darius asked, surprised. "I didn’t even notice."

"Of course you didn’t," Arthur cut in coolly. "She adjusted quickly. I doubt anyone else noticed either."

Carl’s eyelids lowered slightly. "We should review the livestream. Maybe we’ll see who got close to the stage around that ti."

Arthur nodded to that.

Carl’s voice dropped as he continued, "You might have another enemy closer than we think."

The car went quiet again, but this ti, the silence carried unease.

Nnenna nodded and pulled out her phone to bring up the livestream. She rewound to her performance while Arthur leaned forward and Darius watched the front mirror.

"Who was it?" Carl asked, patient.

"Give a second," Nnenna said, not lifting her eyes from the screen. She tapped through until the mont flashed on the loop.

Arthur froze. "Right there. Who is that girl?" he asked, squinting at the screen.

"That’s Linda," Nnenna said, disbelief breaking into her voice.

On the replay, Nnenna watched herself spin across the stage in a dazzling mid turn, and then, barely visible under the stage lights, Linda’s hand flicked. Tiny, shiny beads scattered across a narrow patch of the floor near the front edge.

"She was trying to sabotage ," Nnenna whispered. Her eyes widened.

"Why would she do that? Who is this Linda?" Darius asked, leaning forward, itching to see the footage clearer.

"She and I... we don’t have a good relationship," Nnenna admitted, voice low. "But I never thought she would go this far. She seed sensible. I didn’t expect this."

Darius slamd the heel of his palm lightly against his knee. "Doesn’t matter. She just showed she’s dangerous. If she hates soone, she’ll act on it." His face hardened as he turned to Carl. "Get her expelled and convicted, now."

Not so fast, Darius, Arthur interrupted, voice calm but firm. "As Nnenna said, the girl isn’t the type to do sothing reckless like this. There were caras everywhere, she should’ve known she might be caught, yet she did it. I think soone is using her. If we expel her now, whoever hired her will just find soone else. We need to keep her close. That way we’ll find who’s behind this, they’re the real problem."

"You make a good point," Darius said, jaw tight. "But I still want the back of my hand to et that girl’s face." His anger trembled in the words.

"Don’t," Arthur said sharply. "We can’t lose our heads now."

Carl steered the car into a slow turn, eyes on the road. "Does it matter?" he asked gently. "Nnenna’s graduating soon. Even if that Linda girl has a grudge, Nnenna won’t be around much longer to give her a shot at performing whatever she has planned. I say we expose her and end it now."

"She still has one more exam," Arthur pointed out. "Anything can go wrong during it. We already know soone’s targeting you. Let’s be smart, watch her, gather evidence, and catch the real enemy. Then we deal with the girl."

"Arthur’s right." Nnenna nodded. "I still have one more exam left, and it’s not an easy one either. Anything could happen in the arena; an accident could be engineered to look like, like a genuine mishap. Now that we know sothing’s up, we can be more vigilant and try to avoid whatever she might attempt."

"Okay." Carl nodded. "Let’s see how tomorrow goes then."

"I’m not on board with this," Darius suddenly protested, the lone voice of dissent as the others agreed.

"Your consent doesn’t matter here," Arthur replied coldly. "You’re not family. You’re not related to her. You’re just her teacher." The jab landed hard; Darius’s face went stony.

"Nnenna—" Arthur started, but she cut him off gently. "He’s my friend," she said to Arthur, voice sharp. "His opinion matters to ."