"Your efforts to reclaim my attention are painfully dull,"
That now-familiar cold cadence echoed through the room, gripping everyone in place.
Soon, unconvinced whispers and murmurs started to break out amongst the crowd.
And a short while later, even if she wanted to deny it, Charlotte had to acknowledge that the air in the auditorium had already begun to shift.
No... this isn’t how it’s supposed to happen.
She was telling the truth.
Licht was the liar, a manipulator, a crook.
He didn’t deserve the position he held, nor the adoration the world gave him.
She was supposed to expose him and bring him to justice.
So then... why?
Why were they looking at like that!?
All around her, she could hear the low buzz of murmurs, see darting glances and veiled whispers.
Pointed fingers. Doubtful looks. Mocking sneers.
The resolve she’d built—brick by desperate brick—to face the monster who had shattered her life...was beginning to crumble.
She opened her mouth to speak—to say sothing, anything.
But nothing ca out.
Whatever Charlotte wanted was irrelevant.
Licht had already taken control.
And now that he had the room, he would never give it back.
Then, with the faintest twist of amusent on his lips, Licht added:
"If you hoped outrage would earn back my attention... you’ll have to aim higher.
Affairs at the academy level have never once been within my sight."
When Charlotte heard this, her face crumpled into a grimace.
And it wasn’t just her.
Most of the student body wore similar expressions.
’Never once been in his sight?’
’How arrogant!’
With just a few words, Licht had managed to draw the ire of all the students present.
Imperceptibly, the thoughts in everyone’s minds had begun to shift.
People were already disinterested in Charlotte’s accusations and instead focused on Licht’s arrogant and dismissive remarks toward the academy.
Subconsciously, they were already treating her earlier claims as hot air.
After all, who looks down on the entire academy while failing to even be the top-ranked cadet?
But just because Licht had dodged Charlotte’s accusations didn’t an the situation would blow over.
Licht had just openly looked down on the entire student body in front of the entire world—and there were so people who wouldn’t take this lying down.
One such person was a mber of the Eight Great Houses... and the Rank 3 Cadet:
Sylvia Astridane.
Sylvia looked at Licht with narrowed eyes.
"Licht, just because you’re from one of the Eight Great Houses doesn’t an you can look down on the academy. Neither you nor House Valtier are above it. It’s been well established that learning at the academy benefits all children — even those from the Eight Great Houses."
She crossed her arms, eyes sharp. "Looking down on the academy isn’t just insulting the students. It’s dismissing the legacy of the great families themselves. Licht, you’re being too arrogant. Your standards are too high for even you to et."
Licht tilted his head, slightly confused.
"Sylvia, I think you’re mistaken. The problem isn’t that I set the standards too high — it’s that you and the world set the standards too low."
Hearing this, Sylvia scoffed and retorted, "Those standards have been around for hundreds of years and remain unchanged. What’s changed since then? What’s different now?"
"That’s quite simple, really." A faint smile broke out on Licht’s lips.
"I simply hadn’t been born yet."
Gasps echoed across the auditorium, followed by a short beat of silence — just long enough for the weight of the words to sink in — and then the crowd erupted.
Reporters practically leapt from their seats, scrambling for angles, pens flying across notepads, caras flashing.
Students whispered in frantic waves, so glancing at each other in disbelief, others openly gaping at the stage.
"Did he just say that?"
"Who the hell does he think he is?"
"No way this guy’s real..."
Even the upperclassn, who thought they’d seen everything, were stunned into silence. So even rose to their feet in outrage.
But just as the tension seed ready to boil over—
Thud.
The heavy velvet curtain dropped down with a final, resounding weight, cutting the scene in half and swallowing the stage in darkness. The gasps and voices behind it beca a muffled roar.
From the shadows just off-stage, the academy principal — who had quickly drawn down the stage curtain — stood stiff, with sweat visible at his temple as his eyes darted over the crowd while the murmur turned into a fury.
He didn’t even have ti to scold Licht.
He could only stare out at the outraged audience as a single, bleak thought passed through his mind:
’Hah... this is gonna need a lot of paperwork...’
.....
A short while after the entrance ceremony...
Licht was sitting calmly in a room backstage.
But contrary to his calm appearance, his heart was beating furiously.
Congratulations, Player Licht D. Valtier, on completing mission.
「Rewards:」
◆ 100 Enlightennt Points
◆ Favour of the Academy Principal
’That was close.’
He never could have expected Charlotte to pop out of nowhere and accuse him in front of the entire school and the caras.
Such a crazy thing never once happened in the original gas.
If it wasn’t for the confident and nonchalant appearance procured by the trait —as well as his quick thinking and gaslighting, which quickly changed the topic away from Licht’s darker past otherwise things could have gotten really ugly.
But even though Licht managed to avoid the danger, he still couldn’t make himself feel happy about his actions.
What he had done was unbelievably cruel.
Charlotte had told no lie. The original Licht was indeed scum — he had lied, cheated, and didn’t deserve the spot of the No. 1 cadet.
But to save his own skin, Licht had decisively flipped the script on her and gaslit the entire audience.
’I’m fucking trash.’
In front of the entire world, he had not only dismissed her but made her seem like an attention-seeking clown.
He had done sothing he had always mocked the original Licht for — using the background of the Valtier family to save his skin.
Reviews
All reviews (0)