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Chapter: 12
Fortunately, she didn’t grab my hair or collar. That was only because there were people who stopped Rina when she reached her hand toward me.
It was David and Mishtine.
“Who do you think you’re pointing your finger at?”
“Calm down first, and step away from Joy.”
Honestly, I didn’t think I would lose if I argued with Rina—at least verbally.
But if hot-tempered Rina started a physical fight… well… with this fragile body of mine, I might suffer for several days.
David knew that, which is probably why he stepped forward like this. I expected David to intervene, but Mishtine was a bit of a surprise.
“Get your hand away.”
“Ah! Wh-what?!”
David slapped Rina’s hand away with an annoyed expression. The sharp smack sound made it seem painful. As expected of David—great personality in his own way.
Rina held her reddened hand and glared at David. Meanwhile, Mishtine lightly pulled me behind his back.
“Joy, what’s her name again?”
“Rina Frederick.”
“Ah. Frederick.”
David let out a blatant snort at my answer. It was far from the usual playful smile he showed me.
“So a mere Frederick dared to look down on a Michaela?”
“Wh-what did you just say?”
“As far as I know, apart from our ducal family, there’s no family closer to the imperial household than the Michaelas. Am I wrong?”
Before David even finished, Rina’s face went pale. Only then did she realize who he was.
“D-David… Taylor?”
“That’s right. You just figured that out? Looks like your news travels slowly.”
Wow. Crushing someone with power, huh?
That was something the usual David would never do. He wasn’t the type who liked using status to get what he wanted.
But Rina was the one who first tried to crush Michaela with her family name.
David and I were childhood friends. Which meant our families frequently associated.
He came and went from the Michaela household like it was his own home—there’s no way he wouldn’t feel attached to my family. He cherished us.
Rina’s disrespect must have really bothered him.
‘Rina’s still young, huh.’
In my previous life, she used her family’s power to make friends and manipulate them. She was so cunning and thorough even professors didn’t notice.
But now—she was only twelve. She wasn’t that meticulous yet. And she wasn’t careful either.
To make such a scene in the hallway during break time, with students everywhere…
“Joy, are you okay? Should we go back to the infirmary?”
“I’m fine. Not that serious.”
Mishtine glanced back at me and asked loudly—louder than usual.
Then I understood why. Students gathered around us and started whispering.
Attention quickly centered on us. Mishtine drew attention on purpose—to turn the situation to our advantage.
“What’s going on? A fight?”
“Looks like it. The red-haired girl must’ve hit the blonde girl.”
“Gasp! Isn’t that Joy Michaela? They said her body is so weak she collapses from the slightest stress!”
Some students recognized me—they were the ones David had warned on the train.
“J-J-Joy! A-are you okay?”
“Why would that girl suddenly pick a fight? Joy, you should go rest in the classroom. Leave the rest to David.”
Koi and Rosemary flustered around me, and the murmurs got even louder.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Joy Michaela’s about to collapse!”
“What? Why?”
“Apparently the red-haired girl hit her!”
No, you idiots. I’m perfectly fine.
Hearing the rumors, even Rina—who hadn’t touched me—looked panicked. If I felt this confused, imagine how she felt.
“David, stop. I’m fine.”
I decided it was time to calm things down. I raised my voice so everyone could hear.
“I wasn’t hit. There was no fight. We didn’t even argue. Stop making a fuss.”
But my words didn’t work at all.
“J-J-J-Joy…!”
“Gasp! Joy! Are you okay?!”
Heat rose slightly in my nose—and then warm liquid trickled down.
“Joy, wait.”
Before I could react, Mishtine stretched his sleeve to cover my nose. His white shirt cuff quickly turned red.
“H-hey! I-I didn’t hit her!”
Seeing me get a nosebleed, Rina turned even paler. She stuttered excuses, but it didn’t help.
“What’s going on?”
“The red-haired girl hit Joy Michaela! Her nose is bleeding like crazy!”
“What?!”
Students whispered, and Rina’s voice overlapped with theirs—
“I didn’t hit her! I swear I didn’t!”
“Joy, you look pale—are you okay?”
“Porta! We should take Joy back to the infirmary. She gets anemia—she might faint!”
And so, ten minutes after returning to class, I was back in the infirmary.
The next day, rumors spread through the academy—rumors about my health.
“Did you hear? About Joy Michaela?”
“Yeah. They said she was hit by Rina from Class B and carried to the infirmary.”
“Her body’s already so weak she collapses often.”
“Really? That’s awful…”
The rumors spread so widely that even Enoch, a third-year, came to our classroom.
“Joy, I heard you collapsed. Are you okay? Shouldn’t you rest today?”
Our class buzzed when Enoch appeared, but he didn’t seem bothered—he was used to such attention.
“I’m fine. It was just a nosebleed.”
“I heard you were covered in blood.”
“Rumors exaggerate. As you can see, I’m fine.”
Even so, he didn’t seem convinced. His sky-blue eyes were filled with concern.
“Sis, class is starting soon, right?”
“Ah, right. The new schedule—I’m still getting used to it. I’ll head off.”
Luckily, Rosemary shooed him away—no, sent him off.
‘Still… I feel bad for Rina…’
Not that she was innocent, but she didn’t beat me bloody like the rumors said. Yet she was being blamed by the entire first-year class.
“…Maybe I should visit her later.”
“Visit who?”
Mishtine turned around from the seat in front of me. I leaned forward and whispered so the professor wouldn’t hear.
“Rina Frederick.”
“…Why her?”
“The rumors have gotten too bad. She didn’t really hit me.”
“She didn’t hit you, but your nosebleed was because of her stress.”
His voice dropped lower than usual—familiar somehow.
“I get nosebleeds easily.”
“Still, I think the stress she caused was the trigger.”
Mishtine paused for a moment, then added, “But if you want to go, I won’t stop you.”
“Thanks for worrying, Tine. I’ll go after this class.”
“Mm. Then… can I come too? Just in case.”
“Sure. If you want, come along.”
His lips curved up in satisfaction—as if just being allowed to follow made him happy.
***
Seriously, why are we all going together?
Break time.
I said I was going to see Rina Frederick—and my friends all stood up at once. Before I even processed it, they were already ready to go.
“This looks like we’re going to confront her.”
“Hmm? Aren’t we?”
David blinked innocently. Look at that face—he seriously thought I was going to scold her.
“What would I even confront her about?”
Did they think I was some thug?
I let out a dumbfounded laugh. David crossed his arms with a smug posture.
There he goes again—with that arrogant stance.
“You had a nosebleed and got taken to the infirmary, remember? You should confront her about that. You missed class because of her.”
Ah, please. Since when did you care so much about attendance, mister model student?
I narrowed my eyes at him… but I couldn’t retort, because nothing he said was wrong. Which annoyed me even more.
Losing to little David felt unfair. He urged me along.
Still, there was one thing I wouldn’t budge on.
“I’m going into Class B alone. You all wait outside.”
“Joy, what about me? You said I could come.”
“Tine, you wait outside too. I’ll call if I need you.”
“…Alright…”
For a moment, Mishtine looked like a tragic fairy-tale deer with a sad past. That kid really knew how to use his beauty.
Maybe even more than David.
Praising Mishtine’s looks in my mind, I started walking.
“Then we’ll wait here.”
“J-J-Joy! If something happens, call us… please!”
Arriving in front of Class B, my friends waved with serious expressions, as if I were going into battle.
“I appreciate it, everyone.”
The atmosphere was strange but I thanked them anyway—it felt like I had to.
The Class B door was open. I stepped inside—and all eyes turned to me.
“Isn’t that Joy Michaela?”
“Gasp! Didn’t she collapse?”
“She still looks pale—maybe it’s true?”
I ignored the whispers and scanned the room. But I couldn’t spot those red hair strands.
Rina Frederick isn’t here?
“Um… you’re Joy Michaela, right?”
While I was looking around, a boy approached me. When I turned to look—his face was somewhat familiar.
