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Chapter: 05
“Are you in your right mind?”
“I came here and did nothing but study instead of hanging out, and then he suddenly shows up and I end up ranked second.”
“If your goal is to become a researcher, you don’t have to be first. You’re already more than—”
“It feels like my very existence got trampled in an instant.”
“……”
“Because of Aiden.”
Sonnet had always ranked first.
In a place already filled with disregard and contempt, that fact alone made her feel validated—as if she was winning.
No matter how negatively they looked at her or how much they ignored her, she still felt one step above them. The money naturally followed.
But now even that had collapsed. Thinking of the humiliation of living as second place, Sonnet glared at Tester.
“If it weren’t for Aiden, I could be first.”
Tester frowned as if frustrated.
“Aiden was different from the start.”
“……”
“Someone we could never beat.”
At those words, Sonnet’s fists clenched. Because it was true, her anger only surged higher.
“I’ll still beat him.”
Tester shook his head after looking into Sonnet’s eyes. Stepping back from the tree, he raised both hands.
“I knew you were obsessed with being first, but now even I don’t know what to say.”
As he passed Sonnet, he paused briefly and looked back.
“Don’t seriously fall for him.”
“Why?”
“Because Aiden doesn’t seem like he’d genuinely like you either.”
It was true. Sonnet also suspected Aiden had some ulterior motive.
“Don’t worry. The confession is fake, and I won’t actually fall for him.”
Tester looked at Sonnet for a moment, then left without saying anything more.
Sonnet stood there for a long time in the heavy heat.
The drooping leaves of the tree blocked the sun’s heat and kept things cool, yet her face still burned.
Sweat trickled down her forehead. Feeling irritated, Sonnet quickly wiped it away.
She walked with rough steps along the stone-paved path.
No matter how good Aiden’s family background was or how high his grades were, there had to be some way to beat him.
For example… by dating him and interfering with his studies.
Of course, Aiden hadn’t directly harmed Sonnet, but he was the ringleader of the group that ignored her. Though he did stop them when he was present.
‘That must be the typical noble superiority complex.’
Pretending to be a decent person for the sake of reputation while actually looking down on others with pity.
Having attended this school, Sonnet knew very well how nobles treated commoners with disdain.
She thought Aiden wouldn’t be much different.
Sonnet quickly headed toward the administrative office. Her steps were firm.
If her volunteer certificate wasn’t processed this time, she was determined to make sure it got done somehow.
The moment she opened the administrative office door—
Ding.
As the bell rang, everyone looked at Sonnet.
One of them even stood up from their seat and greeted her with a bright smile.
“Are you Student Sonnet?”
At the unusually friendly tone, Sonnet awkwardly nodded.
The person approached her with a radiant smile.
“What brings you here?”
Sonnet was so bewildered that the words didn’t come out right away.
The atmosphere and treatment were on a completely different level from her usual visits to the administrative office. They even knew her name.
When Sonnet only stared without answering, the staff member gently took her arm.
“Would you like to sit here for a moment?”
Before she knew it, Sonnet was seated, and the employee asked,
“Would you like coffee or tea?”
Sonnet immediately frowned and shook her head.
She wasn’t in the mood to leisurely drink anything.
“Has my volunteer certificate been processed?”
Only then did the employee seem to find something to do and hurried to the desk. They brought back some documents and carefully handed them over.
“It has already been perfectly processed.”
Sonnet checked the papers to see if that was true.
Just as the employee said, all the graduation requirements were perfectly met. Now, if she just attended lectures and took the exams, she could graduate immediately.
—
“Why is this damn school so slow with paperwork? I definitely submitted my volunteer certificate, and they keep telling me to hurry. All they have to do is approve it.”
—
She recalled a student’s earlier complaint. Sonnet’s volunteer certificate had also been delayed for a long time.
But the document she now held showed that all administrative procedures—including the volunteer record—had already been perfectly completed.
Something that had dragged on despite repeated requests was suddenly resolved in an instant.
Sonnet couldn’t get used to the overnight change in atmosphere.
Even the administrative staff treated her with extreme courtesy.
Before, they had acted extremely annoyed.
“Is there anything else you need?”
The employee’s tone was as smooth as water rolling over green leaves.
Sonnet stood up, holding the document.
“That’s fine.”
She left the administrative office.
Even after checking the document again in the hallway, the volunteer certificate was fully processed.
Sonnet stared at the paper for a long moment.
The staff’s attitude. The quickly processed certificate.
‘Could it be… because of Aiden?’
There was no other explanation.
Sonnet lowered the hand holding the paper weakly.
‘It was this easy.’
The fighting spirit that had been boiling when she entered the office suddenly deflated.
‘Not sure if this is good or bad.’
Still, since the volunteer certificate was approved, one of her lingering worries had disappeared.
‘I’ll just take the benefits. Like this.’
Sonnet decided to think of it as positively as possible.
After all, the result wasn’t bad.
—
Three days later, the school became noisy.
There were barely any classes.
It was the day of the Madu match.
With the exams recently finished, today felt like a full festival.
Though the sky looked like it might rain at any moment, people had been beating drums and squeaking flutes since morning.
Despite the poor weather, students wearing school cheering uniforms walked around in groups, blue stars painted on their faces amid bursts of laughter.
From her dorm room, Sonnet watched the noisy crowd before glancing down at the ticket Aiden had given her.
‘Since he even confessed… it would be weird not to go, right?’
She had confessed that she was completely into Aiden. It wouldn’t make sense not to watch the Madu match where he was playing as captain.
She didn’t even have any classes today.
‘If I don’t go, Aiden will get suspicious too.’
She remembered the look in Aiden’s eyes when he had asked if her confession had been a joke.
Those strangely sharp eyes—like he was trying to see through her.
Aiden needed to be fully immersed in the relationship for her to interfere with his studies. So it was better to eliminate this kind of suspicion early in the relationship.
Sonnet had good concentration; maybe she could keep studying even at the Madu arena.
Rather than letting her already-set plan fall apart, it was better to endure some inconvenience while studying.
With a sigh, Sonnet packed her study materials and left the dorm.
The Madu arena was louder than she expected.
Fortunately, the seats around her weren’t packed.
There was plenty of space. She set her bag beside her and looked forward—so clearly that it was almost startling.
Strangely, as soon as Sonnet sat down, the previously dark sky began to clear.
People inside the stadium also looked up at the sky in surprise.
Among them, Aiden stood out even without searching.
His horse, unlike the others, was a glossy black, and he wore a fitted match uniform that suited his atmosphere unusually well.
The black cap with a short brim and the top marked with a blue star didn’t look childish at all; instead, they harmonized with his muscular build.
The tight white pants hugging his solid thighs and the glossy brown boots made his noble bearing stand out even more.
His posture was upright and neat, drawing the eye all the more.
Aiden rode roughly, staying ahead of everyone else.
Everyone chased him to block him, but he was overwhelmingly fast.
The small ball clung to his long mallet as if magnetized and slid smoothly into the goal.
Cheers erupted—loud enough to make her ears ring.
Overwhelmed by the scale and the vibrant atmosphere—both completely new to her—Sonnet forgot all about studying, even though she had brought her bag for that purpose.
She stared at the match as if entranced.
Aiden lightly tapped mallets with his teammates and smiled. Under the blazing sunlight, he looked especially radiant.
Without realizing it, Sonnet stared straight at him.
‘He beat someone badly enough to nearly kill them?’
He didn’t look like that at all.
In fact, his reputation among others was extremely good.
Unlike hers.
