"What? Don't tell me you will still try to ignore the stakes we agreed upon!?"
Seeing him coming closer, Justin stepped in front of Amelia and scoffed, shielding her with his body from even the sight of the bleached-blond-haired boy.
"Justiin…!"
From behind him, the silver-haired girl let out a soft gasp, clearly moved by his chivalrous behavior.
"How long do you intend to put your family name to sh…!"
"I agreed to cease seeking contact with young lady Edemsworth. Not to leave the Royal Academy... like some filthy peasant did."
Justin waved his hand in a domineering way, but he was interrupted by Rotsard's annoying scoff as he rolled his eyes.
"And as a student, I will go back to the Academy now. All of you are blocking the way I am the one who is being bothered."
"Shameless scum!"
"What a worthless person…"
"You don't deserve to be a student here!"
Rotsard announced, and immediately the gathered people began whispering and badmouthing him.
"...!"
It would be a lie to say that the bleached-blond-haired boy wasn't bothered by it, as the sheer amount of backlash wasn't something he experienced daily.
Normally, other people cowered or scuttled away when he glared at them, but it appeared that after witnessing him suffering a humiliating defeat, coupled with them being in a large group, turned them brave.
"I… I want to say something…!"
"...!"
Unexpectedly, for everyone except Rotsard, Amelia spoke up, surprising the crowd into silence.
"Young lady Edemsworth, you don't have to feel sorry for someone like him…!"
"No, it's not like that, Justin. It is something that has to be done."
Justin turned to her and reassured her, but the silver-haired girl shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder while stepping out from his shadow.
By that point, the eyes of everyone were focused on Amelia - just as she intended, no doubt, although she was quite the actress and presented herself as overwhelmed by the attention.
"..."
Nonetheless, she reached into her pocket and took something out, clenching it tightly in her fist, and Rotsard couldn't help but tense up.
"Rotsard Vallhall! Since the start of the school year, you have been approaching me again and again. Each time I responded to you with respect that your family deserved, but you took that as me being interested. Let me make things clear today! The only good point of yours is your family! You are managing to keep up academically only because of bought help, and can't think for yourself! Your physical ability is below what's required as a minimum for a student to attend the Royal Academy, and you got in solely because of your family position! On top of that, your personality is simply the worst! You're incapable of realizing your own flaws!"
Amelia declared, and the crowd readily cheered to support her words while Rotsard took all of it in silence.
The saying went that the worst she could say was a no, but Amelia was taking it to another level...
"In your audacity, you… you even pushed a ring with your family crest on me!"
"!?!?"
"He did!?"
"Shameless!"
Amelia declared, opening her fist and revealing a large ring with a silvery luster.
The crest engraved onto it wasn't visible for many, but no one doubted the silver-haired girl's words and instead focused all negativity on the bleached-blond-haired boy standing a few steps away from young lady Edemsworth.
"You repeatedly rejected my attempts to return it to you in secret, but what Justin did made me realize that the only way for you to accept the reality is by exposing you in front of as many witnesses as I can!"
She called out, and the crowd followed with a furious roar.
...it was a lie though... she never tried to return it before...
Rotsard wished to say it, but he merely bit his lips shut and listened.
Even the teacher watched it all with battered breaths.
A woman rejecting a man so harshly... something like that was only possible in Royal Academy, the walled garden where there was almost as many men as women.
In the outside world... the real world... it was the other way around because men were rarely born.
Honestly, there was something odd about the whole reaction... Rotsard was hated, but for not even a single student... not a single female student... using this whole thing as an opportunity to get close to him, or at least show support and not openly hate him now to use it later to her advantage...
It was odd.
Odd to the point that it felt... manufactured...
But that was only something the ones with worldly knowledge could figure out. Students as they were, were all swept in the moment.
Anyhow.
Justin didn't join them, but he was certainly glaring down at Rotsard with more disgust than ever.
"You bring shame not only to your own family but to the aristocracy as a whole! There is no place for you in my heart, and neither in the Royal Academy!"
Amelia finished her speech with a vicious declaration, and threw the ring over to Rotsard.
Basically, everyone was on Amelia's side, so no one even considered that she purposefully tossed the ring too lightly so it wouldn't reach Rotsard.
"...!"
*thump*
"Pffft…!"
…that's why when the bleached-blond-haired boy flinched and rushed forward to prevent the ring hitting the ground. He ended up stumbling over his own feet and falling down, the crowd began laughing at him... at the fact that he missed and failed even in such simple yet important task...
"Trash!"
"Quit the school!"
"Quit the school! Quit the school!"
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
Someone shouted, someone else shouted something else, and then a single phrase got picked up, and a chant started.
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
The teachers all rushed in and began calming down the crowd but...
It was one thing to hear about the backlash that would happen to him, and actually experiencing it first-hand…
"...!"
Despite thinking that he could handle it, down to the ground, seeing the dirty ring he failed to catch, and surrounded by the chanting crowd, Rotsard bit his lips…
Whether he wanted it or not, a dark memory from his childhood resurfaced in his mind.
The inn that he and his mother stayed in for the night, during the travel back to the Vallhall castle from her parents' territory, was surrounded by an angry mob.
His mother and him had nothing to do with the territory they were in, but that held no meaning for any of the bloodthirsty peasants staging a rebellion.
The memory of his terrified mother holding him close in her trembling arms before hiding him away and showing herself to become a decoy... The chanting of the mob getting louder, and louder, and LOUDER, AND LOUDER…!
"...nhhh…! Nghhh…!"
…Rotsard's chin and shoulders trembled from a sob he couldn't stop as the swelling tears started burning his eyes, but he didn't let even a single one fall…
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
"Look! He's crying!"
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
"QUIT THE SCHOOL! QUIET THE SCHOOL! QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
Noticing vulnerability, the crowd only grew bolder, and chanting became intertwined with mocking laughter despite the teacher's attempts.
"...!"
Bullshit! He did not cry! THOSE FILTHY PEASANT-LIKE BASTARDS WOULD NEVER MAKE HIM SHED TEARS!
Rotsard gritted his teeth, biting his lips so hard he almost chewed through them, the next moment he grabbed the ring and launched himself forward into a mad sprint!
"W-watch out!"
"KYAAAH!"
"OH, SHIT!"
The sudden movement startled many, and the people in the direction Rotsard charged scattered without a second thought.
"HA! HAHA! YEAH! YOU RUN AWAY!"
"QUIT THE SCHOOL!"
Only after the bleached-blond-haired boy barged into and disappeared within the Academy building did the crowd regain some of its spunk, and the mockery and righteous chants reignited.
"..."
Justin furrowed his brows, clearly troubled over how the events played out. His distress didn't escape Amelia's attention.
"...!"
The platinum-haired girl flinched, recognizing that if she would fail to act, the scholarship student might do something he was not supposed to while other students would see her as cruel, spiteful, and cunning…
After all, she did cause the whole scene...
...although even she wasn't aware that it wasn't all her responsibility...
…from the outsider's perspective, she definitely wasn't a good person, but there was a reason behind her actions… One so important that others might understand her... that is as long as they wouldn't label her as insane or polluted by gedwyld...
"O-oh no…! I… I didn't mean to… that's not what I…"
"!"
So she put on a pitiful expression and trembled, muttering loud enough for Justin and a few others to hear and turn to her.
Funnily enough, that also aided the teachers in containing the crowd and stopping the chanting as everyone got silent to listen to what Amelia had to say.
"I should go after him and…!"
"No. Young lady Edemsworth…! It is not your fault! He just… he just got what he deserved."
Amelia added, and just as he was supposed to, Justin shook his head and interrupted her with a troubled but stern voice.
"..."
"...hmph…"
While the somber future hero looked at the building that Rotsard disappeared to with an apologetic look in his eyes, someone else in the crowd scoffed, sending a hateful glare not at him, and not even after Rotsard, but straight at the unaware Amelia.