The large gap between social statuses often made people from the lower class resent the rich.
Anya Hart felt the same way. Her resentment only grew after entering the academy.
She loathed the way they looked down on her, hated how their heads were so high in the clouds they forgot basic human decency.
There was only one person she genuinely liked.
Naomi Vale.
When Naomi endured the bullying and didn't betray her, her status rose instantly from casual friend to best friend.
After all, in her eyes, they had gone through so much together—how could they not be considered best friends?
And that brought her to her greatest worry. The lunatic twins.
The screen in her hand illuminated the comment section.
[Someone accidentally bumped into the young master on the first day of initiation. Within a day, that student vanished from the academy. Later, he was found with a broken arm and sent abroad by his parents.]
As for who the said young master was, Anya didn't need to think twice.
Only Damien was capable of something like that.
After Naomi left, she continued scrolling through the academy forum. The more she read, the stronger that same uneasy feeling grew.
Although no one dared say it outright, it was obvious: both twins were bullies, and the entire school feared them.
Well, Rhodes had shares in the academy. It wasn't that surprising that teachers would close their eyes when it came to them.
Naomi's words echoed in her mind.
"If you try to stand against someone like him, it will only make him more interested in you. The best way is to play docile and let his interest vanish. Of course, if you can bear it, Damien might treat you better in the future."
When Anya hadn't replied, Naomi added the last sentence before leaving. "Maybe you might even fall for him afterward? Then you can be the rich madam."
She shuddered. "Sure enough, these second-generation kids are all sick in their heads."
It made no sense to her why anyone would fall for their bully. Only a masochist or a nutjob would.
Just then, the dorm door beeped, indicating someone was entering the password.
Anya was a sports student, so her schedule differed from Naomi's.
She was free from her training, but Naomi still had to attend her last class.
When the young miss entered, Anya couldn't help but stare at her.
A fair, gorgeously sculpted face, deep eyes that seemed to hold a thousand thoughts, and soft pink lips always pressed into a thin line. A cold aura wrapped around her delicate frame, silently warning others to stay away.
Yet it was these beautiful features that made her appear mysterious. Like a fairy fallen on mortal worlds and burdened by the atrocities humans committed.
Anya, a sucker for good looks, couldn't help but stare.
That world-weary look hit all her aesthetic weaknesses.
"Naomi," she called out. "How do I look as mysterious as you?"
"Huh?" Naomi asked as she changed into her slippers. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I want to appear as cold and aloof as you, but I can't stop my mouth. It's really troubling this lady."
Naomi ignored the nonsensical words and went directly inside her room.
"Oi! What if we put itch powder in Damien's socks? Will that ease your anger?"
Naomi closed the door, cutting those words.
Rhodes was targeting her, but compared to what he had done to Anya, his actions toward Naomi were just childish tricks.
Everything she had warned about earlier had really happened.
After she had betrayed Anya under Damien's fear, she had hit Anya's leg, crippling her for nearly three months.
Since then, Damien shifted all his attention toward Anya.
The more the female lead defied and fought against him, the more it triggered the male lead's crazy streak.
From losing their jobs to becoming homeless, Anya's innocent parents had to go through hell, and the poor girl wasn't any better either.
In the latter part, Damien had a change of heart. He made up for all the things he had done, treating both his girlfriend and her parents with respect.
But in a way, it was a threat. If Anya dared to leave him, he wouldn't hesitate to strike the innocent couple.
So, yes, this sling on her arm did indeed seem childish in comparison.
Her class went well, and there were no more 'slippery' moments.
There was still no call from her home, making her shoulders relax.
She opened her laptop and started checking the emails she had received.
Although she was the only daughter of the Vale family, there was an illegitimate son.
Her mother, though sick with depression, would never allow her to slack off, especially when there were many eyes staring at them.
One mistake and everything would fall into someone's hands.
So, she would always send extra pocket money to Naomi just to give her better financial support.
Unlike her peers, who spent their money on clothes and clubs, she used all her funds to secretly open her own investment company.
After two years of relentless effort, they had finally gained a foothold in the industry.
If Damien learned of it and tried to sabotage her, everything would go down the drain.
That was unacceptable.
She had scribbled many details from the novel in her little notebook.
Using those plot points, she marked the major business turning points.
Like in one instance, Anya was taken to a lavish banquet hosted by the Kings, where she was assaulted by a waiter.
As a form of apology, the Kings had given Anya a land near the Burketon Bridge.
The land was valuable, and many were vying for it. Due to Anya's sudden fortune, the Rhodes parents started seeing her in a new light.
Thus paving the way for good in-laws who doted on their daughter-in-law.
Naomi had circled that area along with several others.
She wasn't foolish enough to buy it blindly—there were many factors that could affect its price.
Her assistant had been busy for the past two days and had sent the investigation report to her email.
According to the report, the land was fertile and surrounded the entire bridge. Its price wasn't too high, and compared to other projects, it could be considered even cheap.
However, Naomi's attention was caught by another line.
[A place where General Moshin lived.]
The general had been a great freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for the country.
It suddenly became clear why the land's value would skyrocket in the future.
If her calculations were right, the government was planning to build a research center in the city as a memorial to the General.
And the key component of that research lay beneath that plot of land.
Even if she didn't convert it into a factory like Damien had, she would still earn plenty.
A fleeting smile flickered in her dark eyes.
One by one, she marked the projects worth investing in and sorted them by priority.
If not for her lack of funds, she wouldn't have stopped there.