One glance was all Nina Donovan needed.
The guy protecting Vivian Sterling was none other than her childhood sweetheart, Leon Grant.
Nina Donovan stared at his silver-gray frosted tips and gasped inwardly.
'So tacky.'
He was draped in metal jewelry, wore black diamond studs, and his hair was perfectly sculpted and stiff with hairspray.
All he was missing were the skinny jeans and driving loafers.
Nina Donovan's lips trembled. 'Why did my character have to fall for a tacky, love-struck moron? This is one tough pill to swallow.'
Misty couldn't resist trying to console her. "…The second male lead is still very handsome."
Nina Donovan was unmoved, her eyes fixed on his head. Leon Grant was so "fashionable" it was blinding.
'I have a phobia of try-hards. I feel so inadequate.'
But Tara Sutton thought Nina was simply heartbroken—just look at how her lips were trembling. She couldn't help but get angry. "Leon Grant, I'm only civil to you for my cousin's sake, so don't push it! How dare you shove her for this orphan?"
But Leon Grant acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.
The other students might be afraid of the Donovan and Sutton families, but he wasn't.
The Grant Family was one of the most prominent families in Aldoria; his background was on par with theirs.
It was precisely because their families were of equal standing that he'd been pestered by Nina Donovan for so many years.
At the thought, a flash of annoyance crossed his eyes. He turned to Vivian Sterling, his voice becoming even gentler. "Vivi, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Tara Sutton had seen it clearly: Nina Donovan hadn't even touched Vivian Sterling, yet she had inexplicably fallen in front of everyone. Tara wouldn't spell out what that implied, but she had to admit, Vivian Sterling was a schemer. Tara felt she'd underestimated the orphan girl all this time.
Her voice rose. "Vivian Sterling fell on purpose to frame my cousin! Leon Grant, are you blind? How could this woman ever compare to my cousin?"
Only then did Leon Grant turn his gaze to Nina Donovan.
Her doe-like eyes were red and shimmering with unshed tears from the pain. Paired with her exquisite face, she looked utterly pitiful and heart-rending.
He had to admit, Nina Donovan was beautiful. In fact, he couldn't find anyone in all of Aldoria more beautiful than her.
But strangely, he felt nothing for her. In fact, he found her repulsive.
She had a beautiful shell, but her heart was too ugly.
He sneered. This time, he blatantly pulled Vivian Sterling behind him, his lazy gaze sweeping over Nina Donovan. "She's inferior in every way."
Tara Sutton was furious. "Do you even have a heart? My cousin has done so much for you and never complained, and this is how you treat her!"
Her gaze shifted to Ian Donovan, who had come with Leon, and she grew even angrier. "Cousin, are you just going to stand there and watch them bully your sister?"
However, Ian Donovan's gaze was on Vivian Sterling. Only after seeing that she was alright did he breathe a sigh of relief. His eyes met Nina's for a second before he quickly looked away, his voice cold. "She was the one who pushed her. We're not blind. We can see who the real victim is."
'I'm gonna lose it,' Nina thought.
'Is the protagonist's plot armor really this strong?'
'Misty, can I just jump up and slap them all?' Nina asked calmly in her head.
Misty replied, "You cannot… No matter how the second male lead hurts you, you must forgive him."
Nina: "..."
'Fucking stupid novel.'
But there was no way she was going to take this lying down.
Nina sniffled, tears streaming down her face as she looked at Leon Grant with a heartbroken expression. "Leon, was everything you just said true? Are you abandoning me for her?"
"You said you'd marry me when we grew up. Have you forgotten all that?"
Leon Grant froze for a moment.
Then, he burst out laughing. "Nina Donovan, how childish can you be? You've clung to some words I used to humor you for ten years? It's disgusting. I want nothing to do with you, so stop pestering me."
He couldn't be bothered to pretend anymore.
Before, he'd kept her around because she was useful for dealing with Jasper Sherwood. He treated her like a puppy; a single word from him and she would bend over backward to please him.
But now that Vivian Sterling knew he was the one pulling the strings, Nina's usefulness as a pawn was over.
Why keep something useless around?
Just being associated with Nina Donovan felt demeaning to him.
He looked down at her condescendingly. "If you dare touch her again, Nina Donovan, I will make you regret it."
Nina glared, her beautiful eyes wide as she bit her red lip. "Fine! Fine! It's all because she seduced you! Go to hell!"
With that, she grabbed a nearby crutch and hurled it toward Leon. He instinctively shielded Vivian Sterling, and the crutch struck him on the forehead, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
His gaze turned dark, and he looked thoroughly exasperated. "Haven't you caused enough trouble? Stop testing my patience."
Nina cried hysterically, showing no remorse. "No, it's not enough! I'll prove I'm a hundred times better than Vivian Sterling! You can only be mine! I'll never give up!"
'Ugh, I'm going to puke up last night's dinner,' she thought.
'But damn, that felt good!'
Tears streamed down Nina's face as she watched Leon's bleeding head, but inwardly, she was blooming with joy.
Misty: "..."
This was why she was called the 'evil gardenia'—her methods of revenge were perfectly in character, making her actions seem completely natural to outsiders.
Leon Grant carried Vivian Sterling away.
The onlookers stared at Nina, their expressions a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity, as if watching a soap opera.
This drama replayed itself so often that they were almost tired of it.
Inwardly, they thought Nina had it coming.
Poor Vivian Sterling must have had terrible luck in eight past lives to run into a menace like Nina.
Nina tried to move her leg, but the pain had already turned into a dull numbness. She'd probably sprained her ankle.
She spotted Ian Donovan in the crowd and pointed. "You. Get over here."
Ian Donovan's fists clenched. 'Here we go again,' he thought with self-derision.
Whenever things didn't go her way, she took all her anger out on him.
What would it be this time?
Would she forbid him from eating for a day? Or force him to drink hard liquor on an empty stomach until he coughed up blood? Maybe she'd lock him in the pitch-black school gym and forbid anyone from letting him out. Or perhaps she'd slap him across the face in front of the entire school while screaming profanities at him?
Whatever it was, he wouldn't be let off easy.
He walked over to Nina with a numb expression.
Even when she bullied him in the cruelest ways, he would never fight back. Because if Nina was unhappy, their mother would hate him even more.
"Turn around and squat down," Nina commanded.
Ian Donovan lowered his eyes and did as she said.
Only then did Nina clamber onto Ian's back, whining as she wrapped her arms around her brother's neck. "Take me to the nurse's office. It hurts so much."
Her voice was soft and sweet, her whimpers like those of a newborn kitten.
Ian's eyes shot open in shock. The warmth on his back made it hard for him to tell if this was a dream or reality.
Nina said she was in pain and wanted him to carry her. This was the first time he had ever seen such a vulnerable side of her, as if she had retracted all her thorns, becoming as docile as a kitten waiting to be cuddled.
He quickly shook the thought away. He had to be crazy to even think that.
He was so used to being abused that a single, rare moment of kindness from his tormentor was enough to make him think Nina had changed.
She would never change.
Nina, however, wasn't thinking about any of that.
She just saw Ian as free labor.
She looked at Tara Sutton, who was about to follow them, and pinched her cheek. "Go back to class and be a good student. I'll be fine."
Tara Sutton was dumbfounded.
Huh?
Class?
How could that word possibly come out of the mouth of her cousin, the worst student in the entire school?
She watched, confused, scratching her head as Ian's back, with Nina on it, disappeared from view.
'Class...' she wondered. 'As a fellow slacker, am I supposed to go?'
...
Misty watched as a pillar of light representing "5% Plot Completion" rose in the system's backend.
It felt a sense of gratification. "Host, your acting skills aren't half bad. For a second there, I thought I'd gotten stuck with a useless one. Once the plot completion hits one hundred percent, you'll be free."