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What was going on?

There seemed to be some hidden meaning in his words.

 

“You’re Lady Rosanna, aren’t you?”

He insisted. She surrendered.

 

“Yes. I never would have imagined that someone would recognize my face here.”

 

“What do you mean? Are you not a student here?”

They were supposed to have better security than that.

 

“I’m a third-year. But a lot happened and I was suspended.”

 

Her voice had completely lost the gentle calmness it had earlier.

I suppose this was her true self.

 

“Suspended…”

We looked at Baran for an explanation.

 

“It was the final gathering of last year. Her disgraceful behavior was exposed, and so the school had to suspend her. Those in the capital with sharp ears would have heard the stories.”

 

Upon hearing Baran’s words, Rosanna stuck out her tongue.

Apparently, she had a pretty lively personality.

 

“Well, it can’t be helped. The cat is out of the bag now. Yes, I’m Rosanna Hedyn. My parents lord over a small town in the north. While we are a noble family, we are outside of the Dragon Mark Limit, so the population is quite small.”

 

She said as she scratched her head with an open lack of concern.

While she wasn’t an intruder, she had definitely escaped class.

 

“In that case, should you really be skipping classes?”

“Of course, I shouldn’t. They’ll probably extend my suspension.”

 

Rosanna said without a hint of guilt.

 

“I wasn’t able to participate in the tea party because of it. This gathering as well. But I wonder if I’ll be treated like everyone else when it’s all done.”

“What do you mean?”

 

“If I talk to someone, the others will all gather around and say horrible things about me. Yes, they’ll drag out those old accusations in order to insult me. I can see it now.”

 

Indeed. The world was a cold place if you fell from grace even once.

Of course, now I was feeling rather curious about what exactly she had done.

 

“Baran seems to know already. But, what happened?”

“You want to know?”

 

“Yes. Very much.”

“Well, I have nothing to hide. And I know it couldn’t be hidden anyway. …You see, there was a certain person I was targeting during the December gathering. I had been focused exclusively on this person the whole time, and made many advances.”

Rosanna talked with a faraway look in her eyes.

 

“Things were going very well between us. He even said that he would visit my town once he became a Dragon Master. However, on that particular day, he was being very friendly towards a different woman. You’d mistake them for a happy couple… But what about me? What of his promise? Before I knew it, I was questioning her. And she would not back down an inch. Our argument escalated into a physical altercation.”

 

Wait a minute!

A physical altercation?

What the hell did she do?

 

“It was she who started it by pulling my hair. And so I returned the favor, and then she did it again. I had no choice. Ignoring her hair, this time, I slashed her with my nails, tore off her ribbons, and smacked her in the face several times before being restrained. As if that would calm us down! Nearby cups and plates were thrown and foreheads began to bleed. It took many more people to hold us down and drag us to separate rooms. It became quite a spectacle.”

 

It was complete chaos.

More than a few people had been injured in the crossfire, and the gathering had to be canceled.

 

This was a big enough scandal already, but Rosanna had apparently continued her reign of violence in the drawing-room.

 

Her sense of loss must have been great, because rumors soon spread that she cried tears of blood there, and she was given the unwanted name, ‘Blood Tears Witch.’

 

In spite of being branded a witch, she had no actual ability to use magic. And it was just a derogatory term for someone who thought and acted differently from others.

 

“Well, I was so young back then.”

Rosanna said with a weary sigh. However, it was only six months ago.

 

“And so I was called in by the principal…”

 

She continued.

Next Chapter

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Thanks for reading. Stay safe everyone!

Rosanna: