41
When I set foot on the dormitory floor for the first time, I hesitated a little about choosing one of the two rooms.
I opened the door to the room that overlooked the garden with a better view, but as soon as I looked, I saw carefully distributed luggage, which was distributed by the academy.
“Looks like my roommate beat me here.”
Before I quickly closed the door, a dress hanging on the wall caught my attention. He was incredibly small.
“Is she a younger child than me?”
Erin's heart trembled with excitement at this discovery. Irene was very weak in front of every little thing.
This was, in large part, due to her Southern origins. The people of the south, compared to the people of the central regions where the capital is, were taller and more massive.
Even children, although they are born small, soon grow up and grow at an amazing speed.
So, when Irene arrived in the capital at the age of ten, she was much taller than her peers, and more mature in appearance, so much so that everyone thought she was thirteen.
In the South, everything that is young is considered young, fragile and weak, in need of protection and care.
Moreover, Irene was the youngest in her family. So, everyone pampered her and surrounded her with great care, fearing that a passing breeze might harm her.
But this pampering made her feel suffocated.
From the outside, Irene looked like a delicate flower that could not be picked with her hands, with her mesmerizing beauty and fragile appearance.
But deep down, she was pure Southern.
She was losing her mind in front of everything small, longing to protect and take care of it. But, since she was always the youngest, she was not the one protecting, she was always being overprotected.
Until this day finally came...
"A roommate! A baby girl younger than me!"
If there had been no one around, she would have gasped with joy.
While Irene was trembling with happiness, she heard the female students next to her raise their voices as they looked into the room:
“Oh my God, who dared to choose the room before Miss Irene? Who is she?”
“What? Did anyone dare to choose her room before Miss Irene?”
Upon hearing their voices, Irene's features froze and turned bitterly cold.
“Those are really annoying.”
Since her arrival in the capital, Erin has never been alone.
Especially when she started preparing to join the academy and took up residence in a house in the capital, people flocked to her, claiming that they wanted to get closer to her because they would become classmates at the academy.
But, of course, their real goal was to forge ties with Terrence's family.
“If we were in the south, no one would dare even approach me.”
It wasn't just because she was the daughter of a great noble family.
In the South, children were afraid of Irene.
Although the children of the South were known for their bold natures, they would run away in terror as soon as Irene appeared.
This had a lot to do with a previous incident, when Irene beat a child into a state of distress.
That day, when Irene sent a boy to the hospital, her father shouted, beating his chest:
“Because of you, my wife fainted!”
“Whoever hears you will think that I am not your daughter!”
Irene responded coldly, ignoring her father's words. But the following words made her freeze:
“Your older sister was very disappointed when she heard about it!”
"my sister?"
Even though their mothers were different, Erin's older sister was the person Erin loved more than anything in the world.
She was also the person she feared the most. At that moment, her sister entered the room and said:
“Irene, tell me what happened? Why did you hit the second son of the Roman family in the face? And even kick him between the legs?”
When her sister called her softly, Irene lowered her head and said:
“He kicked me first.”
“Okay, so you hit him. But why did you step on his sensitive area? Because of that… his parents are very worried.”
The boy's parents from the Roman family were crying and screaming for fear that their son would become sterile. Irene hesitated a little, then said with difficulty:
"He tried to touch me without permission and lift my skirt. I just wanted to make him regret it so he wouldn't think about doing it again. He shouldn't do this to any other girl, right?"
Upon hearing this, her father and sister's expressions changed.
"I did well."
So said her father.
“That bastard dared to do that to you?”
So said her sister, who had been speaking quietly until that moment.
They took turns talking to each other, leaving Irene aside:
“...Let's do this. Let's make it disappear completely...”
“…such kind of bastard doesn’t deserve to be part of his family...”
They exchanged threatening words, then returned to her, smiling. Her father spoke first:
“Okay, Irene. Even leaving that aside, we can't deny that you've been causing a lot of trouble lately.”
“…”
Irene closed her mouth.
“The world is not your enemy. You must learn how to deal with others.”
"I get along well with them. Didn't the etiquette teacher say she had nothing left to teach me?"
“That's because you've only mastered the virtual part. But she told me in private that your social relationships are on the verge of collapse.”
“…”
When Irene was silent, her sister spoke:
"So, we thought, you need a new environment. Look at this."
"What is this? Academy acceptance notice?"
Irene grabbed the paper her sister had handed her and jumped out of her seat in surprise.
“Why should I go there?”
“Why? Because your grades qualify you, I applied on your behalf.”
"You?"
"Yes."
Irene's sister looked at her seriously and said:
“You need friends.”
“…”
“And some relations in the capital wouldn’t be bad.”
“Isn't that the whole point?”
Her sister laughed at Irene's skeptical look and said:
“Both are the same. Aren't friends the same thing as relationships? Anyway, go to the capital and join the academy. Try to make some friends until you graduate.”
Upon hearing this, Irene burst into tears.
“You send me to the capital alone where I don't know anyone! You're abandoning me!”
Transparent tears clung to her silver eyelashes, and her violet eyes sparkled with sadness, making her look so fragile that anyone would want to console her. But her sister was firm:
“Crying won't help. You're ten now, you should behave like a Terrence family member.”
“Tff!”
Erin quickly collected her tears. Being a Terence means doing your part to the fullest.
Her family, despite their intense love, had built their wealth and influence through commerce. So, from her childhood, Eren's abilities, status, and what she should do in the future were predetermined.
“Didn’t you reject the idea of being the Crown Prince’s wife? But it seems that rumors are starting to spread. Go over there and finish this matter yourself.”
“Well, I have to do it.”
Last year, when Irene appeared in the capital's high society, people started talking about her desire to become the Crown Prince's wife.
“Who wants such a restrictive position?”
Irene did not want the position of wife of the Crown Prince.
“Wouldn't it be better if I just became his friend?”
And friendship with whoever his partner will be will be an added bonus. So, she came to the academy to calm the rumors and make connections in the capital. But…
“Southern kids were more polite.”
Irene was tired of the kids talking all day about so-and-so's family and how so-and-so didn't measure up to them.
In the South, there was a difference between nobles and commoners, but it was not that extreme. How could their acceptance into the academy and their families become a source of such vanity?
But, unlike what she had done in the South, she could not scream at them and drive them away.
“Be patient, I have to endure.”
She had to curb her temper in order to graduate from the academy.
“It's true that I could stop and come back, but...”
But her pride wouldn't allow it. As her father and sister said, she had to build a new network in the capital, and she knew she was the right person for the job.
Moreover…
“I want to be friends too.”
Therefore, she had high hopes for her roommate. Irene longed for so much:
Taking classes together, eating together, going to festivals…
At that moment, her roommate entered the room. She bowed politely and said her name was Evie Alden.
At that moment, Irene almost covered her mouth and screamed.
"Why is she so young? And her name is Evie? How cute!"
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