"Achoo."
At Heaven Dou Royal Academy, a grayish-gold-haired girl with wine-red pupils sat below the arena, watching the Shi Brothers spar above.
Then, for no apparent reason, she sneezed.
"What's wrong, Rita?"
Seeing her junior sister sneeze, Dugu Yan walked over and asked with concern.
"It's nothing. My nose suddenly felt a little itchy."
The girl named Rita smiled and assured Dugu Yan that she was fine.
Looking at Rita's smile, Dugu Yan hesitated. Her junior sister was good at everything—she could cook, knew a great deal, and was ridiculously strong. The only issue was that she wore that same elegant smile for everyone.
Smiling was never the problem. The problem was that Rita smiled at everyone. She gave that elegant smile to nobles and royalty, and she gave the same elegant smile to every boy in Heaven Dou Academy who pursued her. Just as those boys became elated and fell under the illusion that they had a chance, she would turn around and offer that very same smile to commoners and beggars.
It was as though there had always been a thick wall in her heart, keeping everyone outside. And Rita within that wall viewed everyone exactly the same way.
Oh, there had been two exceptions: once when she beat up Xue Beng, and once when she beat up Yu Tianheng.
Xue Beng had been riding recklessly through Heaven Dou City and trampled an old man to death. After hearing about it, Rita decisively found Xue Beng in the academy and, with anger on her face, beat him so badly that he was seriously injured. It took him half a year to recover before he returned to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. After that, Xue Beng never dared to show his face around Rita again.
The second time had involved