Glass Dormitory Friendship

On the way, she ran into a traffic accident, and the tram had to stop for half an hour. By the time Sonia returned to school, it was already past seven in the evening—according to the rules, Sword Flower University prohibited entry and exit after seven. Students returning late had to register their names. More than three times meant receiving a Thorn, and students who accumulated three Thorns would be expelled directly.

However, after Sonia explained softly, the young guard simply opened the gate and let her in without registering her name. Noticing the lewd gaze that seemed to pierce through her clothes, Sonia smiled and thanked him while secretly despising him.

Did he really think guarding the gates of Sword Flower University meant he could get close to pretty Female Students?

He did not even have that much self-awareness. No wonder he was only a guard.

Sonia had known since childhood that beauty could earn her advantages, but only after coming to Gala City did she realize just how powerful beauty could be—compared to that poor little village, civilized people in the city were willing to provide far more conveniences for a beautiful face.

Whenever this happened, Sonia sincerely thanked the Star Law Master. Thanks to this Divine Lord, Star Country had become so civilized and prosperous, giving her a chance to squeeze into high society.

If she had been born in a barbaric place like Blood Moon Country, she would probably have been snatched away as some barbarian's trophy the moment she began showing even a hint of beauty.

She also had to thank her mother. If her mother had not made her study at home as a child and had sent her to work in the fields instead, then no matter how naturally beautiful she was, the wind and sun would have turned her into a rough Village Girl.

Upon returning to the girls' Dormitory, Sonia was about to push open the door when she heard Lois's voice from inside. "It's already past seven. That Dirt Dog probably won't be coming back tonight, right? Heh, she finally couldn't hide her tail anymore. I bet she hooked up with some rich merchant."

Oh? She had happened upon the classic glass dormitory friendship scene: talking behind someone's back? Sonia immediately stopped moving and quietly listened to Lois's impotent rage.

Adele pretended to persuade her. "Stop it, Lois. She might come back..."

"So what if she comes back? I want to curse her to her face for being shameless!"

The more Lois spoke, the angrier she became. "You didn't see how slutty she looked, flirting with someone right in class. A Dirt Dog from the countryside—other than having a slightly prettier face, what is so impressive about her?"

Heh. Being prettier than you was impressive enough.

Sonia sneered inwardly. Among everyone in the Dormitory, Lois got along with her the worst. Lois was the daughter of a local Gala City merchant and had always been extremely proud of her looks. She usually made indirect, snide remarks about Sonia's lowly origins in the Dormitory. Yet Sonia was simply prettier than her. Whenever they appeared together, the number of boys showing interest in Sonia was clearly an order of magnitude higher.

Still, during their first Year, everyone maintained a surface-level peace. It was not until Sonia beat Lois in a school event and took the host's position that Lois's hostility was thoroughly provoked.

Lois was no pushover either. She repeatedly organized entertainment events for the Water Art Department and even paid out of pocket to treat fellow department students to meals at high-end restaurants, but she never included Sonia.

After displaying her wealth like that, more people began pursuing Lois as well.

After all, people looking for shortcuts came in both sexes. Sonia might be pretty, but marrying a rich, beautiful girl like Lois could save ten Years of struggle.

Sonia naturally could not beat Lois in terms of money, but she knew far too many ways to disgust people.

Whenever a boy appeared who was pursuing Lois and Lois showed a little Heartbeat toward him, Sonia would deliberately arrange an "accidental meeting," "inadvertently" make a little physical contact with him, then give him a few looks. That was enough to leave him utterly infatuated, even making him give up on Lois and turn around to pursue Sonia instead.

Lois was in such an explosive mood tonight because Sonia had "turned" the latest senior student pursuing Lois yesterday.

To be honest, Sonia looked down on Lois's taste. That senior was good-looking, but otherwise useless and full of himself. Still, to disgust Lois, Sonia did not mind throwing him a few flirtatious glances.

Sonia would certainly reject his pursuit, but would Lois really be willing to date "trash that even Sonia the Dirt Dog did not want"? No wonder Lois was so angry that her voice had cracked.

"Come to think of it, I heard Disly say she saw Sonia leave the school gates at noon to talk to a Middle-Aged Peasant Woman." Adele suddenly remembered. "Could that woman have been her mother?"

"Heh, with such a shameless daughter, I bet her mother is shameless too—"

Clang!

Before Sonia could no longer hold herself back and storm inside, a loud crash came from within first.

Realizing something, she took half a step back. Just then, the Dormitory door opened from inside, and a golden-haired girl with a single ponytail and a Sword Bag on her back appeared before her.

"Good Evening, Sonia," she said.

"Good Evening, Ingrid," Sonia said.

Ingrid left the Dormitory without looking back, presumably heading to the Training Ground for night practice. Inside, Adele and Lois sat frozen, the terror still lingering on their faces.

A dent Sonia had never seen before had appeared on the training punching target Ingrid had bought for the Dormitory.

Sonia entered and closed the door, and the Dormitory returned to silence.

Since Ingrid had already taught them a lesson for her, Sonia naturally would not do it again. But she silently marked down this debt. Sooner or later, she would make Lois pay it back with interest.

After wandering around all day, Sonia was tired as well. She sat down and put aside her bag. Her desk differed from everyone else's. Though it held cosmetics and skincare products, everything was neatly arranged without the slightest mess.

Lois had mocked her several times for buying low-end cosmetics that only commoners used, brands no one had even heard of. Yet over the past Year, Sonia had only grown prettier and fairer, so Lois gradually stopped insulting her. She had even bought a set of skincare products by copying Sonia's.

But they did not know that although Sonia's few bottles of skincare products looked like cheap, ordinary goods on the outside, the contents had long since been replaced with high-end products.

You got what you paid for. What merchant would let you take advantage of a loophole?

Only an idiot would put that cheap stuff on her face.

What was more, Sonia had spent money at the Female Spellcaster Beauty Center, Perfect Star Glory, to have minor adjustments made to her facial features.

Lois and the others still thought Sonia had truly become prettier through weight loss and skincare. They had no idea that Sonia had secretly poured nearly all her scholarship money into herself.

After earning a little spare money through part-time work and scholarships, Sonia had not immediately bought expensive skincare products. After all, Lois, the bigmouth, was in the Dormitory.

Sonia was certain that if she bought high-end products today, by tomorrow rumors that she had become someone's mistress would spread throughout the entire Water Art Department.

She found the label "beautiful Female Student from a poor but studious background" very comfortable to wear and did not want to take it off so easily.

Besides that, Sonia could not help harboring a malicious little expectation: if Lois really ruined her face by foolishly using those cheap skincare products, that would be absolutely wonderful.