Standing nearby, Sylvia heard Greg's firm denial, and the fleeting gloom in her eyes quietly faded.
She let out a soft sigh of relief, and her tense shoulders seemed to relax a little.
Thank goodness... Senior Greg didn't like Her Highness Vivian...
The one he liked was still...
Her gaze unconsciously flicked toward her friend Victoria beside her. A complicated, unreadable emotion passed through the depths of her pink eyes, but a gentle smile soon replaced it.
As long as Senior Greg's feelings hadn't changed, and Victoria was still the one he liked, her plan still had a chance of succeeding...
Yet just as Sylvia relaxed, perhaps because she had moved a little too much while letting out that sigh-
"Tap."
Something slipped from the side pocket of her uniform skirt and fell onto the polished floor with a faint, muffled sound.
Greg picked it up without hesitation and discovered that it was a small humanoid doll.
Its craftsmanship wasn't particularly fine. In fact, it was rather crude, made from some kind of uncomfortable-looking fabric.
Though the classroom was brightly lit, a faint shadow seemed to shroud it, and it gave off a barely perceptible, chilling aura.
Greg's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
"What is this...?"
The doll's design, that strange symbol on it, and the unsettling aura it gave off...
It seemed similar to some of the cursed items in the original story, but why would Sylvia be carrying it?
He was about to examine it more closely to see whether he had mistaken it for something else.
But a fair, slender hand beat him to it and snatched the doll away.
Sylvia moved so quickly that she almost left an afterimage, a stark contrast to her usual gentle, unhurried manner.
Once she had the doll, she immediately put both