Henry felt like he was about to break down. Is this what they mean by “How can a sparrow understand the ambition of a swan”? Compared to William Carter, he really was just a shallow little bird!

“…So you’re only refusing to drop out because of the buffet and the big bedroom provided by Yangcheng Academy?”

William Carter tilted his head and thought for a moment. “You could say that.”

Henry smiled slightly. “Alright then, the food and lodging you want—I’ll provide them for you. The Dawn Hotel in the Free City’s business district is owned by my family. I’ll give you a single room, plus free meals three times a day, for as long as you want to stay. Once you get tired of it, you drop out immediately. How about it?”

As soon as he said this, there was another uproar all around. The Dawn Hotel in Free City was famous for its luxury—even the most basic single room cost twenty Liberty Coins per day. And a single Liberty Coin could buy hundreds of pounds of grain; the food prices there were even more outrageous.

Such generosity could only come from someone like Henry, a scion of a powerful family. Just to keep William Carter from dragging down the class’s grades, he was really going all out.

William Carter was moved by the offer, his smile growing even wider as he asked excitedly, “You mean, you’ll give me food and a place to stay!?”

Henry nodded. “That’s right, as long as you drop out.”

“You really are a good person!” William Carter said earnestly, but in the next moment, he changed the subject.

“But isn’t this kind of like keeping a mistress…”

“Keeping…” Henry was momentarily stunned, then flew into a rage. “Keep your sister! Only an idiot would keep you!”

No matter how good his upbringing, he couldn’t withstand such provocation. Henry’s anger completely broke through the barriers of reason, driving him to throw a punch straight at that infuriating face.

As expected, he missed. William Carter dodged like a ghost—one moment he was sitting in his chair, the next he was several meters away, looking calm and carefree. Henry was about to follow up with another attack, but two of his followers quickly stepped forward, grabbed him, and dragged him out of the classroom to prevent any further trouble.

The other students shook their heads and sighed as they left in groups, feeling rather helpless about what had just happened.

But one person stayed behind, standing in front of William Carter’s desk, casting a faint, barely noticeable shadow on the tabletop.

“William Carter, don’t get too cocky.”

William Carter looked up and saw a petite girl from Penglai, her small face full of resentment framed by neat, short black hair that looked just like a watermelon rind.

William Carter recognized the girl—Emily Thompson, the top student in the class, known for her diligent cultivation.

She was also a devoted supporter of Henry.

And her most distinctive feature was that watermelon-rind-like bob haircut.

William Carter greeted her with a smile. “Hey, Watermelon Boy.”

“Who are you calling Watermelon Boy!?” Emily Thompson instantly exploded with anger. “I’m telling you, don’t be so ungrateful! Just now Henry was trying to reason with you, so why didn’t you listen? Do you even know who he is? The gap between you two is like night and day, and you dare be rude to him!? You—”

“Oh.”

William Carter thought her lines were really unoriginal and lacked force, so he lowered his head and started reading his book. But a fair, delicate hand suddenly slapped down on the page, wrinkling it and blocking his view.

“Don’t play dumb with me!”

Emily Thompson shouted, “Do you know how much pressure Henry is under because of you? You alone are holding back the whole class, making it so he can’t even lift his head in front of the top students from other classes! All because you’re a lowly commoner! I’m telling you, if you don’t drop out on your own, I have a thousand ways to make sure you can’t stay in the academy. Do you hear me—”

She was only halfway through her tirade when she suddenly felt a tap on her head. Furious, she turned around, only to see a face that made her unable to vent her anger.

“Kay, Kelly!? Are you going to cover for him again!?”

The other girl just smiled and said nothing. Faced with that smiling face, Emily Thompson really had nothing more to say. She could only glare fiercely at William Carter before storming off.

The classroom fell quiet again. William Carter picked up the novel he hadn’t finished during class and continued reading. Then a waft of fragrance drifted over, and a sweet-looking brown-haired girl casually pulled up a wooden chair, sat down across from him, and smiled gently.

William Carter looked up. “Hey, the class’s number two genius, Miss Kelly, good morning!”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying!” the girl laughed, playfully punching him. “Don’t call me by such a gross name!”

William Carter didn’t dodge, taking the punch head-on—not that it hurt at all.

When the two of them were together, they were relaxed and natural. Though they didn’t look like a couple, they were clearly very close—intimate friends.

Even though one was the class’s bottom-ranked slacker and the other was the number two genius after Henry, the gap between them was just as vast. Yet this easy, natural way of interacting was perfectly normal for them.

After a month since the start of school, Kelly was William Carter’s only friend.

Chapter Two: Senior Brother, Something’s Wrong! Second Brother Has Been Taken by a Monster!

Kelly and William Carter actually met even before Yangcheng Academy started.