Hearing the name Ethan Green, Kelly's brows immediately furrowed. Ethan Green was one of the most prominent figures among the new students this year—not only was he born into the most notorious blue-blood family of the Free Alliance, but he was also a prodigy, possessing top-tier Dreamweaver talent. His current progress in his studies was unmatched among his peers; even Henry, who also hailed from a prestigious family, was a notch below him.

A genius like this should have been the object of everyone's envy and admiration, yet Ethan Green and Henry were bitter rivals. As a result, everyone in Henry's class was often dragged into their conflicts. Less than a month after the semester began, Ethan Green's Class One and Henry's Class Four had become mortal enemies, with students from both classes constantly clashing, both openly and in secret, causing trouble every few days. The academy, however, was happy to let it happen, believing that fierce competition would help the students improve their Dreamweaving skills, so they did nothing to intervene, letting both sides fight it out.

How messy the rivalry between Henry and Ethan Green got was of no interest to Kelly at all. But as the second most important figure in the class, she sometimes had no choice but to step in and help, something Kelly herself was thoroughly sick of.

“What’s going on with Ethan Green now?”

The two girls who had rushed in began gesticulating wildly as they explained, “Ethan Green—Ethan Green is in the cafeteria, the cafeteria…”

“One at a time!”

“Oh… Ethan Green has set up a challenge in the cafeteria. He said that if anyone from our class can beat him at Tower Chess even once, all the previous gambling debts will be wiped clean. Otherwise, we’ll have to wear a ‘moron’ label on our backs for a whole month.”

“Here we go again…” Kelly rubbed her forehead and sighed. These kinds of bets just kept coming, it was really exhausting… Wait a minute!

“What previous gambling debts!?”

One of the girls stammered, “Earlier, Henry bet with Ethan Green that after this evaluation, our class’s progress definitely wouldn’t be last. If he lost, he’d have to go three days without speaking like a human—only allowed to bark like a dog.”

“…No wonder he seems especially excited today. Go tell him, it’s just three days of barking, he can tough it out.”

Kelly clearly didn’t want to get involved in this mess, but the two girls immediately pleaded, “Don’t be like this, Kelly—this is about our class’s honor! If Henry loses again, we’ll never be able to hold our heads up in front of the other classes.”

Kelly really wanted to say, if you all just focused on practicing your Dreamweaving, what’s there to be ashamed of? What does Henry’s win or loss have to do with anyone else? But hearing the girls pleading and calling her Kelly姐, she couldn’t help but soften a little.

Kelly was a year or two older than the other students. Fourteen was still the age of a young girl, but among a group of eleven- to thirteen-year-olds, she seemed more mature, and somehow ended up shouldering more responsibility.

“All right, all right, I’ll go take a look… You said they’re playing Tower Chess this time?”

“Yes, Ethan Green is really good at chess, and Henry is having a really hard time.”

Kelly bit her lip lightly. “That idiot…”

Chapter Three: There’s No Need to Waste Words with Such a Despicable Person!

When she and the two girls rushed to the cafeteria, a crowd had already gathered. Most of the students from both classes were there, and quite a few from the other two classes of the same year had come as well. Even some upperclassmen were watching with great interest.

Some were there to witness the showdown between the two blue-blood nobles, Henry and Ethan Green, while others were simply Tower Chess enthusiasts eager to watch the match.

Although Henry and Ethan Green were only eleven or twelve years old, their chess skills were far from poor. The duel on the board was enough to attract fellow enthusiasts. But today, the atmosphere was tense and explosive, completely at odds with the usual “friendship first, competition second” spirit of Tower Chess.

When Kelly arrived, she happened to hear a slightly sharp child’s voice ring out from the crowd.

“Hmph, I’ll be taking this inner tower. Thanks for your generosity.”

A wave of sighs and groans followed. Kelly could tell that the ones sighing were mostly from her own class.

“That idiot…”

She didn’t even need to look at the board to know that Henry was at a disadvantage again. That idiot never thought things through—if the other side wasn’t absolutely sure of victory, would he really challenge him in public? If he wanted to embarrass himself, that was his own business, but he always dragged others down with him. Compared to Wang Wu, who constantly slowed down their progress, Henry was no better… Pushing through the crowd, Kelly made her way to the center, where she saw a large dining table with a delicate chessboard set up. Henry and a thin boy with long black hair sat at opposite ends of the board, staring each other down, the air between them thick with tension.

The situation on the board was just as fierce. The jade chess pieces clashed violently; though inanimate, they seemed to radiate a chilling aura of battle. But Henry was clearly on the losing side—more than half of his nine guardian towers had been toppled, and he’d already lost two of his five key pieces. Across from him, Ethan Green had only lost one tower and still had four pieces left.

The game was already in its final stage, and the outcome was all but decided. Henry's face was ashen, his fists clenched tightly on his knees, still refusing to admit defeat. Meanwhile, the young master of the Lin family across from him was in no hurry to deliver the final blow, leisurely maneuvering his pieces to tear at his opponent’s defenses, his attitude one of pure mockery and playfulness.