Then they heard William Carter say, “A chess bet? I thought he was just acting cute. He must be colluding with the other side, right?”

As soon as he said this, Henry immediately slammed the table and stood up. “Who are you saying is colluding with him!?”

William Carter said, “You, obviously. Who else could it be, me? Kelly gave you so many hints, and you still lost. Are you really going to say it wasn’t on purpose?”

“You! … Me!?”

Henry was furious, but he was at a loss for words. He had just carelessly lost a piece, purely because he was provoked and lost his composure by Ethan Green. Otherwise, with his skill, he would never have made such a rookie mistake. But this kind of thing was impossible to explain, and he disdained to explain it anyway.

“What I owe you all, I’ll make it up to you. This time, I’ve let the class down!”

Henry shouted, then turned and left, his retreating figure utterly dejected, like a stray dog, leaving everyone looking at each other, not knowing what to do.

At the other end of the chessboard, Ethan Green looked relaxed, resting his chin on one hand, a victor’s smile spreading across his face. He raised his head in a show of defiance, sweeping his gaze over the students from Class Four who were watching.

“In that case, for the next month, I hope you’ll all behave yourselves. Honestly, I don’t think my terms are that harsh. Judging by your class’s performance lately, calling you idiots is actually a compliment.”

Taking advantage and rubbing it in—this was what Ethan Green enjoyed most. He always called it the aftertaste of victory. Even after entering Yangcheng Academy, a place full of geniuses, he could still savor this feeling again and again.

This is what it means to be blue-blooded nobility.

After speaking, Ethan Green deliberately glanced provocatively at Kelly. He was actually quite curious about this genius girl from an honorary noble family. The elites who earned the title of genius at Yangcheng Academy were almost always from blue-blooded families. Without the heritage and accumulation of those centuries-old houses, it was nearly impossible for ordinary families to produce a Dreamweaver prodigy. Even a large population wasn’t enough.

Yet Kelly, from an honorary noble family—what many considered a commoner noble—had such talent, which was truly astonishing. Although Ethan Green didn’t think Kelly could compete with him, he was quite interested in this talented girl from humble origins.

“If I could play with her, it would definitely be interesting…”

Thinking this, the way he looked at her gradually changed, making Kelly extremely uncomfortable, as if a cold, slimy snake was crawling over her.

“Sigh, I really shouldn’t have gotten involved today…”

With a sigh, Kelly was about to turn and leave, when she heard Ethan Green say, “This way, Kelly… You were pretty enthusiastic giving advice behind Henry just now.”

“You must have mistaken me for someone else. I don’t know anything…”

Kelly shrugged, decisively played dumb, and turned to leave, pretending not to hear Ethan Green’s malicious sneer behind her.

Of course, today’s matter wasn’t over. Kelly could already imagine having to face all kinds of trouble and mockery from Ethan Green in the future. As for anything worse? Ha, even blue-blooded nobles wouldn’t dare act recklessly at Yangcheng Academy… right?

As for being labeled an idiot for a month, or being mocked by Class One during weekly public classes… The exhausted girl didn’t want to think about it anymore. She’d worry about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow. At worst, she’d just drop out with William Carter… But after only a few steps, Kelly felt someone tug her sleeve, making her stumble and almost fall.

She turned to see William Carter holding her sleeve with one hand and pointing at the chessboard with the other, shouting, “Hey, hey, hey, the game’s not over yet! Why are you, the mastermind, in such a hurry to leave?”

“Me…?!”

Because of William Carter’s shout, everyone’s attention turned to her. With dozens of eyes on her, Kelly truly wanted to cry. She’d always known William Carter wasn’t the brightest, but she never expected him to throw her under the bus at a time like this. Weren’t they classmates, good friends!?

Cursing William Carter a thousand times in her heart, Kelly struggled to pull her hand free, trying to escape his grip.

“You… let go!”

“Oh.”

William Carter let go as told, and Kelly immediately lost her balance, stumbling back a few steps before falling to the ground with a thud, tears streaming down her face from the pain.

“…How can you be so clumsy, you can’t even stand properly.”

William Carter sighed as he reached out to help, only for Kelly to slap his hand away without mercy.

“Stay away from me, you idiot!”

“Oh, all right.”

William Carter turned away and ignored Kelly, then grinned at Ethan Green. “Yo, good morning~”

“Hmph.” Ethan Green was fairly familiar with the meddlesome William Carter.

That Penglai boy was the most notorious slacker in Henry’s class, with zero Dreamweaver talent. He’d been stuck at the Awakening stage, unable to make any progress, which had greatly slowed the class’s progress and allowed Ethan Green to repeatedly get the upper hand in arguments with Henry. In a way, he was quite useful.

But a commoner was still a commoner. Such disrespectful greetings toward him were unforgivable.