Chapter 1: The pure white flower withered

It was a night as dark as ink.

The smell of blood spread through the hidden alley as he helplessly clutched the wound on his chest, gasping for breath.

Warm blood flowed down his arm to his elbow, dripping onto the ground and gradually staining the soil red.

Just moments ago, he had seen several thugs surrounding a woman with knives.

Without hesitation, he rushed in and kicked one of them to the ground.

The panicked woman seized the moment of distraction and quickly escaped through the gap in the encirclement, never once sparing him a glance.

He, however, was stabbed in the chest by the enraged thugs, who then fled in fear of taking a life.

In the end, only he remained in the hidden alley, alone to face his slowly fading life.

He had tried to call for help, but no one responded.

He stared at the alley’s entrance, yet no one came to save him.

He had clearly saved someone’s life, yet his reward was the loss of his own.

In the end, the loneliness of death flooded his heart.

Pain, isolation, and regret surged like a tide, drowning him completely.

All he felt was utter despair, with not a trace of light left.

“Don’t!”

Lila jolted awake from her dream once more.

She held her forehead, trying to dispel the lingering despair in her heart.

That was already in the past.

She told herself this again and again.

In her previous life, she had been a good person who did good deeds without counting the cost.

Whether it was lending money to those in hardship or offering whatever help she could, she had never been stingy with her efforts.

Yet the only things she received in return were glaring exclamation marks beside chat windows, or hollow words of insincere refusal that only annoyed her.

Thinking back on her failed life…

She would never be a good person again.

Never.

Lila silently swore to herself.

Every time she was tormented by nightmares of the past, she made the same vow.

Now, her name was Lila Stuart, the daughter of Victor Stuart, the Privy Minister of the Principality of Norslan.

She was a noble standing at the very top of the social hierarchy.

However, unlike the Stuart Family’s long-standing reputation for justice, fairness, and generosity, Lila herself was infamous among the nobility as a villainous woman.

Arrogant, willful, unreasonable, and wildly unrestrained.

This was how her noble peers saw her, and it was also the version of herself that Lila was satisfied with.

As for why she had been reincarnated with her memories intact…

It was because, at the brink of her soul’s fading, she encountered a rather inexplicable goddess.

That was the only way Lila could describe her.

After asking the goddess why she had been helped, the answer she received was simply because it was interesting.

Having been awakened by the nightmare, Lila no longer felt the slightest bit sleepy.

After getting up in her spacious dormitory, she performed a simple wash.

Lila was currently studying at the finest academy on the entire continent, Casser Academy.

Casser Academy was located at the center of the continent, surrounded by five nations, yet it did not belong to any of them, existing instead as an independent territory.

Although the surrounding nations coveted this land and watched it closely, none of them dared to take action.

That was because the academy’s headmaster was the only continent-level mage in the world, Luce Hel.

Under the deterrence of his magic, a renowned academy was established, one that stood apart from worldly authority and maintained relative equality among all classes.

As long as one possessed exceptional talent, any young person could enroll in Casser Academy, the academy turned no one away.

However, this so-called equality of talent was not truly absolute.

In this academy, ordinary dormitories housed four people per room.

The apartment Lila lived in required additional fees.

Thus, commoners typically lived in dormitories, while nobles resided in apartment buildings.

These apartments naturally consisted of more than a single room.

According to school regulations, students were allowed to bring one servant, so noble attendants could also stay in the apartments, though this required an additional fee as well.

After all, nobles needed servants.

But Lila was different.

She lived alone in her apartment.

After finishing her simple wash, Lila gathered her messy crimson hair from behind, carefully combed it smooth, and tied the ends together with a ribbon.

Her first class today was an introductory course on the principles of mana circulation.

As usual, Lila sat in her designated seat, while the other students instinctively kept their distance from it.

From time to time, they cautiously glanced at the infamous villainess, afraid of provoking this unpredictable noble girl.

“If you dare look at me again, you can forget about keeping your eyes.”

Lila snapped at the right moment.

The murmurs immediately vanished.

The entire classroom fell into silence, and no one dared to turn back again.

“Miss, here are the books you asked for. I’ve brought them.”

At that moment, a black-haired boy carrying a heavy backpack took out a book and timidly placed it in front of Lila.

“Simon, well done. Now go take care of your own business. But remember to pack up my books after class, you’ll do that, right?”

Lila offered a perfunctory praise.

“Of course, Miss Lila Stuart.”

The black-haired boy lowered his head, his expression hidden from view.

“Alright, you may go.”

Lila waved her hand.

Simon stepped back slowly and then found an empty seat to sit down.

The goddess had not helped Lila reincarnate for free.

The price of her reincarnation was that she would constantly feel her life slipping away, gradually and tangibly losing it.

Like an old person nearing death, watching helplessly as it consumed them.

The only method the goddess provided to alleviate this was to continuously bully the poor boy named Simon.

Only in doing so could Lila continue to live.

This was Lila’s way of survival.

Though she did not know why this boy had offended the goddess, in order to survive, Lila had to continuously use her power and status to oppress him.

However, she did not dare go too far.

She feared that Simon might be unable to bear the pressure and take his own life, if that happened, her loss would outweigh any gain.

So Lila constantly tested the limits of what Simon could endure.

Using the lives of his adoptive parents as leverage, she ordered him to carry out all sorts of troublesome tasks.

As mentioned before, Casser Academy accepted both commoners and nobles alike.

Even though the academy maintained an appearance of equality among students, social circles could not be restricted.

The circles of nobles and commoners were inherently different.

Coupled with the power held by the parents of noble children across various nations, commoners remained easy targets for oppression even within the academy.

Of course, they could not act openly, or they would receive expulsion warnings from the academy.

But they could target the families of those commoners—the academy’s reach did not extend that far.

Thus, conversations like the one between Lila and Simon earlier were something everyone in the academy had grown accustomed to.

More importantly, the reason Simon was able to study at Casser Academy in the first place was due to the sponsorship of Lila’s father, Victor Stuart.

‘So enduring this level of oppression should be only natural, shouldn’t it?’

After the dull and tedious mana class ended, Lila did not trouble Simon further.

She had him pack up the books and leave.

Because her next class was swordsmanship, and she had no time to torment him.

However, she recalled that Simon seemed to have a part-time job in the afternoon.

A good idea came to her mind.