Chapter 3

"Chiara, you just got back and didn't bring any clothes with you. These are some old clothes and a bag I don't need anymore. I hope you don't mind taking them."

She shoved the bags into my arms as though she were giving alms to a beggar, acting all high and mighty.

I glanced down at the bags.

Inside one of them was a handbag that had a designer brand's logo.

However, the logo was a bit blurry, and the edges of the bag had even started to fray, exposing the threads inside.

[Wow, this fake P-brand is really shoddy. Even the stitching is coming apart.]

[Are you giving this kind of thing as a gift just to fob off beggars?]

[Or do you really think that I, your flesh-and-blood sister, am only fit to wear this kind of trashy knockoff?]

Those inner thoughts in my head rang out loud again.

Yolanda's face instantly blushed a deep red, then blanched before finally turning an apoplectic purple. It was a truly spectacular display.

She wasn't expecting a hick like me to recognize the brand, let alone spot the fake at a glance.

The servants around her kept their heads bowed, but their shoulders were trembling slightly. They were clearly trying to stifle their laughter.

All those stares felt like daggers stabbing into Yolanda's back.

But I acted as if I hadn’t noticed a thing. I raised my head and gave her a very perfunctory smile. "Thanks, Yolanda."

I accepted those "gifts" without a fuss.

Then, under everyone's gazes filled with conflicting emotions, I walked into that tiny servant's room.

With a bang, I shut the door behind me and blocked all the prying eyes from outside.

I turned around and, without any hesitation, tossed the pile of cheap, old clothes and counterfeit bags I was holding into the trash can in the corner.

They landed with a dull thud.

Then I sat down on the bed. The room was dim, and the air felt stale and oppressive.

I closed my eyes and began to ponder.

What exactly was this ability that let others hear my inner thoughts?

It seemed to be triggered whenever my emotions were running high and when I had a strong urge to speak my mind.

The sound seemed to carry throughout the entire villa.

This was an incredibly dangerous power that was akin to a double-edged sword.

It could help me see through pretense and strike back against attempts to humiliate me.

But it could also expose all my thoughts to my enemies.

I must learn to control it. Or, put it to better use.

I opened my eyes, and my gaze lingered on the gray wall outside the window.

It was just like my situation, trapped in this luxurious cage, boxed in on all sides.

But that was fine. No matter how sturdy a wall might be, once a crack was found, it would eventually be brought down.

*****

I was enrolled in the same elite school as Yolanda, namely St. Innocent High School.

The tuition was exorbitantly expensive, and it was said that the students there were from very wealthy or very prominent families.

On my first day of school, I immediately felt the warm welcome from this "elite society."

Even before I stepped through the school gates, rumors about me had already spread throughout the entire school.

"Did you hear? The Lubitz's rightful daughter has been brought back from the boonies and is joining our school today…"

"I heard from Yolanda that her sister has sticky fingers. She was always stealing stuff when she was living in the boonies…"

"Oh my god, we'd better keep an eye on our things…"

"She's a complete hick. I have no idea what the Lubitz family was thinking, enrolling someone like her in St. Innocent. She's dragging our standards down…" And so on.

Their gossip was just loud enough for me to overhear everything.

I walked into the school building with a stony expression and located my classroom.

Yolanda was already surrounded by her circle of girlfriends.

As soon as she spotted me, she instantly put on a worried expression and hurried to me. "Chiara, you're here."

Her timing was spot-on. Before I could even get a word out, a girl with flawless makeup came strutting down the hallway with a cup of coffee.

She barreled right into me like she was blind.

Clatter! My books went flying everywhere, and massive coffee stains splattered across my white school uniform.

The girl exclaimed theatrically, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

But there was a gloating smirk lingering in the corners of her mouth,

Everyone around us was gawking at us in anticipation.

However, Yolanda's cronies laughed out loud without any attempt at pretense.

I did not say anything. I simply crouched down and picked up my scattered books from the floor silently.

But my innermost thoughts cut through the noisy atmosphere like a sharp knife.

[Hey, isn't that Nancy Lessersohn from Class 2B?]

[I remember she scored 140 on the math section of the last midterm exam, second in the whole school, right behind Yolanda.]

[But I heard she got caught cheating because she'd hidden the answers in her eraser. In the end, Yolanda stepped forward on her own.]

[She admitted that she'd passed the notes to Nancy and took the blame for her.]