Chapter 12:
The Ball
“I DON’T WANNA go to school!”
It was a morning a few days after the assassination attempt on the pope. My twin daughters had just woken up, only for one of them to say the most unexpected thing unexpected from May, at least.
“What’s the matter, May?” Claire asked. “Did somebody say something mean to you at school?”
“No, they’re being mean to Aleah! And I don’t wanna go somewhere where everybody’s being mean to Aleah!” May puffed out her cheeks in defiance.
“Aleah, is this true?” Claire asked.
“It’s not. But…” Aleah hesitated.
“It is true!” May cut in. “Everybody only talks to me and ignores Aleah! I hate them!”
Recognizing this would need some time, Claire and I had the two take the day off school. We postponed breakfast and sat them down at the table with Claire, while I prepared black tea for Claire and me and warm milk for the girls.
“Could you tell me in detail what’s been going on?” Claire asked as soon as I sat down.
Sounding like a little ball of anger, May mumbled, “It started when I learned to use magic after memorizing the, uh Borrid Method?”
“That’s wonderful, May!Congratulations,” Claire said.
“Congratulations, May,” I echoed.
“No! It’s not a good thing!” May yelled. “Ever since they found out I can use four kinds of magic, the teachers only pay attention to me! Even when Aleah and all the other kids are trying their best!”
She stopped momentarily and took a sip of milk to calm down.
The meritocratic beliefs of the Nur Empire extended all the way down to its elementary school, thanks to which even exchange students like the twins were accepted without prejudice. But the system had its downsides: tremendously gifted students like May were welcomed, even celebrated, but average students found their efforts unrewarded.
That being said, we hadn’t expected May to be the one complaining about the system being unfair. Aleah was more precocious than her sister in many regards, so Claire and I had figured she’d be the one to see the injustice first.
“And now the teachers want me to go to a different class than Aleah, but I don’t wanna!” May grumbled.
With that, the pieces of the puzzle all snapped together. May wasn’t rebelling against the bias inherent in the empire’s meritocratic beliefs she was simply angry at a system that didn’t treasure her beloved sister. A system that wanted to separate them.
Claire and I locked eyes for a thoughtful moment. She was the first to speak.
“May, I understand what you mean to say. We’ll talk to the school about Aleah’s treatment. But insisting you stay in the same class as Aleah is
just being willful. You—”
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I'm In Love With The Villainess Volume 4
Historical FictionSame as the volume 3 reason I'm doing this is so that people can read it offline and doesn't need internet.
