A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Below the classroom window, I could see the former Student Council president, Meriz, trudging along in a pathetic state, drenched in sewage and garbage.
Classes hadn’t even ended, yet she was fleeing the Academy in such a wretched manner. I clicked my tongue in disapproval.
“She’s experiencing exactly what she deserves.”
The current target of the students was none other than Meriz herself. And I was the one who orchestrated it all.
‘I did use video evidence to apply some pressure.’
It wasn’t particularly difficult to obtain videos of Student Council president Meriz and her executives tormenting the other students.
Armed with those videos, I sought out every Student Council executive except the president herself.
And I threatened them. I’d spread the videos if they didn’t comply.
‘So what?’
‘What’s the crime in roughing up some weaklings?’
‘We didn’t even kill anyone, did we?’
When the executives first heard my threat, they showed little reaction.
They didn’t believe such videos would cause them any real damage.
I was more than happy to shatter that delusion.
‘I’ll follow you around with this video for the rest of your life.’
‘What?’
‘I’ll find you wherever you work, show up at your wedding, appear at every party you attend and play this video. I’ll make sure everyone around you sees it, plays it every single day so you’re never forgotten.’
‘…!’
‘I’ll make sure the entire world knows exactly what kind of person you are. For the rest of your life.’
That was it.
The moment I spoke with absolute sincerity about unleashing the full power of the Sorpel Family to spread that video repeatedly, their faces drained of all color.
The person making this threat was Camilla Sorpel, and they understood all too well the weight that name carried.
Had anyone else made the same threat, it would have been dismissed outright. They would have hurled crude insults instead, questioning who they thought they were threatening.
And that’s exactly what had happened before. Others had protested their bullying. But all they received in return was mockery, with no one to turn to for help.
Everyone turned a blind eye to the Student Council executives—or more precisely, to the power wielded by their parents.
This was why the victims had no choice but to flee, despite having such solid evidence in the form of video footage.
‘Perhaps that was the right choice after all.’
The perpetrators’ backgrounds were far too formidable to stand against.
Making this public would likely result in backlash, so they had no choice but to give up.
“Are you really sure about this, Camilla?”
“Don’t worry about it. Stop looking so gloomy and eat this, Laila.”
I imposed one condition on the terrified Student Council executives.
I wouldn’t release the videos. In exchange, they had to completely sever their relationship with Meriz.
When the executives looked at me with eyes asking if that was really all, I nodded. That alone was sufficient.
After that, I did some editing to ensure only Meriz appeared in the video. With Ravi’s help.
‘What is this?’
‘A video of certain people doing certain despicable things.’
‘What?’
‘Can you blur out the faces and voices of everyone except this one woman?’
‘What are you up to now?’
‘Good work.’
‘I’m busy.’
‘If you do it, I’ll get you top-grade mana stones.’
‘…What exactly do you want me to do?’
I’d requested the pixelation of the people’s faces and voice modulation in the video, and the finished product came back faster than expected.
In less than a week, a video of school violence with Student Council President Meriz Gabel as the sole perpetrator was released to the world.
“Everyone’s gotten a taste of poison.”
Why did only Meriz appear? Why were the other people’s faces obscured?
The cascading questions were answered by the Student Council executives who pretended not to see the Student Council President.
Those who noticed Meriz’s situation being shunned by the executives didn’t miss the opportunity.
The victims who had been tormented by the Student Council clique centered around Meriz Gabel threw themselves into tormenting her with fervent dedication.
They were simply returning what they had suffered.
It was already predictable. Though we played blind, everyone at the Academy knew the identities of the perpetrators in the video.
The Student Council’s authority crumbled to the ground. Meriz, and the Student Council itself, were no longer objects of fear.
What she would face afterward was easy to imagine.
“Still, with her family’s influence, won’t it be resolved soon?”
Watching Meriz walk weakly, Laila grumbled with a somewhat aggrieved tone.
It seemed she had clearly realized through this incident how easily the wealthy and powerful commit crimes and cover them up.
“Marquis Gabriel must be in chaos right now.”
“Pardon?”
“I told you before.”
That I have quite a lot of things.
I placed a piece of tart into Laila’s mouth as she looked at me seeking more details, redirecting her attention elsewhere.
With Laila’s delighted voice about how delicious it was as background music, I gazed intently at Meriz’s retreating figure as she approached the school gates.
Before touching Meriz, I had already made a move against Marquis Gabriel first.
After all, the reason Meriz could act as she pleased at the Academy was ultimately because of the power held by Marquis Gabriel.
Marquis Gabriel’s primary business was unquestionably mana stones. Fortunately, I possessed the power to interfere with that mana stone business.
Once the mana stone business wavered, shaking his other ventures was child’s play.
After arranging to send away the Marquis and his daughter, I visited the parents of the Student Council executives.
And I threatened them identically. I demanded that they sever all dealings with Marquis Gabriel—those whose businesses were connected to his in large and small ways.
“Pretending to be parents, the lot of them.”
“Pardon?”
“It exists, that sort of thing.”
The perpetrators’ parents raised their hands for him, feigning concern for their children’s futures.
But would they have made such a decision if the Marquis’s business were still on a steady path?
‘That’s unknowable.’
Nobility prioritizes family interests over their children, after all.
In any case, watching the Marquis whose mana stone business was wavering, everyone must have been running countless calculations in their heads.
If they continued supporting the Marquis to the end? Was that worth accepting the consequence of making an enemy of the Sorpel Family?
In answer to that question, brakes were applied throughout Marquis Gabriel’s business ventures.
The Gabriel Marquis Family would undoubtedly be in complete chaos dealing with the fallout.
The fact that they remained silent even after discovering who had distributed Meriz’s video made it painfully obvious.
I made no attempt to hide the fact that I was the one who had distributed Meriz’s video.
There was no particular purpose behind it.
‘There was simply no reason to conceal it.’
It held the same meaning as when Meriz had sent the video to the parents of the victimized students without any hesitation. What difference would it make if they found out?
“What will happen to Meriz?”
“Who knows.”
Even I couldn’t predict what would come next. I had merely set the stage, nothing more. Just as Meriz had done.
Meriz had lost her title as Student Council President, and the other council members found themselves unable to continue their private games.
The Student Council had completely lost the authority it once wielded.
“Regardless, I’m done here.”
Whether more victims emerged or not was no longer my concern. To go further would be nothing but meddling.
This situation was no different. Had the target been anyone other than Laila, I would never have involved myself.
“In any case, I doubt I’ll ever see that girl within the Academy again.”
With Meriz’s already fading silhouette as my final glimpse, I firmly shut the open classroom window.
Chapter. Club
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
“…?”
At the sound of someone rushing toward me, Arsian instinctively released a wave of killing intent.
But the moment he recognized the person’s face, he immediately suppressed it and sent a puzzled glance their way.
Thwack!
A small fist flew toward his head in a manner entirely unlike her usual demeanor, yet he made no move to defend himself.
“What are you doing?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For backing me up.”
Because that person was Camilla.
Arsian’s expression turned bewildered as she suddenly rushed over and lightly struck his head.
“What are you doing? Why are you hitting me?”
“I just got irritated seeing you two.”
I glanced dismissively at Arsian and Petro, who was snickering beside him.
‘Why didn’t you do what you always did in all those other lives?!’
Why, just why?!
My frustration suddenly flared up.
In the repetitive life that the original Camilla had lived before I fully entered this world, those two always helped Laila.
‘But why…!’
I couldn’t understand why they did nothing in this life.
I had waited patiently, thinking ‘they’ll do it. They’ll step in soon. Things will flow similarly enough….’ Yet in the end, I had to step in and resolve it myself!
“Thanks to that, I’ve been incredibly busy for a while.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It happens.”
“…You just hit someone out of nowhere and that’s your excuse? That’s what you’re going with?”
“I’m telling you, it happens.”
Camilla answered brazenly and turned her head away sharply.
“…!”
In that moment, her eyes met Petro’s directly. He was looking at her with that familiar gentle smile of his.
“I’m ready to be hit as well, Camilla.”
“No, well… I don’t really have any intention of hitting you specifically….”
This man has been acting strange lately!
At some point, he stopped using the honorific and started calling me just by my name, and lately he’s been pushing forward like this more and more often.
‘Why? Why?’
Red-head, when did you ever do that to me!
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“You just said ‘you all,’ didn’t you?”
“So?”
“You said seeing us suddenly irritated you.”
“And?”
“Then why did you only hit me?”
“….”
“You should hit him too.”
“…Arsian.”
“What?”
“You know you’re subtly similar to our Ravi, don’t you?”
“Don’t curse at me.”
…Quick to pick up on things, isn’t he.
Camilla averted her gaze slightly. Then Petro’s figure came into view again.
Seeing him drooping like an abandoned puppy, Camilla let out a short sigh.
I said I wasn’t going to hit him—why does he have to make that expression?
‘He’s definitely changed.’
Camilla quietly shook her head and began to back away slowly.
Now wasn’t the time to face Petro like this, leisurely and openly.
Ever since that day—ever since she’d unleashed the Jebillen Family’s swordsmanship freely at the Hunting Grounds—she’d been avoiding Petro as much as possible.
If they met, he’d inevitably ask when she learned our family’s swordsmanship. And how was she supposed to answer that?
‘I can’t exactly say a ghost taught me!’
To be more precise, it was a ghost that had entered her body and wielded the swordsmanship, but there was no way to explain it.
“Camilla.”
Petro called out to her urgently.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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