Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 32

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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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Chapter 32
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‘I’m so tired….’
Once again, I walked through the Academy Courtyard alone, a solitary wolf shunned by the world. I had to maintain my villainous dignity, so I couldn’t yawn openly—biting my lip instead caused tears to well up at the corners of my eyes.
With my eyes ghastly red and bloodshot, I was heading toward the Classroom when I encountered a scene in the Courtyard behind the Magic Tower that was impossible to ignore.
‘What is this?’
Sleep momentarily fled my mind. The atmosphere was decidedly unusual.
A large boy named Young-sik was harassing a petite young lady. He didn’t notice me standing like a ghost in the shadows, and he kept picking quarrels with her.
“Arin, you’re not seriously planning to keep attending here, are you?”
“….”
As the young lady hunched her small shoulders, the thick glasses on the bridge of her nose slipped downward.
“I heard your family went bankrupt. It’s amazing you’re still clinging to the Academy. Honestly, wouldn’t it be better to quit? Everyone’s laughing at your pathetic appearance behind your back, even if they don’t show it.”
Young-sik stepped on the hem of her worn skirt and laughed cruelly.
“P-please stop. I’m begging you!”
“Why? Even if I step on it, it’s so dirty that the damage barely shows.”
“Stop it, you’ll tear it!”
As Young-sik dragged his foot and pulled the fabric harder, the young lady’s face went pale.
“A girl who trembles over a single torn dress—what business does she have at the Academy? Just because you completed the Gifted Program once, you still cling to such pointless delusions? Get a grip on reality, will you?”
The boy sneered and snatched one of the books she was holding.
“Let me see. Hmm… Advanced Mana Formula Applications. With your pathetic mana capacity, what could you possibly use this for? It would be more profitable to use it as kindling.”
He began tearing out pages one by one. The ashen-faced young lady jumped frantically, but she was too small to reach.
“Stop, give it back!”
“Do you really think reading a few books like this will change anything? What business does a woman have with formulas? Just look at the male-to-female ratio in formula classes—it’s obvious. There’s a reason there are more men among high-ranking mages, Arin.”
“….”
“Since it’s hopeless anyway, stop clinging to it and just marry someone suitable. You know you won’t be marketable as you get older, right? Do you know what I mean? You’re cute now, so….”
“Shut your mouth.”
I finally stepped forward in front of them, my expression as sinister as possible.
Sexist remarks followed by sexual harassment. Watching him torment the young lady by poking her cheek with his fingers—I simply couldn’t let it pass.
In my previous life, there was a troublemaking student who subtly mocked women in engineering, asking what business they had there, and pestered them. The memory only intensified my irritation.
From the situation, it seemed he was bullying her because she came from a fallen family and was an easy target, and he harbored inferiority about not being accepted into the Gifted Program….
‘Pathetic. This pig of a boy.’
I knew it was somewhat overstepping my bounds, but if I held back my anger, I’d develop constipation, which would be terrible for this jade-like skin of mine.
“D-Deborah Simour?”
The large Young-sik’s face went pale the moment he saw me, notorious as I was. He looked like someone who’d suddenly spotted a viper emerging from the brush.
“What are you staring at? If you know what’s good for you, lower your eyes and get lost.”
I looked down at him with overwhelming authority. With my height, especially in heels, I could easily dominate most boys like him.
“M-Miss Simour. Why don’t you just go on your way? Why are you suddenly doing this to me?”
“You’re ugly, and it’s irritating.”
As I spoke bluntly, Young-sik’s chubby cheeks flushed red and purple.
“W-what did you say? To pick a quarrel with me on first meeting like this. I’ve heard the rumors, but isn’t this going too far? Even if you’re Duke Simour’s daughter, there are limits!”
“You should learn to keep your mouth shut before your ears rot off from listening to yourself.”
Having seen enough of this fool’s antics, I twirled the tassel hanging from my fan like a weapon and planted my weight on one leg.
“Women are supposedly weak with numbers, or so you claim. Do I look like a man to your eyes?”
Young-sik’s chubby cheeks quivered.
“T-that wasn’t directed at you specifically, Lady Deborah Simour. I was merely stating a universal phenomenon. It’s true that women are weaker with numbers than men, isn’t it? Among combat mages, women are a minority, and——”
“Seven times seven.”
“Pardon?”
“Forty-nine.”
I slapped his cheek with my fan, and his beady eyes widened with indignation.
“Since you’re so confident spouting that ridiculous hypothesis you call ‘fact,’ let’s settle this with a game between male and female representatives to see who’s actually weaker with numbers.”
“W-what?”
“You seem quite confident spouting nonsense, so you must be rather skilled with numbers. Surely you’re not afraid of a simple arithmetic game?”
I provoked him with a smirk, pulling the situation entirely under my control.
“T-that’s impossible!”
“Eight times nine.”
Most people instinctively focus when a problem appears before them.
“…S-seventy.”
“Seventy-two. Too slow.”
I proceeded with the multiplication table game that anyone from my previous life would know by heart, relentlessly striking his cheek. Young-sik, who had been answering a second slower than me, began to adapt to the game, his responses gradually accelerating.
So I immediately pulled out the next card.
“Twelve times nine?”
“T-this——”
The sudden appearance of a two-digit multiplier visibly shook his composure. This was the twelve times table, and I swung with full force as I answered.
“One hundred and eight.”
I began increasing the numbers one by one.
I’m confident up to the nineteen times table. In my previous life, when I was an elementary student, there was a widespread rumor in our education-obsessed country that Indian people memorized up to nineteen times. My overzealous new homeroom teacher, desperate to show results, beat the multiplication tables into us with a cane, forcing us to memorize all the way to nineteen.
‘I never needed it for the college entrance exam, yet here I am using it.’
Things that were utterly useless in my past life turned out to be subtly useful here. I continued the game with a somewhat bewildered feeling.
“Thirteen times seven?”
“W-wait, please! Lady Deborah. This is——”
“Ninety-one. Fourteen times nine?”
“I-I was wrong! I dare not make such absurd mistakes before you, Lady Deborah!”
Eventually, the fool’s face flushed crimson as he bowed his head to me repeatedly.
“You’re so ugly it’s exhausting to look at. Get out of my sight.”
The chubby fool, who had been grinning while tormenting the weak girl, hastily nodded and scurried away with his tail between his legs. As I watched his pathetic retreating figure with disdain, my eyes met directly with the girl he had been bullying.
“Hup!”
Her thick glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose. Watching her gulp nervously and tremble, it seemed I must have looked quite terrifying to her—a large man beaten without mercy.
‘Deborah really does possess tremendous strength….’
Her large eyes gazing at me were glistening as if she might cry at any moment, and her face had turned bright red. As I stared at her, the girl’s ears and neck gradually flushed deeper.
‘It looks like I’m the one who bullied her.’
Hmm! I’ve maintained my reputation well today, it seems.
I looked down at her with a cold gaze, then passed through the dimly lit Courtyard and entered the Classroom on the second floor.
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‘The weather is lovely.’
I settled into my usual seat by the window where sunlight streamed in generously, resting my chin in my palm.
‘…I’m drowsy from not sleeping properly last night.’
I was dozing in the warm sunlight when, for once, Professor Kyle entered the mathematics class.
He usually entered with a listless, exhausted expression, simply tossed the exam papers, and left—but today, for some reason, he actually began teaching. As he wrote lengthy equations across the blackboard with sharp taps, the professor suddenly fixed his gaze upon me and opened his mouth.
“Everyone. You understand that exams must be conducted with integrity, yes? I will not tolerate the act of secretly sharing correct answers. If anyone requests answers from you, please report it to me immediately.”
I tilted my head slightly, my chin still resting in my hand. It felt as though Professor Kyle had just singled me out.
My suspicion proved correct—as soon as class ended, the professor called me aside.
“Lady Deborah Simour.”
He began speaking with an exhausted expression, rubbing the dark circles beneath his eyes.
“Go ahead.”
“Until now, since these were merely light pop quizzes, I’ve overlooked such behavior, but from now on, it would be wise to refrain from such conduct.”
I raised my eyebrows sharply.
“What exactly are you accusing me of?”
“The dishonest act of copying answers provided by other students. It appears several students feel compelled to assist you because of your background, but you mustn’t engage in such misconduct as cheating. Do you understand?”
I felt a subtle emotion as I listened to his reproach, which carried a dismissive undertone.
‘Well, I suppose it’s understandable to be misunderstood.’
All this time, I had simply written down the answers quickly without properly showing my work, then left immediately.
‘I didn’t have time to waste.’
So the professor apparently believed I had coerced multiple students into sharing their answers with me one by one.

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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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