My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 44

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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 44
“This isn’t a game.”
“Ah, yes, perhaps I should call it control and deception, as you said just moments ago.”
A mocking tone.
Likely meant to wound Ibi, yet strangely it didn’t land.
Perhaps because she’d just spoken with Quinton and come to some measure of acceptance.
Ibi was deceiving everyone under the guise of necessity.
And because they mattered to her now, she might have to pay a Cost of Trust she could spend her whole life repaying and never fully settle.
No excuse could deny that fact. She had to accept it and face it head-on.
“You’re right. Control and deception. It’s the wrong I’m committing now. I acknowledge it.”
And Ibi raised her head to meet Fabian’s gaze.
“And your anger is just as legitimate, Fabian.”
For a moment, his expression hardened visibly.
“Interesting… words you speak.”
But soon he smiled softly and continued.
“Then.”
A cold hand touched her chin. Then, brushing across her rounded cheek, it gripped her face gently.
“It would be equally ‘justified’ for my anger to destroy you, wouldn’t it?”
“Fabian Montrose.”
Ibi knocked his hand away firmly—with an imperious tone she rarely used at school.
“I advise you to cool your head.”
And she issued a warning.
Despite his expulsion from the Royal Succession Register, royal blood still flowed through his veins, and those in power knew it.
If wicked people learned of this side of him, they would surely exploit it.
“I won’t have you lost to me twice.”
Just as his father had been used by such people and ultimately lost his life.
She wouldn’t lose Fabian the same way.
“……….”
Fabian said nothing. Ibi watched him quietly, then suddenly turned.
And she stopped, startled.
Cyrus, whom she’d thought had already returned to the waiting room, was watching her from a distance.
‘He couldn’t have heard the conversation… could he?’
But why was he watching? Surely not because he was worried?
That absurd thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she dismissed it when she saw what he was holding.
It was her Notebook. He must have been waiting to return it before she left the Grand Hall.
“Quinton.”
Ibi approached him and reached out her arm toward the Notebook.
In that instant, her Notebook soared upward. Out of her reach.
Ibi instinctively rose on her toes and stretched her arm. Before her fingertips could touch the Notebook, his chest came right before her eyes.
She looked up. Cyrus was gazing down at her from directly above.
“…Do you have a death wish?”
To her irritated question, he simply gazed down without answering.
It seemed as though he were tracing the spot where Fabian had gripped her chin just moments before.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
But there was something more than just his gaze that was strange.
Now Ibi herself had gone rigid, her eyes fixed on him.
Inside the Grand Hall, murmurs had already begun for the next turn, but this corridor behind the curtain was unusually quiet.
“Your cousin…”
Finally, he spoke. His tone seemed hesitant.
And at precisely that moment.
Buzz-buzz.
A loud vibration sounded from Ibi’s pocket.
“Take it. Sounds like your family’s looking for you again.”
Ibi laughed awkwardly and quickly answered the phone.
-Ibi!
The voice belonged to Joy.
The moment she heard that cheerful tone, she could already sense all the news.
-Mom just woke up! The surgery went really well.
“Really? Is everything okay now?”
-Yeah. She said we’ll need a few more checkups later, but it looks like there won’t be any problems. Anyway, how did the Debate Tournament go? Did you win?
“The checkups will be fine too, yeah. They definitely will be.”
Ibi deftly changed the subject. This conversation with Joy would need to be deeper and more serious later.
About why she’d asked Cyrus to be her substitute in the first place.
Even though Ibi regarded him as a rival, Joy knew this better than anyone.
-How did it go with Quinton?
But Joy asked the question directly.
“Well, of course…!”
It was a disaster!
Ibi was about to answer out of habit when her eyes met Cyrus’s.
Her lips pressed shut.
To be honest, their Teamwork hadn’t been a disaster.
He’d immediately shared the logical fallacies that Ibi and Joy hadn’t caught, and that had helped break Fabian’s arguments.
Moreover, in the latter half of the debate, no matter what Fabian said, he’d crushed him thoroughly, as if facing a bitter enemy.
Of course, he’d helped with more than just the debate.
Thanks to Cyrus, Ibi had faced her own cowardice—the way she’d been hiding behind the words “I have no choice.”
“…Somehow we won, thanks to Quinton.”
Even as Ibi said this to Joy, she looked up directly at Cyrus standing right before her.
He quirked the corner of his mouth and let out a small laugh.
“You did well too.”
What?
After that startling remark, he thrust the Notebook into her hands and turned to leave.
Ibi stared blankly after him, then belatedly heard Joy calling her name through the receiver.
-Ibi, are you listening? What’s going on?
“Ah……”
Cyrus just told me I did well.
Ibi pressed down that ridiculous thought, and the absurdity of it made her want to laugh so hard she had to stifle it.
What on earth was this foolish thing?
-Ibi?
“Um, no, it’s nothing.”
Ibi answered with a pleased smile.
After she hung up with Joy, Ibi was in such a good mood that she walked along grinning to herself.
Until she ran into him in the sparsely populated area behind the Grand Hall.
Owen.
He had his lips pressed tightly shut, keeping his voice as low as possible, and called out to Ibi softly.
“…Your Highness.”
Ibi wiped away her lingering smile and took on the demeanor of a stern secretary.
He must be angry, of course—she’d hung up on his warning call about the danger.
“Are you a genius?”
“Pardon?”
At those unexpected words, Ibi blinked slowly.
So she wasn’t going to be scolded?
“When you were pummeling Montrose with Logic, I was so moved that I simply burst into tears. Our little princess has grown so magnificently, after all……”
He was joking, wasn’t he?
At first she thought so, but he actually took out a Handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes.
Like an elderly grandmother watching her grandson’s graduation ceremony.
“Well, you see.”
Ibi felt embarrassed and fiddled with her hair before barely continuing.
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t me who pummeled him with Logic, but rather……”
“Ah yes, of course that boy whose name I’d rather not mention provided some slight assistance. I’ve seen quite clearly how he played the role of an earthworm’s fingernail.”
“Say at least an earthworm’s toe. Neither one exists, after all.”
Whether Owen heard Ibi’s comment or had no intention to listen, he remained lost in emotion.
“And I apologize.”
But soon he returned to his demeanor as a competent secretary and bowed his head.
“I have always been monitoring Montrose’s movements……”
“Always?”
“Yes.”
He gave a small nod.
“Did you know? That Fabian resented me?”
“Anger this deep often ricochets in unexpected directions.”
Ibi shook her head.
“No. It’s not unexpected at all. I was the one who betrayed him first.”
“You were protected, Your Highness.”
“That’s still not something a family member or friend should do.”
Ibi smiled bitterly.
“It is not your fault, Your Highness.”
“I can’t force Fabian to think that way.”
“And yet.”
Owen lowered himself to meet her gaze.
“You must not treat his threat as justified.”
“………”
“Fabian Montrose is now a completely ordinary person. He has lost everything, but paradoxically gained a greater freedom.”
Members of the Royal Family faced many restrictions.
Even basic human needs like food and clothing had to comply with the regulations and orders of the Royal Family.
“The Royal Family can no longer define or restrict him as they please. That is why he becomes more dangerous. Until now, he was abroad, so no one was on guard… but.”
He continued carefully.
“Now that he has returned, he will try to come closer to you. You know what it is that I would counsel, yes?”
It seemed clear. To quit school and return.
Even if it meant living in submission to the fate the Royal Family had determined for her.

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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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