My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 45

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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 45
“……I can’t do it.”
Iby shook her head.
“If I run away, Fabian gains confidence. He’ll convince himself he was right all along, and that I fled because of it.”
That conviction would push him deeper into darkness. If this is mere harassment now, it could become outright crime later.
“If something between us truly needs to be resolved, the School is the better place to do it.”
It wasn’t a decision made solely for Fabian’s sake.
The School, for all its constraints—more rigid than society itself—was suffocating, yes, but it could also shield her in return.
“So I’m not going back.”
Even as she said this, Iby worried whether Owen had brought a royal decree.
If he had, she’d have to return regardless of her reasons.
“……I understand.”
“Really?”
“Since Your Highness insists, there’s nothing to be done. I’ll inform His Majesty as much. Truth be told…… your reasoning isn’t without merit.”
He swept back a strand of hair that had fallen across her face, tucking it behind her ear.
As though she were a small child.
“But promise me this time. Truly promise.”
“I promise. I’ll never do anything dangerous——”
“No, that’s not it.”
He cut her off, rare for him, his eyes turning stern and almost frightening as he issued his warning.
“Your mobile phone. Always carry it with you.”
Goosebumps prickled up her spine. A fact she’d nearly forgotten suddenly surfaced.
Iby forced an awkward smile.
“Ah, well……”
“And never forget this. Cyrus Quinton is your enemy. You’re here now to defeat him!”
Cyrus Quinton. Enemy.
Someone she had to beat.
And Iby bore all the lies of her current situation for exactly that purpose.
It was something she’d never once forgotten—an obvious truth.
Yet somehow, now……
“Yes, yes, of course I do.”
Did she really?
Doubt crept in.
What was wrong with her? More lies piling up again.
And this time, she couldn’t even say what they were for.
* * *
That evening, Zoe returned to the Dormitory.
The Hospital visit had taken its toll—her face was drawn and pale—yet the smile blooming across her features was radiant.
The two of them sat side by side on Iby’s bed, sheet masks pressed cool against their faces.
After everything they’d endured, their skin needed the kindness of such a ritual.
“But Iby, where on earth do you think that place is?”
“Hmm?”
“The organization that made the designated donation. I asked the Hospital, but they said they couldn’t tell me.”
Iby stiffened for just a moment, but she answered without betraying it.
“Maybe it’s just an organization that does that sort of thing.”
“But how did they even know to sponsor your specific case?”
“Didn’t the Hospital mention it to them?”
“I suppose……”
Zoe exhaled deeply, visibly relieved.
“I really was grateful.”
“……”
Iby simply smiled softly, gazing at the ceiling.
Helping had been the right choice after all.
But lying about it—that was decidedly wrong, and Iby refused to dress it up as something she’d done “for Zoe’s sake.”
She only hoped that someday, an opportunity would come to explain her true feelings.
She didn’t dare hope for forgiveness.
That was for Zoe to decide.
“Zoe, though……”
Not wanting to dwell further on the donation, Iby hurriedly changed the subject.
She was curious about something, anyway.
“Why did you ask Quinton to substitute for you in the Debate Competition?”
Now that she thought about it, whenever Zoe needed something, she seemed to turn to him with unusual frequency.
She’d heard that they’d exchanged contact information only after Iby got trapped in the Storage Room.
That meant it hadn’t been long at all.
Yet Zoe seemed perfectly at ease with him—borrowing books from him last time, asking him to substitute for the debate this time.
“Well, you see……”
Do you have feelings for him?
Iby wanted to ask that, but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth.
She wasn’t sure why.
As Iby’s hesitation stretched, Zoe offered her an answer unprompted.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“……!”
Iby bolted upright.
Seeing Iby’s eyes go wide, Zoe drove her point home like a nail.
“I like him. That’s true.”
Zoe remained sprawled on the bed, infuriatingly at ease.
It was far too casual for such a bombshell.
Wait—Zoe likes Quinton? But why?
Sure, he’s attractive enough. Still, he has plenty of annoying qualities, doesn’t he?
Iby couldn’t imagine Zoe being drawn to that kind of personality.
“Cyrus Quinton likes you.”
But the next thing she heard cut through the chaos in her mind and left a blank space.
‘……?’
It felt like encountering the most grammatically perfect sentence in the world.
“Cyrus Quinton likes you.”
Zoe even repeated it. Iby’s mouth fell open in sheer bewilderment.
The moist sheet mask slid a little down her face, but she had no mind to fix it.
“Is that really so shocking?”
“No, no. Zoe!”
Iby flailed her hands.
“For crying out loud, I’d do anything to knock him out of first place!”
“What on earth does your competitive spirit have to do with Cyrus liking you? Make your counterargument.”
Zoe was channeling her frustration about missing the Debate Competition into this ridiculous debate.
Of all the absurd arguments to have!
“It d-does matter!”
Iby attempted a rebuttal.
Her mind had gone blank; words weren’t coming.
“F-first of all, your premise is flawed. Him? Quinton having that kind of function? I’d sooner believe Tiffany sees me as a friend.”
The moment her voice rose, came a knock at the door.
Apparently neighbors from the adjacent room, annoyed by the noise.
The Dormitory walls really were far too thin for their own good.
Iby scrambled to her feet with a huff, but when she opened the door, her expression shifted to one of sincere apology.
“I’m sorry, we were being loud——”
The apology never finished, because the person standing in her doorway was not from the neighboring room.
“Holden asked me to bring this to your roommate.”
It was Cyrus Quinton.
With his usual impassive face and tone, he handed over a Document and turned to leave as though his business were finished.
Iby closed the door and stood motionless for a long while.
“……He wouldn’t have heard, right?”
She spoke the futile words while covering her face with her hands.
And sank into fresh despair.
The sheet mask hung halfway down, still clinging stubbornly to her skin.
Behind her, Zoe’s laughter rang out, breathless and delighted.

When the Third Dormitory’s supervisor Holden made the request, Cyrus found it somewhat bothersome, but he took the Document regardless.
Lately, he’d been fielding all manner of requests.
And oddly, every single one seemed to involve encountering Iby Underwood.
Not that it mattered—pure coincidence, surely. Nothing to make of it.
As he headed toward Iby and Zoe’s room, he unconsciously fiddled with his Glasses, and found himself recalling that moment.
When his Glasses had brushed against hers.
The way her eyes had gone perfectly round as a rabbit’s behind the lenses……what was the word for it?
‘……amusing.’
That didn’t quite feel like the right word, but it was the only one he could summon.
Though thinking the troublemaking class president cute was equally amusing, wasn’t it?
He shook his head as if to dislodge the scene that had stubbornly adhered to his retinas, and arrived at her—her being Iby’s—dormitory room.
Or rather, Zoe’s.
And just as he was about to knock.
“No, no. Zoe!”
A voice reached him in alarm. He paused, his hand held back from knocking.
“For crying out loud, I’d do anything to knock him out of first place!”
He immediately recognized that the ‘him’ Iby was calling out about was himself.
The subject of their conversation became clear.
She must be upset that the extra credit from the Debate Competition, hard-won, now had to be shared with him.
In any case, he had no hobby of eavesdropping on others’ conversations, so he’d planned to slip the Document through the door gap and leave.
If not for what Zoe said next.
“What on earth does your competitive spirit have to do with Cyrus liking you? Make your counterargument.”
What?

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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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