The Villain Of Arise

xxi: mariette valentina

Nothing much happened in the next few days, except an intense amount of studying. It was certainly expected for a program of course. Many students in the class were starting to get burnt out.

It was a good thing that today was the last day of the cycle.

Jaehyung, who later forget about that intense feeling back in Professor Razor's class spent most of his time either training with Jeongsuk, or spending his time reading books.

For the time being, he was in the dining hall, staring intensively at his dish. He didn't know why he was in the dining hall. Jaehyung never liked going here, as most of the people in the class tended to talk to him, as an effort to get to know him.

Connections were important. What better why than to become friends with him or Yuna? Their father was the most influential in the world after all.

After that day in Professor Razor's class, Yuna hadn't once talked to him or Jeongsuk. Jaehyung didn't mind — he didn't care that much about her, anyway. Jeongsuk on the other hand looked like he wanted to speak to her, most probably question as to why she was had spoken to him in Professor Razor's class during the test.

It turned out Jeongsuk was absolutely brilliant when it came to the mathematics and scientific side of class. In theory, however, he was more on the average side.

And Jaehyung... For whatever reason his memories of his past life started to fade away, to the point of forgetting even vital moments of his life.

And then it came to coming to concerning matters with Mari. Oh, how Jaehyung had such a large amount of irritation every time she appeared.

For sure, everyone in the class knew how gorgeous she was, but it didn't matter because she was by far the annoyance of the class. Rude, arrogant and all-knowing — he truly began to loathe her. Her snide remarks, her secretive smiles and her mocking laughs.

He was on the edge of his nerves whenever he was around her. Good riddance, it seemed. She was going to be partnered with him for the day in elemental mastery classes.

Leo and Mark stood up, ready to join Damon. They glanced back at him. "Ready to go, Jaehyung?"

For whatever reason, the four of them had ended up banding together in a form of what felt similar to an alliance. It was the closest thing Jaehyung called to be somewhat as a type of friendship. Jeongsuk usually ended up with them, although he trailed behind slightly.

"Of course," he replied back smoothly, leaving his plate there as he walked with them. Jeongsuk stood up as well. Yuna glanced at them but made no move to walk with them, turning away to talk to Adalyn Brandt, a person she had become strangely close to.

Adalyn Brandt, a German girl who always looked uninterested in her classes, always choosing to sleep in class and always giving half the effort in combat-specialised classes. Jaehyung heard she was the daughter of a duchess in her home country.

Jaehyung didn't know why Adalyn was at the program when she chose not to do anything, much to the displeasure of her Leaderboard teammate, Katarina Avramov, who Jaehyung could always hear them arguing.

He paid them both no mind, anyway. However he couldn't understand why Yuna was friends with Adalyn. She wasn't the type to become friends with someone as lazy and unmotivated as her, anyway.

As Jaehyung caught up with Leo and Mark, Mari suddenly appeared in the doorway of the dining hall. It was always like she was there, waiting for them to cross the doorway. Jaehyung first met her in the doorway too.

She smiled as she saw them. "Hello besties!" she said merrily. "Don't mind me. I'll be walking with you to elemental mastery classes."

"Don't bother," Jaehyung said coldly to her.

"Now that's not very nice, Jaehyung!" Mari said with great mortification. "Please, allow me to walk with you."

Mark started to laugh, "You never fail to make me laugh, Mariette."

"I do my best."

She began to walk in step with them. Jeongsuk also joined them, although he was always slightly behind.

Mari stared at him, "Now that really isn't nice!" she sighed. "Poor Jeongsuk, always getting left out. You need to treat him better. He's a person, after all."

Jeongsuk looked slightly startled, "It's okay!" He said. "I'm not really here as a student, anyway."

"So I've heard," Mari said, looking at Jaehyung with a knowing look in her expression.

Jaehyung turned away from her, disturbed. "Don't be so concerned. I know you don't really care."

He figured Mari's personality, already. She was the type of person who said one thing, but meant it in a completely different way. The whole persona she had was most definitely fake.

Jaehyung sometimes saw her by herself as she gazed at the students in the class, a dark expression on her face.

He didn't want to further entangle himself with her.

"Talon is here," Damon murmured, a soft smile on his face as the bird descended onto his arms gracefully.

Damon was an interesting character, to say at the least.

Jaehyung stared straight ahead, looking out at the palace fields.

"Aren't you so excited for this lesson?" Mari murmured softly, so that only he could hear. There was a hint of laughter in her voice, like she found this amusing. "Looks like we're going to work together, you and I."

Jaehyung scoffed. He leaned, whispering ever-so-softly to her ears. There was a hidden edge to his voice, sharp and full of dislike. "There isn't anything better than winning this, Mariette Valentina. I hope you'll find this prospect exciting."