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"Ha..Hahaha…!..I **smack * really … smack * …hate girls like you…!
"Sob..Ugh…Uwaaaaah.."
Madline seized the trembling girl by the collar and yanked her upright. The movement tore a few buttons from the girl's uniform, the fabric biting into her neck and leaving deep crimson marks. Madline didn't care that her hands came away sticky with blood.
She slapped her. The sound was sharp and wet at once, echoing off the stone walls like the strike of a whip. Jonnah's head snapped to the side, and a spray of blood and saliva flung from her mouth, spattering onto the cold floor. A tooth clinked faintly as it rolled into the darkness.
Today's victim was a second-year girl from the Obsidian wing class. Aside from her name—Jonnah—and the fact that she came from a provincial noble family, Livia knew nothing about her.
Tears streaked Jonnah's cheeks in crooked lines, cutting through dried blood. Fresh drops welled up, tinted pink as they mixed with the bleeding gash beneath her eye. Her white academy uniform was now a map of stains—dark red blooms, smeared brown crusts, and ashy dust.
There was no deeper reason for this cruelty.
Earlier, Alexi had helped Jonnah when she stumbled in the hallway staircase . She'd flushed at his kindness. And That was all she did.
Madline had noticed.
And that tiny moment had been enough to condemn her to this.
Just for a brief exchange with Madilne's fiancé, Jonnah was being beaten until her body curled in on itself like a crushed insect.
It's almost pitiful.
And yet, Madline had her reasons or obsession .
Reasons for years of senseless, pitiful violence.
Reasons no one else knew.
But at that moment all Livia felt hollow inside. She wanted to laugh at the sight before her.
She could feel the sickness rising in her throat, the panic prickling beneath her skin. The raw, unfiltered violence unfolding before her eyes made her want to look away—but she couldn't.
If not for the fact that she had 'Livia's' memories ,she didn't even know what she would've done.
Maybe run, maybe scream or maybe break.
She wasn't the Madilne she had read about. No—she wasn't even close to her.
This… this was something else entirely. Something terrifying.
No—not terrifying. Monstrous.
A monster.
'No if I have to survive ,I have to stay calm first.'—she thought as she took a deep breath.
That's all she could think about.
"You are… acting wired today , You know, Livia."
Raven's voice low, laced with a quite suspicion as her gaze narrowed , studying Livia's face with kind of attention that made it hard to breathe.
Livia froze—just for a second . Her chest tightened and she instinctively held her breath, as if even the smallest movement might give something away.
Raven didn't press further the thought. Instead her eyes drifted, voice softening.
"…Anyway don't you think she had calmed down a lot compared to last year?" —she muttered , almost to herself.
The Deion Alberts incident.
Last year , there had been an incident where an entire count family was wiped out overnight.
And the reason behind is that ,the heir of the Alberts family had tried to murder Madline of Feliste Grand dukedom. And as a result the entire family was thrown into the Northlands .
The entire territory of Thalassaria was protected from monsters by layers upon layers of barriers, but there were areas that lay outside the boundaries of these barriers. The people of Thalassaria called these areas the 'Northlands'. It was not exactly outside but the northlands were between the last barriers and outside of the barrier.
Because of the thick maisma from the monsters outside , it was impossible to farm, even day to day surviving was a blessing . So if a noble family was thrown into the northlands , you can consider them as good as dead.
It wasn't like, people didn't live there . Because that's where The OG heroine Clara came from. She was from the last barrier. Because of the poor living condition there one day , she snuck out of the barrier crack desperately clinging to her life. Was then caught the eyes of a nobleman because of her unique mana despite being from the barrier. So the nobleman made a deal with Clara and sponsored for her, so she could study in the capital.
After Clara came to academy she seduced Alexi , who was indifferent to everything .They fall in love with each other .Then Alexi broke of his engagement with Madline . Clara was extremely cunning and vicious Or that was how the novel described .
But after witnessing everything that was happening before Livia's eyes . She was not even sure if there was any truth in the novel she had read.