Chapter 23 : Resistance
Ailiya strode swiftly through St. Freya Academy’s gleaming marble corridors.
Her simple black shoes struck the floor with a crisp, resolute “tap, tap,” no longer timid but brimming with unwavering determination.
Her navy-blue maid dress swayed forcefully with her steps, like a battle flag ready to charge.
Her usually timid, delicate face was expressionless, her round almond eyes burning with cold, unyielding fire.
This newfound, icy aura of intensity made every student in the corridor instinctively step aside.
She gripped the brass compass tightly.
Its needle quivered violently in her palm, like a restless heart.
Finally, at a classroom door, the needle’s frantic spinning peaked, unable to lock onto a specific target, whirling futilely within its small frame.
Ailiya paused.
Through the door’s glass, she saw a magic history class in session.
She didn’t enter, standing outside like a statue, waiting.
After what felt like ages, the clear chime of the bell signaled the end of class.
The magic history teacher assigned homework on ancient runes, gathered her books, and left leisurely.
The classroom buzzed with the carefree chatter of noble girls, grouping in twos and threes, packing up, debating whether to attend a new tea party in the capital or practice at the equestrian club.
Then, a white-clad maid stormed in.
She cut through their shocked stares, marched to the podium, turned, and faced the room, her fiery eyes sweeping over every student.
The chatter faded.
All eyes fixed on the unexpected intruder.
“Whose maid is this, barging into our classroom?”
“Wait… her white hair… isn’t she that one?”
Soon, someone recognized her.
“It’s her! Lady Liliane’s maid!”
“The one from the bulletin board… the shameless country girl!”
Her identity confirmed, a wave of whispers, accusations, and insults crashed over her.
Some hot-tempered girls stood, pointing, demanding she leave.
Ailiya faced the cacophony with an unmoved expression.
She glanced at the compass; its needle still spun wildly, unable to pinpoint anyone.
This was its limit.
It could narrow the range but not identify the culprit precisely.
The classroom grew louder, the taunts uglier.
Ailiya slowly reached into her apron pocket.
She pulled out a brick—picked up that morning from a repair pile near the dorms.
Under stunned gazes, she raised it and slammed it onto the polished podium.
Bang!
The thunderous sound echoed like a lightning strike.
The jarring noise and the crude, dirt-stained brick, so out of place in the elegant classroom, formed an absurd, striking scene, silencing every noble mouth.
The room fell deathly quiet.
Ailiya waited until no one spoke, cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and shouted with all her might:
“I, Ailiya Winston, stand here to set things straight! The rumors about me on the bulletin board were fabricated! Someone framed me! I don’t know why, but one thing’s clear—they, or they, really, really don’t like me!”
The room erupted, but no one dared shout back.
“Why should we believe you?” a girl stood, sneering. “You’re just a maid. Who’d bother framing you?”
“Because I’m in someone’s way!” Ailiya shot back fiercely. “I may be a maid, but that doesn’t mean I deserve to be slandered! Or do you all think only nobles have the right to innocence?”
“What about attacking Prince Leon?” another girl countered. “Was that a rumor too?”
“I’ve already cleared that misunderstanding with His Highness himself, and he forgave me,” Ailiya said, her gaze sweeping the room. “What? Are you more concerned for his safety than he is?”
Murmurs stirred, but no one could retort.
Finally, a voice from the corner challenged loudly: “Even if you talk big, you can’t prove your innocence! All talk, no proof!”
“Of course I can.”
Ailiya’s lips curled into a cold smile.
She raised the compass, showing it to all.
“This is a mana-tracking compass. It holds the mana trace of the person who hacked the bulletin board and spread those lies. Activate it, and it’ll lead me straight to the culprit.”
“Why should we believe that thing’s real?” someone shouted.
“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter.”
Ailiya’s gaze, sharp as a hawk’s, scanned every face.
“But I think the real culprit knows exactly—”
She paused, her voice low but heavy with authority.
“—why I’m so confident walking into this room.”
“I know you’re here.”
She watched the growing unease and shifting faces, slowly pocketing the compass.
“I don’t want to make a scene. I’m just a maid—angering you noble ladies does me no good. So, I’d like to talk privately with the culprit… or culprits.”
She flashed a harmless, “friendly” smile.
“For the time and place, go to the black market and find the man you hired to tamper with the board. He’ll tell you.”
“That’s all. I won’t waste your precious break time.”
She picked up the brick, weighed it in her hand, and stepped off the podium.
“Class dismissed.”
A blonde girl named Clarissa, clutching today’s magic homework, hurried out of the classroom.
Her elegant, kind facade vanished the moment she turned a corner and pushed open an empty classroom door.
Several girls awaited her anxiously inside.
“Clarissa, what happened?”
Clarissa didn’t answer, slamming her books onto a table with a loud thud.
“That wretch! How does she have such an expensive mana-tracking compass?!”
Her eyes blazed with venomous resentment.
The others shrank back, silent.
“What… what do we do now?” a girl named Sophia asked timidly.
“Should we… listen to that maid and negotiate?”
“How do we know she’s telling the truth?” Bella snapped back. “What if she’s bluffing to trick us into revealing ourselves? We’d be walking into a trap!”
“But,” Emily, pale-faced, stammered, “she did find out we hired someone in the black market! And that compass… you saw it. It’s real! If she pushes this to the academy’s higher-ups, we’re in deep trouble!”
If this blew up, Ailiya would face their families’ wrath, but as the masterminds, they’d face ruin—expulsion, the laughingstock of noble society.
“Clarissa, think of something!”
All eyes turned to Clarissa.
She stood silent, her expression shifting like storm clouds.
Finally, a ruthless glint flashed in her eyes.
“She has her tricks, but I have mine.”
She sneered, her gaze dripping with disdain and madness.
“Who lives, who dies—it’s not decided yet!”
“A mere maid! A lowly country girl, daring to strut before me? Dreaming of climbing to my level? Never!”