Chapter 115
Chapter 115: I'm Telling You, Someone's Bullying Me
***
"So what."
Her tone was indifferent, completely unconcerned.
"What do you mean 'so what'... Don't take this lightly..." Sophia's eyes flickered with complex emotions as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "You have no idea who he is... Every girl that Alex has set his sights on, they all—"
"Shh—, stop talking..." Sarah nervously shrank her shoulders. The boldness she had shown when standing in front of me earlier had already vanished the moment she turned around, "Be careful, they might hear us."
Sophia immediately fell silent, obvious concern showing on her face. She cautiously glanced back, unable to continue what she was saying.
She just quickened her pace slightly. After a while, feeling that they had put some distance between them, she spoke to me again.
"Anyway, you need to be more careful from now on. Try to avoid those people... I'm serious. Never deal with him the way you dealt with those two idiots this morning. They're different."
Though her words were somewhat veiled, the meaning was already very clear.
I knew she meant well, worried that I was the type of hothead who, having been used to doing whatever I wanted in Winter City without thinking about consequences, would think I could act the same way here in the royal city, fearlessly confronting troublesome people, only to end up suffering with nowhere to seek justice.
Thinking about this made me feel a bit wronged... You've really misunderstood me. I'm not that kind of person at all!
This morning was just an accident.
"Mm." I smiled and nodded at Sophia, "I don't like trouble. As long as they don't provoke me."
The implication being, if they dare provoke me, don't blame me for not being polite.
"Uh." Not expecting me to say this, Sophia was momentarily stumped. After being stunned for two seconds, she sighed, "Though it's good to have courage... Peylo, you really don't understand the situation in the royal city. Some people... if they really want to do something, they won't care who you are... Wintermoon is too far away for them to be concerned about."
"Ah! They're catching up again... Let's walk faster... What do they want..."
Daisy looked alarmed, gripping my arm tightly, her words filled with helplessness.
"I don't know..." Sarah answered.
"They're still looking this way."
For the next short stretch of road, because the red-haired guy and his friends kept following us, the three girls became increasingly nervous, their steps growing faster. The oppressive atmosphere was starting to make me feel irritable too.
They obviously had made up their minds to follow us to the dormitory, and as if deliberately speaking loud enough for us to hear, their conversation grew louder and louder.
"Alex, look at these ladies up ahead. They all seem pretty attractive."
"Look at those little butts swaying... tsk tsk."
"Hey~ Ladies, turn around and look at us! Don't be shy."
"Miss Peylo~"
"Why call her 'miss'? You should change how you address her."
"Calling her 'madam' doesn't seem right, does it?"
"Haha, don't talk nonsense. Miss Peylo and I are friends, so you all better show some respect."
"Hahaha—"
"Just looking at her from behind, she seems so small and kind of cute."
"She's young after all."
"Actually, I think our Miss Peylo is perfect in every way..."
"Except her chest is a bit small."
I stopped in my tracks.
...Damn it, I can't tolerate this.
Ignoring Sarah and Sophia's attempts to stop me, I spun around sharply and walked toward the red-haired Alex.
"Ah, she's coming, she's coming!"
"She looks angry..."
"But she's still really pretty."
My ears twitched, and I shifted my gaze to the last person who spoke, the guy with a face full of freckles.
I recognized it. You were the one who just said my chest was small, weren't you?
I strode up to him.
When he saw me approaching, an imperceptible flash of joy crossed his eyes. He quickly lowered his head to hide it and raised his hand, preparing to greet me: "Miss, I just now..."
Wham!
A hook punch landed square on his face, snapping his head back so violently it nearly lifted his entire body off the ground.
Then, in my field of vision, teeth flew more than 2 meters into the air.
"Terry—"
"Holy shit!"
As exclamations rang out, Alex's eyes widened, his face showing a horrified expression. He reflexively took a step back. In the next moment, I heard the girls screaming behind me.
"Peylo, don't—!"
Immediately after, the guy named Terry couldn't even make a sound before falling straight backward.
...That felt good.
Now for the main business.
I gave my arm a light shake. When I looked back at Alex, he seemed to realize the cowardice he had displayed in that instant. Presumably feeling embarrassed, his expression turned rather unpleasant.
Stopping his companion who looked furious and wanted to step forward, Alex stared at me in silence for a moment, then pulled his lips into a cold smile.
"Miss Peylo, you seem to really enjoy hitting people in the face."
I shook my head.
I slowly raised my arms, clenched my small fists and brought them to my chest. After building up for half a second, I put on a somewhat frightened expression.
"You all..."
My slightly trembling, hesitant voice sounded especially soft and sweet. Thinking the effect should be pretty good, I tried hard to blink... and blink again...
But I just couldn't squeeze out any tears. Whatever, I'll just continue.
"You all... want to hit me too..."
Alex's expression froze.
He somewhat unnaturally looked away, his eyes flickering a few times, no longer meeting my gaze. Then he showed that cold smile again.
"We hit you? You're the one throwing punches, okay? Terry just said one thing about your—" His mouth opened and closed, but in the end he still didn't dare say the rest, only pointing at the figure lying on the ground with blood trickling from his nostrils, "That was just a joke. Was it necessary to beat someone up like that?"
I took a small step back, shaking my head continuously.
"That's not it, I didn't... I didn't want to... I was just scared..."
"You were scared?" Alex's eyes narrowed into slits, the corners of his mouth seeming to stretch toward his ears, "You beat someone up like that, what were you scared of?"
"Scared... that you would bully me..."
"We bully you? You're the one bullying us! Peylo, I'm warning you, this is already the second time..."
I quickly covered my ears, pretending I didn't want to hear him speak, and began murmuring to myself: "This morning... someone bullied me, and now... you're also... bullying me. Why am I so unlucky..."
"I can let last night's incident slide, but today you've hit my friend again. What are you trying to..."
Suddenly, Alex froze.
"What did you just say?"
Hehe.
The smile on my lips vanished in an instant. Understanding that timing was crucial, I immediately began rubbing my eyes.
"This morning... sob, someone bullied me and even wanted to hit me..."
"Wanted to hit you?" Alex frowned deeply, "Why would someone hit you for no reason?"
At this moment, someone beside him spoke up: "Alex, this chick might be lying to us. Don't forget about last night..."
"Shut up!"
But he was cut off with a sharp rebuke before he could finish. Alex gave the person an indifferent glance, then turned his gaze back to me.
"Continue."
I sniffled hard.
"They knocked down my friends..." My slender jade-like finger extended, lightly pointing at Sarah and Daisy beside me. Ignoring their expressions as if they'd seen a ghost, I continued, "Them. Then they asked us for our dorm number... wouldn't let us leave, or else they'd hit me. We almost missed the opening ceremony... They were so fierce, I was really scared..."
As I spoke, I secretly observed Alex's expression — it shifted from stern to calm. When I mentioned them asking for the dorm number, his eyebrows shot up, already showing anger.
After all, he had done the same thing himself... Empathy makes it easy to believe.
"Who were they?"