?Chapter 335:


    Everyone could sense it — the calm before the storm. Mariana’s distaste had reached its newest target: Ethan. And drama, thick as smoke, was about to fill the air.


    Remembering Maia’s warm encouragement and the homeroom teacher Loraine’s words that everyone should get along with others, Ethan let out a slow breath and said, “I’m from home. We don’t have apany or anything. I answered, so may I read now?”


    Mnie let out a snort — sharp, high, and contemptuous.


    She turned to her ssmates, voice rising. “Did you all hear that? Our ss has been infiltrated by amoner. And not just anymoner — he’s someone from the slums!”


    “What?” The moment those words slipped from Mnie’s lips, they rippled through the ssroom like a stone tossed into still water — sending shockwaves in every direction.


    “How can someone from the slums even dream of being in our ss?” someone shouted, disbeliefced with contempt.


    Another student curled their lips into a sneer. “Maybe your mom was a prostitute who slept with a school official to get you in? A little ckmail behind closed doors, perhaps?”


    “Ha! Bet he’s the secret love child of some school leader!”


    The barbs came faster, each sharper than thest, like des honed on cruelty.


    Ethan sat frozen, trying to let the insults wash over him like cold rain — but the storm only grew fiercer. The moment they dragged his mother’s memory through the mud, something inside him cracked.


    His hands balled into fists, knuckles white, every muscle in his body tight as a drawn bow. Fury surged within him like fire licking at the edges of his restraint. But he held it down — for Maia. She had bent heaven and earth just to get him here. He couldn’t let her efforts go up in smoke because of his anger and impulse.


    So he stayed still.


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    His jaw tightened like a vice as he said nothing, letting his silence serve as both shield and surrender. Eyes down, he turned back to his book, desperate to find sce in the printed page.


    “You dare ignore me?” Mnie’s voice sliced through the silence like a whip.


    To her, silence was defiance. And Ethan, by not reacting, had made it clear — he didn’t see her as someone worth answering.


    Fury ring, she snatched the book from his hands and flung it to the floor, then crushed it beneath her heel as though stomping out a pest. “This ce isn’t for the likes of you. Get out!”


    The sight of the book, scuffed and dirtied, shattered Ethan’s restraint.


    That book had been a gift from Maia. One of the few things he truly cherished. He hadn’t even finished reading it.


    “Why did you step on my book?” His voice trembled, but this time, it wasn’t fear — it was rage, barely held in check.


    He rose to his full height, a shadow towering over Mnie. The contrast between them was stark: he, tall and trembling with emotion; she, small but burning with righteous cruelty.


    “So what if I did?” she snapped, lifting her chin in open challenge. “What are you going to do? Hit me?” Her voice was steeped in mockery, daring him to cross a line she knew he wouldn’t. She grabbed another book from his desk. This time, she didn’t drop it.


    She opened it deliberately, her fingers curling around the page. With a vicious rip, the paper split in two. And she kept tearing. Page after page, as if shredding the very future he hoped for.


    “You’re not worthy of reading this. People like you belong in the gutter. You’re not even fit to serve us, let alone study beside us!”


    Several girls — loyal shadows who orbited Mnie in hopes of approval — jumped at the opportunity. They darted forward like scavengers to carrion, grabbing Ethan’s books and tearing them with zeal.


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