With Shanie's explosive laughter, the culprit had given herself away.

Sophia glared at her: "So it was you who did it."

"With my level of skill," Shanie clutched her stomach, unable to stop laughing, "I could only be an accomplice at most!"

"Alright, alright, I admit my fault. It was me who did it."

Benita actively walked over, took Sophia's hand, and together with Shanie, one on each side, forcibly dragged her to Celitia's side.

"Now that Charlotte has fallen asleep, you two can finally partner up properly, right?"

Seeing that Sophia had no choice but to partner with Charlotte, Shanie and Benita were even more anxious than they were.

So they had Shanie take the lead to attract Charlotte's attention while Benita made her move, cooperating to scheme against Charlotte.

Celitia looked completely stunned.

So they had deliberately pranked Charlotte just to push Sophia to her side?

Celitia didn't know what to say.

"You two..." she sighed deeply.

She appreciated their good intentions.

But this way, hadn't her earlier resolve become useless again?

Celitia's feelings became even more complex and indescribable.

Sophia was dragged by the two and stood before Celitia, her feelings equally complex.

More than anything, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it was a bit unfair to Charlotte...

But indeed, she preferred to stand beside Celitia.

This impulse was uncontrollable.

Feeling all the eyes in the classroom focused on her, Sophia's face flushed uncontrollably.

"Now, now I don't have a partner either, so if you..."

Under the gaze of so many eyes, Sophia couldn't finish her request halfway through.

She awkwardly raised her head, maintaining the last bit of dignity as a princess.

"...If you still want to find a partner, then I'm not unwilling to allow you to join!"

"Ooh—"

A wave of exclamations floated through the entire classroom, with everyone showing expressions of "I understand, I understand."

Sophia's face turned even redder, with steam practically rising from her head, but her blue eyes like the sky remained stubbornly fixed on the girl before her.

Celitia stared at her in a daze.

At this point, how could she refuse?

No, it was simply... impossible to refuse.

Her lips trembled slightly, and a trembling syllable escaped from her throat:

"...Alright."

Once again going against her own rationality.

But as if bewitched, she slid step by step toward that direction of no return.

"Ooh ooh ooh—"

Someone started the commotion, and the classroom exploded, with students getting excited.

Sophia, as expected, became embarrassed and angry, her face completely red as she roared like a rampaging dinosaur:

"Everyone shut up! Go back and do your experiments!!"

The classroom fell silent under her shout, and everyone had to shrink back their heads. Even Shanie and Benita quietly slipped away.

Only then was Sophia satisfied, and despite her still flushed face, she hummed a little tune cheerfully.

Looking at the girl's bright smile, Celitia's lips gradually took on a bitter taste.

She wanted to always, always watch her smile.

But exactly, what should she do…

○

Charlotte slept through the entire class before finally waking up.

She drowsily opened her eyes, her brain still somewhat foggy.

Charlotte saw that in front of her, Sophia, Celitia, Shanie, and Benita were standing together, chatting and laughing.

What was going on?

Charlotte hurriedly got up, feeling a dull ache on her face.

When she fell, she not only hit her chin but also bumped her forehead against something.

Charlotte reached up to touch it. Fortunately, her face wasn't disfigured, just a bit swollen.

When she pressed slightly harder, Charlotte immediately grimaced in pain.

The memories from before she lost consciousness finally resurfaced in her mind, and Charlotte blurted out:

"You schemed against me!!"

Noticing she was awake, Sophia quickly asked: "Are you alright?"

Charlotte's gaze swept past Sophia and fixed deadly on the calm-faced Celitia beside her, then inch by inch moved to Shanie and Benita, nearly grinding her teeth to pieces.

"I'm fine."

She squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth while still trying to maintain a calm expression.

Knowing they were in the wrong, Sophia couldn't help but cough lightly, somewhat embarrassed:

"Well, Charlotte... Shanie and Benita said they just wanted to play a joke on you and hope you won't mind too much."

"That's right," Shanie cheerfully approached Charlotte with a completely innocent expression. "We were just joking with you, Miss Charlotte."

Benita also shrugged at her:

"Because Charlotte, you never really pay attention to us. We wanted to build a good relationship with you, so we played a little prank. We hope you won't take offense."

Seeing these two turning black into white, Charlotte's mouth twitched with anger.

Who builds good relationships using such methods?

She'd be a fool to believe them!

Clearly, they couldn't stand seeing her occupy an important position beside Sophia, so they deliberately came to retaliate against her!

"I'm telling you two—"

Facing those two deliberately innocent faces, Charlotte's fury was about to erupt like a volcano.

Celitia immediately walked over and shielded Shanie and Benita behind her.

"They acted foolishly for my sake," Celitia sighed. "I apologize to you on their behalf, Charlotte."

Shanie looked up at the sky: "What's there to apologize for..."

Benita looked at the ground: "Exactly. With the spell formation she drew, if I hadn't modified it for her, it definitely would have failed."

Celitia turned back and looked at each of them in turn. The two immediately fell silent, only pouting their lips enough to hang oil bottles.

Charlotte ignored Shanie and Benita, her eyes fixed deadly on Celitia.

So that's how it was—she understood now.

Celitia had appeared to yield on the surface, arousing Sophia's sympathy, but actually sent Shanie and Benita to take her down, achieving the goal of cooperating with Sophia!

Thinking carefully, wasn't this exactly Celitia's usual method?

Advancing by retreating, creating false fronts, hiding behind to reap the benefits...

Thinking this way, sparks flew in Charlotte's eyes as if they were about to ignite.

She squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "It's fine."

Advancing by retreating?

Charlotte knew this trick too.

For now, she still needed to endure temporarily.

But just wait for her—the opportunity would come soon.

Just looking at Charlotte's expression, Celitia knew she hadn't listened.

Forget it, Celitia had never expected to get along well with Charlotte anyway.

Being able to maintain surface peace was already sufficient.

Celitia didn't want to force Sophia to make choices or put her in the middle in a difficult position.

There wasn't much she could do for her, but if it was just this level of yielding...

She was willing to do it.