Rebecca and Linda weren't hiding their volume, so even if Celitia didn't want to listen, she had to hear what followed.

"Rebecca, have you heard about the birthday ball that's about to be held?" Linda asked.

"Of course," Rebecca nodded, "I also heard that the royal palace hasn't held such a grand event in a very long time."

Linda asked mysteriously: "I heard they're going to find an engagement partner for Princess Sophia at the ball. Is that true?"

"It should be, after all Princess Sophia is about to come of age, and it's about that time..." Rebecca sighed, "It's just a pity for Miss Celitia..."

"Huh? Isn't the engagement partner Miss Celitia?"

Linda's eyes widened, "No way, I firmly ship Princess Sophia and Miss Celitia. I can accept reversal but definitely not breaking them up!"

Despite feeling quite low, hearing this made the corners of Celitia's mouth twitch involuntarily.

Wait, so Rebecca and Linda were their CP fans?

How did she and Sophia even have CP fans?!

"Give me a break!"

Another voice responded disdainfully, interrupting the discussion between Rebecca and Linda.

"What pairing? That's just spreading rumors within the academy, playing house-like games that can't be taken seriously."

The person who suddenly interrupted was someone Celitia had some impression of—also a prominent figure in the academy.

Calvin, eldest son and heir of Count Berendil, the current Foreign Minister.

Calvin prided himself on his noble status, and though he didn't show it too obviously, he had always looked somewhat down on Celitia.

Usually hearing various rumors about Celitia and Sophia, Calvin was quite disdainful, and now he finally had a chance to express his attitude.

"It's fine to joke about it, but you're not naive enough to take such rumors seriously, are you?"

Hearing Calvin's words, Linda jumped up with a start. Rebecca pulled at her but couldn't hold her back.

"How is it not real?" Linda argued fiercely, "We've all seen how close Princess Sophia and Miss Celitia are!"

"It's normal for girls to be close," Calvin sneered, "but to elevate it to the point of pairing them up, I can only say you're love-addled."

He glanced at Linda and Rebecca, snorting through his nose, "After all, commoners always dream of flying up the branches to become phoenixes."

Linda pointed at him, so angry her hands were shaking: "Love-addled?! You're clearly just jealous of their pure and beautiful relationship!!"

"Pure and beautiful can't put food on the table," Calvin retorted, "If Her Highness the Princess chooses an engagement partner, she'll naturally choose someone powerful enough to assist her, for example..."

Rebecca, who had been pulling at Linda, couldn't help but coldly mock: "For example, someone like you?"

Calvin couldn't stop himself and continued rapturously: "Yes, someone like me..."

As soon as these words left his mouth, not only Rebecca and Linda but the entire classroom erupted in boos. Calvin's face immediately turned red as he sat down awkwardly.

Even so, he didn't forget to get in another jab at Linda:

"Even if it's not me, it couldn't possibly be Celitia. You should stop fantasizing about such boring pairings!"

Linda was so angry she couldn't speak. With her straightforward personality, she no longer cared about his status and rolled up her sleeves, ready to fight.

Rebecca, afraid things would really escalate, quickly grabbed Linda tightly and dragged her back to her seat with much coaxing.

This really felt like a dream guy versus CP fans war...

Celitia inwardly complained, trying to make herself laugh, but didn't succeed. Only an increasingly deep sense of agitation kept rising from her chest.

She pretended not to have heard the earlier argument, lowered her head, and silently stared at the pen on her desk.

After Rebecca dragged Linda back, she looked around and suddenly noticed Celitia sitting behind them. Her face immediately went pale.

It was over! The person in question definitely heard what they said just now!!

Rebecca couldn't help but pinch Linda's arm hard: "Just had to discuss gossip!"

"What are you doing!" Linda cried out in pain, "As if you don't like it too!!"

Following Rebecca's gaze, Linda also saw Celitia sitting behind them and immediately swallowed the rest of her words.

The two peeked around hesitantly: "Should we... go comfort Miss Celitia...?"

Before they could act, the teacher suddenly walked in: "Everyone quiet down! The exam is starting!"

The classroom full of whispers immediately fell silent, and Rebecca and Linda had to sit back in their seats.

The teacher began distributing exam papers. Celitia received her paper and quickly skimmed through the questions, forcing herself to focus on the exam.

Not bad, the questions were quite simple. Getting a perfect score shouldn't be a problem.

Time flew by quickly, and Celitia soon finished the questions.

While copying her answers onto the answer sheet, unconsciously, Celitia's mind gradually drifted away.

It seemed this time, Marianne was serious.

Otherwise, the news about finding a spouse for Sophia wouldn't have spread so widely.

It wasn't just Cassia—the entire Kingdom of Lansca knew about it.

Yes, this day would come eventually.

Sophia would embark on a path to distant places, while she herself would head toward another distant place.

Being able to pass by each other was already a blessing granted by the Goddess.

Like fine rain suddenly filling the sky, even her eyes were filled with misty moisture, and the clear black and white text in front of her became a blurry mass.

The hand holding the pen remained steady, showing no abnormality, only her pen tip trembling imperceptibly.

While Celitia was writing her answers, countless pairs of eyes were watching her answer sheet.

If you didn't study well normally, what do you do when you can't answer exam questions?

The answer—sit next to the top student.

The students who had specifically squeezed near Celitia happily craned their necks, copying the answers they glimpsed onto their own answer sheets.

The teacher coughed heavily, but the students didn't restrain themselves much.

When the exam bell rang, students sitting farther away couldn't hold back anymore.

They simply held up their papers and rushed to Celitia's side.

"Quick, let me see, I'll just look at two questions, please!"

Celitia had no intention of stopping them and casually pushed her paper, spreading it out even flatter.

"I knew Miss Celitia was a good person!!"

The students frantically copied several questions until the teacher couldn't stand it anymore and came over to disperse them:

"Hey! If you keep this up, I'll cancel all your exam scores!!"