Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 19

Early morning.

Sunlight, as always, streamed through the gap in the custom curtains and fell across Xia Shiyu’s face.

She opened her eyes, got up, and stepped barefoot onto the floor.

There was not the slightest trace of drowsiness in her expression.

Beneath the camisole nightdress, her graceful curves were impossible to conceal.

She washed up and changed into her crisply ironed school uniform.

Sitting at the long dining table, she absentmindedly poked at the fried egg on her plate with a silver fork.

The driver’s greeting, the maid’s service, her parents’ routine words of concern…

It was a silent play that had been performed countless times.

Everyone’s expressions and movements were so precise, they were utterly tasteless.

Usually, this monotony would naturally give rise to a destructive impulse within her.

Xia Shiyu would begin to select her next “hunting” target, calculating what means to use to tear open some seemingly solid relationship.

She would savor the interesting chaos that followed.

But…

Today, her mood was slightly different from usual.

Her desire to destroy had been replaced by a more focused interest.

Now, only one name remained on her hunting list-

Lin Hui.

In the back seat of the Bentley heading to school, Xia Shiyu couldn’t be bothered to check her phone and review the meaningless morning greetings sent by her admirers.

Because, from the moment she left her front door, her mood had carried a hint of…

The secret excitement before stalking her prey.

Stepping into the classroom, the adolescent clamor in the environment automatically dropped a few decibels.

The boys’ gazes, either burning or longing, wove countless invisible threads that surged in from all directions.

The girls’ looks were far more complex-envy, jealousy, pure admiration… all sorts of emotions.

This was just another ordinary day for her as the School Belle, Xia Shiyu.

On her desk were a few small gifts:

Imported milk, handmade cookies as tokens of affection, and a brand-new workbook tied with a ribbon.

Xia Shiyu smiled and nodded gracefully to the classmates who glanced her way.

She sat down elegantly.

And casually pushed those unsolicited tokens of goodwill to the corner of her desk.

These had once been mirrors confirming her own worth, little side dishes to enjoy in this boring world.

But today, they gradually lost their former luster, turning into a plate of wilted, leftover salad.

Her gaze drifted, almost imperceptibly, toward the figure buried in books at the back of the classroom.

There sat her new toy.

The boy still looked as out of place and gloomy as ever.

His long bangs hung down, hiding his face behind a pair of old, unfashionable black-rimmed glasses.

His low-key demeanor erected a sturdy barrier around him, shutting himself off from the world.

Perhaps her gaze made this sensitive little prey aware of her attention.

His movement to pull out a book faltered, and within seconds, he ducked his head with almost exaggerated haste, avoiding her eyes.

His nervous posture made him look even more like a startled rabbit caught in headlights.

The curve at the corner of Xia Shiyu’s lips deepened slightly in a way no one could see.

For the rest of the day’s classes,

it became the perfect stage for her to observe the boy.