Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 7

A coquettish voice brushed past my ear.

My mind, honed to excessive clarity by the cursed talent “Gift of the Grind King,” sounded a sharp alarm.

The logic module spun at high speed in 0.1 seconds.

Xia Shiyu.

One of the School Belles of this school.

Compared to her outstanding looks and figure,

what made her most famous on the forums was not only her terrifying speed of changing boyfriends as often as girls change clothes,

but also the negative rumors about her ambiguous behavior with boys who already had girlfriends.

Based on her various behaviors between classes, the deduction was almost certain.

Xia Shiyu was exactly the kind of girl that netizens in my previous country called a “green tea bitch.”

Such people do not enjoy equal admiration,

but rather manipulate, hint, and flirt to provoke competition among males, drawing satisfaction and a sense of control from it.

The conflict in the classroom, sparked by her casual remark “My throat is a bit dry,” was nothing more than a gladiator show to prove her own charm.

She enjoyed it.

I shrank back, pretending to be burned by her gaze.

My fingers tightened around my vocabulary book, my head lowered in feigned panic, hiding my calmly thinking eyes beneath my bangs’ shadow.

How did I get targeted by this top predator?

The answer was obvious.

The confrontation with the sports student.

Without yielding or resorting to violence, I had taken a different approach, easily dismantling Li Yaowen’s offensive with logic and language.

It was precisely this difference that piqued her interest.

Not affection, but curiosity.

She simply wanted to pluck this strangely colored flower and see what its roots were like inside.

If I responded to her with the same attitude I used against Li Yaowen in the classroom-either with a few bland, perfunctory replies-

What would happen?

The answer: her interest would only increase, not decrease.

Her hunting desire would rise, and she would invest even more effort to “conquer” me, disrupting my peaceful study routine.

Damn!

If that happened, wouldn’t I fall into the typical, cliché school novel plot?

“The Cold, Aloof Goblin Is Targeted by the School Belle Everyone Loves”

“The Green Tea Heiress at the Next Desk Is Always Overly Enthusiastic”

“He Runs, She Chases, He Can’t Escape Even With Wings”

Just these absurd titles alone are enough to make me feel physically sick.

Be a background character, play the part, ace the college entrance exam in three years, and leave with a clean slate-

That’s my goal.

To become the center of the plot,

fail the exams,

and rot away in this other world for a lifetime…

Absolutely not!

Driven by intense desire, my brain quickly constructed a way out.

I must make her lose interest in me, not prove my “specialness,” but prove my “ordinariness.”

So…

Act.

I must act.

Act hard!!

“Hello, Lin Hui.”

The girl’s greeting was so sweet it was almost cloying, her tone so soft it seemed to drip with water. “Thank you so much for what you did in class just now.”

The first wave of probing had begun.

Her eyes, filled with inquisitive amusement, fixed on me. I lowered my head even further.

My gaze shifted to the blades of grass beside me, trampled and bent, refusing to meet her eyes at all.

“N-no, it was nothing…”

The words squeezed out of my throat, low and muffled. “I-I didn’t really do anything…”

“How could that be?” The girl’s voice dropped a little, adopting the tone of sharing a secret with a close friend.

“You were amazing in the classroom just now. With just a few words, you sent Li Yaowen packing. I was stunned.”

Hearing this, my black-rimmed glasses slipped down my nose a bit, and I hurriedly pushed them back up.

“Xia… Xia Shiyu, you’re joking. I just… got… lucky, that’s all.”

Shy.jpg

Xia Shiyu looked at me, the curiosity in her eyes growing even stronger.

Was I really nervous, or was this an even more skillful act?

No rush, she had plenty of patience.

“Really?” She tilted her head, a strand of smooth black hair sliding from behind her ear to frame her elegant profile.

“But I think you’re different from all of them.”

Her slender fingers slowly tucked that strand of hair back behind her ear. “You were so brave then, really special.”
The classic “You’re so special” trap.

This is the spiritual opium that green tea girls are most skilled at, capable of making countless insecure boys who crave recognition fall instantly.

I finally lifted my head, my vocabulary book crumpled in my grip.

My gaze dared not meet the shimmering eyes of the girl, visibly sliding from her chin to her slender neck, then to her full chest, and finally, awkwardly dropping back to the ground.

A perfect portrayal of a virgin loser, excited and thrilled by the sudden attention from a goddess, yet too deeply insecure to entertain any improper thoughts.

“I-I… I…”

My Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with difficulty, as if trying to organize words, but what came out was a string of stammered, incoherent syllables.

Xia Shiyu let out a soft laugh.

She stopped right in front of me, the scent of high-end perfume lingering around her.

This fragrance is the deadliest poison to any normal 17-year-old boy.

“Lin Hui?”

As she spoke, Xia Shiyu took a small but highly aggressive step forward.

Within this half-step, the scent grew even stronger, drilling into my nose.

“Can you answer me? Just to satisfy my little curiosity.”

Her breath was warm, as if right beside my ear.

Any virgin boy faced with such a situation would be hit with a nuclear-level attack, exaggerated enough to make him die on the spot.

My reaction was exactly as expected.

I showed I was startled by her sudden approach, retreating several steps.

My heel accidentally stepped on a small stone, and I nearly stumbled and fell.

Luckily, Wang Lei was quick to catch me, and I barely managed to stand firm.

“What’s wrong? Is Lin Hui really so unwilling to tell me?”

On the surface, Xia Shiyu pretended to be hurt.

Her pink lips pouted, and this contrast didn’t ruin her beauty but instead added a touch of lively charm.

“Or is it that someone like Li Yaowen doesn’t even register in your eyes?”

Her words were like a scalpel, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

It was a test, and also a temptation.

She wanted to see if the other party would pick up the topic, and whether he would show even a hint of the calm and composure he had in the classroom.

However, all she got was deeper panic.

“N-no! That’s not it!”

I waved my hands, incoherently trying to explain.

“I-I was just scared… nonsense… I don’t even know why he left…”

My eagerness to distance myself looked clumsy yet genuine.

My eyes darted around the ground, unable even to manage eye contact.

“Maybe, maybe he just figured things out himself… Yes, he figured it out himself… It has nothing to do with me, really nothing…”

That panic made it seem as if admitting I was “impressive” was even more terrifying than streaking in public.

On Xia Shiyu’s flawless, signature expression, there appeared a barely noticeable moment of stiffness.

So… that’s how it is.

She thought she had found a unique and interesting soul.

But in the end, all she saw was nervousness, cowardice, and incoherence-nothing else.

Peeling away that perhaps accidental calm exterior, the core inside was no different from the ordinary boys who always surrounded her.

Like a glass of plain water-

Bland, tasteless, transparent to the bottom.

“Is that so?”

The interest that had risen quickly dissipated.

Her expression returned to normal, her voice back to the tone she used with everyone, “Hmm… Looks like I was overthinking it.”

As if suddenly remembering something, the girl patted her forehead.

“Ah, it’s getting late. My friends are waiting for me to buy drinks together, so… I’ll head over first.”

She didn’t even give anyone a chance to speak, retreating and opening up an absolutely safe social distance.

She waved her wrist, adorned with a cute hair tie, at the three of us.

“Let’s chat next time, Lin Hui, Zhang Yuan, Wang Lei.”

With that, she turned and walked briskly toward her group of girlfriends, without a single glance back or any trace of nostalgia.

As for the conversation that had made her pause just now, it was nothing more than a piece of boring trash she casually tossed away.

This newly discovered toy was declared broken on the very first day it was unwrapped.