Chapter 187: Small Vs Big: Part-1
Leo walked into the classroom, followed closely by Ophis, who carried herself with a haughty expression that did not belong to a child.
The moment she stepped inside, every gaze turned confused.
What’s a cute little girl doing in the elder class?
"Oi, cutie... what are you doing here? The children’s class is down the hall," one of the students said with a soft, almost teasing expression.
But the smile froze instantly.
Ophis tilted her head ever so slightly, her dark eyes narrowing. A single glare... cold and dangerous... fell upon the girl. The student’s breath hitched, her lips quivered, and she shuddered violently as if the weight of death itself had pressed against her soul.
A primal fear...?
It was as though she had seen her own death a thousand times, replayed again and again!!
Her face turned pale, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She dared not speak another word. Ophis dismissed her completely, ignoring her trembling presence, and continued to follow Leo without a single pause.
Leo gulped inwardly. He wondered what she was planning to do now. His heart thumped as he walked quickly over to his seat and lowered himself into the chair, trying to appear calm.
Ophis blinked slowly as her gaze shifted, noticing an empty seat beside him. Her lips curved faintly. With a subtle nod and a satisfied smile, she slid into the chair, using her arms to push herself gracefully up onto the wooden seat.
Leo weakly smiled in return. His face flushed when Ophis leaned forward, flashing him a cheeky grin.
"We became classmates... Hehe," she said, her voice carrying a playful but almost triumphant tone.
Leo’s heart ached with warmth. Oh god, he wanted to hug her, to pinch her cheeks until she yelped.
Damn... so hard to resist!!
But then the thought struck him.
She wasn’t a child!
She was far older than she looked. If he gave in to that impulse, wouldn’t they immediately call him a pedophile?
Even though, by law and logic, she was the one masquerading as the child... heck, maybe he was the real child here!!
And if anything, she would be the pedophile!!
Arrh!
So confusing!!
Ophis smirked, her slender fingers tapping lightly on the desk in a rhythm that echoed like the ticking of a clock.
She tilted her head toward him,
"Oh boy," she purred with authority, "can you share your notes with me? I didn’t bring anything."
The way she said it... demanding yet playful—was like a noblewoman ordering her servant.
Leo nearly cried inside.
Acting like a big shot, weren’t you?
He wanted to protest, but in the end, he only shook his head with resignation. Shuffling his desk closer to hers, he slid his book onto her side, even though the class had yet to start.
At least... just giving her this moment of happiness was worth something.
Ophis giggled, her expression amused.
’This is exciting,’ she thought to herself, savouring the unfamiliar setting.
"Could you explain this thesis about the life created by Charles Darwin?" Ophis asked suddenly, her chin raised high, her words coated with an exaggerated haughty tone. She was only missing a folding fan; if she had one, she would look exactly like a villainess from some old legend, a lady of shadows tormenting her loyal servant.
’Charles Darwin did not propose how life was created, idiot!’ Leo cursed in his mind, his brow twitching as he forced himself to remain calm. He sighed and began explaining the actual situation, laying out Darwin’s theory carefully.
Ophis, however, only watched him with that same haughty expression, as though she were evaluating not his words, but him.
"Hmm... Hm... Okay... Hmm... Hmmm," she muttered, dragging out each sound like a queen listening to a servant recite her duties.
Those were the only words from her lips as she stared at him.
But Leo could not help but wonder...
Was she even listening in the first place? Or was she simply enjoying the sight of him dancing to her tune?
Other students were damn freaking curious about the situation, but none of them dared to ask when they saw how close this little girl was to Leo.
Their whispers died the moment Ophis leaned toward him with that arrogant smile, as if the very air belonged to her.
Meanwhile,
Sakura and Luna, who were peeking from the corner of the window, froze in horror at the sight of how close Ophis and Leo appeared.
It was like they had been bound by an invisible glue that could never be separated.
Sakura’s face turned pale... had she failed?
Her beloved Senior—taken by another vampire?
Was that the reason he hadn’t answered her calls?
Her imagination twisted, running wilder and darker.
She saw a vision, Leo standing before her with cold eyes, saying with disdain, "Tsk, look at you... so ugly and big, yet your father acts like a bitch. Tsk, tsk." His voice dripped with disgust and disappointment as he shook his head.
"B-But I am... I love yo—" Before Sakura could even speak the words aloud, the illusion shattered further.
"Fu~Fu~," Ophis giggled as she leapt into Leo’s embrace, clinging to him tightly like a child who had already won the prize. "My beloved Leo loves little girls like me, not the meaty, fat ass like you. Fu~Fu~ And my family accepts my love, Fu~Fu~."
"NOOOOOOO!!!"
Sakura screamed inside her own mind as the nightmare unfolded—Leo kissing Ophis tenderly, walking away with her, leaving Sakura in a pit of darkness she could never escape.
"SAKURA!!"
Luna’s sharp voice cut through the delusion, snapping her back to reality. Sakura blinked rapidly, her eyes burning, as she looked at Luna with trembling lips. "What did I do wrong?"
Luna’s face turned pale... She reached out, gripping Sakura’s wrist. "Wait! Listen. You have to let it go... this is it! Can’t you see? He doesn’t even care if you love him. He went to another woman without hesitation. He was never suitable for our family!"
Sakura, her eyes blank and lifeless, lifted her head with a hollow stare. And then she saw it—saw something that broke her heart.
Ophis, giggling softly at Leo.
Leo, laughing back at her like the two of them were a match crafted in the heavens.
"..."
Something inside Sakura cracked. She rose slowly, her movements stiff, like a dead soul dragged upright.
She looked like a lifeless zombie stumbling through the remnants of her broken dream. It was eerily similar to that day... the day she had lost him once before, to another woman she could never defeat.
Luna’s chest tightened as she watched Sakura drift forward like the walking dead.
She sighed inwardly, bitterness on her tongue, before stealing one last glance at Leo. Then she followed after Sakura, determined not to let her collapse entirely.
Honestly, this was better for her. Better for the Valentine family. As long as Sakura turned her back on Leo, their house’s honour would be safe.
That was all they had hoped for.
As Luna supported Sakura, a figure brushed past them.
A green-haired girl.
A green-haired beauty stepped into the classroom. Some students flinched at the force of her aura, while others stared in silent awe, mesmerised.
The green-haired beauty, Gorgon, tilted her head slightly, tugging at her long hair as she walked further inside.
Her eyes narrowed when she caught sight of Leo, seated beside... another girl?
Gorgon’s lips curved faintly.
Without a word, she strode toward her seat, her gaze darting between Leo and Ophis as their laughter rang through the room.
"Haha... you’re so funny, Leo," Ophis said, her cheeks alight with mischief. "I cannot believe the things you’re saying. So you people read this—sin, theta, cos, theta, addition, differential, integral—and yet, you never once use them in your pathetic lives. Ahaha!"
"What the heck? What’s the point of reading it then? Haha." Ophis chuckled with an amused expression.
She couldn’t believe these idiots wasted their time on something so rarely used in real life.
To her, it was laughable.
Leo parted his lips, wanting to argue. Actually... in fact, those things were part of life.
It’s just... it was hard to notice them, hard to even find where they applied.
Heck, he even used Pythagoras, sine, cosine—every bit of that so-called useless knowledge—whenever he stole things. He never calculated with pen or paper... he just did it with his body, instinctively, that’s all.
Thud!
Suddenly, a bag slammed down onto the table, making both of them flinch. Their heads snapped up. Standing there was the green-haired girl, her calm, smiling expression fixed squarely on Leo and Ophis.
Ophis frowned immediately, her amusement vanishing. Her eyes narrowed, lips curving downward with irritation.
"What?"
Gorgon’s smile didn’t falter. She tilted her head slightly, voice smooth and polite. "That’s my seat."
Ophis blinked, her gaze shifting to the chair beside Leo. Casually, almost dismissively, she looked it over before turning back to Gorgon,
"I don’t see any name that mentions it belongs to you... Miss."
Ouch!
The entire class winced at that.
It was like a spark had hit oil.
Everyone felt the sting of Ophis’s words, the way she threw them like knives.
Gorgon’s lips twitched. Just barely. Yet she still maintained her calm, smiling expression, as if carved from stone.
Leo sighed and turned his head to the side, pretending to focus on anything else.
He was not... absolutely not, going to involve himself in a fight between women... that’s his rule too!