Flower of Steel

s who liked me, and Kyles visited me even after graduating from the Academy.
After leaving the small world called the Academy, I, unfortunately, awakened from that dream.
Friends who became a part of my world had to leave me due to personal reasons.
I was left relying only on Kyles.
I was foolish and young, so I relied on him for everything.
I talked to him about things I found troubling and even complained to him.

But after Kyles, who was the center of my life, betrayed me, I learned a great lesson.
I learned that if I annoy people with my problems, those people can always abandon me.
That’s why I won’t be weak anymore.
I won’t be swayed by those who insult me.

***

I was on my way to the Finance department for an errand when I heard some whispers.
I turned around to look and saw some servants.

“So, she’s the one…”

They were in beautiful dresses and well-groomed while insulting me.
Even if I had my uncle’s family as support, it wasn’t enough to put out all the flames that had caught on.
It was obvious that Elise and her cronies were fanning those flames.

“She’s the daughter of that fallen noble Harrant, isn’t she?”

“What a mess.
A fallen noble became so confident just because she became an official.”

“That’s right.
It seems her true goal was to grab herself a husband and change her social status.”

“Such lewd actions must have caused her to be dumped.”

I glared at them with the most vicious expression I could make as the insults were coming toward me.
Then, I saw them flinching at the sight of me.

‘Don’t you dare talk about my actions.
You don’t know half of how I lived… Do I want to change my status by grabbing for myself a good husband? Well, I do want to succeed, but I’ll do it with my own power.
I don’t want to rely on someone else.’