Rhiannon sincerely attempted to heed Aster's words and forget about Eric.

'He's just another fish in the sea.' Rhiannon repeated it like a mantra each time she caught sight of him. While her feelings for Eric was more or less well-contained, her ill feelings towards Guinevere stayed. Everywhere she went, there would be news or gossip about Guinevere. Whether it was about her kind act for the day, her beauty, her gentleness, or how she was saved yet again.

'What's so good about a damsel in distress?' Rhiannon chomped on a piece of jerky to deal with her irritation. 'Does she even try to solve any of the issues herself? Some of the problems were created because she was kind to the wrong people. She does nothing but cause trouble to people around her.'

One day, Rhiannon came across Guinevere cornered by a group of girls and boys in a remote part of the school. It had to be fate that made their paths cross. Rhiannon hardly ever passed by this area and only did so today because she was running an errand for a teacher.

"I refuse to believe that a person as pure as you can exist in this wretched world." The girl at the front of the group spoke.

Rhiannon rolled her eyes. Oh well, someone would surely come to her rescue anyway. However, Aster's words echoed in her mind and her steps slowed down. She checked her watch. '...I have some time to spare anyway.' She might as well give Guinevere a chance to prove her wrong.

"Today is when we'll get to see your true face." The same girl smirked.

Rhiannon easily hauled herself up onto a nearby tree. Hiding among the leaves, she made herself comfortable on a large branch. 'What a pity that I do not have any popcorn.'

The only two boys present stayed on the lookout, while the girls verbally and physically taunted Guinevere. They called her all sorts of derogatory names and tossed baseless accusations. They pushed, shoved, slapped, and pulled Guinevere's hair.

The entire time, Guinevere shut her eyes tightly and pursed her lips. She tightly gripped onto her skirt and refused to raise a hand against them. Even when they stuffed dirt into her clothes and threw bugs at her, Guinevere merely brushed them all off in a panic.

"Boys! It's your turn!" The same girl spat at Guinevere, then took over the boys' positions.

The boys whispered sweet nothings to Guinevere. Their lips close to her ear and against her neck, sometimes brushing past her cheek. They put their arms around her, stroked her face, and shared all the dirty things they would love to do to her.

Guinevere kept on her stern expression. Her gaze was transfixed on something in front of her. She refused to make eye contact with them. She squirmed and fidgeted each time it was too much but that was all.

So, the boys took it a notch further. Their hands slid up her inner thighs and approached her breasts.

Her expression stayed the same, but tears began to trickle down her porcelain skin. She had also started to tremble like a leaf in the wind.

'Why the fuck is she putting up with this?' If it was Rhiannon, she would rather die than be humiliated this way. Her curiosity about the extent of Guinevere's tolerance was genuinely piqued.

Guinevere's determination eventually caused the boys' hearts to waver.

"Hey... I don't think she is as you said... Is there a misunderstanding somewhere?"

"Yeah, where did you see her behaving haughty again? And who told you all those stories of her private life again?"

"Shut up! You can't even accomplish something so simple! Don't you see how she won you over!"

The boys' faces lit up in realisation.

"She's precisely that insidious! You really think someone good or pure can stay this still? Do you think they won't lash out or panic or try to escape?"

"Damn..." The boys hung their heads in shame.

"You're scary..." One of them gave Guinevere a dirty look.

However, Guinevere continued to ignore them and keep her gaze straight.

"You're all wimps! Back off! I'll do it myself!"

The boys shrunk back, making way for the leader.

A dangerous glint shone in her eyes as she approached Guinevere was a smile. "You must be proud." She tightly squeezed Guinevere's cheek with one hand. "This face of yours is so convenient. It gets you anything you want."

Guinevere could not stop trembling but the gaze that met the bullies' leader's eyes was defiant.

The leader's lips twitched. "You..." She flung her hand down, making Guinevere's head turn in the same direction. "I'll prove to you that it's your face that's your fortune." The leader pulled out a bottle of clear liquid from her bag. Everyone immediately recognised it as the acid used for experiments in their Chemistry Laboratory.

"Woah, how did you get that out?" One of the boys asked.

"It's not that hard to smuggle it out. It's not as if I'm the only one who does it. Good people, good students... All of that are lies. It's only a matter of where their transgressions lie in their life."

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" One of the other girls softly spoke up.

"We agreed on not leaving any evidence behind." Another girl reminded.

"I don't care. Don't you see her? She's so stubborn! But such people just gets on my nerves. I can't let her run free on campus like that. If I'm to die, at least I'm dragging her down with me. Feel free to leave if you're scared."

Everyone looked at each other but none left. They felt powerful at the moment.

The leader opened the bottle and gently swayed it in front of Guinevere's face. "Let's see how far you can go when this pretty face of yours is ruined."

Rhiannon almost laughed out loud at this point. 'Looks like someone else thought the same as me.'

Guinevere's eyes bulged in fear. It was serious now. She bolted off but the boys reacted faster, cutting off her escape route.

"Hold her still!"

Each boy held on to one arm.

Guinevere struggled violently and pleaded for mercy.

'So, she does know.' Rhiannon scoffed. "Disgusting useless prick."

Guinevere's eyes grew wide in fear as the bottle of acid got closer and closer. Her whimpers were barely audible.

"HEY!" Rhiannon's strong voice rang out.

The leader jumped in fright and some of the acid spilled onto Guinevere's exposed arm.

"AH!" Guinevere's cry pierces everyone's ears.

"Goddamn it, can you maintain it even if a little?" Rhiannon grumbled as she jumped down from the tree.

Everyone, except Guinevere, spun on their heels to face Rhiannon.

"Having fun? What a pity that I have to stop it now. Get lost before you get hurt." Rhiannon smiled sweetly.

"Are you her friend?" The leader asked.

"Oh, please, I'm far from that. It's just unlucky for you today because my conscience will be cleared with this. Perhaps you could try getting her again another day?" Rhiannon shrugged.

"Back off then. Clear your conscience with some other person. I have some beef with this girl to settle." The leader said through gritted teeth.

"Did you just give me an order?" An evil glint flashed in Rhiannon's eyes. "NO ONE orders me around."

However, the bullies had no chance of replying. Rhiannon was already thrashing them. She never intended for them to answer.

Their numbers proved nothing in the face of Rhiannon's years of practice in martial arts. Her parents' had made sure to equip the three siblings with skills to stand above others. They were to be at no one's mercy.

After releasing her pent up anger and frustration, Rhiannon broke into a smile. "Ah... That felt good."

The bullies were in too sorry a state to respond to the revelation even if they wanted to.

"Continue to stay here and I'll introduce you to a world of pain brought about by my new invention. I'm really proud of it, you know?"

The bullies stared wide-eyed at Rhiannon in fear. Hair stood on their ends and a chill ran down their spines. Rhiannon was the picture perfect death angel at that moment. They scrambled up and away while yelling, "Your family will face the consequences!"

"Is that so? Come by the Li family's house then!" She waved at them happily.

Their footsteps faltered. Some even fell down. They shook their heads in denial. It was not a family they could afford to go against. Damn it! They could only run off with their tails between their legs.

Guinevere's whimpers brought Rhiannon's attention back to her. She turned and looked down.

Rhiannon was on the ground, hunched over and tenderly nursing the wound on her arm.

"...How weak." Aster had tolerated pain that was at least a hundred times worse than this. Guinevere's wound was no larger than a dollar coin!

Guinevere looked up pitifully with her wet doe-like eyes.

"What? Am I wrong? If you fought back earlier, it wouldn't have progressed to this stage."

Guinevere stared at her wide-eyed. "...They had grievances based off misunderstandings. It's not their fault, so I could tolerate anything they did to me as long as it would not deal long-term damage."

Rhiannon's nose wrinkled and her upper lips raised in disgust. "Not their fault? What are you? Messiah?"

"It's human to make mistakes. You don't have to be messiah to see and forgive that."

"You're wrong. Being as forgiving as you are, you can only be trying to be Messiah. You can be one for all I care. What can't understand is how you let everyone else clean up your shit and save you each time."

"I didn't mean for things to be like that, I didn't ask to be saved. I only ever asked for perpetrators to have mercy!" Guinevere's tears flowed freely again.

'And here comes the waterworks. What the hell.'

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?"

Rhiannon immediately recognised the immature voice, but she was shoved away from Guinevere in the same moment. She caught herself fairly easily, then glared at the culprit. "Don't you fucking touch me."

"Or what?" Eric squared up.

'What an idiot!' Rhiannon turned her glare onto Guinevere.

Guinevere flinched.

"Are you going to explain? Or are you going to sit back, relax, and cry?"

Guinevere's eyes widened pitifully again. It was as if she could perpetually look like a wronged victim. "Eric... She didn't do anything to me. In fact, she was the one who saved me from the bullies."

Eric took a good look between the two. Just as Rhiannon thought that he was at least reasonable, Eric shielded Guinevere again. "She told you to say that, didn't she? Look at you! No one who came to someone's aid would leave you crying on the floor in such a sorry state. And you're clearly intimidated by her. How do you expect me to believe that she was the one who saved you? You've always been bad at lying."

Rhiannon listened to his monologue, flabbergasted by hthe idiocy of this couple.

"I'll give you a choice, fight me now or have your family face the consequences."

"Eric! I'm really not lying! Please, can you just leave her alone!" Guinevere pulled on his arm, afraid that he would only hurt himself in the fight with Rhiannon.

However, Eric shook her hands off.

"Ouch!"

Eric looked at Guinevere and quickly noticed the burn mark on her arm. He saw red. Eric turned back and lunged at Rhiannon.

Rhiannon stepped aside and hit him to the ground.

"YOU!"

"Idiots. Fucking idiots." Rhiannon walked away without another glance back.

"Eric! Stop that! She fights well!"

"This isn't the last you'll see of me!" Eric's voice grated on Rhiannon's nerves. "I'll make sure you pay for this!"

At the end of the day, Rhiannon sat in the car silent and brooding. 'Irritating. Irritating. How irritating.' She chewed on yet another piece of jerky. However, it did nothing to relieve the frustration boiling inside her. How irritating. Just as she was done venting it all on the bullies.

'Since you already hate me this much, how about I give you a real reason to hate me for?'

A chill went down Aster's spine. She instinctively looked at Rhiannon by her side. "You really don't want to talk about what happened?"

Rhiannon shook her head. "I just want a hug." Rhiannon wrapped her arms around Aster's arm and rested her head on Aster's shoulder.

Aster laughed softly and stroked Rhiannon's head. "Is this even comfortable for you?"

"It's good."

Aster let the ride continue in silence but her mind churned noisily. Something must be wrong. Rhiannon was too down and silent about it.