“Never have I ever fought another woman over a man.”
Sonya’s hand holding the bottle paused slightly, her expression blank as she drank a quarter of it.
But in the next second, everyone, including herself, turned to look at Adelle, who was also drinking.
“Adelle, didn’t you have a childhood friend fiancé?” Engulite asked.
“Yes, that’s right.” Adelle spread her hands. “But that was when we were kids-I moved once in elementary school, so we didn’t see each other for several years, until we met again in middle school.”
“And what happened next… was pretty much like the plot of ‘True Love.’”
Sonya immediately said, “That TV drama where the male lead and Delarose, the female lead, secretly like each other, but have to pretend to be a couple with the second female lead?”
Adelle licked the liquor on the bottle’s rim and nodded. “Exactly.”
“So you were the female lead?” Lois asked curiously. “Mutual crush and double Rush?”
“No, I was the third female lead-the one who transferred in and kept making moves.” Adelle shrugged. “The only difference is, in the TV drama the third girl lost, but I won.”Engulite: “So how did you deal with the first and second female leads?”
“All I can say is, a teenage boy, aside from doing homework, is basically a beast driven by instinct.” Adelle waggled her finger. “There’s no way he could act with restraint like in the TV drama, so… the pure first girl and the tsundere second girl could never beat a cute, proactive, romance legend third girl like me who’s watched countless dramas!”
“Compared to you, my stint as Student Council president in middle school seems like just ordinary daily life.” Lois said.
“How nice.” Sonya swirled her bottle and said softly, “My impression of school only comes from TV dramas.”
Unlike college, all middle and elementary schools in Stars are private institutions, and the length of elementary and middle school varies by region. You could even say they’re just daycare plus social venues. Naturally, there were no schools in Sonya’s hometown; she completed all her courses by watching online videos. Stars’ compulsory education is ‘voluntary,’ anyway-the resources are there, you learn if you want.
“I don’t know if this will make you feel better, but I only attended middle school for thirteen days.” Engulite said. “During those thirteen days, there were many group fights, and the worst one even smashed the principal’s office window.”
Adelle clicked her tongue. “Your hometown is that rough? What happened after, did the school suspend classes?”
“They did.” Engulite shrugged. “But only for me, and all thirteen middle schools nearby rejected my application.”
So you were the culprit behind all those group fights!
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Sonya showed a faint smile. “If it were before, hearing you talk about your school life, I’d definitely be jealous enough to curse you, but now it’s different.”
“You’ve let it go now?” Lois asked.
“How could I? I still get jealous enough to curse you.” Sonya shook her bottle. “But the jealousy only lasts a few seconds, and the curse stays in my mind, never turns into action.”
“Wait,” Adelle keenly noticed something off, “so you used to act on it?”
The village girl blinked and very naturally changed the subject: “So, who’s next-“
“But Sonya, you drank just now too.” Engulite asked, “Who did you compete with for a man?”
“Ah, I almost forgot, I should drink too.” Lois tilted her head back and took a sip, saying, “Engulite, did you forget? Sonya and I had a period where we were jealous rivals, fighting over that guy, what was his name again… what was it?”
Sonya vaguely remembered too, about half a year ago, she’d tried to provoke Lois and test her own charm by deliberately flirting with Lois’s admirer, making Lois so mad she jumped up and down. Though it was only half a year ago, she couldn’t recall the details, just like how children forget their childish past.
It wasn’t just Sonya; even the others felt as if it were a lifetime ago. Half a year ago, who could have imagined Sonya would advance to Sanctuary, Engulite and Lois would become sorcerers in their second year, or Adelle would really break Swordflower College’s record for most failed courses?
Who could have thought that this dorm, where no one spoke much for a whole year in first year, would one day have everyone gathered, drinking and chatting together?
Adelle couldn’t help but giggle. “Getting your flirtatious glances was probably the greatest achievement of that guy you can’t even remember.”
“There were plenty of guys who got our flirtatious glances in first year.” Lois rolled her eyes. “Whatever I did, Sonya, you’d definitely do too, like a little shadow.”
“Well, back then I was still learning how to be a proper beautiful girl.” Sonya said frankly. “I wasn’t familiar with the other classmates yet, and the only people around me to learn from were you, Adelle, and Engulite, so…”
Adelle: “Then you can learn from me!”
Lois thought for a moment and nodded as well. “Indeed, you can only use me as a reference.”
Adelle: “Hey, why are you ignoring me!”
Engulite patted Adelle, comforting her: “They don’t mean any harm. To use a novel as a metaphor, although both you and Lois are beautiful girls, Lois is a pure, canonical work, while you are a comedic, fantastical side story written by a fan author. So you really aren’t suitable as a learning model.”
“I don’t know if they mean any harm, but I feel like you definitely do.” Adelle’s face darkened. “Engu, that was a great metaphor this time, but don’t use metaphors again next time.”
Sonya secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, she still had that old incident to cover things up; otherwise, she wouldn’t know how to explain fighting someone else over a man.
But the village girl didn’t notice that Lois, Adelle, and Engulite exchanged subtle glances, doing their best to suppress the shock in their hearts.
“My turn!” Adelle raised the wine bottle, cleared her throat, and said, “I’ve never had a kiss with the taste of love!”
“You have to drink for telling such an obvious lie!” Lois immediately said.
“I’m not lying!” Adelle shouted loudly. “Do I look like the kind of woman who’s fickle, not at all reserved, and just gives away her first kiss so casually!?”
Sonya and Engulite, who were drinking, both stared at Adelle with eyes full of killing intent.
“But didn’t you say you took the initiative in middle school to win over your fiancé?” Lois asked. “How could you not have kissed?”
“Our boundaries only went as far as holding hands! What are you thinking!” Adelle had a “how could you be so dirty” expression. “Or… fine, I’ve kissed him, but I only kissed his face, that doesn’t count as a kiss!”
“And just like that your fiancé fell for you? That’s way too innocent, isn’t it?”
“Even if you’re Lois, if you keep underestimating me like this, I’ll get mad.” Adelle bared her teeth. “It’s not that he’s innocent, it’s that I’m too charming. All I have to do is touch his hair, and he can’t even stand up straight in front of me.”
“Let’s assume what you said is true.” Lois turned to look at the other two. “I didn’t expect you two would both… huh? Engulite, you?”
“Engulite, you actually have a boyfriend and didn’t say a word!? And you’re already moving so fast!” Adelle was shocked too. “You have the right to remain silent now, but if you don’t say his name, you’ll be sentenced to the tickle punishment in a minute!”
“No, I don’t.” Engulite said calmly. “That kiss happened before university.”
“Wow, was it a first kiss between a boy and a girl?” Adelle got even more excited. “Was it a childhood friend? I knew it, in the end, this world still belongs to childhood friends, everything else is heresy!”
“You could say it was a childhood friend.”
“So what’s your relationship like now? Planning to get married in the future? Did you not find a boyfriend in college because of him?”
“I forgot to ask just now.” Engulite suddenly said, “This kiss with the taste of love, it doesn’t have to be limited by gender, right?”
Lois and Adelle froze for several seconds, then silently turned to Sonya, making a gesture as if handing her a microphone. “Now, let’s invite Professor Therave to share her advanced romance experience.”
“Even though you say that, I haven’t kissed that many times either.” Sonya was a bit shy, but her voice unconsciously softened. “I’ve only kissed twice.”
“The first time was your first kiss, right!” Adelle gripped the wine bottle. “Was the scene really romantic? Was the taste really sweet?”
Sonya smiled and shook her head. “No, it wasn’t romantic at all, and there was no taste. It was in complete darkness. I wanted to turn my head and steal a kiss, but ended up bumping into his lips. That was my first kiss.”
“Aww~~~”
“But after the second kiss, he told me that he actually wanted to steal a kiss from me at that time too.” A blush spread across Sonya’s face, and her eyes grew alluring. “Even though it wasn’t romantic, I couldn’t see anything, and there was no taste, I still like my first kiss the most.”
“Aww!!!” Adelle bit her finger as she listened. “I feel like a dog that just got kicked-I’m so jealous!”
“You have a fiancé. Isn’t it easy for you to create a more romantic scene?”
“No way! Deliberate romance can never compare to the thrill of perfect chemistry!”
“Alright, alright… then it’s Engulite’s turn next.”
“I’ve never…” Engulite paused for a long time. She wasn’t very good at thinking in this direction. “…taken a bath with my roommate.”
She just blurted it out, already prepared to drink. However, as soon as she said this, Lois and Adelle’s faces changed, and they hurriedly explained, “That night the water was going to be cut off, we had no choice!”
Sonya and Engulite looked at the two of them in shock. Lois and Adelle gulped down the rest of their wine, using their actions to say: don’t ask any more.