7. Bellissimi Tre

The three ladies who are ranked the most beautiful in Evertrise College are always called the beautiful three, with time it took an Italian variation, Bellissimi tre. And since last semester till now, the current Bellissimi tre were all from Sebastian’s class – Cecile, Zzemona and Anna.

As Cecile walked to sit beside Sebastian, the grumbles got louder and the voice of the lecturer was heard once more,

“Gentlemen and ladies, one more peep and the class will go in for it, especially the rich” No one made another sound after that.

Cecile’s expression was indifferent, she was the kind of person that did not stand out too much yet was never hidden. In contrast to the heiresses in the hall, you could say she goes unnoticed, yet, she still draws attention, like a mysterious shadow that is always present but somehow blends in.

She was the talk of the school when she enrolled just last semester which was very rare. The school hardly accepted such special students, given that she would graduate with Sebastian’s set, which was less than two years of study for a four-year course!

That semester alone, she ranked as the second best in the entire major, coming second only to Sebastian, kicking up another wave of discussion about her.

Some rumoured she was the heiress of the richest family in another country because she looked foreign.

Some rumoured she was the secret wife of a top CEO in Country A and couldn’t reveal her identity yet for fear of being mocked and pestered.

Some even rumoured she was the child of a Mafia boss who was here to learn how to control and balance the corporate world of Country A, just like the fearsome mysterious man surnamed Trivulezo-Conti.

To add the icing to the cake, she somehow managed to become the single most beautiful girl in the entire school! Her beauty was so stunning, it was otherworldly yet somehow, she maintained her mysterious persona and low profile. She earned herself a new name in addition to being one of the Bellissimi tre, ‘Ombra Solare’ meaning Shadow sun – because she shone so brightly yet was so hidden, it was antithetical!

The lecturer’s voice rang out again.

“The highest scoring pair in this project will get a fully funded contract along with contractor’s pay to execute the project. A government representative along with stakeholder companies will be here to witness your presentation. I’m certain I do not need to emphasise why you should give your best to this project. The grading will be on teamwork, the innovativeness of the idea and the practicality of implementation.”

“No way! I did not expect a project of this calibre so soon”

“I know right? Anyone who comes first will not only gain immeasurable reward, influence and connection, but this will help in solidifying one’s position as an heir or heiress in their family!”

“This is a big deal. I kind of wish I was paired with Sebastian. If I am paired with him, I am sure of a fighting chance!”

“Hmph! Who needs to be paired with a murderer like him? We can just order him to do our projects for us.  A poor rat like him will dance in the face of a few red notes, he’ll need it for bail”

“You’re right! We can get him to do this project for us the way he always our other assignments. And this time he cannot refuse because of his crimes!”

“Won’t it be too much? This project is different from our other assignments”

“Who cares? I did not ask him to be poor and a genius, we can force him to do it. It makes my blood boil that he’s smarter than me. Besides, a murderer has no choice”

“Yeah! And if he refuses, we’ll beat him to a pulp and hand him over to the police.”

“Exactly!”

After the lecturer finished speaking, he recorded the pairs and dismissed the class. As he walked away, his gaze lingered on the Sebastian-Cecile pair and Leonard-Anna pair (Anna had the miraculous luck of picking Leonard); he sensed trouble brewing and smiled as he walked away.

Once the lecturer left, the class tore apart like a volcano just erupted!

“Sebastian you piece of shit, you murderer, who do you think you are?!”

“I will never understand why the option of scholarship is available for the poor to study with us. They dirty our halls and sully our images!”

“Sebastian is the biggest stain of them all. Somehow, he singlehandedly managed to be worse than all the poor rats combined. If I were him, I wouldn’t be existing right now because of shame”

“Wow, after everything that happened in the Parking lot, you still have the nerve to show up here, you murderer! I hope your crimes catch up with you!”

When he heard that last statement, that was when he understood why everyone was unusually sinister to him. Leonard had done something terrible to his reputation.

“Call in sick and give our goddess back to us! Or should we cripple you ourselves? I wish you died that day! Poor trash like you does not deserve to breathe the same air she does!”

“Yes! Only Leonard does, give her to Leonard!”

“Give her to Leonard” Soon it turned into a chant, “Give her to Leonard!!!”

Anna’s jealousy burned with every chant the crowd gave. She hated the pleased look on Leonard’s face as the chants roared, she despised Cecile for picking Sebastian and most of all, she absolutely resented Sebastian for being poor! The girl was nuts.

“Ei, eii, stop everyone. Do you all want to draw the lecturer back here?” Leonard stepped in, not doing any real thing to stop them, revelling in the attention.

“Who cares if he comes back? Our goddess must not be with him!” and everyone chorused, “Yes!”

“Funny you didn’t say that when lecturer Grizzalo was still here, even though he clearly gave you room to express your resentment.” Cecile’s voice cut through the chants, resounding like a beautiful melody. She relaxed in her seat beside Sebastian and didn’t move to stand, even when there was pure chaos in the room.

“Glad I caught it on record and I’m sure the school’s voice recognition system can identify who owns which voice. I can help make your *strong resentment on the pairing known to the lecturer right now.” Cecile finished with a chill in her voice as her piercing eyes swept the room.

“But Goddess…”

“Who is your Goddess? I don’t deserve to be the goddess of such lofty and mighty people! Give the title to someone who actually cares about it!” Her tone was laced with pure sarcasm.

“People with the intelligence of a bird do not deserve to be in Evertrise. You accused Seb of murder, right? Where is your evidence? I never knew hearsay was such solid evidence. Since that’s the case, everyone here is an accessory to the murder of the gateman!” Silence swept the room.

“If you want to spew nonsense, do not associate my name with it. Good luck explaining this recording to Lecturer Grizzalo.” With that, Cecile stood up and walked away, the crisp sound of her heel retreating after her.

Everyone’s mouth widened in shock; did the goddess just speak up for Sebastian?

Leonard’s face was twisted with embarrassment, shame and anger. He had shamelessly made his minions tell everyone that he and Cecile were the perfect couple, to him, Cecile was just too beautiful to belong to any other man. Some students agreed with the pairing and even set up coincidental encounters often between them but Cecile always managed to avoid them and thwart their plans.

Of course, no one had the liver to approach Cecile and tell her anything to her face, but their looks and gestures said it all! Today’s chants were the manifestations of months of failed hard work and pent-up frustration.

Cecile had never said anything on the matter before, she just ignored everyone and focused on her studies, avoiding Leonard so some people took it that she just needed time to come around. Therefore, her words today came as a rude slap of awakening to Leonard and everyone.

“Did she just call Sebastian, Seb? Do they know each other?”

“Was she referring to Leonard when she said not to associate her name with nonsense?”

“Did she just firmly reject Leonard and defend Sebastian? No way right?”

“It’s because they’re project pairs. We’re reading too much into it. Of course, she has to save Sebastian’s face, if he loses face, she will also lose face!”

“Do not drag our goddess down to the level of that trash, she will never lose face because of him, no matter what he does, tueh.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“But, what she said makes sense, there was no solid evidence that the murder was done by Sebastian, in fact, everything is suspicious, the old gateman treats Sebastian as a son and Sebastian didn’t come to school yesterday. He never misses school even if there’s a lightning warning!”

“Yeah, Sebastian also looks drabber than normal, his eyes are dark and a bit bloodshot with barely combed crazed hair. That’s a first.”

“Damn! I never noticed Sebastian always took care of his appearance and posture despite being poor. If not for this event, we never would have known.”

“Yeah, he almost has the bearing of an Emperor”

“Shushhhhhhh, do you want to land yourself in trouble with your words? Let’s leave here now. You don’t want to be there when Leonard is angry”

With that, everyone gradually emptied the room. As they walked away in a blur, Sebastian’s eyes were fixed on the door Cecile walked out from, his thoughts drifting.

“That’s true, Cecile had always stood up for me in tough situations, though this time, she was very obvious about it, usually she pulled strings from behind the scenes. What changed?” Sebastian muttered to himself

He remembered when he first noticed someone was watching him…