At Minerva, where Monica used to attend, were mostly have uniforms with dark green or navy colors, but the ones at Serendia Academy were the complete opposite. The overall color scheme was bright and white, with gorgeous gold and silver ornaments.

The uniform for female students consists of an elegant ankle-length dress. It should be noted that both boys and girls were required by the dress code to wear gloves.

Even though there was no dress code in Minerva for wearing gloves, but the children of noble families would always wear them.

Serendia Academy was a school reserved for the nobility. As such, the students were expected to dress and behave in a manner befitting in their social circle.

But, of course, Monica was having none of it. To be honest, it was almost a miracle that she was able to stand and walk without fainting.

Her hands, inside the unfamiliar white gloves, were already soaked with cold sweat.

"She is the new transfer student that would come into our class, Monica Norton."

Standing in front of the podium and being introduced to her classmates made Monica feel like a criminal on the stand.

All the eyes of her classmates have focused on Monica alone. If she had been a freshman, she wouldn't have been the only one getting attention.

"Okay, please introduce yourself."

Monica's throat began to spasm as the teacher urged her on. Being exposed in front of people was already unbearable, but now, she had to introduce herself!

I need to say something…

Louis has told her that in these situations, all she has to do was say her name followed by, " Please take care of me," then finished with a bow.

But for Monica, just doing that alone was already too much of an ordeal.

As Monica kept her head down in silence, her classmates' gazes subtly changed. They were irritated by her lack of greetings in her introduction, and they were contemptuous of her apparent nervousness. That's what scared Monica the most.

When Monica tried to open her mouth to say something, she ended up just gaping her mouth, but couldn't say anything and fell silent.

"…that's enough. Have a seat. Your seat is at the end near the corridor."

The old male teacher let out a long breath of exasperation and mentioned Monica sit in her seat.

Unable to reply, Monica made her way to her seat on shaky legs. Her classmates looked at her coldly, watching her unsteady steps.

Eventually, the class started, but the teacher's lecture did not register in Monica's mind at all.

＊ ＊ ＊

"Hey."

Even during the break, Monica was sitting still in her chair until she heard a voice right next to her.

Could it be that she was talking to me? But what if she was talking to someone else? Afraid to look up at her face, it had ended with her shoulder tapped instead.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Transfer student."

She jolted her shoulders and lifted her head nervously.

Staring down at Monica was a girl with flaxen hair. She was pale, had large eyes, and appeared to be a little competitive. Her hair was braided in an elaborate manner, and gold earrings were swinging in her ears.

"My name is Lana Colette."

The girl, who introduced herself as Lana, stared at Monica from the top of her head to the tips of her shoes before putting her hands on her hips.

"Hey, why are you hanging your hair up in pigtails? Nobody in this school does their hair like a rural girl."

As Lana had said, Monica's light brown hair was parted in two and hung in a loose braid.

Louis had taught her a few hairstyles that were appropriate for a lady of nobility, but she was having a hard time remembering how to do it.

Ladies who have maids in their dormitories would have their maids set them up, but of course, Monica has no such maid.

"I don't know… any other style… besides this…"

With that one word, the eyes of the classmates around her turned to look at Monica as if to say, "I knew it."

By saying what she just said, Monica exposed the fact that she didn't have a maid. Anyone who did not bring a maidservant to the dormitory was either very poor or had the lowest status without a title.

"Where's your hometown?"

At Lana's question, Monica choked on her words. Monica was born and raised in a town relatively close to the royal capital, but now she had to pretend to be related to the House of Count Kerbeck.

"I am from Rennac."

When she mentioned one of the cities in the Count's domain, Lana was, "Oh, my!" and widened her eyes.

"Oh, so you're from a big city on the border! I'm sure they get a lot of rare clothes from neighboring countries there. Hey, what kind of designs are popular in Rennac now? How about dresses? What scarves do they have?"

Lana's constant questions were finally getting too much for Monica.

Monica wasn't from Rennac in the first place, and even had she lived there, she wouldn't have known anything about the latest trends.

"I am sorry… I don't really understand… that kind of thing…"

When Monica apologized with a mumble, Lana's lips pouted in annoyance.

"Hey, why aren't you wearing any makeup? Don't you know at least how to wear white powder, lipstick, and eyebrow ink? Look at the color of this lipstick. It's the latest thing from the cosmetics store in the capital."

Next, Lana gave Monica a series of criticisms about her clothes.

For example, she was told how cute were gloves with embroidery on them, how absurd was it that she didn't wear a single accessory, and how outdated were her shoe designs.

And Monica could only manage to utter, "I'm not sure," and "I'm sorry," in a shaky voice.

Because she truly didn't understand anything she was saying.

Lana's hair was elaborately styled with beautiful hair ornaments attached to it. Her gloves were adorned with frills, and the ribbon ornament on her collar was gorgeously embroidered. Even though she wore the same uniform as Monica, they gave different impressions.

Looking at how troubled Monica was, the girls around her covered their mouths with their fans and started whispering to each other.

"Hey, look at how that rich baron's daughter is bragging about her riches to those country bumpkins."

"I mean, no one else would listen to her, so she's tangling with those bumpkins."

"After all, she bought her title with money. Talking about desperate."

No matter how much they whispered, it was loud enough for Monica to hear. Of course, Lana was able to hear it as well.

Lana's thin eyebrows trembled, but she eventually brushed back her flaxen hair and snorted

"Forget it. Talking to these lame country bumpkins is boring."

"… I am sorry."

The word "boring" was something Monica was used to being told.

Monica was aware of how boring she wass, to the point of being fed up with it.

She can't keep up with the same topics as everyone else and had no idea what all the latest trends are. The only things she has an interest in were numbers and magic.

Rather than saying something that would make them feel uncomfortable, she would rather be treated as if she were not there.

So all Monica could do was keep her head down and stay put, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Like what she was doing now, she was frozen in place like a stone, until Lana suddenly reached out and grabbed Monica's braid.

After found that Monica was gasping in horror, Lana sharply told her, "stay still."

She then dexterously arranged Monica's pigtails in some way and pinned them in place. Since there was no mirror here, she had no idea what her head looked like.

But Lana said, "That's better," and gave a nod of approval.

"Look, this much is easy! You should be able to do this!"

After saying that, Lana walked back to her seat with a big stride.

Monica hesitantly touched her head with her fingertips.

The part she touched was a pinned ribbon swaying with a soft touch.

TLN: Found this on the internet.