Nina Donovan froze for a couple of seconds before letting out a sound. "Huh?"
'So what if they were getting close?'
'Besides, Leon Grant is the villainous second male lead. His whole deal is taking the heroine by force.'
'Of course, he's not in the same league, so he can't win against Jasper Sherwood.'
Sharon Campbell waited for her to fly into a rage, but was shocked to find Nina Donovan perfectly serene. She almost lost it.
"Nina, aren't you mad?"
Nina Donovan found it odd. "Should I be angry?"
'Ever since she'd transmigrated, she hadn't even met Leon Grant or Vivian Sterling. She felt absolutely nothing.'
Misty's voice echoed faintly in her mind. [Host, your persona! Your persona! You're a love-addled fool, hopelessly devoted to the second male lead!]
Nina Donovan was speechless.
She took a deep breath and glanced down at her injured foot. 'What a busy first day of school.'
"Take me to Vivian Sterling. I'm so mad. I have to warn her to stay away from my Leon."
Sharon Campbell breathed a sigh of relief and began to lead the way. "She's in Class Seven."
Class Seven of Aldoria Ninth High's senior year was the worst class in the entire grade. It was filled with rich young masters just coasting by, slackers who couldn't study, and juvenile delinquents. Vivian Sterling was ranked second in the whole school, but Nina Donovan had pressured the administration to forcibly shove her into that class.
The original Nina had thought Vivian would fall from grace in there, but her grades remained as stellar as ever. Leon Grant even followed her into Class Seven. With him around, the original Nina couldn't find a single opportunity to bully Vivian Sterling.
So, in the novel, the person the original Nina hated most was Vivian Sterling. No one else even came close.
Nina Donovan, however, was in a bit of a bind. 'Should I go easy on her, or should I really lay into her?'
Misty popped up again. [The rougher, the better, of course. That's the only way everyone will side with the heroine, highlighting her vulnerability and getting more people to come to her rescue. Like the male lead, she's a child of destiny in this world.]
Nina Donovan gritted her teeth. 'Does the villainess deserve to die that badly?!'
Misty replied: [Erm... well, in TV dramas, if the villainess doesn't die a horrible death, the audience won't feel vindicated.]
Nina Donovan was speechless. 'So annoying!'
They arrived at Class Seven.
Someone sharp-eyed spotted Nina Donovan.
A few nonchalant young masters were leaning against the doorway, smirks on their faces and a look in their eyes that showed they were ready for a good show. "Tara Sutton, your cousin's here."
A moment later, a cheerful girl in a short skirt ran out, her face beaming.
The moment she saw Nina Donovan, she pounced, hugging her tightly and nuzzling against her like a kitten. "Cousin, are you here to see me? Are you? Are you?"
The chatter gave Nina Donovan a headache.
But in the original novel, her cousin Tara Sutton, who was only a few days younger than her, loved nothing more than sticking to her side.
Even after the Donovan Family went bankrupt and dragged the Sutton Family down with them, Tara Sutton had insisted on finding the original Nina's mutilated body and giving her a proper burial.
Her own end was tragic as well. She was forced into a marriage alliance at a young age to save her family, but ended up with an abusive husband and died, taking her unborn child with her.
The male lead had orchestrated some of it.
'It was just their lot for being the novel's villainesses.'
She was the main villainess, and Tara Sutton was her lackey—the mini-villainess.
Nina Donovan pushed her head away. "No," she denied. "I'm here for Vivian Sterling. Where is she? Get her out here."
Tara Sutton's pretty eyebrows furrowed. Her gaze fell on Nina Donovan's injured foot with concern, and then she stormed into the classroom. "Cousin, wait here. I'll drag her out."
Vivian Sterling was indeed forcibly dragged out of the classroom by Tara Sutton.
Nina Donovan's face darkened. She fought the urge to tell Tara to be gentler—this was the heroine, for crying out loud, someone they couldn't afford to offend. But Tara didn't care about any of that. Her rule was simple: if you upset Nina Donovan, she'd make your life miserable.
With a hard shove from Tara, Vivian Sterling stumbled, nearly falling. She stood before Nina Donovan, and although her collar was askew and she looked disheveled and humiliated, her back was ramrod straight. That, combined with her fresh, delicate face, made her resemble a wintersweet blossom on a snowy peak—unbending, her spirit resilient and unyielding.
'Now Nina Donovan finally understood why all the male supporting characters in the book were so ridiculously smitten with her.'
'Looks aside, most of them were captivated by her noble, unyielding spirit. It seemed nothing could make her bow her head—not money, and certainly not power.'
'In the world of the rich and powerful, a world accustomed to decadence and intrigue, the sudden appearance of a "pure stream" like her, falling into the heart of the vortex, was bound to cause a massive stir.'
'A worldly person like Nina, who knew when to bend and when to stand tall...'
'...was destined to be just a supporting character.'
After running through this analysis in her head, Nina Donovan finally began her "mission."
Her eyes, filled with disdain, swept over Vivian Sterling from head to toe. Her voice, though sweet, was dripping with sarcasm. "Vivian Sterling, haven't I warned you? Stay away from Leon Grant. He's mine. Did you really think that just because he's protecting you, there's nothing I can do?"
Before Vivian Sterling could even speak, Tara Sutton erupted. "How dare you! A penniless orphan who's living off someone else's charity dares to have designs on the young master of the house? You really think you're all that, don't you? The Grant Family only took you in out of pity, and this is how you repay them? Shamelessly trying to seduce your way to the top? Let me tell you, Leon belongs to my cousin, and one day he'll be my brother-in-law. They're a match made in heaven!"
'If she weren't cast as the villainess, Nina Donovan would have loved to grab some popcorn and watch the show.'
She raised a hand slightly. Not wanting Tara Sutton to attract too much animosity, she cut her off. Leaning on her crutch, she took a step forward, positioning herself in front of Tara.
Vivian Sterling's gaze locked directly onto Nina Donovan's face.
'Such a stunningly beautiful and sweet face, wasted on someone with a heart as filthy and vicious as Nina Donovan's.'
Her palm tightened around the necklace she had found yesterday. On it were Leon Grant's initials, and in the corner, a tiny heart was engraved with Nina Donovan's name.
'The necklace belonged to Nina.'
'Nina Donovan was the one who had been hurting Jasper Sherwood all along.'
'And Nina Donovan was just Leon Grant's lapdog.'
'She knew Leon Grant was extremely controlling of her, forbidding her from having contact with any man besides him. He was completely neurotic.'
'So, in the end, it was because of her that Jasper Sherwood had suffered all this collateral damage.'
Vivian Sterling hated the people in front of her with every fiber of her being.
She let out a cold laugh, then opened her palm to reveal the necklace and threw it at Nina Donovan. "I despise people like you the most—no sense of self, no personality, completely dependent on others. A love-addled fool with nothing but men on your mind. And I have no interest in your precious Leon Grant. He's just as disgusting as you are."
Even though Nina Donovan tried to dodge, her movements were too slow. The metal necklace scraped across her delicate cheek, leaving a shallow, bloody scratch right over the red mark from the day before.
Nina hadn't even laid a finger on her.
She raised a hand to her wound. It really hurt.
The pain made her gaze, when it fell upon Vivian Sterling, turn icy cold.
She raised her hand, about to grab Vivian Sterling, but the other girl suddenly collapsed to the ground, letting out a pained grunt.
The next second, a powerful force shoved Nina Donovan away.
Nina's injured foot twisted beneath her, and she stumbled hard into the wall with a dull THUD. The crutch clattered out of her hand and fell to the side.
When she looked up, she saw an arrogant, untamable-looking young man holding Vivian Sterling protectively in his arms.