Reward
Everyone wants to be rewarded for what they have done.
It is the most natural instinct in the world.
Imagine finishing a quest in a game and receiving nothing in return. You kill the monsters, you dig up the quest items — and still no experience, no loot?
Players would be furious, and rightly so.
Novels are no different. If a protagonist pours out blood and sweat and walks away empty-handed, who would want to read that story?
And yet I… unfortunately, found myself in a situation where a proper reward was nowhere to be found.
When Bella thanked me, the feeling that settled over me was strange. I was glad, yes — but gratitude alone no longer satisfied me.
I wanted something bigger.
After everything I had endured, I believed I had every right to fair treatment. So I decided to claim my share myself.
And since my beloved older sister had so thoughtfully set the stage for me… I intended to exploit it thoroughly.
Heh heh.
After the break ended, Class A — the lecture hall reserved for high nobles and the most gifted talents — filled once more.
"Yeon Bennet?"
The academy professor's voice rang out across the room.
"Would you care to explain the section I just covered?"
Students glanced at one another and began to murmur. Under ordinary circumstances, this professor almost never called on noble-born students directly. High nobles? Unthinkable. He was infamous for the cruel corporal punishment he inflicted on anyone who failed to answer — and that was precisely why he left the upper ranks alone.
Today was different.
His cold voice had spoken my name. I lifted my head slowly. I had no intention of giving the correct answer.
Every gaze in the room swung toward me. I said nothing.
"…Unable to answer, are you?"
"……"
"Lady Bennet, if fortune has seen fit to make you a member of the high nobility, shouldn't you at least make a conscientious minimum of effort?"
Laughter broke out among the students. I remained silent. A thin, unpleasant smile curved the professor's mouth.
"Come to the front."
I rose from my seat and walked forward at an unhurried pace. Eyes tracked every step. They watched me the way one watches an unexpected spectacle, bright with anticipation.
Lady Yeon Bennet. No longer under the protection of her house. The moment Serena had officially declared that Yeon Bennet would be cut off from the family, I had ceased to be someone no one dared touch — and this professor knew it perfectly well.
"You will pay the price for letting your mind wander during class."
He raised a rod.
"Step up onto the chair."
I climbed onto it slowly, like an actress mounting a stage.
Crack!
Crack!
A sharp whistle of air, and the switch lashed across my calves. Instant searing heat bloomed across the skin — a stinging burn that made the thin flesh swell red almost at once. It felt as though the skin itself were slowly splitting open, as if the flesh were catching fire.
Of course, compared to the pain I usually sought out, it was nothing.
Unique Ability: Masochist
Activated.
But still…
The students whispered. Some snickered. Some sneered.
"Serves her right, that piece of trash."
"Now that her house dumped her, she gets beaten like a commoner?"
"She's finished."
Crack!
It was wretched.
And because of that, all the more…
Exquisite…
My breathing roughened of its own accord. A shiver of pure electricity raced through my whole body. I bit down hard on my lip. The harder I tried to hold it in, the sharper the pleasure became.
The professor simply kept swinging the rod at my calves.
Crack!
My stomach turned. Fresh blows landed over marks already beaded with blood. My lips trembled. A fierce, rising stimulation climbed from below. I bit down harder, desperate to smother the sound.
Haaah… heuk…
It wasn't that I had no desire to be caught enjoying this and pointed out as a pervert. But I still needed to remain a villainess — becoming known as a masochist would be… slightly inconvenient.
A humiliating situation. A degrading public thrashing in front of students of lower station than my own. Mocked by the entire world, insulted before every watching eye.
Was there any reward more perfectly suited to me?
I let out a slow breath. The professor's rod rose again.
Crack!
After class, I quietly ran my palm over my calves. Angry red welts. Vivid bruises mottling the skin.
"Haa…"
When I rubbed the marks slowly, the throbbing under my fingertips felt strangely pleasant. Of course I had no intention of healing them. Why would I be foolish enough to erase a reward I had only just earned?
I hiked my skirt a little higher so that everyone could see the evidence of the punishment.
This was only the beginning.
The commoners hated me — once one of them, now elevated beyond their reach. Ordinary nobles resented that a former commoner had claimed a young lady's rank above their own. High nobles despised me for accepting noble grace and then committing every evil under the sun.
And now, watching me take a public beating, they would all be certain of one thing: the walls that once protected me had completely collapsed.
When morning classes ended and lunch hour arrived, students began glancing my way one by one. Their stares prickled against my skin — ridicule, contempt, mockery, pouring in from every side.
"Looks like she's been completely abandoned now, doesn't it?"
"The ducal house declared they won't bother with her anymore…"
I pretended not to hear and rose slowly from my seat. At once a cluster of students stepped into my path.
"Where do you think you're going, Lady Bennet?"
I lifted my head.
Camilla Medici's faction.
A glance past them showed Camilla herself standing with her arms folded, feigning disinterest while she watched me from the corner of her eye. But her gaze glittered with unmistakable fascination. The surrounding students, too, looked on as if a fine entertainment had just been arranged.
So it begins at last.
I smirked inwardly. Once Serena had declared me cut off from the family, attacking me carried no consequences whatsoever. Everyone who had always hated me. Everyone who had wanted, just once, to grind me underfoot. All of those feelings could now be expressed without restraint.
"Move."
I answered with my usual curtness. Once, that single word would have cleared a path. Now they only looked at one another and snickered.
Then someone shoved my shoulder.
Thud—
I slammed hard into the wall. A sharp ache flared through the bone.
"Ah, sorry. That was an accident."
One of the girls covered her mouth and laughed.
"But Lady Bennet, aren't you a little too fragile? How do you expect to fight monsters like this?"
"Maybe that's why she kept offering herself up to the monsters — because she's so weak?"
Laughter erupted around us.
"Slut."
I stared at them in silence. Perhaps irritated that I still refused to crumble, one girl strode right up to me.
Bang!
She deliberately kicked my books off the desk and onto the floor.
"You dropped your books, Lady Bennet."
I looked down at them without expression.
"You should pick them up, don't you think?"
She snorted. Without a word I bent slowly. And in that instant—
Splash—
Water cascaded over my head.
"Ah! Sorry… another accident!"
The girls dissolved into giggles. Clothes soaking through. Water dripping from my hair. Laughter laced with open scorn.
I closed my eyes for a moment and drew a deep breath. Standing there, utterly wretched under their pitiless stares — my body trembled with a delicious shiver.
I raised my head slowly.
"Having fun?"
The question only made them laugh harder.
"She still thinks she's a young lady."
Good. They hadn't noticed a thing.
Still not enough.
Just a little more…
"Stop it!"
A clear voice cut through the noise. Instantly the raucous laughter died.
I turned my head.
Pink hair caught the light and shone. Delicate features. Clear eyes that seemed to hold a sacred radiance.
Rina.
My favorite character.
She stepped between me and the others. Students flinched and stared.
"Lady Rina?"
"Why is the Candidate Saintess protecting that—"
Startled voices rose among them. No one could openly slight a Candidate Saintess. Rina surveyed the circle in silence, then sighed and looked at me — drenched from head to toe.
"I don't believe the academy regulations permit harassing other students."
Her voice was as calm as ever, yet something sharp threaded through it. The students could not hide their unease.
"W-we were just…"
Rina's eyes cooled. At that single shift in her gaze, the group froze solid. This was nothing like the gentle, kind girl they knew.
But then—
"Ha! And what about the people she harassed? What about them?"
One girl pushed forward from the crowd — golden hair gathered high, eyes blazing as she glared at Rina.
"Have you forgotten that this woman nearly put the entire academy in danger?"
Rina's pupils wavered. For a moment she could not speak; the flash of panic on her face was plain.
The reason I had hated "Yeon Bennet" in the game. My favorite character, Rina… had never given up on Yeon, her childhood friend. That was why I had found the original Yeon Bennet so repulsive — for coldly rejecting Rina's kindness and pushing her away.
But now I was the one who had to play that role.
The foolish child who had tried to the very end to redeem the worst villainess in the world. Who clung to whatever she believed was right, no matter the circumstances.
"Rina."
Seeing her again after so long, she was still beautiful.
"Stay out of it and get lost."
I slowly shook her hand off. Her eyes trembled, just slightly. The words were quiet, but they drew a clear line. Rina pressed her lips together tightly.
Then she took one step back.
"……Yeon."
She looked as if she wanted to say more, but I had no intention of listening. I turned and walked away.
The students' murmuring faded behind me.
Anyone else, perhaps — but Rina, of all people, must never draw close to someone like me.
Because…
I was going to drag her down from the seat of the Saintess.