"The perfect girl, who's the prettiest, most talented, and most famous amongst you all according to the votes, is …. the princess _ of elves and daughter of nature as she's called, Saisha Ellsworth." Alfred spoke, and as his words finished a spotlight landed on the figure of Saisha, who was sitting on a windowsill near the first floor balcony, looking just like the perfect work of art God himself had created after spending a lifetime..

The whole hall fell into a momentary silence as everyone who looked in her direction froze for a second appreciating the picture.

She had zero presence till now as she preferred the silence over sound, and other than the few elves from all the classes who came to greet her and chat with her, she didn't meet or talk with anyone else. But now she was the center of attention.

"Hey, you won the contest." Ayla said excitedly, tugging at her room partner who still seemed unaware of what was happening.

"What..?" Saisha turned her head and asked, only to see the smiles on every elves face and hear the sound of claps and congratulations coming her way.

"Congratulations princess, for winning the pageant."

"Now we know these votes aren't faulty, after all, princess deserves the top spot."

"I already knew the result. How can these humans and halfbreeds compare to royal elven bloodlines?"

"Congratulations, Saisha."

It took a moment for Saisha to realize what they were all talking about, but even after knowing it, unlike them, she didn't show any pride or arrogance, she just glanced at Alfred, who announced the result and gave a courteous nod before turning her face back to the starry sky and dark clouds outside, her thoughts still rummaging through something else.

"Bastard." on the other hand, Rio couldn't help but mutter curses after hearing the announcement.

"Hey, he's my brother, you know." Becca said, pinching him again for cursing Alfred openly.

Hearing the complaint, Rio turned his attention back to Becca, and though she acted normal, he could tell she felt a little down by the results.

After all, she prepared a lot for this pageant, even setting a bet with Amelia, and was really looking forward to winning it.

But alas. .

"He should've given you the win." He said, glaring at Alfred, not sure how the plot changed for this event. Since in the novel, it was clearly her who won this thing.

"It's not in his hands, it's decided by votes from everyone." Becca defended her brother.

"Well, he's the one who's announcing it. Pretty sure no one would go up and check the envelope if he just lied." Rio said with somewhat serious expression before throwing another doubtful glance at Alfred.

"That's _ _ not how… ." Rebecca tried to speak but didn't know what to say, as in some wrong weird roundabout way, what he said did make sense.

But before she could ponder on it further, Rio cut her off. "Okay, I'm just joking. Forget it."

"Whatever." Becca said and looked at the stairs, where Alfred was annoucing the results for boys.

" __ _ and the winner with the most votes is, Leonard Heartwell.". _ .

. – .

A few moments of silence appeared everywhere, and even the music seemed to go 'shush' mode as everyone heard the unexpectedly unfamiliar name.

"Did I hear right?"

"He said that the perverted rapist won?"

"Who's Leonard?"

"He's the one who challenged Nexus today, right?"

"Yeah, he beat the third years in the game, I was wondering where I heard that name."

"Why'd he get the most votes though? People didn't even see his performance."

"This guy is one hell of a cheater, he can cheat everywhere, lucky bastard."lightsnovel

"Well, top ranker being chosen as the winner isn't something new, anyway. Not to mention I heard council president is his sister."

"Heartwell, wasn't their son a cripple, when did he become a genius and join our academy?"

All kinds of whispers and voices roamed into the crowd, churning with confusion and questions, and the man, who won himself, wasn't any better.

lightsΝοvεl ƈοm Leon looked at Alfred confusinhly and then at the crowd around him.

Seraphina grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his thoughts, "I knew you'd win it." She excitedly said, not at all sad over the fact that she didn't.

Leon gave a small smile and nodded his head slowly, before gaining his confidence and looking at the crowd with a calm and confident expression.

'System' Rio, who heard the announcement said in his heart, and just like magic the answer to his questions sounded in his ears.[He didn't lie. The result both times was right.]

'Real' he asked again, wondering to himself that if Alfred didn't lie to mess with him, then how did he loose. Cause even if some fourth years hated him and also boycotted Becca because of their friendship, there are still a lot of idiots left who think of him as their savior and angel, so they should've voted for him.

[He didn't lie or mess with results, host.] System said again.

'Then why did I loose?' Rio said before adding another question, 'And how the hell did Leon win? He shouldn't have many votes from first years with his reputation, and none of the third years should vote for him since he defeated their leader and hurt their superiority.'

[Sigh…]

[You're willing to waste your points on these stupid questions but not on buying something useful.] System sighed heavily and jested him, reminding that every question of his it answers, he loses a few points depending on the information they contain.

'Just enlighten me.' Rio said wondering that even if someone from fourth years wanted not to vote for him, they should've atleast chosen someone else, like Valtor Or Moksh Or Heath or something.

So how did Leon win? Just by relying on second years????

[One of these days your curiosity will have your wallet of points empty, host, I tell you.]

' — '

[He is an underdog.]

[Right or wrong, his every action had built an image of him , crushed it, and then rebuilt it again. From a cripple to genius, from pervert to righteous, from rapist to innocently wronged, or from a lucky ranker to rising star… he is always in limelight.]

[He pulls their attention unwantingly and holds it, making people feel curious about him. And that's why he's won it. ]

[Plus he has a halo and you murdering a senior didn't sit well with most guys.]

Hearing all the lengthy explanations Rio nodded his head and frowned, he felt it made sense, and then it didn't.

But whatever for system's sake or his own point's sake, he didn't get a chance to ask anything again, as Becca slapped his forehead and woke him up.

"You lost too huh." She said with a smile, making Rio doubt if she was feeling happy over that fact.

So he asked.

"Why do you look relaxed after my loss? Shouldn't you at least act the part like I did?"

Hearing him, Becca felt like she got caught cheating or something, and had the root of her ears getting red in embarrassment or shame, so she just coughed like a sage to hide her face and changed the topic.

"Let's just go outside before your sister comes to poke fun at us both." She said, before pulling him out, and sticking her tongue and shaking her head at the girl who walked towards their previous position.

While Amy, who saw them leaving just frowned for a second before smiling and showing a thumbs up sign to her bestie and silently mouthing some words of encouragement that made Becca run faster.

(Tonight's the night. Don't chicken out.)