Chapter 3

He even cherished the scarf Ivy gave him like a precious treasure, holding it close to his chest.

It was almost funny, really. I had once given Magnus a hand-knitted scarf, too. Back then, Magnus just took one look at it before throwing it straight onto the ground.

"Instead of wasting your time on these meaningless things, you'd be better off thinking about how to supply me with more blood!"

I originally thought he just disliked human items. Now, I realize he simply disliked the person giving them to him.

Reflecting on everything from the past, I made up my mind and blocked Magnus' number.

…

Magnus frowned as every message he sent bounced back with a red error notification.

He wrapped his arm around Ivy. "I really don't know what kind of fit Laura is throwing. She actually blocked me!"

Ivy lay exhausted in Magnus' arms, breathing heavily. "Magnus, maybe you should go soothe her."

Magnus clicked his tongue in annoyance. "It seems I've been way too good to her lately! It's made her forget her place."

Ivy's voice was soft, acting coy. "But what are you going to do without blood? If you don't have her consent, you can't just take her blood directly, or the school will punish you."

Hearing that, Magnus nonchalantly twirled a lock of Ivy's hair around his finger.

"It doesn't matter. I've already fed on her blood this week. Laura will come crawling back to me soon enough, just like every time before."

Magnus was full of confidence. In the past, whenever he gave me the cold shoulder, I would grovel for his forgiveness, and he assumed this time would be no different.

…

Since I didn't go looking for Magnus, he naturally wouldn't come looking for me either.

I never had friends at Monster Academy. In fact, you could say I was the whole school's public enemy.

Before, when Magnus was around, my classmates had always tolerated me out of deference to him. Now that I was wandering campus alone, it didn't take long for the vultures to circle.

Emily the werewolf was the person at Monster Academy who hated me the most. Seeing me by myself, she stepped up to block my path.

"What's wrong? You're not trailing behind Magnus these past few days? Could it be that Magnus hates a pathetic loser like you now, too?"

I kept my head down and stayed silent, not wanting to get into an argument with her. Now that I was on my own, starting a conflict wasn't a smart move.

Emily, however, had no intention of letting me off the hook.

"Makes sense, though. Someone as repulsive as you is destined to end up alone and miserable!"

Her sarcastic words stabbed straight into my heart like a blade.

"Laura, I seriously don't get how someone as obnoxious as you can still have the nerve to stay at this school. If I were you, I would have left Monster Academy ages ago instead of clinging to Magnus like a leech!"

I used to think they simply couldn't stand the fact that a human like me was attending Monster Academy, which was why I had been enduring it all in silence.

So why were they so friendly toward Ivy?

Why was Magnus like this, and why were my classmates like this too?

When I was the only human at the academy, I could still keep deceiving myself, blaming my isolation on my race. But now I desperately needed an answer.

"Why don't you guys like me? Is it just because I'm human? But Ivy is human too, so why are you all so nice to her?"

Hearing my words, Emily looked at me in utter disbelief. "You think we hate you because you're human? Oh my God, we're not racists!"

Wait, what?

"We hate you because you look down on us!"

Her sudden words left my head spinning. "What are you talking about? I've never looked down on any of you! You're the ones who have always hated me!"

Seeing how I was supposedly twisting the truth, Emily immediately whipped out her phone to show her "evidence".

"Stop denying it! We all know about the bad things you said behind our backs!"