"Naomi, please calm down and tell me why you're accusing Sofia of stealing your necklace."
After Ms.Claudia turned in her retirement paper because of the dungeon gates incident, a much younger female teacher who screamed pushover replaced her.
"She's been eyeing it all day with those big greedy eyes. Plus, she was the last person in the room to see me put my necklace inside the desk!"
"I didn't do it!" screamed a teary-eyed Sofia.
A picture of innocence as pale green curls framed her rosy-cheeked face.
"Yes, you did! Now give me my necklace, you two-timing thieving tramp!"
Rhia whistled, commenting that Naomi stole that line from one of her mother's dramas and probably didn't even know what those words meant.
"Naomi, watch your language." The teacher tried to sound stern but her tone came out as more of a plea.
In the background, a crying Sofia was being comforted by her best friend Suzy, the same girl from this morning.
"Sofia didn't steal your stupid necklace!" Suzy glared at Naomi, angry that she made Sofia cry and accused her of a crime she didn't commit.
"Lies!"
A voice drew Rhia's and Alex's attention, and once she saw who it was, she was happy that only the two heard her.
"Lucia, when did you get out?!"
Rhia quickly grabbed the fluff ball before anyone could notice its presence and turned around.
"Umm, Rhia, what is that?" Alex pointed questioningly to the round creature in Rhia's arms.
Rhia, with a pointed stare, said, "An annoying ball of cotton candy."
"I shall not accept such disrespect! I'm the lovely Lady Lucia, spirit advisor to the great goddess Lilith and that little girl is lying! I saw her steal the necklace!"
"And how do you know that?" Rhia asked.
"I flew out to do some adventuring while you were playing with the young drake when I stumbled by the classroom and saw that girl rummaging through the young werecat's desk. She stashed the necklace in her pocket. Check!"
Rhia honestly didn't want to get involved, but when she looked at Naomi, she saw the frustration and unfairness she felt displayed in her eyes. Something compelled her to help the other girl, so she walked over and, without saying a word, shoved her hand directly into Sofia's pocket.
"What do you think you're doing?" Suzy turned her glaring orbs onto Rhia, and so did everyone else, especially Naomi.
"Got it!"
Rhia pulled out her hand, and Naomi's gold pendant necklace was dangling from it. Everyone gasped, and Rhia walked over to Naomi.
"Here you go!" Rhia happily dropped the necklace in Naomi's palm before returning to her spot beside Alex.
"Sofia, what do you have to say for yourself?" the teacher scolded the girl in a gentle voice.
"I'm sorry, but it was so pretty that I couldn't stop myself. My parents don't have the money to afford me nice things like Naomi's parents."
Fat, pitiful tears rolled down Sofia's rosy cheeks as Rhia could sense a change in everyone's emotions.
"I'm sorry, Naomi! I was in the wrong! Please forgive me!" Sofia tearfully pleaded as everyone awaited Naomi's response, but Rhia felt she was not about to play by the script.
"Why should I forgive you so easily when you're the one who stole from me!?" It looked like Rhia was right, and those sucked in by Sofia's pitiful tears were not happy with Naomi's answer.
If this was a book, going by the storyline, Naomi should've accepted Sofia's apology with a cliche ending of the two shaking hands and becoming friends. That did not happen.
"You already got a bunch of nice things with your mom being a big-time actress! What difference does one necklace make when you can buy a hundred more!?"
Standing in Sofia's defense was the strong-headed Suzy.
"Just a necklace?"
Naomi narrowed her eyes and they looked like they wanted to pierce through Suzy's skin.
"Don't run your mouth about something when you don't know the full story!" Naomi shouted in anger, tail curling around herself.
"Naomi, you shouldn't scream at your classmates like that," their teacher berated her, but Naomi wasn't paying her attention.
"She's right, you know." All eyes turned to Rhia, who was too late to notice she had spoken unintentionally.
"I mean, just because Sofia apologized doesn't mean Naomi has to accept it. In the end, Sofia was still in the wrong." Rhia hated to be the center of attention but couldn't stop her mouth from speaking the truth.
"So you think Sofia is a bad girl too? Do you hate Sofia?" Sofia pointed those sad, teary orbs at Rhia, and suddenly, those siding with her turned their disagreement onto Rhia.
"It isn't right to hate Sofia over a necklace!"
"Yeah, Sofia is one of our class's cutest and nicest girls!"
"Sofia apologized, didn't she? Why isn't that good enough? It's wrong to pick on sweet and innocent Sofia!"
Rhia stood dumbfounded at how fast the tide had turned, and when she shot a look back at pitiful Sofia, she could've sworn a smirk of triumph crossed the other girl's charming face, but it was only for a brief second.
'So this is the power of a white lotus.'
Rhia remembered her past self, who spent most of her time reading webnovels and webtoons, stumbling upon characters whose personalities mimicked Sofia's. She was both awed and terrified of the girl's skills.
"Alright, class, this case is closed, and let's all get inside and start on our new lesson for today."
The teacher ushered all the students inside the classroom. Most of them comforted a sobbing Sofia. Holding hands with Haruko, Satsuki clicked her tongue in annoyance before walking in.
The last three to enter were Alex, Rhia, and Naomi. Rhia walked in with Alex, but not before pausing and shooting her eyes at Naomi.
Naomi caught her look and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I believe you. You're not a villainess like the class is trying to portray you as. I don't know what sentiment you have with that necklace, but I'm glad you got it back."
Having said her peace, Rhia grabbed Alex's hand, who blushed upon contact and walked into class, leaving Naomi's quivering eyes staring at her back.
—
Back at home, Rhia sat at the family table discussing what had happened during dinner. Rhia dug her knife into her pork chops, her stuffed cheeks resembling a chipmunk as she devoured her mother's delicious food.
"Rhia, you did the right thing helping out your classmate! That other girl was in the wrong. Stealing others' belonging is wrong, well, unless they deserve it-"
"Dear!"
Rhia's father shot his wife a light-hearted warning stare, but she paid him no attention.
"Hey, we're demons, not saints, but we still have some class. We should have perfect reasoning for doing some of the things we do. A prime example would be revenge! If someone has done you wrong, buried their bodies twelve feet into the ground!" argued her mother, clenching her fork as imaginary fire erupted behind her.
"Wait, I thought it was eight feet?" spoke her brother.
"I thought it was six feet?" said Rhia, only to hear her father clear his voice and begin to speak.
"Regardless, and back on topic, Rhia, you did a good thing, and we are proud of you. You're certainly inherited your mother's courageous heart."
Her father smiled with adorning glossy eyes as her mother flushed from the compliment. Rhia smiled as well, her heart fluttering in happiness, though she didn't mean to come off as some type of hero.
It was just when she stared at Naomi, words her grandmother once said to her old self played in her head.
'Put yourself in other people's places. Wouldn't you want someone to help you?'
The answer would be yes, recalling her torment under her old bully's hands and wishing for someone to help her. But even though her pleas went unanswered, her heart refused to do the same to someone else.
"But Rhia, what is that flying fluffball floating beside your head, devouring half of mom's dinner?" her brother asked. Rhia turned her head in the direction his blue eyes were pointed and almost choked on her food.
"Lucia?!"
"Rhia, you didn't tell me you got a devil beast pet!" Only Rhia's mother easily took in the appearance of the floating creature as Lucia licked her lips and proudly said,
"Seconds!"
"You gotta stop showing yourself unannounced!" shouted a fed-up Rhia, having spent the rest of the night coming up with a lie about Lucia being some rare magical creature she discovered by accident that her family found believable.