In the winter, I braved the freezing wind, waking up at 3 a.m. to secure seats in the study hall.

When the alarm clock rang, it was exactly 8 a.m.

I called Charles, asking him to head straight to the study hall.

“Are you insane? Why are you calling so early?”

The quiet study hall was already filled with students immersed in their work.

His loud voice through the phone was crystal clear to everyone around.

I cupped my hand over the receiver and whispered, “You said yesterday... you asked me to save seats... I... I’m sorry.”

“Get lost! Stop bothering me.”

The students glanced at me with mixed expressions.

“Isn’t that the Pure Love Warrior from Management Class 2?”

“Hahaha, Pure Love? More like Charles’s bootlicker!”

“Didn’t she climb into Charles’s bed last month while he was drunk?”

“What? That shameless? Wow, that’s new.”

I buried my head in my arms on the desk, but the mocking whispers pressed down on me, suffocating me.

“Hey, is anyone sitting next to you?”

A clear, gentle male voice startled me.

“No... no one.”

A sky-blue figure sat down beside me, but I didn’t dare look up.

“Do you have a pen I can borrow? I forgot mine.”

His voice barely registered in my mind. All I could hear were the words echoing in my head: climbing into his bed, shameless, bootlicker.

Panicked, I grabbed my bag, leaving behind my books and pencil case, and bolted out of the study hall.

Barely surviving until lunchtime, I packed two dishes and a soup from a nearby restaurant and headed to Charles’s dorm.

By now, the dorm matron was no longer surprised to see me.

Once, curiosity got the better of her, and she stopped me.

“Are you Charles’s maid? Why do you bring him food every day?”

Faced with her questioning, I could only offer a helpless smile.

Even the dorm matron knew I liked Charles. Occasionally, she’d give me a piece of advice.

“Girls shouldn’t be so eager when chasing boys. You need to hold back a little, understand?”

Of course, I understood.

But what if holding back meant Charles would ignore me?

I knocked on Charles’s dorm room door.

His roommate, Duncan, opened it.

“Oh look, Miss Cinderella is here!”

I gave an awkward smile.

Charles was immersed in a game, not even glancing my way.

I placed the food on his desk.

“Eat before it gets cold.”

“Scram, scram! I’m in the middle of a dungeon run. Go wash the clothes in the basin first.”

I glanced at his computer screen. His game character was a knight, standing next to a female mage.

On the balcony, the blue basin was filled with Charles’s underwear.

I grabbed a stool and started washing.

I had bought all of Charles’s clothes, including his underwear.

But among the five pairs of underwear in the basin, one was a triangle-cut.

If I remembered correctly, Charles never wore triangle briefs.

A flicker of doubt surfaced in my mind, but my hands continued scrubbing.

“Man, Charles, you’ve got it good! Having a girlfriend who’s basically like a live-in maid. She really knows how to serve you.”

“Hmph, she’s okay. Just average in bed.”

“Oh? How average are we talking?”

“You want to know? Next time, I’ll bring you all in. You can try her out yourselves.”

“Would you really?”

“What’s there to hesitate about? She’s so slutty, she gets wet with just a little teasing...”

I slid the balcony’s glass door shut, blocking out their vulgar chatter.

At some point, Charles’s roommates had started making lewd jokes about me.

At first, I’d feel humiliated and beg Charles to stop them.

But he was indifferent. “Are they wrong? Didn’t you throw yourself at me? Aren’t you the one who’s happy to serve me?”

His words crushed me like a wilted flower.

Eventually, I became numb to their remarks.

What I didn’t realize was that my tolerance would later lead to a disaster that would utterly destroy me.