Bullied but Popular



1 – Aren Deepus

“Heuk… heuk…”

Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was a familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling.

“Another… dream? Dammit!”

Aren Dupuis, the eldest son of a nobleman living in a rural area, woke up suddenly while sleeping and trembled all over.

“Water…”

Aren reached out and grabbed the water pitcher he had prepared before bed and drank it like crazy.

Glug… glug… glug…

After drinking water like pouring it into his body for a while, Aren put down the pitcher with a sigh of relief when his thirst subsided.

“Phew, how many times has it been now?”

Aren had been having strange dreams every time he slept well lately. They were stories from a completely different world than the one he lived in.

At first, he enjoyed the fascinating experience of continuously connecting dreams, but as time went by, he was annoyed by them.

The reason was due to the after-effects he experienced.

Aren looked down at his body for a moment.

“I’m all wet…”

His whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

The reason was that the realism of the dream was too high.

“Why can’t that idiot just live like a normal person?”

In his dream, Aren saw a man fighting monsters. That part was fine.

The problem was his usual behavior.

“Was he so stupid that he went there when he was obviously going to die? Is he just low on intelligence?”

Blunt words came out without any thought.

Aren couldn’t understand or didn’t want to understand the man he saw in his dream.

The reason was that his behavior seemed too foolish, stubbornly fighting monsters without enough power, and finally dying by cutting off his own life after failing to save someone else when he promised his family that he would come back alive.

It seemed so stupid to Aren, and because I was sympathizing with him, I felt unfair and miserable as if I had died.

“Haa… This has severe aftereffects?”

The sense of reality was so great that it seemed as if he himself had not kept his promise to his family.

Aren grumbled and got up from his seat, closed his eyes for a moment, and concentrated his energy.

“It works…”

Aren slowly opened his eyes and looked at the mirror in his room.

Normal brown hair and normal face, but Aren’s eyes in the mirror were different.

It was shimmering in a soft blue light that seemed to embrace the sea.

“Didn’t you call it the coast in your dreams?”

gift.

It was Aren’s ability that was awakened a year ago.

I don’t know why, but after awakening this eye, I started having that strange dream.

Aren stared at his shore in the mirror for a moment, then turned to look out the window.

“Wow, the real world looks different.”

Aren’s gift, the coast makes the invisible visible.

It shows the flow of mana, airflow, and waves that are hovering in the world, and if used well, it is a rare ability that allows you to see through the opponent’s weaknesses or hidden abilities.

It’s not a combat ability, but it’s an ability that shows near-all-purpose vision depending on how you use it.

“Aren~ are you awake?”

‘ah.’

As I was looking out the window for a while, I heard a woman’s voice outside the door.

Sandra Dippus.

It was her mother’s voice.

“Yes! Mom woke up!.”

“Then hurry up and eat. You’re going to the academy today.”

‘Academy…’

This year Aren turned 17 years old.

And here it was possible to go to the Higher Academy from the age of seventeen.

‘Should I go to the academy?’

To be honest, it’s annoying for Aren, who wandered between death and near death in his dream.

I’m still going through a real fight in a strange dream these days, but I didn’t want to suffer even in reality.

“It can’t be helped… A dream is a dream and has nothing to do with reality…”

Aren raised his already exhausted body.

It’s obviously a dream, but my whole body throbs as if it really happened.

jump

“Are you awake?”

“Your father.”

At the living room table, his father, Hans Difus, was seated first.

After a simple morning greeting, Aren sat down and looked around the delicacies on the table.

‘You used some strength.’

It seems that her mother put a lot of effort into saying that she is going to the academy today.

“let’s eat.”

“yes.’

Originally, they would be waiting for their mother and sister, Mirai, but since they had to be in time for the carriage to the city, the two of them started eating first.

jump

While Aren and Hans were eating, Sandra came out of Mirai’s room.

“Eww, what should I do? Mirai doesn’t want to wake up.”

“Leave it alone, Mom. Mirai doesn’t wake up well in the morning.”

“No matter what, I have to see my brother off.”

Even as she said that, her mother sat down on a chair at the table, as if she had given up on waking Mirai.

‘Well, because I expected it.’

My sister, Mirai, was particularly weak in the morning, to the point that she never got up early.

Aren was roughly expecting it, so he continued eating without much concern.

I was eating breakfast again, and suddenly my father said.

“When you go to the academy, be nice to your fiancée.”

“Ah yes.”

Aren paused in thought for a moment, then nodded.

Aren’s family is not rich, but they are still aristocratic.

Even if it is a small rural village, the manor is a manor and Aren is a baron’s minor family.

It is not strange if the father visits his fiancée.

Not strange, but…

‘I’ve never seen…’

About half a year ago, out of the blue, my father told me he had a fiancée.

However, the opponent was strange.

The daughter of one of Korea’s pillar families, Countess Cloud, is her fiancée.

I don’t understand.

As for other high-ranking nobles, how could his fiancee become the second daughter of the Cloud family?

At first, I felt a sense of rejection at the unfamiliar situation, but after hearing my father’s explanation, I was a little convinced.

really very little…

Gran Cloud.

The head of Count Cloud’s family, he was engaged in mercenary activities after leaving training during his active duty.

And while carrying out the quest, he was attacked by a monster and was mortally wounded, lying on the floor and wandering between death and death.

And quite coincidentally, Hans Deepus, who was carrying out a similar request, found Gran lying down.

Then he used the potion he had saved to treat him, and then picked up Gran and took him to the village.

Due to the relationship at that time, Gran was favored by Hans and continued their friendship, and now they have become close friends beyond social status.

‘no. But can he decide his daughter’s betrothal like that?’

I don’t know exactly what kind of conversation came out between my father and Count Cloud, but it was honestly a burden in Aren’s situation.

‘Your name was Tia Cloud, right?’

As Aren was alone in his head thinking about how to deal with the situation, he heard his father’s voice.

“Well, it might be awkward at first, but try your best. A man should be good at this kind of thing.”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”

At his father’s words, Aren laughed and continued to eat.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t such a bad situation.

Having a relationship with the Countess, Tia Cloud was rumored to be a great beauty.

Although there was a sense of pressure, it was not a bad situation for Aren.

While I was organizing my thoughts, my mother, who was listening to my father, put on an absurd expression for a moment and then spoke in a low voice.

“Shouldn’t you stop talking nonsense and have a meal?”

“hmm……”

“……”

The mood got worse.

***

“Tia, you’re engaged?”

Kuzen, the city where the Bollywood Academy is located.

There were four men and women eating at a large hotel in the city.

At the words of one of them, Luke Paper, Tia Cloud frowned and said:

“You… do you want to talk nonsense?”

“No… I heard from Anna?”

At that, Tia glared at the woman sitting next to her.

With bobbed golden hair and a cute look, she flinched at Tia’s gaze and said,

“No, I don’t know because you seem to have a lot of worries… And if you’ve come this far, I’ll have to tell them, you might have a good idea.”

After Anna said that, she looked at Tia.

Luckily, Tia wasn’t too upset, so she concentrated on her meal.

Then he lowered his head and asked as if muttering.

“Carol… do you know?”

“No, I don’t know yet.”

This time it was the other, Ron Andrei, who answered.

He has short blonde hair and a cool look.

“Soon Carol will come here too. Tell me then.”

“……”

Tia nodded expressionlessly and continued eating.

Luke said if that was frustrating.

“Hey, if you know this far, shouldn’t I tell you something?”

“what?”

“No, what are you going to do, engagement!”

“Of course I won’t.”

“No, so do you have any plans?”

“……”

Tia kept her mouth shut.

Her father, Gran Cloud, is a stubborn man.

He is the kind of person who doesn’t know that once he decides to do something to the end, he gives up halfway through.

In addition, for some reason, even though he had refused to proceed with the engagement several times, his father did not back down and threatened to proceed with the engagement if there was no good reason.

In Tia’s situation, it was a lightning bolt from the dry sky.

‘A good reason…’

Arranged marriages were common and taken for granted among the nobility.

And since Tia was also a noble, there were several occasions when engagement proposals came in.

However, she did not expect to be engaged at all.

“I’m going to meet a guy named Aren and say no.”

“and?”

“… I need to create a reason to break the engagement.”

Luke thought for a moment and said.

“How about asking Carol?”

“What are you talking about?”

Tia glared at Luke with an annoyed expression.

“Tia, don’t be annoyed and listen. As I came, I thought about it, but I asked Carol to act as your boyfriend, and I’m going to take her to that guy who approves of Aren? Then, won’t he also agree and give up?”

“What bullsh*t. And why are you asking Carol?”

“You like Carr.”

“This bastard is going to keep barking asshole!”

“Come on, stop!”

As Tia’s voice got louder and louder, Anna stopped it and said.

“Luke, don’t tell me.”

“No… I just…”

Anna ignored it and looked at Tia.

“Actually, Tia doesn’t have a bad opinion of Luke. No, it would be more effective.

“……”

Karl Valesia

The successor of the Marquis of Vilesia and their friend.

Carol was a person who had a hard time finding what was lacking because the word genius had been attached to her since she was a child.

With a neat appearance, basic culture and excellent abilities, he was a powerful person among the powerful, who was currently competing for the first or second place among the noble ladies who wanted to be engaged.

If such a being came forward as Tia’s lover, there was a high probability that the baron’s material would give up on Tia.

No, on the contrary, Count Gran might also be shaken when he hears this rumor.

The problem was that Carol and Tia weren’t really lovers.

said Anna.

“Well, actually, it doesn’t have to be Carol. Neither Luke nor Ron will be beaten anywhere.”

At that point, Luke looks handsome? Ron kept his expressionless expression, but his expression hardened slightly as if he was slightly nervous.

“I hate Luke.”

“why not!?.”

Tia ignored Luke and looked at Ron.

“Ron… can I ask you a favor?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

As soon as the words are finished, the answer comes.

He looked calm on the outside, but his face was slightly flushed, as if he was in a good mood.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind Tia.

“What are you talking about?”

“…!?”

Hearing that voice, Tia made a surprised expression and turned around.

Karl Valesia.

he stood behind