Ch.8: 4S Beauties of Diamond Academy

Maria's good mood from before instantly disappeared once she took in the appearance of the boy who appeared from out of the shadows and before her. He was cute, with a touch of handsomeness where you could tell that he was definitely going to grow up and be a very attractive man in the future. Then again, one should expect nothing less from the male lead from the light-novel A Fairytale Romance and crown prince of Astral.

Even though he was the male lead in a shoujo romance genre novel, without the heroine, Maria could’ve easily mistaken him for a shounen male harem protagonist due to the number of girls that ridiculously fell for him. The temperature outside felt warm. A light breeze ruffled his raven hair; those cold piercing violet eyes of his were pointed in Maria's direction.

"...Y-Yo," Maria nervously greeted, saying the first thing that popped into her head; this greeting earned her an annoyed look from the crown prince.

"Idiot."

'Well screw you too, asshole!' fumed Maria as in her mind Dark Maria was flipping off the crown prince. Unable to sense Maria's anger, the Crown Prince a.k.a the future love interest of the female heroine and number one on Maria's list of Who to Avoid, turned his attention to another boy who stepped out from his hiding spot to stand beside him.

"So it's her, again. Earl Rosendrey's daughter who is low in IQ, annoying, unladylike, and straight-up... distasteful." This time, scrunching his face, expressing his dislike towards Maria, was yet another one of the future heroine's harem members and the crown prince's best friend, Gilbert Andersen.

Gilbert was the son of the Prime Minister. Right after he was born into this world his future was already set in stone and crafted by his father, which was to inherit his father's position and assist Alan when he would come to the throne. Similar to the crown prince, one could tell that this boy with navy blue hair, wearing black-framed glasses and possessing the features of a bishounen, would be highly sought after in the future.

The impression he left on Maria was not pleasant, someone she found just as annoying as the crown prince. He was a snobby, stuck-up, know it all but the fangirls, both in the novel and outside of it, found him so attractive that these flaws were ignored. "Hey, four-eyes, stop saying those rude things about Maria!" Maria almost cried tears of joy when she saw the one who was sticking up for her was Mai.

'Mai! You sweet, sweet girl! You're truly a good friend. Don't worry, I'll bring you cookies for sticking up for me.' Mentally, Maria was shedding tears of happiness, healing the pain of those hurtful words that were thrown her way.

'Hey, I'm only human, and even though in the novels those transmigrated girls can walk it off, slapping the faces of others like a true OP boss, sadly to say, that's not me. I'm weak! So please stop bullying me for something the past Maria did!' silently begged Maria, who was having to deal with the troublesome people that the original Maria offended.

"Such an unpleasant girl dares to talk back to Gilbert-sama!? Can you not see how the presence of you two is ruining the crown prince's mood?" spoke a fierce and angry female voice. Deep down inside, Maria had a bad feeling that when she encountered the crown prince and his loyal sidekick that things would get worse. Why the heck did she have to go and jinx herself?!

In the garden by the fountain, Maria and Mai stood in front while on their left stood the crown prince and four-eyes, but appearing on their right were four girls that to Maria spelled double-trouble. Now, remember when Maria was talking about all those female rivals that were against the heroine and her relationship with the crown prince?

'Never knew I would meet the A-team so early in the beginning.' Standing proudly to the right were the 4-S Beauties of Diamond Academy. When it came to popularity, beauty, wealth, and status for girls here at Diamond Academy, at the top were the 4S Beauties, the 'S' standing for seasons, due to how each girl's appearance reminded people of a specific season.

Starting first with Natsumi Summer, the one who spoke before and was currently glaring at both Mai and Maria in her red dress, embroidered with pink rose designs, as she arrogantly flipped her long curly hair that was a beautiful ombre of pink and reddish orange. Vividly reminding one of a sunset, it was styled into a fancy high ponytail. From what Maria recalled, Natsumi was written as overbearing and fierce like the unbearable sun during summer. She was the daughter of Marquess Leonard Summer and his wife, Marchioness Haruko.

"Alan-sama! Gilbert-sama! Please forgive their transgressions; even though they are in the wrong, it's not good to waste your anger on those with low intelligence." This time speaking, using that sugary adorable voice of hers, was Lily Bloomdale. When looking at Lily, one couldn't help but be charmed by her gentle and extremely cute appearance.

Seeing Lily in person, Maria understood how people were bewitched by those large, gentle lime-green eyes. Long curly bangs framed her cute face, while the rest of her pale blonde hair was styled into twin thick braided buns, decorated with pink, yellow, and light green flowers. She stood there under the moonlight like a cute fairy in her pastel yellow and pink frilly dress. Lily was the treasured and spoiled daughter of Earl Vidor Bloomdale and Countess Camilla.

"Is it just me, or is this the second time our intelligence was insulted?" Mai leaned over to whisper in Maria's ear.

"No, it's definitely not you," Maria calmly whispered back to her when a third girl began to speak.

"Crown Prince, Maria has always been an unintelligent and pushy girl. She lacks manners and should be avoided." This time downgrading Maria in public with her sharp words was Belle Autumn, the Beauty of Fall; the tone of her voice was not too harsh or soft. Belle was the type of girl who always appeared mature beyond her own age, holding herself as better than everybody else.

She earned the title of Beauty of Fall due to her chestnut brown wavy hair and apricot eyes, wearing an elegant dress that matched her eyes. Belle's father was the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, one of the biggest departments in the Magic Bureau, while her mother came from an aristocratic family.

Standing on the side, constantly taking insults, it made Maria want to leave yet her feet were rooted to the ground. She definitely had nowhere to run when she saw the final and fourth member of the 4-S Beauties make her way towards them. The closer that elegant figure got, the more Maria understood why this girl had earned the title, Beauty of Winter. "What is your relationship with Richard-sama?" demanded the frost princess.

There was no hint of a smile on her face, and being so close to her, Maria could've sworn she saw malice flash in this girl's eyes. Standing before Maria was Eira Snow, a girl who was known to never smile with words that cut sharp like ice. She reminded Maria of an ice-princess with her pale skin, icy-blue eyes, and snow-white and pale blue ombre locks flowing down her back, wearing a pretty indigo and midnight-blue dress.

The novel stated that Eira's father was a powerful aristocrat; her mother also came from an aristocratic background but in her youth was a famous songstress signed under one of Astral's top talent agencies. Eira idolized her mother and would later follow in her mother's footsteps by becoming a popular idol.

At this question, Maria found herself speechless; from a side glance, Maria could see how this question caught the attention of both four-eyes and the crown prince. Maria was beginning to think she was cursed with bad luck with all the things she had been encountering lately, especially when these four major beauties made their appearance. Which gave Maria a feeling that her life was not going to get easier.

Though neither of the 4-S Beauties could actually stand each other, due to having feelings for the same man, they also could not stand Maria. Why? Simply because they found her actions and unruly ways annoying and disgraceful. The original Maria always did things in a loud, foolish, and bossy fashion and that was a huge 'no-no' for these primadonnas.

Things only got worse when it was obvious that the crown prince also did not like Maria, leaving the four to knock her down and put Maria in her place when in their crush's presence. The original Maria vainly looked up to these four primadonnas and secretly wanted to be a part of their clique despite the harsh criticisms they always threw her way.

'Life, why must you hate me?'