Chapter 364: Won (4)

Chapter 364: Chapter 364: Won (4)

"Reporting, sir! Shelby Fenton was analyzing the instructor’s skin. She said it was as smooth as silk and pale as the moon, even better than a woman’s! She’s dying to know what brand of skincare you use!" Seraphina Sterling was no pushover. While Shelby hadn’t been the one to say it—it was just some gossip she’d overheard—Seraphina was pinning it on her now.

The instructor’s expression darkened instantly. No man wants to be compared to a woman, much less be told he comes out on top. Especially not a hard-bitten soldier like him.

The moment Shelby Fenton heard this and saw the instructor’s terrifying expression, she immediately shot back, "I didn’t say that! Sharon Cheney and Lena Bishop did! I just laughed! Everything else has nothing to do with me!"

Somewhere in the crowd, the faces of Sharon Cheney and Lena Bishop fell. ’That damn Shelby Fenton,’ they thought, ’is her brain filled with crap? The instructor only asked who laughed. Why the hell did she have to say so much!’

"Shelby Fenton, Seraphina Sterling, one hour of standing at attention! Timer starts now!" The instructor glared at them both, skipping the investigation and heading straight for the punishment.

"I’m not doing it! I’m a daughter of the Fenton Family, you can’t punish me like this! I want to see your commanding officer! I’m reporting you!" Just enduring the military training was already pushing Shelby Fenton to her limit; now she was being punished on top of it? There was no way she would take this lying down.

"Daughter of the Fenton Family? And that’s supposed to mean something? This is a school! Right now, you’re just another freshman! I’m your instructor, which means you follow my directions and obey my commands! You want to complain? Go right ahead! But first, you’re going to finish this hour of standing at attention!" The instructor’s voice grew even sterner. He clearly couldn’t care less about Shelby Fenton’s threats.

"I won’t do it! We’ll see what you can do about it!" Shelby Fenton was furious now. Her identity as a daughter of the Fenton Family had always been her golden ticket. Yesterday, she’d been ignored by Seraphina Sterling and Genevieve Churchill, and now she was being disrespected by some common grunt. She couldn’t possibly stand for being slighted twice in a row!

’So she’s a rich kid. No wonder she’s so full of schemes,’ Seraphina thought. ’But to show such open disrespect for the instructor... the Fenton Family must be quite powerful. Still...’

"Refusing to stand? Fine by me," the instructor’s icy voice cut through the air. "Aethelgard University has a rule: any freshman who fails to participate in military training for non-medical reasons will be expelled, without exception." Shelby Fenton didn’t dare say another word. She had repeated a year of high school just to get into Aethelgard University; there was no way she could let herself be expelled. The threat of expulsion was her Achilles’ heel.

’The instructor is amazing! He’s not even afraid of a powerful family! So what if she’s the Fenton Family’s precious daughter? In the end, she still has to accept her punishment,’ the other students thought, a sense of fairness restored. If even military training was subject to a class system and there was no equality on campus, that would have been truly disheartening.

"Reporting, Instructor. Your judgment is unfair," Seraphina Sterling calmly objected. "Shelby Fenton has already admitted that she was the one who laughed. This matter has nothing to do with me. Why should I be punished too?" The other students stared at her, stunned. They couldn’t help but admire her guts. ’Can’t she see the look on the instructor’s face? He looks like he’s about to commit murder, and she still dares to argue?’

"Because your stance is sloppy! That’s why you’re being punished!" the instructor roared, his earlier anger clearly not having subsided.

"I consider myself a good student," Seraphina countered. "If my stance is sloppy, that must mean there’s an issue with how the instructor taught it. If I’m being punished for that, shouldn’t the instructor be punished as well?" Seraphina Sterling was no soft target. If he thought he could use her as an outlet for his anger, he was sorely mistaken.

Suddenly, the instructor’s anger seemed to vanish. A faint smile even touched the corners of his lips. "Seraphina Sterling!"

"Present!"