They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 280: Doubts Chapter 280: Doubts Her short, dark braids were pulled back into a neat ponytail, and her fitted travel vest looked more stylish than practical.

She wasn’t a noble, just a civilian who had worked her way into Abuchi’s circle through street smarts, charm, and persistence.

She had no battlefield accolades, but she knew how to survive, how to watch, and how to stay close to power.

Her loyalty to Abuchi ran deep, but it was tinted with quiet resentment.

At Nnenna’s arrival, Karen did not bother hiding the way her lips pressed into a line.

“This is the girl?” she said, her tone flat.

No direct hostility.

Just clipped judgment.

Karen didn’t like Nnenna.

She never had.

It wasn’t about her skill, or lack of it, it was everything else.

The adoption.

The royal treatment.

The now growing bond with Abuchi.

He hated her so much before.

What changed?

Karen had clawed her way into his circle and stayed quietly in his shadow, hoping he might one day turn around and see her.

But now there was this girl, sixteen, untrained, unworthy in Karen’s eyes, handed a seat she had worked years to earn.

John, by contrast, didn’t say much.

A low ranked noble born to a family that barely held onto its title, he had enough breeding to enter high society but not enough to matter.

He had trained hard to make himself useful to Abuchi, reliable, grounded, strategic.

His travel worn clothes and low profile demeanor reflected someone who wasn’t flashy, but dependable.

He didn’t like risks, and this… looked like a risk.

He eyed Nnenna for a moment before muttering, “I thought this was a real mission.” He didn’t say more, but the meaning hung in the air.

She was young.

She was untested.

the prince was letting personal feelings interfere with

then there was

stood slightly apart from the others, hands in the pockets

to the Lionara airfields, and the faint smell of metal and oil clung

He wasn’t military.

He wasn’t noble.

tech guy, the one who could hack, fix,

didn’t carry himself like a fighter, but he had saved

Nnenna in

wasn’t impressed, but

myself,” he

any judgments yet.” That quiet neutrality, free of scorn or

flicking over each of them

could feel the tension, the

one

Not yet.

But she would be.

they liked

voice steady even though

a small wave, casual, polite, no judgment

didn’t bother to return the

were cold, openly

serious?” John said, looking at Abuchi like he

a sixteen year old girl on this kind of

killed?” Karen scoffed, arms crossed tightly over her chest, not even trying to mask her

“This is reckless, Abuchi.

reckless.” Their disrespect was loud and

the way their eyes slid over her

She could guess why.

seen how Abuchi spoke of her, how he had treated her like an annoying shadow, never acknowledging

were his closest

respect for her,

Abuchi’s face darkened.

any of you had been at the Grand Ball, you wouldn’t

slightly, but not in her

“I was there.

saying this,”

didn’t hear what people

she must have bribed the other competitors to lose to her?” Karen didn’t speak, but her silence