Chapter 5 The Hustle Begins
+9 Pearls
Now that she had completely severed ties with the Larks, Azalea no longer intended to live under their roof.
It was empty when she returned to the Larks‘ residence by taxi. Azalea went straight to her room and pulled out an old, worn- out suitcase from the corner.
She packed everything she had brought from the orphanage, then dug out a bank card hidden under the bed.
There were 3,000 dollars on the card–a living allowance that Mr. Quinn, one of the orphanage’s investors, had transferred to her the month she left. She later explained that she no longer needed financial help and that the investor hadn’t asked for the money back. Who would’ve thought that, in the end, this money gave her the means to leave the Larks behind?
Once everything was packed. Azalea even changed into one of her old orphanage outfits.
She hadn’t grown much, thanks to years of malnourishment at the Larks. Otherwise, the clothes wouldn’t have fit her
anymore.
With a self–deprecating smile, she hoisted the suitcase and left the room. As she was heading toward the front gate, she ran into Harper.
Harper’s heart sank. Ms. Azalea’s look right now, was she running away?
With her luggage and ID in hand, Azalea took a bus to Grey Hollow of Draywick. Real estate in the city was ridiculously expensive–only the suburbs offered short–term rentals at prices she could afford.
It didn’t take long for her to spend 1,000 dollars renting a tiny room.
It was small, but it had everything she needed.
Back at the Larks‘ residence.
Sydney was surrounded by a crowd as she walked in, like a princess adored by her knights.
Harper hesitated for a moment but still stepped forward. “Mr. Lark, Ms. Azalea came back earlier. She packed a suitcase and left. She hasn’t returned since.”
“What?” Wesley’s expression darkened. He frowned, uneasy. Could Azalea really be serious about cutting ties?
Matthias crossed his arms and snorted. “All this talk about severing ties and storming off–does she really think she can scare us into begging her to come back? What a joke. I bet she’ll come crawling back in less than three days.
“And when she does, she’ll need to be taught a lesson.”
Wesley scoffed. “When she comes begging, I’ll make sure she regrets ever leaving!”
Sydney listened to all of this with delight, though her expression was demure. In a gentle voice, she said, “Still, maybe someone should go check. It’d be bad if something happened to her.”
Her sweet concern only made the rest of the family feel that Azalea was ungrateful and immature. They began consoling Sydney, saying there was no need to worry about Azalea–she was an adult. It’s not like she’d die out there.
Only Bastian clenched his hands tightly, eyes filled with worry. With no money, where could Azalea possibly go
Azalea cleaned the room, laid out new bedding, and felt a rare sense of contentment.
This place was nothing compared to the lavishness of the Larks‘ residence, but she felt safe for the first time in a long time.
No more walking on eggshells, no more watching her words or worrying that she’d be tossed out for upsetting someone. She could finally breathe.
Next up is studying, earning money, and getting her health back.
There was one year left until the college admissions test. In her senior year, schools began reviewing material from her first year so she could keep up completely by self–studying alongside the curriculum.
Azalea was confident she could do it
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Chapter 5 The Hustle Begins
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As for her health, because the Larks doted on Sydney, who had a congenital heart condition, they didn’t want Azalea to look too lively and possibly upset her. So they’d had a mutritionist plan her meals to limit her energy.
Frequent small meals, never enough to feel full. She was always weak and sluggish–but her ‘nutritional balance maintained.
was
That was the theory, anyway. In reality, no one in the family checked to see if Azalea was getting proper meals. The servants made sure she didn’t eat anything extra on the side.
The most pathetic part? Even when she was starving, she’d learned to make stomach–soothing meals just to feed Matthias when he skipped meals due to being too focused on his experiments.
His stomach was well taken care of. As for hers? No one gave a damn.
“Now that I’ve left early, as long as I earn enough. I can use my past life’s pharmacology knowledge to fix my health,” Azalea muttered, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
She was thinner than ever–even skinnier than when she lived at the orphanage. Her chin was sharp, with not a trace of fat left. Her height had stayed the same for the past three years: 5’4“,
If I want to keep studying while earning money quickly…” She frowned, deep in thought. “There’s only one way.”
In her past life, several games had been officially added to the Olympics, and esports had exploded in popularity.
Investing in a team was like printing money.
Bastian’s Anexis team had taken that chance to transform into a full–blown esports club, creating a legend.
With the rise of streaming, they became the first to launch a live–stream platform and spearheaded the short–form video industry.
Azalea’s plan was to get in early–no matter how things changed, internet–related industries would always be eternal.
The hottest 5v5 competitive game, Glory League, is in the middle of its fall championship. Bastian’s Anexis team was facing off against a dark horse five–man rookie team, GOD.
But GOD’s mid–laner had dropped out due to a hand injury, and the team scrambled to find a replacement across the entire game community.
This was her chance.
She could earn prize money, invest it back, and go from player to owner. Why not
Fueled by the idea, Azalea was filled with energy.
Over the next two days, she familiarized herself with the area. Her schedule was tight and simple: three fixed points–grocery shopping to restore her health, nighttime gaming at the gaming cafés, and studying the rest of the time.
The night before the new semester started, she went to bed early to ensure she had enough energy for the first day.
She didn’t know that the school’s forum had already exploded because of her.
A gossip post had gone viral–claiming the Larks‘ ‘real and fake daughters‘ were now rivals in a battle for inheritance. With outlandish headlines like “Jealousy Pushes Girl Downstairs” and “Banished from Home,” bored students flooded the post with. comments, pushing it to the top right before school began.
Just like that, Azalea’s name became infamous at Draywick High School.
Azalea took the bus to school and first stopped by the art prep class she used to attend to complete her withdrawal.
The art class was pretty lax, and with the semester just starting, the building was noisy as she climbed the stairs.
“Oh my god, Sydney, are you saying you’re attending that special training camp at Jubilee for the rest of the semester? You actually got that spot?”
“Tch, do you even need to ask? Sydney’s not just anyone–getting a spot like that is no easy
feat
Olt, stop flattering me. I just got lucky.” Sydney said. Even without seeing her, Azalea could picture the scene clearly, Sydney
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Chapter 5 The Hustle Begins
basking in praise, pretending to be modest while soaking up every compliment.
So fake it made her sick.
Between all the flattery, Azalea even caught the occasional jab at her.
She ignored all of it and walked straight in. The noisy room went dead silent.
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Azalea walked up to the teacher without missing a beat, holding out her paperwork. “Can you sign this for me, please?”
“You’re really transferring to academic classes?”
“Yeah. The teacher didn’t press further; she just signed her form and crossed her name off the list.
Just a few brief words and the crowd finally registered what was happening
Is Azalea seriously switching to academic class now! Was getting kicked out of the Larks that traumatic? Has she lost her mind!”
“Maybe she couldn’t stand studying the same thing as Sydney anymore. Rather than keep embarrassing herself, she figured she’d just quit and leave.”
All the muttering buzzed around her ears. Azalea couldn’t care less.
Just as she was about to leave, Sydney suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Azalea, stop messing around, okay? This isn’t the way if you’re doing this just to get our parents‘ and brothers‘ attention. Don’t throw your future away like this.”
She looked so disappointed as if she were scolding a child for their own good.
Her words clicked with the others–so that’s what this was! Azalea just wanted sympathy!
