I Refuse To Be A Flower - Chapter 8

Although the teacher immediately straightened up and trudged back to the front of the classroom, he was already offended. He opened the book slowly and peered at Pamela.

“Miss Pamela? I asked if my class was boring.”

Ancinia, who was in the back seat, tried to spoke on her behalf.

“Si-sir, Pamela didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Miss Ancinia, I asked Miss Pamela, not you.”

“But Sir, I spoke to her first…”

“Hmph!”

Ancinia looked alternately between Pamela and the old man in fright.

“Answer my question, Miss Pamela.”

Pamela felt complicated, somehow, this scene felt like the situation she would frequently face in her past life.

As she had expected, her life in the convent couldn’t be peaceful.

The old man’s eyes bore the familiar feelings for Pamela.

She glanced around.

The girls, who were half asleep, were wide awake as if they had found an Intriguing sight.

“Perfect.”

A girl whispered merrily at Pamela’s ordeal.

She was whispering; however, the classroom was quiet. No matter how small her voice was, it still resounded clearly throughout the classroom.

The comment drew everyone’s attention towards Pamella, even the girls who had not been interested in the spectacle.

In an instant, all eyes were on her.

“The class isn’t boring, Sir. I know how valuable this chance to gain knowledge.”

“If you know, then why is Miss Pamela doing something else in the middle of the class?”

“I was just asking my classmate about a word that I didn’t understand, Sir.”

Pamela deliberately took out the paper that she had written throughout the class and presented it to the man. His gaze swept over the dense letters on the white paper right away.

“You said you didn’t understand a word?”

“Yes.”

The old gentleman quickly removed his gaze from Pamela’s desk.

“Then ask me! Why did you ask someone else?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt the class, Sir. Miss Kleina and Ancinia can explain very well, so I thought it would be okay not to ask you.”

“Really? I admire Miss Pamela’s passion for learning.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Then, that’s what Miss Pamela feels, how about enlighten us of what we learned before?”

He told her not just to read what she learned once, but to memorize it.

At the absurd request of the old man, quite whispers filled with excitement broke the classroom’s silence.

“Will she really memorize it?”

“No way! How can she memorize it? We’ve only learned about it once!”

Even the class was filled with suppressed murmurs. The old man seemed to pay no attention to them. His eyes were firmly fixed on Pamela.

“If I do, then will you believe my passion for knowledge, Sir?”

“If Miss Pamela does so, I believe that your action will have a great impact on the other students and strengthen their enthusiasm for studying.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Sir.”

The old man seemed to be very insistent on dragging Pamela down. She didn’t think he’d attempt something like this.

“How many verses shall I memorize, Sir?”

The bold question shocked the old man. At the same time, amused smiles bloomed on the spectating girls’ faces.

“The second verse. It’s easy enough for you to memorize, right?”

‘We’ve just begun to learn history. He’s probably deem it impossible for me to do.’

“When the grey sky is illuminated, all powers are given. I swear, in God’s will, this light will make a nation.”

“The Land of Life, the existence of life.”

The teacher, who was supposed to prime example for their students, discriminated against Pamela, who did nothing wrong.

In her past life and now.

“The existence of the country means the existence of God, the existence of God makes the country prosperous, and it is the offspring of God who founded the country.”

“She really memorized the first verse!”

“Shh, there’s still more.”

Why do the believers who believe in treating others with love and compassion held so much prejudice against her?

“…all truths are revealed when mercy falls on the falsehood.”

She didn’t do anything to them. She just… exist.

“I swear by God’s will, and mercy will lead people.”

“The existence of mercy in the land of mercy.”

“The truth is to rule men, but not forget their mercy…”

Her heart throbbed painfully.

‘Is there a God?’

‘If there really is, can God also love someone like me?’

“…He who awakened the truth is the offspring of God.”

“Wow…”

After reciting the first and second verses, the girls, who had fixed their eyes on Pamela, uttered words of admiration.

And…

“That’s absurd. She really memorized what she had only learned once?”

With the girls whispered as if they could not believe it. Even Anella and Ancinia had their eyes wide open in amazement.

“Did I memorize it correctly?”

Pamela looked at the old man with her a composed smile on her face. When their eyes met, he flinched.

It might be unfamiliar for the girls who have just started learning history, however, it was an easy feat for Pamela, who had graduated from the convent.

For her, who memorized until the sixth verse, this was like shooting fish in a barrel.

“I did my best. Does this prove my earnestness, Sir?”

Pamela asked the dumbfounded old man, with her most innocent expression. His expression morphed into a part surprised and part disgust.

“Or should I do more, Sir?”

“That’s enough, Miss Pamela. Let’s keep going.”

Pamela quickly sat down and flip open her history book in a serious posture.

***

“I was really surprised when the teacher asked you to recite the second verse! Fortunately, Pamela has a really good memory!”

After class, Pamela, Ancinia, and Anella headed to the shrine as they had agreed.

Ancinia, who repeatedly apologized for Pamela’s trouble, immediately praised Pamela after she soothed her guilt.

When Pamela and the teacher confronted each other, she was worried because it felt like she was in the middle of a stalemate, which she contributed to.

“It was amazing. How can you memorize it all when we learn it for the first time?”

Ancinia’s praise was plentiful, but somehow Anella also joined Ancinia in her praise as well.

Anella’s praise was frank and serious that it was even more embarrassing to listen to.

“I was just lucky.”

“Pamela isn’t being very honest again! I guess it’s true that true geniuses hide their intelligence.”

‘…I was just lucky.’

Pamela shrugged at Ancinia’s comment.

Although Pamela admitted, she had a good memory but knew well that she was not a genius that could memorize what she had only learned once.

Genius was a more appropriate title for Anella rather than for her.

“Even Priest Goru didn’t know that Pamela could memorize.”

“Goru…?  Oh, the priest’s name.”

Ancinia looked at Pamela, even more surprised at her words.

“…Pamela has a good memory, but strangely, she can’t memorize people’s names?”

Anella and Ancinia’s eyes were fixed on Pamela as if she was an enigma.

Luckily, Ancinia redirected her gaze at the shrine and changed the topic.

“I have to take out the silver candlestick from the shrine warehouse. They said the new priest would need it.”

“New priest?” asked Anella at Ancinia’s explanation.

“Yeah, right now, the priest asked for assistance because it was difficult to teach alone. Maybe it’s because he is old….”

Ancinia, who was talking about age, carefully looked around before she made the remarks.

Pamela didn’t think that anyone’s going to be to the shrine this late.

Nevertheless, it was commendable to see the simple-minded Ancinia being cautious.

As Ancinia had said, Pamela also thought it would be too much for an old man to teach by himself.

“I think so.”

“A new priest… Who is he?”

“I’m not sure either. Mother didn’t explain the instruction in detail. I just hope that he’s not so grim.”

“Me too.”

He was a kind and gentle priest…

Pamela, who was listening to the conversation between the two, recalled her old life.

Come to think of it in the past. There was another one in the convent other than the old one.

He was one of the few who was considerate towards Pamela in the convent.

At that time, Pamela wasn’t close to Anella and Ancinia, so she often sat alone in a tree’s shade and read books.

And when she was alone, someone would come up and talk to her.

Pamela would frequently have some conversations with him. Sometimes, he would accompany her when she was by herself.

Although, unfortunately, the relationship was shortlived.

They had an exceptionally close relationship when he came to the convent, however after Pamela avoided him, the relationship became strained, and eventually, they lose contact.

It was not a very pleasant memory for her.

Pamela quickly shook off her thoughts about him and looked again at Ancinia and Anella.

Unlike her, the two girls seemed busy with speculation about the new priest.

“If you’re here to help him, then he must be quite young, right?” Anella guessed.

“Well, I know. I think he’s similar to the divine priest.”

“I think he’s in his early twenties.”

His appearance seems like he wasn’t in his late teens, and it was clear that he was a young man in his late twenties.

“How do you know that?”