Library Glance: The Top Scholar's Gaze Locked Me

I transmigrated into a novel, becoming a very beautiful background character—just a pretty face used as a foil for the heroine. And it all started back when the heroine still needed tutoring to get through difficult problems...

Male side character Nathan Foley: “How do you still not get this? Shannon already went to represent the school in a competition today. Weren’t you both specially recruited at the same time?”

Nathan, you really understand what it means to be a male side character. Talking to the heroine like that—are you tired of living?

It wasn’t until that same male side character dropped to one knee and proposed to me that I was stunned to realize—he’d had his eyes on me all along.

…

Right after I dropped into this book, I had to rush to Norland to compete. Before I arrived, the original host had spent half a month cramming Norlandic, but she still wasn’t very fluent.

I, on the other hand, had majored in a minority language in college and worked in Norland after graduation. The day before the competition, after discussing the presentation with the team, I casually fixed a few unreasonable parts of the PPT.

After several rounds of smooth, effortless exchanges with the judges, it was no surprise we took first place. I got the prize money in dollars and even enjoyed a one-day tour of the nearby sights.

Now I was lying in an endless expanse of snow, the aurora shimmering overhead, so beautiful it felt unreal.

“Shannon, can you stop lying on the ground like some country bumpkin who’s never seen the world? It’s embarrassing.”

A clear male voice sounded above me. I watched as he bent down slightly, but I didn’t move.

A moment later, someone lay down in the snow beside me.

Pierce Harlow.

In the novel, he was the poster boy for class snobbery. His childhood education had drilled into him how lowly and despicable the “bottom rung” was, so he’d grown up with a deep-rooted contempt for people from lower classes.

The original host was the first person he openly attacked. He said she was trying to use this platform to turn herself into a phoenix on a high branch, that with grades that good she still chose money over everything else, instead of pursuing a better university and “finding herself.” Then he went on to insult her looks, insinuating she was trying to land a rich husband with her face.

Back then, the original host had simply nodded and admitted it—yes, she loved money. What was wrong with that? Did coming to this university mean she’d stopped trying to “find herself”? Had her life become some barren wasteland?

The male lead was fucking speechless. Compared with him, the male side character’s blunt honesty toward the heroine was a hell of a lot more acceptable than this bastard’s self‑righteous crap.

“I did have some prejudice against you before,” Pierce said. “I admit you’re a very good person. Stella was right. People from the lower class actually—”

“No, you weren’t wrong,” I cut him off, sitting up. I planned to go back to the cabin to warm up.

If I kept talking to the male lead, that would just give the plot extra scenes it didn’t need.

I had no idea when I would be able to return to my original world, so for now I could only maintain the original host’s distance from this group of people. The less she got involved with them, the less messy things would be when she came back to her own life.

The ugly duckling becomes a swan only because it was a swan to begin with. Cinderella becomes a princess only because her background was never truly “low.”

The heroine, Stella, is the long‑lost daughter of the richest man in the country. The original host is the one who really comes from the bottom.

She has a grandmother to support and a father paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident, unable to care for himself. The entire family’s expenses rest on her shoulders alone.

After the college entrance exam, her perfect score and striking looks clashed sharply with her poor family background. She became a trending topic online for a time. Anyone with half a brain could see how much potential value she carried, and the top universities fought to recruit her. Even the elite, aristocratic schools seized the chance to offer her extremely generous terms.

The original host’s life was already hard enough. I didn’t want her to be dragged into the male lead’s brainless love drama on top of that.

As for this marriage everyone expected would happen—I rejected it from the bottom of my heart.

“I’m sorry!”

A voice suddenly came from behind me. I stopped walking, wondering if my ears were playing tricks on me.

When I turned around, Pierce’s wind-reddened face was half-buried in his scarf. “My prejudice was wrong. You’re actually… really great.”

“I know. Let’s go.”

“If you ever need anything in the future, you can come to me.”

“Thanks.”

One in front, one behind, Pierce stepped into the footprints I’d left in the snow, a faint smile softening his brows.

In the mingled light of moon and snow, he really was a stunning sight.

It had been snowing hard when I arrived in Norland, and it was snowing again when I left.

On my way back, the male side character Nathan sent a message:

“Safe travels. I’ll be waiting for you to come back.”

Scrolling up through our chat, I saw that on my way to Norland he’d sent, “Have a smooth trip.”

And then—nothing after that.