They Rejected an SSS Bloodline, Big Mistake Chapter 08

They Rejected an SSS Bloodline, Big Mistake Chapter 08

The night before my enlistment, I moved into the outpost barracks.

That evening, my roommate Iris was scrolling through Wolfsgram when she suddenly sat straight up in bed.

“Sera, there’s a viral post here–the person in it has the same naine as you, how weird!”

I walked over and took her comms pad from her.

The poster was my mom.

She’d posted an old photo of me at five, plus a screenshot of my name as an SSS recruit on the outpost’s announcement board.

[Sera, your parents did favor your little sister, but we clothed and fed you and raised you. We have

put in the work even if you don’t count it as a credit.]

[You can’t just deactivate your ID and block all of us without a word just over a music box and a few

old clothes.]

[You can’t be this cold-hearted. Reply to this as soon as you see this post.]

The comment section was already flooded with clueless clansmen and distant relatives.

[High-ranked recruits these days are really just ungrateful mutts. We raise a hound and it still

knows to wag its tail.]

[Just over a music box? That’s one tiny ego.]

[She blocks even her own birth parents? This kind of person is a cancer in the corps no matter how

high her rating is.]

Iris’ face turned bright red with anger. “What kind of people are these? They’re completely twisting

the truth!

“Sera, should we go to the outpost elders or post a statement to clear this up?”

“Leave it alone.” I handed the comms pad back to her.

I sat back down at my desk, opened my laptop, and pulled up an Excel spreadsheet labeled

“Ledger”.

-…

It was filled line after line with every single expense I’d had since early childhood.

Room and board, training facility fees, gear costs.

Right next to them was the full record of what I’d earned. working at the café as a teen, tutoring, selling old items, prize money from hunting tournaments.

Every cent the Ashford family had spent on me in eighteen years, I’d calculated down to the penny.

The next afternoon, at the RTC new recruit assembly.

As the recruit representative, I wore a crisp white uniform and walked step by step up the stone steps of the main auditorium.

Every seat was filled.

Thousands of soldiers stared at me in silence.

Moonstone lamplight fell over my body.

I stepped up to the standing microphone and adjusted the height.

“Good afternoon, elders, fellow comrades. I am RTC recruit Seraphina Ashford.”

Thunderous applause erupted through the auditorium.

Standing under the moonstone light, I looked out at the crowd.

For the first time, I felt like my voice could finally be heard by everyone.

Right after I finished speaking, the back doors of the auditorium were thrown open hard.

Mom, Dorian, Delilah and Gideon-all four pushed past the welcoming guards at the entrance and

stormed straight up to the stage.

“Sera! Here you are!” Mom’s eyes were bloodshot, she gripped the edge of the stage and cried out loud into my microphone. “You’re third across the whole territory! We worked so hard to raise you, it wasn’t easy to get you this high rating!

“You’ve cooled off by now, come home with me!”

The thousands of soldiers in the audience went dead silent instantly, every eye locked on us.

I watched their tearful, dramatic performance and stepped back.

“Come home?” I spoke into the microphone, my voice clear enough to reach every corner of the auditorium.

“If you cared this much about me, why on Ranking Banquet day, you threw that huge celebration for my sister, and wouldn’t even buy me a single formal dress?

“I left the family group chat and blocked all of you. A full day and night went by, and not one of you.

noticed I was gone.

“You only found out I had an SSS rating after the records officer called your lie out in public.

“So what exactly did you come here for today? Do you care about me as your daughter, or do you care about the glory that SSS rating can bring you?”