Reborn As A Rich Heir

Chapter 4

As he gave me a detailed explanation of the place I was in, Nero went in depth from the mention of Golden Willow High being a prestigious school that catered and prioritized the education of the students from the wealthiest families in the world. It provided boarding facilities for all genders indiscriminately but it would have been an understatement to say that there wasn't any discrimination amongst and towards the students by the school system.

The large school building was built on an island in the middle of a certain sea, where no one would be able to reach without authorized access and, in the case of students, without walking through the Door. Once someone had walked through that door, they wouldn't be able to leave until the end of the term, including teachers, who were provided with separate facilities specifically built for them outside of the main school building.

While the school was built to host the students from the wealthiest families, separating them from the rest of the world so that they would grow up and be taught within their statuses, it wasn't to say that they were all included in one status. Their social standings were different from the rest of the world and amongst them as well. This brought about the ranking system within the school so that students were given different levels of education and facilities based on their families worth.

The students are divided into 'billions', for those whose family net worth rested between those lines, and 'millions'. There was a significant difference in the way the millions were treated in comparison to the billions. The latter was given top priority and had it not been for the fact that the school was considered as being too fastidious about creating the most successful heirs for the world, it wouldn't have bothered with accommodating the millions.

Before then, Golden Willow catered only to billions and as a result of the change, the number of students in that ranking who attended the school was cut down to a hundred, meaning that only the top 100 students who were interested in attending there would be accepted. This was to make space for the millions but they were also given the same changes, and only the top 100 who were interested were accepted.

With enough space having been created in the school, the first two floors in the school building were given to the millions and they were assigned blue ties to express what their social standing was. The students went to their own personalized lessons with teachers that were different from the ones above them. They also had their own dorm rooms that were situated in the left wing of the second floor.

No one was restricted from strolling through floors they weren't assigned to, but the billions had made it a point to not go down to the millions' sections and they preferred that the millions not go up to theirs as well. That was the reason why Nero had stopped me from walking down the stairs to the second floor below me. I, along with the rest of the billions, were to stay on the third and fourth floors of the building because that was where I belonged.

The need for the millions to not mingle with the billions was so great that the billions requested that the millions have their own doors for leaving and entering the school building from different locations around the world. And because of the influence that these top ranked students had on the world and everyone else below them, the principal agreed to the change without any further consideration.

Because of this, one would think that the billions considered themselves as close and united, but even amongst them there was another ranking system they came up with themselves. Out of the 100 students that fell under the billions, the top 10 had their own standings and were seen as superior to ones who fell below the range. They had their own dorm rooms away from where the rest were and had more authority over all the other students than the principal and other teachers.

These top 10 students came up with their own way to express their status by introducing 'red ties' that could only be worn by them. The rest of the billions had to wear the standard 'purple tie' that was around even before the millions were allowed to attend at Golden Willow; the one that had been around for over 200 years.

Standing atop all these students, teachers, the principal and the other Head of Departments was Nero himself, who was from the Taylor Family that was considered to be the richest in the world. Their foresight and decisions to invest in the world's most successful companies during their startups was what brought them the immense fortune they possessed and they owned the majority of shares in many of those companies.

I had to admit that I had heard of the Taylor Family before. They didn't exactly shy away from the public, but that didn't mean that I knew all there was to know about them. Apart from the name in general, I didn't know much about them, including the names of the family members. Standing next to one made shivers run up my spine. I couldn't help but hold tightly onto the white cat against my chest. He wriggled to break free and hopped out of my arms and onto the floor.

"... you'll been acting out of your standing by leaving the grounds you're permitted to walk on," Nero continued as I looked down at the cat. There was something he said that bothered me to some extent and I couldn't bring myself to ignore it.

"Permitted? By who? Was it you? Are you the one who has been giving out these rules the students have to follow?" I asked, trying not to sound offended by the way he treated those who were supposed to be below us. High schools and other schools in general weren't supposed to operate that way. Students should have been able to mingle and become friends without any consideration for their family backgrounds and social standings.

Nero raised an eyebrow before he narrowed his eyes at me. He couldn't figure out why I hadn't recalled anything yet. It should have been more than thirty minutes since I walked out of that door because I attended a lesson afterwards, but it seemed that I was still disoriented as Matt described me to be earlier.

"Sophia, you came up with these rules. You're the one who enforced them," he responded, shocking me in the process.

"You used to be directly below me and could make up any rules you wanted on the spot. You still can. But the idea that you would break your own rules is appalling and, frankly speaking, hypocritical." I couldn't believe what Nero was telling me but I had to remind myself that it wasn't me he was referring to. I turned my head to look at the staircase I was about to walk down at the end of the hallway.

The idea that I would make up such cruel rules didn't sound right to me. There was no way that I could be this Sophia I was supposed to be. Then again, who would I be if I wasn't her? I couldn't remember my real name or my past except for a few facts about my life.

"There's no way that I could have done this," I muttered under my breath. Nero walked closer to me and gently grasped my shoulder to turn my body to face him.

"You did do this. The ranking system was your idea. I and the rest of the billions simply went along with it because we approved of it and found that it would be beneficial to us, which it was. But you had better not think of abolishing it. Toss your regrest aside and live with what you have created," his words were harsh and came off as a warning. While he did stand atop all of the other students in the school, it didn't change the fact that I had as much influence one them and the world as he did.

There was only so much of a difference between our families' net worths and I could easily usurp him from his throne just as Matt did with me when he was accepted into the school. Because I wasn't there to defend my throne, Matt became second in command below Nero. The Salvatore Family had a royal history but that alone didn't give them their status. His grandfather left the royal family to start a production industry that produced a range of equipment and products, putting them in the lead ahead of their competitors.

It made sense that the school would scout Matt while he was attending a different school. Matt had declined the offer at first but finally agreed after the school board persisted, even going so far as to offer him the role of prefect when he had never attended the school prior. Him, along with Nero and Sophia, whose family was considered third richest, basically ruled the school the way they saw fit, with no one being superior or inferior to the other.

Nero didn't like that as he felt threatened by my new personality and views I might have after staying away for almost a year.