This morning, it was really sunny, and Rose woke up very early. The school would start at 9 am, but she decided to take a walk first and explore her surroundings.

As usual, she wore a man's shirt with pants and tied her long hair carelessly with a string. Rose looked like a young man. Her slender body climbed down the tree from her bedroom window and landed on the ground.

Ahh... this place was beautiful! It was located in the countryside and close to several scenic villages.

Rose walked around and checked the stable. There, she found beautiful horses of excellent quality. She immediately remembered Julian, her beloved horse that she had gifted to Leon.

She could imagine, every day, Leon must be riding Julian for a walk to the hills of Medion to get rid of his loneliness. Uff.. she missed them both already so badly.

"Sst.. dear beautiful horse.. Please accompany me for a walk, okay?" Rose whispered to a valiant-looking black horse with a beautiful long mane.

Slowly she removed the horse from the stable and rode without a saddle. The small hill behind St. John Academy was so beautiful. She could see the red sun rising from behind it.

Hmm.. Rose inhaled the morning air deeply and filled her lungs. The air was not as good as in Medion, but that was to be expected. No place was better than Medion.

However, she felt grateful that she was not sent to a boarding school in a big city. It must suck big time compared to this school.

Oops, Rose. That is so cruel.. You can't harm these beautiful horses. They are innocent, she scolded herself.

Hmm ... maybe, she could just be a lazy student and skip clasess.. She would be happy to get expelled from school and sent back to Medion.

Ah .. if she only skipped classes, she would probably get some punishment but it wouldn't be enough to get her kicked out of school.

Oops, why is it so hard to get expelled??

While Rose was pondering the best way to make herself expelled from school, she suddenly heard someone shout at her, followed by a coughing sound.

"Heyyy !!"

Rose turned and found a young man who was in a hurry to chase her with a horse. His hair was thick brown, looking disheveled. He was wearing a white satin shirt that was blowing in the wind.

The man shouted at Rose again, "Stop right there..! You stole my horse ..!"

Rose glanced at the nice horse she was riding and then stayed still, waiting for her pursuer to arrive. Upon reaching near Rose, the young man immediately jumped down from his horse.

"Hey.. that's my horse ..! You are not allowed to ride it.." he said in an annoyed tone.

Rose raised her face with indifference. "I think these horses belong to the school. How can you claim ownership to them?"

"They do belong to the school, but I was the one to tame it. Zii was almost euthanized because she was so wild. Since then, the school gave it to me. So, it's mine now."

"If I was here first, I am sure I would have been the one to tame it. I am also an expert in taming wild horses. I have a lot of horses.." Rose replied with a snort. She was so proud of her skills with horses.

She was so satisfied to see the young man's face flushed with anger. She decided to taunt him further.

"Let's do it this way. We can determine who can have this horse by comparing our abilities. The best person will have the right to own Zii."

"Okay!" said the young man. "Peter Wellington never lose a race to anyone ..."

"So do I! Let's race to the hill over there. The first one to come back here and take this scarf from the tree wins!"

"Good. I will definitely beat you. Let's start now."

Rose tied her scarf to a tree branch. Peter nodded impatiently.

"Heaa .. !! Hyaah ..!"

Like two shadows, brown and black, the horses galloped their way up the hill.

Rose was really happy. In her mind, she was racing with Julian and Leon was riding another horse. The two often raced since childhood. So, Rose was no stranger to this thing.

With full concentration, she continued to push Zii to run faster and faster.

Riding her horses with Leon was one of her favorite things to do back at home. Usually, they would go horseback riding to the forest every weekend when they did not need to study with Mr. Dewey.

Rose kept pushing Zii as fast as she could. They moved very fast together.

Aha.. Peter was a little behind her.

They finally reached the hilltop, and now they were racing to get down. Their speed was gradually increasing.

For a moment, it felt like no one would lose, and it would be a tie. However, at the last moment, Rose nudged Zii to lunge forward and rushed far ahead of Peter.

Rose won the race.

She immediately raised her hand high, waving a scarf in her right hand. Rose smiled triumphantly.

"You .. *panting*.. can have Zii .." Peter said breathlessly as he got off his horse. "You did well."

Rose went down too. She patted Zii in amazement. When she saw Peter gasping for breath, she became uneasy.

Ahh .. if this young man was really the one who tamed Zii and prevented this beautiful horse from being killed .. then Zii was indeed indebted to Peter.

"Zii is amazing, but I can not accept her. You have more rights to her. You saved her life." Rose suddenly changed her mind.

Peter was stunned to see the change in Rose's attitude. Earlier, this person was acting so c.o.c.ky toward him, but now he was friendly.

"Didn't we make an agreement? If you can beat me in the race, Zii is yours." Peter smiled. "Wellington never breaks his promise. She is now yours."

"I will not take back my words, too," Rose retorted, not wanting to lose.

Peter scratched his head that was not itchy and smiled warmly. He took the initiative to break the ice.

"I do not want to fight with you because the consequences must be very bad. What if we just share the horse? Zii will belong to both of us..."

Rose thought for a moment, then nodded. Peter held out his hand, and they shook hands.

"My name is Peter Wellington .."

"I know. My name is Rose Fournier .."

Peter gasped in surprise. He tried to hold back his laughter but it was too hard. He instantly laughed out loud. "Hihi.. I am sorry.. but you have a girl's name. Well, if you disguise yourself as a woman, I can imagine you will definitely look beautiful .."

Rose was stunned. She almost forgot that she now looked like a man. Initially, she wanted to be honest with Peter and told him that she was actually a girl.

However, what for?

Usually, boys would feel reluctant to make friends with girls. Peter was so friendly to her now. However, he might not treat her this well if he knew she was a girl.

"So my name is ugly, huh?" Rose chuckled. "Do you think Peter is a good name?!"

Peter felt guilty for a moment.

"Ah.. I'm sorry for being rude.. Honestly, your name is really nice, but I think it suits girls, not boys. So, I feel sorry for you that your parents gave you that name."

"Ah, that's fine," Rose chuckled. "I like my name."

Peter glanced at his watch. "It's already late.. The school will start soon and I haven't taken a shower yet ..."

"Me too .."

They quickly ran to their respective dormitories.

Rose took a quick shower and changed clothes into St. John Academy school uniform in blue, then ran towards the school building. Ahh.. she forgot to ask the Principal last night about her classes. Now, she had to find someone and ask her way around the school.