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Chapter 161
~Solstice’s POV~
Students were already rising from their seats, bags slung over their shoulders, half-hearted chatter filling the lecture hall like smoke after a fire.
I didn’t move right away.
I stayed seated at the back, fingers clenched around my notebook as I had my eyes fixed on the floor with one single thought and naem racing through my mind.
Gods.
Valerie.
The scene from earlier—Dristan kissing her like she belonged to him, Kai pulling her in right after—kept replaying in my head. The way she froze. The way people stared. The things they whispered.
I wanted to go in and talk back to them but she would complain it was out of character for the persona I was keeping in school.
But still, I hated that they called her names and I had already thought of a good revenge plan to carry out on those losers.
BrielleTitaniaEstelleWannabe Mavis and lots more.
Still they were secondary or tertiary in the list of my problems because if even for a second, a second of that had been recorded...
It would be disastrous if word went out.
I pulled out my phone and thumbed through encrypted apps, opening a chat window under a hidden contact.
Me: We might have a leak. Anything filmed at Training Combat—take it down. Now. Scrub the source. I don’t care how you do it.
I watched the screen, tension coiling in my gut before I hit send to a friend of mine.
My father—gods help me—would have a field day if this footage slipped out of PSA’s closed network.
Forget Valerie’s mission. She’d be dragged home by force or worse—labelled compromised.
"Don’t let him find out. Not yet," I mentally chanted.
A message pinged back.
Contact: Already on it. But it’s spreading fast. We can’t contain the rumors.
I muttered a low curse, then pocketed my phone just as the rest of the class began to clear out. I stood, adjusting my jacket and pulling my expression into one of calmness, detached like dad taught me.
It didn’t last long after I had stepped out of class when my name rang out from someone’s lips.
"Silver!"
I turned to see Astraea, Emerald, and Isla weaving through the hallway crowd toward me. Their faces were flushed with curiosity and something a little too eager.
Astraea’s eyes sparkled like gossip was her pre-workout as she called out my name once more.
"Silver here."
"Well?" she said before she even reached me, looping her arm through mine like we were best friends. "Was that real? Please tell me it was staged. Like a prank or... I don’t know, an early performance for the Spring Festival?"
Uhun? Why would she do that?
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