The Billionaire's True Heiress From Fake Jewel to Real Crown novel Chapter 1029

"Just be careful. Sloane has a lot of loyal followers," Priscilla warned.

College was like that. Beautiful, high-achieving students naturally drew a crowd and enjoyed endless privileges.

But then again, wasn't Claire incredibly beautiful too?

Sloane had undeniably lost face today, becoming prime cafeteria gossip.

Little did Claire know, the story of her turning down the invitation would quickly morph into something completely unrecognizable.

Someone very calculating had flipped the narrative—instead of Claire declining the invite, the rumor became that Claire had begged to attend and Sloane had rejected her.

Now everyone was whispering that Claire had weaponized her status as the top-ranking freshman to demand an invitation from Sloane.

Only to be ruthlessly shut down.

While Claire didn't usually care about rumors, the sheer maliciousness of this one was a bit nauseating.

Even Priscilla's three dormmates cornered her to ask if Claire had really begged for a ticket.

"Who told you that?"

Priscilla was stunned. How had the story gotten so warped?

"Is it not true? That's what everyone is saying."

The rumor had evidently spread like wildfire in just one afternoon.

"No! Sloane invited Claire, but she was too busy to go!" Priscilla was utterly exhausted.

Lily Lowell looked at her in disbelief. "You're not seriously trying to claim that Claire rejected Sloane's invitation, are you?"

As if anyone with a brain would believe that.

"Because that's exactly what happened."

Who would buy that?

"Priscilla, you don't have to make up lies to save her face."

Wasn't it obvious who the real liar was?

"I'm not." Priscilla realized that no matter what she said, she was fighting a losing battle.

The entire student body was dead set on the narrative that Claire had been rejected from the party of the year.

Frustrated, Priscilla left the room to find Claire.

Back in her own dorm, Claire was currently getting the exact same scoop from her own roommates.

Skylar Sommers, a fellow med student, was the one breaking the news.

So, this was the harsh reality.

"It's totally normal that no one believes it," Claire said evenly. "It just means I'm not powerful enough yet."

The truth was dictated by whoever held the most power.

Priscilla was speechless, and the rest of the dorm was stunned into silence.

If Claire thought she wasn't powerful enough, what did that make them?

They were practically dust compared to her.

Did that mean they were destined to just swallow whatever rumors were thrown at them?

"By the way, the cafeteria has security cameras, right?"

Claire dropped the question abruptly. It didn't sound like she was asking them, but rather thinking out loud.

The others caught it instantly.

"Yeah, it has cameras, but the administration won't pull the footage for petty drama like this."

That was Priscilla's educated guess.

Zara, however, was fiercely loyal. "Are you sure you want the footage? I'll have my people get it for you!"