The Mocked Miss’s Hidden Crowns novel Chapter 1897

The next day.

After class, Stella pulled out Roger's presentation slides and studied them intently.

With every key point she read, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of awe and admiration.

For a forensic medical examiner, Roger possessed an incredibly profound understanding of psychological dynamics.

He explained many of the concepts even better than their specialized professors did.

Staring at Roger's signature at the end of the presentation, Stella felt her thoughts begin to drift.

"Stella!"

A sharp tap on her shoulder snapped her out of her daze. Several girls from the forensics class were glaring at her, their faces etched with annoyance as they demanded coldly, "What is your problem?"

"What?"

Stella looked up, completely confused.

The girl at the front snatched Stella's notebook and waved it aggressively, fuming. "We just asked you for a small favor to get an autograph. Did you really have to go and report us to the professors?"

Because of this autograph incident, they had all been called into the faculty office for a serious talking-to.

"I didn't." Stella glanced at the notebook, her voice turning icy. "I passed the item along. How Roger handled it was entirely up to him."

"Yeah, right."

The girl tossed the notebook back onto the desk and sneered. "Everyone knows the Gates family treats Charlotte like absolute royalty. They'd give her the moon if she asked for it."

"As Charlotte's best friend, you've hung out with Roger plenty of times. She wouldn't brush off such a tiny favor. Unless..."

Stella stared at her battered notebook, her brows knitting together in a tight frown.

"Unless you have a hidden agenda and purposely stopped Roger from signing it." The girl took two steps forward, leaning in close as she enunciated every word. "Don't tell me you have a crush on him and want him all to yourself?"

Hearing this, Stella's expression didn't shift in the slightest, but her hands tightened uncontrollably at her sides.

A crush?

Stella pulled the notebook back, smoothed out the wrinkled cover, and carefully slid it into her backpack.

Once it was secured, she fixed her hair and met the girl's gaze with calm, indifferent eyes. She spoke at a measured pace. "I helped you out as a favor to a classmate."

"The autograph issue has nothing to do with me. If you really need someone to vent your anger on, you should go straight to the school administration. After all, Roger gave the notebook to the administrators, and they were the ones who handed it to your homeroom professor."

The girls were dumbfounded. In their minds, Stella had always been meek and quiet; she rarely spoke this many words at once.

They hadn't expected her to be so sharp-tongued.

"Also," Stella paused for two seconds before adding, "striking it rich, having some sort of agenda with Roger... I couldn't care less about any of that."

"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."

With that, she ignored her stunned classmates and walked slowly toward the cafeteria.

She hadn't gone far when her phone suddenly started ringing.

Seeing an unknown number on the screen, Stella hesitantly answered the call.