The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 340

Liora’s POV

Monday morning came around with an unexpected turn of events. I headed down to the cafeteria before class for some breakfast, and entered to find that a crowd of students had gathered on the far end of the room.

I couldn’t see what was going on through the crowd, but I could hear some raised voices. Namely, Bianca’s voice, followed by Callum’s lower, more controlled one.

Whatever they were saying, I couldn’t make it out. And after what happened the other night, the last thing I wanted was to get closer and potentially involve myself. So, deciding to keep my distance, I grabbed a carton of milk and a peanut butter sandwich from the lunch line, paid, then slipped out of the room without being seen.

“Did you hear that?” Mia fell into step beside me, glancing over her shoulder as the sounds of the cafeteria faded behind us.

I unwrapped my sandwich and took a bite. “I heard shouting. That’s about it.” The peanut butter was thick and sticky, so I opened my milk and gulped it down.

“Hm.” Mia adjusted her backpack on her shoulder, looking around furtively, then lowered her voice. “I heard a rumor that they might break up.”

My heart screeched to a stop.

Callum and Bianca… break up?

For a very long time now, there was this thing living in my chest—a tiny, yellow bird named Hope.

I fucking hated her.

I went to class that morning and refused to think about the potential of a breakup between Callum and Bianca. Besides, even if they did break up, which was unlikely, it wouldn’t change everything else that had happened. I was sick of Callum’s blind sense of duty, and I really didn’t want to be at the other end of it when he inevitably found out about my identity.

The last thing I ever wanted was for him to come to me, confess his “love” and try to mark me again, just because I was the princess he was supposed to marry and now out of any real feelings.

Instead, I focused wholly on class that day. Thankfully, I was in a new philosophy class this semester that I really enjoyed, so it wasn’t too much of a feat to turn off that part of my brain and pretend that Callum didn’t exist.

By the time class ended, though, Callum and Bianca’s fight was the talk of the school. Mia had been right; the rumor mill claimed that they had broken up. It wasn’t confirmed yet, but it also hadn’t been denied, and Bianca and Callum had both locked themselves in their dorms, which was even more damning. I heard people talking about it in the hallways.

I avoided everyone, keeping to myself in the library. Everywhere I went, though, I got strange looks—people who thought that Callum and I might run back to each other once he and Bianca were finished, or worse… People who thought that I might be involved in the potential breakup.