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Vivienne wasn’t a friendly person. She had no friends to speak of.

The only person who ever conversed with her regularly was her partner, Gideon Finch. And even then, Gideon always did his best to avoid her.

Seeing the students whispering in her direction, she merely assumed they were discussing Nora’s true identity as an Ashbourne maid. She took her seat in the second row, posture aloof and elegant.

Only after sitting down did she catch faint snippets of what her classmates were actually talking about.

”You can tell just from her face how arrogant she is. She probably couldn’t stand Shani exposing her maid’s misdeeds.”

”Word is she once said, ’The only one allowed to torment Nora is me.’”

”How insufferable. But I heard she targeted Shani just because she was petty about them sharing silver hair.”

”Wow, that’s completely childish. She deserves to be reported to the police too.”

Vivienne wasn’t dense enough to miss that she was the subject of their gossip. She immediately shot a text to Gideon to find out what was going on.

Gideon, who was sitting near Garth and the other Class 1 boys, stood up on reflex. He hurried over to Vivienne and sat down beside her.

”There’s a post about you on the forum,” he muttered softly.

Wasting no time, Vivienne pulled up the forum and saw her name plastered across the title of the top trending post.

Her teeth gritted in fury as her eyes fell upon a screenshot of a text message, one where she had explicitly ordered Nora to teach Shani a lesson.

Vivienne snapped her head up. Her cold glare scanned the classroom until it locked onto Nora sitting in the back row. She stood up, her sharp gaze silently demanding that Nora follow her.

Nora got to her feet. Orin made a move to stop her, but Nora gave him a subtle nod, reassuring him that she would be fine.

The two girls stepped into an empty classroom next door. Nora pulled the door shut to find Vivienne standing with her arms crossed, her face dark with rage.

”I truly know nothing about this, Miss Vivi,” Nora pleaded quickly, dropping to her knees. ”If you don’t believe me, you can look into it yourself!”

”You’ve grown quite bold lately, haven’t you?!” Vivi clenched her fists tightly, her irritation boiling over.

”It really wasn’t me, Miss Vivi! It was probably Shani doing this in secret. She doesn’t just want to ruin me, she wants to bring you down too,” Nora cried, sobbing softly.

Vivi was immune to Nora’s tears by now, but the girl’s words piqued her interest.

If Shani truly was her uncle’s daughter and knew her own identity, it made complete sense for her to target Vivienne, the daughter of the current Family Head.

Seeing Vivi’s brow furrow without offering a rebuttal, Nora knew her words had struck home.

”If this were just about me, I would take full responsibility myself, Miss. But now... Miss Vivi’s name and the Ashbourne family name are being dragged into this...” Nora spoke with an aggrieved tone, carefully choosing every word.

”If we allow Shani to proceed with her police report, I’m afraid Miss Vivi...” Nora trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.

Vivi caught the implication immediately. If the investigation progressed and Shani was intentionally targeting her, Vivienne could end up being dragged to the police station herself.

Even if she were eventually proven innocent, being detained in a cell would turn her into a laughingstock among children of prestigious families.

She raised her smartwatch to call Emilia.

But as her eyes landed on Nora kneeling on the floor, head bowed with trembling shoulders, her temper flared anew. ”This is all because of you! Damn it! You should have just stayed quiet!”

Vivi closed the distance with a menacing glare. Panic seized Nora. She couldn’t take another beating.

”Miss, we’re at the academy... there are cameras—”

Slap! Nora’s words were cut short by a brutal slap across her cheek.

Nora slammed against a desk beside her, hissing in pain.

Accustomed to beating Nora whenever she pleased, Vivi couldn’t care less about cameras. She lashed out with a harsh kick to Nora’s curled-up body.

”Damn you! Bitch! This is all your fault!” She vented every ounce of her frustration.

Bang! The classroom door was thrown open with a heavy crash.

”Vivienne, stop!” Orin shouted, charging inside to shove Vivienne back before rushing to pull Nora to her feet.

Vivienne stumbled back slightly from the sudden shove, but as a B-Rank, a C-Rank’s push was hardly threatening. Still, the intrusion served as a stark reminder that they were on school grounds.

She sneered at Nora. ”Don’t get any funny ideas again.”

She turned to leave, but Orin’s next words froze her in her tracks.

”Even if Nora’s mother isn’t a legitimate daughter, she’s still a Falkner! She’s still your aunt, and Nora is still your cousin! Stop abusing your power, or else—”

”What did you say? Nora’s mother is my aunt? Nora is my cousin?!” Vivi burst into hysterical laughter, unable to fathom the absurdity.

She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye from laughing so hard. ”Your brain must be completely rotted by this damn maid...”

”Nora isn’t a maid!” Orin barked, completely oblivious to the sheer panic in Nora’s eyes beside him.

Vivienne looked between Nora and Orin. ”So that’s the story you’ve been feeding people...”

Nora caught the predatory glint in Vivienne’s eyes right before her mistress turned on her heel and walked away for good.

”Nora, are you okay?” Orin asked anxiously.

Looking at his face, Nora wanted nothing more than to slap him.

She had endured that beating specifically so the Ashbournes would intervene to protect her. But after seeing Vivienne’s parting gaze, she was no longer sure they would lift a finger.

Even so, she had no idea what Vivienne planned to do next, and if the Ashbournes abandoned her, Orin was the only shield she had left.

Forced with no other choice, she mustered a strain of a grateful smile.

...