Chapter 112: Backhanded Remark

The corridor leading to the girls’ locker room was already packed with students when Starlight and Elle arrived. The constant flow of bodies moving in and out of the entrance made the entire area feel chaotic. Conversations overlapped with laughter as students hurried past one another.

"Starlight!"

The familiar voice made both girls turn and see Ariel waving from the end of the corridor, with Chloe walking beside her as they approached.

Elle waved back immediately when she spotted them, her face lighting up. While Starlight only offered a small smile and a nod of greeting.

This was the first time the four girls had seen each other since Starlight and Elle had been escorted to Eclipse House by Eden and the house staff earlier that morning. It was also the longest they had been apart since arriving at the Academy. The two groups quickly met in front of the locker room entrance.

Chloe grinned brightly. "Starlight! Elle! It’s nice to see you guys again after this morning. How’s the new suite? Is it as insane as everyone says?"

Before Starlight could even open her mouth, Elle jumped into the conversation, waving her hands excitedly in the air. "The private suite is amazing. Insane doesn’t even begin to cover it, Chloe! It’s massive. The living room looks like a royal lounge. The couches are so soft I nearly melted into them, and she even has a kitchen of her own with polished marble counters and enough space to cook a feast. And don’t even get me started on the bedroom. It’s bigger than our entire old dorm room. It even has a walk-in wardrobe. As for the bathroom, it has a tub the size of a private pool! There are even heated mirrors. Like, actual heated mirrors! Who even needs heated mirrors? I’m pretty sure rich people just invent things to spend money on at this point!"

Ariel sighed, shooting Elle a dry look. "You know that question was meant for Starlight, right?"

Elle grinned sheepishly. "I couldn’t help myself." She bounced on her heels, completely unbothered. "I’m just living vicariously through Starlight now."

Chloe laughed.

"So everything’s really that good?"

Starlight offered a small, amused smile. "Yeah. It’s pretty much exactly the way Elle described it, and she’s not even exaggerating."

"Unbelievable," Chloe muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "Well, come on. We need to change before we’re late for combat class."

The four girls walked into the female locker room together. The moment they stepped through the heavy double doors, Starlight did a double take at how unbelievably packed the space was.

Dozens of first-year female students were milling about, changing into their combat uniforms, chatting, and calling out across the rows of metallic lockers. The last time she had been inside this locker room, it had been completely empty because she was late and everyone else had already been in the training hall. She had genuinely never realized there were this many first-year girls enrolled at the Academy.

As the four of them moved deeper into the room, the noise level dropped slightly.

Heads turned. Eyes tracked Starlight’s every movement as she passed between the narrow rows of lockers, followed by whispers that immediately broke out among some of the girls clustered near a bench to their left.

"Is that her? Is that Starlight?"

"Yeah. Isn’t she the one who fainted just from seeing the training hall on the first day?"

"Tell me about it," another girl sneered, giggling behind her palm. "She was obviously pretending to be weak just to draw attention to herself."

"Or maybe she’s actually weak. She probably saw the equipment, panicked, and passed out so she wouldn’t have to participate. That girl loves drama."

"She practically lives off it," a third girl whispered, leaning closer to her group. "I heard she slept with the Imperial Crown Twins just to get placed on the Apex Ranking Board."

"Oh my Goddess, are you serious?"

"Of course. How else would a poor wretched human get the attention of the Crown Princes? She’s definitely doing something."

Starlight’s eye twitched.

"Shhh. She might hear you."

Starlight kept her face completely neutral, though her jaw tightened slightly. Under normal circumstances, she would have walked straight over to that circle of fools and shut them down personally. She might have even left a few fingerprints on their cheeks for good measure.

Unfortunately, the ridiculous conduct contract she had been forced to sign by the twins explicitly forbade physical altercations and required her to maintain proper conduct while avoiding unnecessary incidents unless authorized by them. Worse still, she was currently earning a considerable amount of credits through the Apex Ranking Board. Damaging her public image or getting disciplined by the Academy would threaten her income source and ruin her plans to milk those voting points all the way until graduation.

Ellie, on the other hand, looked ready to explode.

She leaned closer to Starlight, her brow furrowed with anger. "Do you want me to go over there and deal with them for you?"

Starlight glanced sideways at her and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"Don’t underestimate me," Ellie muttered, cracking her knuckles. "I can literally wipe their faces across this tile floor."

"Just leave it. They’re not worth it," Starlight said softly as they reached their assigned lockers. "Gossiping is the absolute least they can do."

"Yeah, Star’s right," Ariel said as she opened her locker. "They’re just a bunch of bored idiots with too much free time and not enough brain cells."

Chloe snorted, staring at Ariel in complete shock.

"Okay, wow. I didn’t know you could cuss, Ariel."

?"Wait till you see me really angry," Ariel replied deadpan, which made Chloe chuckle.

The four girls continued until they found their lockers, which were situated right next to each other along the back wall. Starlight tapped her security code into the digital keypad, the latch clicking open to reveal her folded combat uniform resting on the top shelf.

?Without hesitation, Starlight started unbuttoning her shirt. She was never particularly self-conscious about her body. It was a room full of women, and she had nothing to hide or feel ashamed of. As she pulled her combat shirt over her head, she noticed Chloe staring directly at her, her lips parted in slight shock.

Starlight paused, adjusting her collar. "What?"

?"Geez, Starlight," Chloe said, her eyes running over Starlight’s unblemished shoulders and back. "Your skin is ridiculously smooth. Are you sure you were actually raised in District Fifteen?"

Starlight looked at her flatly. "I’m not sure what you think people from District Fifteen look like, Chloe, but we don’t all run around picking fights and covered in scars."

?Chloe flushed, taking a fast step back. "I... I didn’t mean it like that, Starlight! I just—"

?"Let’s just get out of here," Starlight interrupted, shutting her locker door with a firm metallic thud. She turned on her heel and started heading toward the exit without waiting for a response.

Elle fell into step right beside her, while Ariel lingered behind for a second, grabbing Chloe by the arm and giving her a harsh look.

?"Seriously, Chloe," Ariel muttered under her breath. "Can you think for two seconds before you open your mouth? I thought we were past these ugly remarks."

?"I didn’t mean it like that!" Chloe whispered back defensively, pulling her arm away. "I wasn’t trying to offend her, I was just shocked! Her skin looks like she’s been spending most of her life indoors and using the most expensive creams in the empire! It was supposed to be a compliment."

?"Well, it doesn’t sound like a compliment to me," Ariel snapped, her tone sharp with annoyance. "If you want to compliment someone, you have to make it sound like an actual compliment and not like an insult wrapped in jealousy."

Chloe opened her mouth, then immediately closed it. Ariel shook her head in disappointment and frustration before turning and walking out after Starlight and Elle. It seemed that Chloe had not really changed as much as they had thought. If she was still making insensitive remarks under the guise of admiration, then she clearly still had a lot to learn about how her words affected other people, or she would end up alienating everyone around her. Even when she meant no harm, her tone somehow managed to make every compliment sound like a backhanded insult.

She still had a long way to go when it came to reading the room.

Left standing beside the lockers, Chloe looked around the locker room in confusion. Several nearby students were openly staring at her.

"What?" she muttered.

A few girls immediately looked away, suddenly finding their lockers and training gear far more interesting than meeting her gaze.

Chloe frowned. She genuinely didn’t understand what she had done wrong this time.

With an exasperated sigh, she grabbed her bag and hurried after the others.

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Hehehe guys, I’m running out of ideas ooh, I’m not even joking. ????????????????What would you like to see in the later Chapters?