Chapter 30: A Wicked Idea

"Hope you’re happy now, getting all the attention you wanted without people having to spend money on you," Chloe said sarcastically. At some point, she had pulled out her own phone to see what everyone was talking about, and the more comments she read, the worse her expression became. This was exactly what she had been afraid of. What had started as a single incident was rapidly snowballing into something far bigger, and judging by the tone of the comments, the academy had already chosen a side.

The sarcastic remark barely registered with Starlight. Her attention remained fixed on the phone as Ariel continued scrolling through the comments. With every new insult, every accusation, and every twisted version of what had happened, a heavier feeling settled in her chest. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and leaned back against the sofa cushions, rubbing the plaster on her forehead. The injury was throbbing badly now, aggravated by the stress, frustration, and headache that seemed determined to make her already disastrous first day even worse.

She couldn’t believe how things had gotten this bad this quickly. Humans really were frighteningly easy to manipulate when the right story was placed in front of them. Maybe she shouldn’t have let her temper explode the way it had, knowing full well that if things ever went south, nobody would stand by her side.

But, funny enough, she didn’t regret slapping that Perigee bitch. Beatrice had deserved it.

Granted, she might not have gotten physical if she had known beforehand that Beatrice was a Perigee princess, but that didn’t change the fact that the girl had been asking for it. As for mouthing off to Mikhail, maybe she would have chosen her words more carefully. Not that it would have changed much. People would still have found a reason to condemn her.

What truly infuriated Starlight was how easily the truth had been twisted. The article painted her as some arrogant human chasing attention while conveniently leaving out everything that had led to the confrontation. Facts had been removed. Details had been exaggerated. Entire parts of the story had been rewritten to paint her as the villain. They had even resorted to emotional manipulation.

So this was how they wanted to play it.

The realization reminded her of something she had once overheard while working at the bakery. The manager had been ranting about a celebrity scandal playing on the television. The celebrity had been accused of having a relationship with his wife when she was still a minor. At least, that was what the rumors claimed. Nobody knew whether it was actually true or not. But the celebrity had responded with a carefully crafted sob story that somehow managed to turn public opinion in his favor.

The manager had laughed and said, "Nobody really cares about the truth. Give people a good sob story, and they’ll choose the version that makes them feel the strongest. People would rather use their emotions than their brains."

At the time, Starlight had thought the woman was being cynical, but now she wasn’t so sure.

Well... if that was all it took to influence public opinion, then two could play the game.

It was just unfortunate, because she had never wanted any of this. She had planned to spend her years at the academy quietly, without drawing any attention to herself. But it seemed like peace was never an option when it involved those monsters. Frankly, she was done running away from every problem simply because the people causing it were werewolves.

They wanted chaos, right? Then she would work very hard to give them a truly chaotic show. A dangerous glint flashed in her eyes. I’ll help them burn the whole place down. The corner of her mouth slowly curled into a smirk as a wicked idea began to take root in her mind.

"Umm... Starlight, what are you thinking?" Ariel asked nervously, pulling back slightly as she noticed the sudden shift in her roommate’s expression. She had never imagined Starlight was capable of making such a dark, dangerous look. The girl looked frighteningly pleased with herself.

Starlight turned toward Ariel, the smirk on her face widening. "I think I know how to fix this whole mess," she said. There was something far too confident about her tone, something that immediately made everyone in the room uneasy.

Ariel exchanged a worried glance with Elle.

The shift in Starlight’s demeanor had been sudden enough to make both girls instinctively nervous. Just a moment ago she had been sitting there looking defeated and overwhelmed. Now she looked like someone preparing to set the entire academy ablaze.

Across the room, Chloe looked down from the upper bunk with obvious suspicion. ​"That’s exactly the kind of thing people say right before they make everything worse," she muttered.

​Elle swallowed hard, her fingers fidgeting nervously in her lap as she asked cautiously, "What are you planning?"

Starlight’s gaze shifted to her, the smile still firmly in place as she replied, "Can you help me set up an AsterBuzz account?"

xxx

"Things have gotten completely out of hand," Ezabel said, her voice sharp as she stared at Mikhail and Nikolai sitting before her. "And why did you even take down the video? You two just made everything ten times worse."

They were gathered inside one of the academy’s empty classrooms. Since it was still Freshman Week, regular lectures had not yet begun, making the unused rooms a convenient place for private meetings. Ezabel stood near the teacher’s podium with her arms crossed, glaring at the twins, who were seated on a pair of desks pushed together near the front of the room, looking far less concerned than they should have been.

"That was never our intention," Mikhail replied, leaning back with a quiet sigh. "We had already decided to take down the video before the incident happened. The timing was just terrible."

"And why exactly would you take down a video that was keeping her votes stable in the first place?" Ezabel demanded. "Do you have any idea how that looks to the rest of the school? Everyone has naturally assumed you were distancing yourselves from her because of what happened in the corridor."

"It was the Emperor’s order," Nikolai answered, spinning his phone on the desk between his hands. "Besides, the support video had already served its purpose, and we were instructed to remove it before it started attracting more unnecessary attention than intended."