Chapter 34: Court of Public Opinion [I]

The moment the recording ended, Starlight’s posture straightened, and the heartbroken expression vanished from her face. She let out a long, exhausted groan, pressing the heels of her palms against her temples.

"Oh, my God," she muttered, her voice completely flat. "I am going to have a killer headache from forcing all those tears."

The room fell silent. Her roommates stood completely frozen, staring at her in sheer disbelief. Elle blinked rapidly, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to reconcile the sobbing, fragile girl from ten seconds ago with the one now sitting in front of her looking mildly annoyed and thoroughly exhausted.

When Starlight had broken down during the broadcast, Elle had felt a genuine pang of guilt and sorrow for her, convinced that the hateful comments had somehow finally broken her. Seeing her drop the act so effortlessly sent a wave of shock straight through her.

Starlight pressed her fingers against her forehead and winced. "Please tell me one of you has aspirin or paracetamol." She looked up at them, entirely unfazed by their horrified expressions. "My forehead is killing me, my throat hurts, and forcing all those tears just gave me the mother of all headaches. I really need something for the pain."

​"Oh, my goodness, Starlight," Elle breathed, placing a hand over her chest as her mind spun. "You... please don’t tell me those tears were completely fake."

"Of course they were," Starlight said, leaning her head back against the sofa. "We needed them to believe I was genuinely overwhelmed and broken. It wouldn’t have worked otherwise. Now please, tell me someone has a strong painkiller." She pointed at her forehead. "I’m having a migraine the size of an entire empire."

"God help me," Ariel muttered as she collapsed back onto the sofa cushions and staring at Starlight as though she had suddenly grown a second head.

Chloe, on the other hand, had known Starlight was manipulating the situation from the beginning. But when she broke down, started crying, and apologized to Mikhail, Chloe had completely forgotten that fact. For a few moments, she had genuinely believed the girl was falling apart right in front of them.

"You are one terrifying human," Chloe muttered, shaking her head. "I’m never messing with you ever again."

Starlight ignored her and pressed both hands against her forehead once more. "Seriously, does anyone have medicine? Because I think my brain is trying to crawl out through my ears."

Still looking traumatized, Elle hurried toward the nightstand drawer beside their bunk bed. After a brief search, she pulled out a small blister pack of painkillers. She returned and handed two tablets to Starlight, who practically snatched them from her hand along with a bottle of water. Starlight swallowed the pills, took a deep gulp of water, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You’re an angel, Elle." She said, letting out a satisfied sigh. Setting the bottle down, Starlight leaned forward and nodded toward the desk. "Elle, check the comments. They should be dropping by now, and I need to see how people are reacting before I figure out our next move."

The three girls exchanged bewildered looks, staring at Starlight as if she were some kind of dangerous monster.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Starlight asked with a confused frown.

When nobody answered, she clicked her tongue in annoyance, unable to understand what their problem was. Leaning over, she grabbed the phone to check it herself.

The moment she opened the post and read the very first comment, a huge, triumphant smile spread across her face.

xxx

@Humanity_First:

"I KNEW IT. I knew something was off about that article. The way they painted Starlight as some attention-seeking villain never sat right with me."

└ @BooksAndBuns:

"Exactly. Why would someone publicly apologize if they were actually trying to start a fight?"

└ @Moonfang_Alpha:

"I can’t believe y’all are believing her. Can’t you see she’s manipulating all of you?"

└ @Humanity_First:

"Funny how manipulation only becomes a problem when a human does it."

@AlphaHater_99:

"First of all, watching a literal werewolf princess get laid out by a human girl with zero magic or super strength is the greatest thing to come out of Asterion Academy in a decade. Princess Beatrice has always strutted around like she owned the whole world, and Queen Starlight handed her a whole slice of humble pie!"

Video attached...

"Look at her lip in the frame at 0:14. It’s split wide open. A human did that with pure momentum. She deserved every bit of it for laying hands on a defenseless girl first!"

└@LunarTruth:

"Seriously! Beatrice has been abusing her royal status since day one. I was in the foyer when she bumped into Starlight, and Beatrice literally shoved her first and demanded a full kneel. Who does that? Good on Starlight for not putting up with her garbage."

└ @WolfPack_Alpha:

"Keep quiet, body bag. A human striking royalty is treason. She should be thrown out of the academy by tonight!"

└@JusticeForHumans:

"@User_WolfPack_Alpha Oh, shut up! Royalty my foot, the same royalty who go around slapping innocent humans across the face unprovoked. Read the room. Your princess got clocked by a girl half her weight!"

@DormC_Block:

"The fact that a Perigee princess slapped a human student and everyone just glossed over that part is INSANE."

@Evelyn_HumanRights:

"This video broke my heart. Look at her shaking. She is genuinely terrified for her life and her friends’ lives just because she dared to defend her roommate! Why are humans treated like second-class citizens at an academy WE pay full tuition for? If you werewolves hate us so much, stop accepting our money! Deny us admission upfront! Don’t take millions from human families, and then treat us like target practice!"

└ @SilverClaw_88:

"Nobody forced you humans to apply for admission in Asterion Academy. You came to OUR Academy. You abide by OUR rules."

└@Evelyn_HumanRights:

"@User_SilverClaw_88 Your guys literally forcelly merged your territory with human regions centuries ago to build this shared academy! You came to US for economic integration! Don’t twist history because your pride is hurt that a human didn’t let herself get beaten up!"

└@CommonSense_Werewolf:

"As a werewolf student, I actually agree with Evelyn. Beatrice embarrassed Perigee clan today. Slapping a human who wasn’t even fighting back? That’s not strength, that’s cowardice. She used her pack rank to bully someone who can’t even shift. It’s disgusting."

@AsterionGirl:

"Don’t y’all know why Beatrice is targeting Miss Dawson? Rumors have it she actually has a crush on Alpha Mikhail, but he couldn’t give a damn about her. That’s why she’s throwing a whole temper tantrum when the Wolfhart twins publicly supported Starlight Dawson."

└ @Pack_Insider_99:

"THIS! It is a known fact among the five clans that Beatrice has been chasing Alpha Mikhail for years. Seeing him single out a human girl for the apex rankings completely broke her fragile ego."

└ @Lunar_Observer:

"So she got her lip split over a guy who doesn’t reciprocate her feeling? That makes this whole situation a hundred times more embarrassing for her and her followers."

@JustThatHuman:

"Seriously, I actually cried while watching this video. Dear Starlight, this is exactly how humans get treated here every single time. I hope your video opens people’s eyes to the reality of what we go through on this campus."

@Marcus_T:

"I’m a human sophomore here, and I’m crying watching this video. You have no idea what it’s like walking through these halls every day. Werewolves growl at us, push us out of the way, take our assigned seating, and the faculty does NOTHING because the board is run by pack of wolves. Starlight voiced everything we’ve been terrified to say out loud. We are human, but we have feelings too! We have rights too! We are NOT your stress-balls!"

@Sarah_H:

"We stand solidly behind you, Starlight! ✊ ✊Do not apologize to anyone! If they try to expel her or harass her roommates, every single human student on this campus needs to stage a walkout. Let’s see how they run this academy without human funding!"

└ @Pack_Warrior_K: "Try walking out. See how fast you get purged from the academy. Know your place. ☠️👎"

└ @Sarah_H: "@Pack_Warrior_K Keep threatening us on a public forum, keep proving Starlight’s point! 🙄😏"

@PP_2044:

"I still can’t believe Starlight actually slapped Beatrice.Someone please frame this moment in academy history."

@WerewolfHistorian:

"The funniest thing about this whole situation is that werewolves literally expanded into human territories centuries ago, not the other way around. They’re acting like humans invaded their lands when they’re literally the ones who forced themselves on us."

└ @MoonScholar: "THANK YOU. Someone finally remembers history."

@AlphaFanGirl:

"Am I the only one who noticed how genuine her apology to Alpha Mikhail sounded?"

└ @Lunar_Romantics: "Right?! You could literally hear her voice breaking when she said his name. She was so terrified that she disappointed him, it broke my heart!"

└ @: "Neutral_Wolf1: "Honestly, even after he endorsed her, she still treated him with respect. She didn’t try to use his name to protect herself. She just admitted she panicked."

└ @Claw_And_Crown: "Please, she’s just playing victim to get the Alphas to shield her from Beatrice’s fans. It’s so painfully obvious, yet y’all are eating it up."

└ @Wolfheart4Life:"@Claw_And_Crown Even if she’s playing it safe, the fact remains she apologized sincerely, while Beatrice hasn’t said a single word about her own behavior."

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