Chapter 32
Some began to doubt. Some began to waver. Some started reconsidering what they'd seen in class that day.
Sloane couldn't hold back. She sent a message: [Rachel, do you have any proof? Saying things without evidence is slander.]
Rachel: [I'm slandering? Go ahead and ask—some girl from the countryside suddenly gets into Nimbus Design College, suddenly gets picked up by Octavius, suddenly steals the spotlight in class. All these 'suddenlys' add up—you think that's normal?]
Gaia: [Exactly. Who'd believe that? She's clearly calculating. She latched onto someone powerful early and came to Nimbus Design College just to polish her reputation.]
A few more people joined in, their tones growing more mocking.
[No wonder Ms. Evans praised her so much today. She probably greased the wheels ahead of time.]
[She's connected to the FitzRoy family—who would dare not show her respect?]
[You all better watch what you say. She's got backing. Don't get yourselves in trouble.]
[We're just stating facts, not making things up. What's there to be afraid of?]
Ondine watched the messages roll in, her smile deepening.
She set down her phone, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.
'Seraphine, you've got Octavius protecting you? Fine. Let's see if Octavius can shut everyone's mouths.'
The rumors grew like wildfire across campus.
The next morning, when Seraphine walked into the classroom, she could immediately feel the shift.
Yesterday's curious, appreciative gazes had turned into scrutiny, assessment, even disdain.
Sloane still sat beside her. The moment she saw Seraphine arrive, she jumped up and lowered her voice. "Seraphine, did you see the class chat?"
"No." Seraphine set down her backpack and sat.
Sloane bit her lip and handed over her phone. "Take a look. Rachel and the others have been saying horrible things."
Seraphine took the phone and scanned through the chat history.
Rachel's passive-aggressive remarks. Gaia's embellishments. The replies from people piling on—she read through them one by one, her expression unchanged.
Sloane watched her nervously, waiting for anger, sadness, or at least some kind of reaction.
But Seraphine showed nothing.
She handed the phone back to Sloane, her tone flat. "Got it."
"That's your reaction?" Sloane's eyes widened. "They're spreading rumors about you! Saying you relied on a man to get in through the back door, that you had someone else draw for you, that you—aren't you angry?"
Seraphine glanced at her, the corner of her mouth curving slightly.
"Would being angry help?" She opened her notebook, her tone still calm. "If they want to talk, let them."
Sloane opened her mouth to respond but, seeing Seraphine's serene profile, swallowed her words.
Seraphine lowered her head to her notebook, twirling her pen lightly between her fingers.
Of course she'd seen those messages. She'd also seen who was pulling the strings behind them.
Rachel didn't have that kind of nerve. Nine times out of ten, Ondine had put her up to it.
But as she'd said—anger wouldn't help.
Rumors thrived on attention. The more you cared, the wilder they grew. If you ignored them, they'd eventually fade.
Of course—if they didn't fade, she had ways of making them disappear.
But it wasn't time for that yet.
The corner of Seraphine's mouth curved faintly, a trace of coldness flickering through.
'Ondine, is this all you've got?'
The rumors fermented for three full days.
Over those three days, Rachel and Gaia escalated their campaign. They weren't just being snide in the class chat anymore—they were openly gossiping during breaks.
They deliberately raised their voices whenever Seraphine passed, throwing mud with every sentence.
"Some people act all high and mighty on the outside, but who knows what methods they use behind the scenes."
"Right? She comes from the countryside, then suddenly gets into Nimbus Design College, suddenly gets chauffeured by an elite tycoon. That's faster than a rocket launch."
"Well, she's got skills we can't learn."
Every time Sloane heard this, her face flushed with anger. She wanted to defend Seraphine, but Seraphine would always glance at her and shake her head.
Sloane didn't understand how Seraphine could stay so calm.
Anyone else would have broken down in tears or started a fight by now.
Seraphine didn't cry. Didn't argue. Didn't even look at them.
She came to class on time every day, sat by the window, opened her notebook, listened to lectures, sketched, and left when class ended.
As though the rumors had nothing to do with her. As though they weren't talking about her at all.
But Sloane noticed that Seraphine had been using her phone more than usual over the past few days.
Sometimes during breaks, she'd lower her head and scroll quickly through her screen, expression calm.
Sometimes during class, she'd tuck her phone under her notebook, glance at it occasionally, then continue listening.
Sloane didn't know what she was looking at. She didn't dare ask.
On the third night, Seraphine sat in her room at Windsor Manor, a laptop open in front of her.
The glow from the screen illuminated her cool features.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, lines of code flashing past on the monitor.
Black background. Green text. Gibberish to most people—but under her control, they moved like obedient soldiers.
First, she accessed the class chat's server.
Chat logs—pulled up in full.
Every snide remark from Rachel and Gaia, captured down to the last one.
Timestamps. Content. Sender IP addresses. Crystal clear.
Next: the private messages between Rachel and Ondine.
The corner of Seraphine's mouth curved slightly.
Ondine thought she was clever. Thought deleting the chat history would erase everything.
But she didn't know that deleted messages only disappeared from the user's view—backups still existed on the server.
Seraphine's fingers danced across the keys. The deleted records resurfaced like ghosts.
She scrolled further.
In the private messages between Rachel and Gaia, there was even worse content.
They'd discussed how to spread the rumors wider, how to make more people believe them, how to drive Seraphine out of Nimbus Design College.
[Ondi said as long as we trash Seraphine's reputation, she won't be able to stay at Nimbus Design College.]
[Don't worry. I've got plenty of ways.]
[Tomorrow during break, I'll fan the flames again. Make sure everyone knows she got in by sleeping with some old man.]
[Watch your words. Don't give her anything to use against us.]
[What's there to worry about? She won't see it anyway.]
Seraphine stared at the messages, her expression unchanged.
She took screenshots, bundled everything into a folder, then opened the email system for Nimbus Design College's administration office.
The upload progress bar inched forward. When it hit 100%, Seraphine clicked send.
Then she opened the class chat.
Same email. Same attachments. Sent to the class group.
Send complete.