Chapter 27
I glanced at Leopold, noticed him watching Sophia, and said evenly, "Yes, I'm awake. Are you disappointed?"
Sophia's eyes snapped to mine, a flash of annoyance crossing her face before she quickly resumed her fragile demeanor. "Cindy, I came to check on you out of kindness. Why would you say something like that?"
"Lucinda, watch your attitude," Leopold chimed in.
I gave them both an icy look. "She nearly killed me. Why should I watch my attitude?"
"Cindy." Sophia's face was a mask of disbelief. "Are you twisting the facts? You were the one who grabbed my hair first, made my scalp bleed, and left scratches all over me. I haven't even held it against you, and now you're... falsely accusing me?" She finished with a pitiful sob.
"That's enough." Leopold clearly felt for her tears. "Lucinda, Sophia didn't mean to hurt you. Besides, I've asked around—staff saw you drag Sophia into the bathroom and lock the door. She has agreed not to press charges, so let's just put this behind us."
"Put this behind us?" I couldn't help but laugh.
Fighting my dizziness, I pushed myself up to a sitting position.
"What are you doing? Didn't I tell you to lie down?" Leopold tried to push me back down, but I refused.
"I know my own body."
Leopold seemed irritated but helped me sit up properly before letting go.
I looked at Sophia's barely concealed smugness and picked up my phone. "I'm going to pursue this matter. Since Sophia won't admit what she did, I'll have to call the police and let them examine our injuries."
Sophia's face instantly paled. "No, you can't!"
Leopold's expression darkened. "This isn't worth making public."
His constant defense of Sophia ignited fury in my chest. "I have a concussion because of Sophia! If I hadn't been lucky, I could have died on the spot!"
Leopold's face grew even more grim.
I didn't care. I looked directly at Sophia. "Do you think because there are no cameras in the bathroom, I can't do anything about this?"
"Let me educate you—there's a medical difference between injuries caused by accidentally falling backward versus someone deliberately slamming your head into the floor. You won't get away with this!"
Just as I was about to dial emergency services, Sophia lunged forward and knocked my phone from my hand. "Don't call the police!"
Her sudden movement startled me. In the next second, Leopold extended his arm protectively in front of me and barked at Sophia, "Sophia, have you lost your mind?"
I stared at Leopold's arm in shock, my brain struggling to process what was happening. Why was he protecting me? Didn't he care about Sophia the most?
"Leo." Sophia reached for his hand, tears streaming down her face. "Leo, you know me better than anyone in the world. Don't tell me you don't believe me either?"
Leopold coldly avoided her touch. "Lucinda says someone slammed her head into the floor. Why didn't you mention this when I asked you what happened?"
I was surprised—he had questioned Sophia before?
"My mind was such a mess at the time, I didn't remember." Sophia was still making excuses.
I immediately exposed her deception. "You didn't remember, or you didn't dare say it?"
"Lucinda, shut up! You're the one who hurt me, and now you're afraid Leo will blame you, so you injured yourself to gain sympathy!" Sophia accused me furiously.
"As a woman, I empathized with you and didn't pursue the matter when you put glass powder in my shoes. Why do you keep hurting me?"
If I wasn't the person involved, I might have been fooled by her brilliant acting. Her mention of the glass powder incident reminded me of something I'd nearly forgotten.
"Speaking of glass powder, I already proved that video was manipulated. But the police also told me that not all of it was fake—ten seconds in the middle were genuine."
Sophia froze.
I made a move to get out of bed to retrieve my phone, but Leopold immediately grabbed my arm. "Are you trying to kill yourself? The doctor said you can't get out of bed."
Looking at his anxious expression, I couldn't tell if he was genuinely concerned about my injury or just angry that I was causing trouble for Sophia. "Could you please hand me my phone?"
Leopold took a deep breath, as if suppressing some emotion. After a moment, he picked up the phone and gave it to me. Though it had been dropped, it wasn't damaged.
I opened my files, found the video, and handed it to Leopold. "Take a good look."
Instead of taking the phone, he held my hand to watch the video together. It had been so long since we'd been this close, and I felt suddenly uncomfortable.
"Leo, that video is manipulated. You can't trust what's in it. Cindy is just being paranoid—don't let her influence you." Though Sophia couldn't see the video, it didn't stop her from trying to discredit me.
By now, Leopold had finished watching. He looked at Sophia, his expression dark as storm clouds.
"Sophia, I remember your ballet shoes don't have your name written on them. So why is it that when there were two pairs of shoes in the dressing room, the person who supposedly sabotaged you didn't hesitate for even a second before picking up yours specifically?"
This was exactly what I'd noticed when I first saw the video. But since Leopold hadn't believed me then, I hadn't pressed the issue. Now that Sophia had brought it up, I wanted to try again.
To my surprise, Leopold not only spotted the inconsistency immediately but confronted Sophia about it.
So maybe he didn't completely disregard me after all?
Sophia was visibly flustered. "Leo, I don't know why it's like that..."
I didn't give her a chance to make excuses. "Whether you know or not, that's the reality. Only you and Lillian were present, and only you two would know exactly where your shoes were placed. For someone to complete that sequence of actions so quickly, there's only one possibility."
"The person who poured glass powder into your shoes was either you yourself or Lillian."
"That's slander!" Sophia was furious with embarrassment. "Even if the person in the video is suspicious, that doesn't mean it was me. I don't have any deep grudge against you—why would I risk my future to harm you?"
I calmly replied, "Lillian, then."
Seeing Sophia about to argue again, I continued, "There were only two of you there. You can't possibly say it wasn't Lillian either, can you?"
Sophia was cornered, her face reddening with frustration. "Cindy, why do you have such animosity toward me? Is it just because Leo pays more attention to me? Besides, this isn't something to be proud of. I've already let it go, so why are you... being so aggressive?"
I couldn't stand her pretentious act. "If you don't want others to know, don't do it in the first place. What are you afraid of?"
"I..." Sophia had barely uttered a word when she suddenly clutched her head and collapsed.
"Sophia!" Leopold caught her without hesitation. "Lucinda, I need to take her back to her room."
Before I could respond, he had already carried Sophia out. My heart felt like it had been stabbed with a knife, the pain so intense I could only clutch at my clothes.
What was I expecting? I knew perfectly well that compared to Sophia, I meant nothing to him. So why did my heart still flutter at his few words?