open threats

There was no way he could recognise her.

It did not make sense for him to recognise her.

Even if they had grown up together — both of them looked so different now! It made no sense...but his gaze at her face was so undeniably piercing that Azelie held her breath and almost stood up to run away.

Though, as soon as the Crown Prince reached the last row, Silas' snap distracted Azelie to look away from the him, momentarily. She shuffled out of Silas' presence and it took the Crown Prince those mere moments to walk past her chair and greet the woman who was standing behind her.

"Long time no see, Headmistress," Crown Prince greeted and kneeled on one knee. The woman held out a hand which he graciously took to press a kiss on its knuckles.

"Still as charming as ever, I see, Niklaus," Headmistress Ferdia leaned down and touched her cross necklace to the Crown Prince's head, "Long Live the Sun of the Empire."

Immediately, everyone stood up and recited, with cult-like synchronisation, "Long Live the Sun of the Empire," as loud as they could.

Azelie was grateful for the distraction and whispered apologies to Silas as she shifted back into her place while the Crown Prince escorted the Headmistress to the stage.

Yet another behind the scenes press of a button let down a screen which displayed the emblem of the Imperial Academy. The Crown Prince handed his microphone to the Headmistress and took a seat in the centre of the first row. Probably a good three hundred tables away from Azelie.

The ravenette rested a hand against her racing chest and whispered, "It's okay, they will never know. Fake it till you make it, feign innocence, you did nothing wrong."

The Headmistress greeted the students and introduced the year's curriculum. Azelie took the time to slouch in her chair and hack into the college wifi. It was easier compared to hacking into Stargram's system and in no less than twenty-five minutes, Azelie gained full administrative access over Gradenia's servers.

Then, she slid up and sat straighter against the backrest of her chair. She waited until the Headmistress cued for the presentation to begin and took a seat beside the Crown Prince.

Popcorn would have been a convenient snack with the drama going down on-screen as Azelie pressed play. The video played; but instead of a robotic voice giving them a virtual tour of Gradenia, the people on the screen were the brown-haired green-eyed girl sitting in the lap of a blonde man, grinding her lower half against his as she stripped off her uniform shirt.

"Mhmm, Illine..." The man moaned as he leaned and grabbed her earlobe between his teeth. His face was hidden by the thick curtain of her hair.

The girl gasped, in the video as well as from her chair in the Gradenia Hall, along with the rest of the student body. Crown Prince Nikalus stood up and paced into the right wing, hissing angrily into his phone. Ferns and Roses alike stood up to get a better view as they raised their phones and recorded the scandal unfolding before their eyes.

"No! Stop it! Stop watching! Look away! Stop!" Illine shouted as she hastily scrambled to knock the phones out of the hands of the hands of the people sitting around her.

The video continued until the plug was pulled and the projector screen slithered upward like a child pretending to be innocent after breaking their mother's favourite glassware.

"What the fuck dude, Illine La'Cruz cheated on Clyde Delarson?"

"My oh my, I must confess, I am not surprised but thoroughly entertained."

"This is so funny, I didn't know Gradenia could be so fun!" Gabriella giggled, leaning in to Hans' ear.

"That looks scary, Gabby, if they can do it to a Rose..." Hans shivered as he rested his back against his chair, "I don't want to think about us."

"Why worry when you did nothing wrong?" Gabriella merely shrugged and turned all the way to look at Silas and Azelie. "Did you see that? That was so cool! Don't you think so?" She grinned at them.

"They were a girl's intimate moments leaked without her consent, Gabriella Michaels, what is so cool or funny about it?" Silas rolled her eyes at her.

Azelie shrugged. Her eyes skimmed over the bustling crowd to find Illine but instead, Clyde caught her gaze. Though his expression remained unchanged, there was an odd twinkle in his eye which was directed to her.

Azelie gulped and looked away. The only reason why she was putting up with him was because of the Wager. As soon as she was done with the task, she wouldn't look his way ever again. The Delarsons could be nothing more than trouble, especially if they were involved with the La'Cruz family.

As if to make matters worse, a sudden gunshot stunned the crowd into silence. Heads whipped towards the source of possible violence, murder and death; the source was Illine, standing on the podium with two revolvers pointed at the crowd.

"If you don't want me to fucking open fire then delete all the evidence. If anything gets out of this room, I'm going to fucking kill you all!!" Illine shouted.

"The bitch has gone crazy!"

"What the fuck is wrong with her?! The Crown Prince is right in front of her! Does she thinks she will get away with it?!"

"You say it like she won't."

"True."

"Stop murmuring amongst yourselves and start deleting!!" Illine ordered before firing yet another shot in the air. The crowd burst into gasps again, scrambling for their phones. People got busy with deleting evidence and announcing it out loud.

Azelie witnessed with how much seriousness the Rose and Ferns were treating the situation. No more sinckers and snide remarks were passed even when all the evidence was deleted. Azelie understood that power was the only thing that ruled the walls of Gradenia. But, then, why was the Headmistress so nonchalant about two loaded guns pointed at her and her students?

"Now, whoever leaked the thing should turn themselves in," Illine ordered.

Her demand was met with dead silence.

Until, the Crown Prince spoke up, "This requires a proper investigation, La'Cruz, you cannot kill the entire student body for it. Be rational," he chided.

"Or I could take it as an opportunity to weed out my enemies. I know I have a lot," Illine smiled, her curved lips pushed up in a pleasant smile.

Azelie gulped, certain that she'd be collateral in case of crossfire. As the person who caused the whole mess...it would be unfair for someone else to take the fall for her. Though she was taken with the feeling of a hasty revenge, the consequences of it were beginning to take a toll on her.

She had never been an inherently vengeful person. But the mere thought of people getting shot because of her was enough to make her gut trip and fingers clench. Though, if she were to confess her deed...she would be shot on sight and the entire Vermilion legacy would die with her.

All that she had worked so hard for, all of her father's suffering...it would go to waste.

Her morality unceremoniously clashed with her purpose. Her jaw tightened and body stiffened at the thought of confessing her crime but chance of someone else suffering the consequences made her mind melt.

It hadn't even been a day.

"Shut the fuck up, La'Cruz, I don't want to die because you decided to make a sex-tape one fine evening," a familiar voice snapped.

Azelie's eyes found the comfortable silhouette of Relia Veronia lounging on one of the first row tables. She looked as stunning in her uniform as she looked bejewelled back at the Veronian Palace.

"You shut up Veronia, your family isn't going to fucking dismember your organs over a broken engagement, bitch," Illine snapped back, scowling at the blonde.

"I never said that the engagement was over. I could care less where you satisfy yourself, La'Cruz, you're as much familialy bound to it as I am," Clyde shouted in a tone equally unbothered by the circumstance of having two guns pointed around his head.

The words were reason enough for Illine to lower her weapons and tuck them back under the waistband of her uniform shirt. She shrugged her shoulders, all the rage melting away into reflected nonchalance. "Mhm, okay, we cool then," she shuffled on her feet, "Do you still need to show the presentation, Headmistress?"

"I believe we've seen enough, Ms. La'Cruz," the Headmistress smiled as she stood up and turned to face her students, "Have fun at Academia Gradenia!" She exclaimed and cheers erupted from the crowd as if they hadn't been cowering in fear of an open fire mere minutes ago.

Azelie's open-mouthed stare was the perfect depiction of her feelings in the moment.

"All the Ferns, come to the left please, yes, here! Single file! Follow me to the Dormitories!" A loud voice bellowed over the chatter. Gabriella, Hans and Silas headed towards the left door where the Ferns were exiting in a long yet systematic line.

Unlike the Roses, who walked in groups and exited through the main entrance with no specific order and all the free will possessed by a college student. On her way out, Relia placed a hand over Amaris' damp shoulder.

The prince turned and was met with his twin's enraged glare.

"Sleep around all you want but if you endanger me like that, ever again, you're going to loose your junk and find out what it is like to be married off. None of La'Cruz or her minions are ever going to be my in-laws, you get that?"

"Yes ma'am," Amaris gulped and mocked a salute.

Relia shoved him out of her way and strutted over a staircase leading to the Royal Rose Girls Dormitory.

On the other side of the fields, a strange hand grabbed Azelie from the very back of her line and pinned her against a creeper wrapped garden pillar. The sudden impact against the thick concrete structure made Azelie close her eyes, instinctively, and swear woes of pain under her breath.

"I know what you did." A voice whispered in her ear, threateningly.