Ashley had always been one of Bianca's puppets—just another shadow in her cruel little kingdom. She laughed when Bianca laughed. She obeyed when Bianca snapped her fingers. She watched in silence when others suffered.
But that day... everything changed.
She had locked the classroom door herself, following orders like always. But nothing could've prepared her for what was about to unfold inside.
Bianca wasn't just angry.
She was unhinged.
Knife in hand, her eyes shimmered with sadistic glee as she stalked toward Rosaline. Her lips curled into a smile too wide, too wicked. Brittany and Maya stood beside her, grinning like spectators at a gladiator match.
"She thinks she can dance with my prince?" Bianca hissed, raising the small knife. "Let's see if he still wants her with that pretty little face ruined."
Ashley's stomach turned. The game had gone too far. This wasn't about popularity anymore. This wasn't just another prank.
They were going to destroy Rosaline.
And they were enjoying it.
Ashley's fingers trembled as they brushed against the doorknob. Every part of her screamed to run, to pretend she saw nothing. But Rosaline's wide, terrified eyes locked with hers—and something shifted in Ashley's heart.
She couldn't stay silent.
Not this time.
Her voice was a whisper, shaky but urgent.
"Run."
Then chaos broke loose.
Bianca lunged. Rosaline screamed. Ashley threw herself between them, pushing, pulling—fighting tooth and nail to create an opening. Rosaline twisted away from the grasping hands and darted toward the door. Blood trickled from a cut on her arm, but she didn't stop.
Outside, Maga and Cassie were heading toward class when Rosaline stumbled into their arms, gasping for breath, her uniform stained with blood.
"Rosaline!" they cried, holding her steady as her knees gave out.
She collapsed in their arms.
Back in the classroom, Ashley paid the price. A sharp pain pierced her side—a knife. She gasped, clutching the wound… but then, impossibly, she watched as her skin began to mend itself. Flesh sealed, blood dried.
She should've been dying.
Instead, she was healing.
And no one else noticed.
Rosaline was rushed to the hospital. Later, Maga and Cassie stormed into the headmaster's office, faces pale with fury.
"We weren't there for all of it," Cassie said. "But we know who did it."
"We suspect Lady Bianca, Lady Brittany, and Lady Maya," added Maga.
Before the authorities could react, a well-dressed stranger appeared, face unreadable, hands clutching a thick envelope of cash.
"Mrs. Jessica says… deal with it accordingly," he said, dropping the money and vanishing like smoke.
That day, Bestling Academy closed early. But the rot didn't stay behind the school gates.
Bianca sat fuming in her lavish bedroom, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of her mirror.
"She got away," she snarled. "Ashley betrayed me. That filthy half-vampire."
Across the room, her mother—Mrs. Jessica—watched with cold disdain.
"I gave you a simple task," she said icily. "And you let a nobody outsmart you."
"If she danced with the prince with the same face....,then she can steal him from you forever."Mrs Jessica said.
Mrs. Jessica stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper laced with venom.
"Then make sure she doesn't live long enough to try."
Bianca flinched.
"If you must kill her... do it. Rosaline is the only thing standing between you and the throne. Don't fail again."
Meanwhile, far from the mansion, Grandma Elira's small restaurant buzzed with unrest. Word of the masquerade had ignited the town like wildfire.
"The prince danced with her?" someone whispered.
"With a girl from the slums?" another gasped. "Wearing a mask?"
"No one even knew it was Rosaline until Elira opened her mouth!"
"She's only pampering her because her parents are dead," someone else spat.
Elira sat silently behind the counter, shoulders heavy with guilt.
"I knew it. She was too stubborn. I told her,I warned her.She only brings me troubles and disgrace." she whispered to herself.
Then, the front door slammed open. Maga and Cassie burst in, panic in their eyes.
"Grandma Elira," Cassie gasped. "It's Rosaline. She was attacked. She's in the hospital."
The restaurant fell silent.
Gasps. Whispers. Wide eyes.
It had happened again....in this institution .
Bestling Academy had always been a paradise for the elite—and a nightmare for the rest. Every year, someone disappeared. Someone was broken. Someone died.
And every year, it was covered up with hush money, fake smiles, and press releases.
But this time… someone survived.
And someone saw.
Rosaline had just become more than a victim.
She had become the spark to burn it all down.