Hearing the escalating whispers.
Isabella's mind began to spin.
It felt as if a bomb had detonated inside her head.
Her face drained of all color, looking deathly pale.
Her entire world was collapsing.
From the moment Serena stepped foot into Marington College, Isabella had deliberately engineered a narrative, forcing everyone to adopt the preconceived notion that Serena was just a backwards country girl.
Because of that deeply ingrained stereotype.
Everyone never connected Serena Lancaster's last name with the elite Lancaster family of Vaelion City.
After all, millions of people shared the same surname.
But now, Serena was shining brighter than ever, commanding absolute dominance.
And with Nicholas standing by her side.
The fragile veil Isabella had desperately tried to maintain had been violently ripped away.
If... if the crowd kept digging.
The flawless image of the Lancaster heiress she had spent her life cultivating would be obliterated.
It would all be over!
She absolutely refused to let the world know she was a fraudulent imposter who had been thrown out on the street.
Isabella shook violently.
She panicked completely.
She couldn't endure standing on this island for another second.
Abandoning her pitiful act, she grabbed Bianca's arm in a vice grip. "Bianca, let's go! We need to leave right now!"
She kept her head down, her steps erratic, desperate to escape the suffocating weight of the crowd's scrutiny.
Bianca stumbled from the sudden force, her brow furrowing deeply as she cursed and tried to rip her arm free.
But Isabella remained completely silent, only walking faster.
"Oh my!"
Suddenly, a loud, piercing female voice echoed through the air, dripping with blatant mockery. "Isabella, what are you running from?"
"You loved putting on a show while you were on the island. Why are you suddenly tucking your tail between your legs and running away?"
"Tsk, tsk. Feeling a little guilty, are we?"
It was Lydia.
She stood with her hands on her hips, her chin thrust forward, a mocking smirk plastered across her face.
Lydia's sudden shout made Isabella's legs turn to jelly, her panic spiking to absolute terror.
In her frantic rush to flee.
She bolted onto the yacht's gangplank, but her high heel caught on the edge twisting sharply as her slid out from under her.
"Bang!"
"Ah!"
Isabella let out a cry of pain as she slammed hard onto the deck.
It was an exceptionally humiliating face-plant. She lay sprawled out on the boards, looking entirely wretched.
Lydia didn't hold back, bursting into loud, uninhibited laughter.
Just moments earlier, when Isabella had grabbed Bianca and tried to run, Lydia had glanced at her Captain.
She absolutely loathed Isabella's manipulative theatrics.
How dare she try to subtly imply that their Captain was the other woman?
Lydia was seething.
But this was Serena's personal business.
When she looked over.
Serena seemed to perfectly read her The Captain's lips
thought
into a slight smirk as she Curled
gave a
brief rod
Even without words.
Lydia understood the directive perfectly.
The Captain was saying: "Do whatever you want, I've got your back."
Unleashed and entirely fearless, Lydia went into full attack mode against Isabella.
It was time to destroy her!
"Haha, watching someone panic from guilt is incredibly entertaining!"
Lydia sneered. "Are you that terrified everyone is going to find out you aren't actually
the Lancaster heiress?"
That single sentence sent a massive shockwave through the crowd.
They stared at Lydia in pure disbelief.
Then, every head swiveled toward Isabella.
"What? Isabella isn't the Lancaster heiress?"
"What is she talking about?"
"She's
heiress? But didn't a
family show up to school evet
representative from the Lancasteret
her guardian before?"