Chapter 49: The Lie Is Exposed
Note (Aug 9, 2026): Guys, I made a small revision to the end of the previous Chapter, so you might want to re-read the last few paragraphs before starting this one
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Ever since Hazel Moss was discovered to be a B-Rank at the age of five, she had been a special child in her family.
She grew up with great confidence and the belief that she could bring glory to her family.
Hazel’s dream was to buy a house in Aurelis and bring her family to live in the capital city of the Argenor Kingdom.
Entering Grand Academy was the first step toward achieving that dream. And just as she had expected, she was placed in Class 1, the best class.
What Hazel hadn’t expected was that in this class, she was barely hanging on at the bottom of the rankings. Only then did she realize that the Houses capable of establishing themselves in the capital had to be the best of the best.
Her classmates were the pillars of those prestigious Houses. Or at least their second option if they had an older sibling with a higher rank, though that was rare.
Hazel changed her mindset and began prioritizing hard work and focus. Every day, she pushed herself to become better so she could survive in this class.
When she heard that Leah Benett had failed to resonate and her rank had dropped, Hazel felt sorry for her. It was already so difficult to survive in this class, and now all of that had been ruined because of a failed resonance.
While Leah locked herself in her room, Hazel encouraged her through chat even though Leah never replied.
After Leah finally came out of her room, Hazel was the first person to encourage her and became a loyal listener to Leah’s complaints.
The more she listened to Leah’s story, the more compassion she felt, and the more she hated Prince Jeryon, the royal family, even the headmaster and Shani.
When it turned out that everything Leah had told them was a lie, Hazel still tried to keep a level head and find out the truth. But Leah’s aggressive behavior made Hazel, who had always thought positively of her, begin to doubt her.
In the middle of the crowded cafeteria, filled with students who were eating or pretending to eat, Leah felt as if she were sitting on a bed of thorns.
She stood up to leave, but Hazel grabbed her hand.
"Leah, what’s actually happened?" Hazel asked, wanting to understand Leah’s thoughts so she could support her.
But Leah felt Hazel’s gaze was scrutinizing her, as if she were trying to peel away every layer of her lies.
She yanked her hand away from Hazel. "That’s enough. Stay out of it!"
Another female student couldn’t stand Leah’s arrogant attitude anymore. "You don’t have to be so rude. We’re trying to defend you."
Leah became flustered, her head buzzing. She could no longer figure out what the right thing to do was. She took a step backward.
Seeing Leah’s reaction, Hazel realized that something was wrong with her. Hazel mind began working quickly.
"Leah, at first, you said they were lying and that they hadn’t successfully resonated. And that lie was what made you angry and sad."
"But after their egg hatched, which means they weren’t lying, you seemed to forget what you said before."
"Then you easily replaced it by saying that what made you sad was that he was happily having a baby beast while you had to suffer through the difficulty of increasing your beast energy."
"I really don’t want to accuse you of anything, but it feels like you’ve been steering everyone’s opinions with your words instead of telling the truth."
Leah’s cheerleaders began thinking the same way as Hazel.
All the information they knew about the failed resonance incident had come from Leah’s own words.
The headmaster, the instructors, and Jeryon had never said anything. At first, they assumed those people were guilty.
But what if the incident had actually already been resolved?
While the flustered Leah stood there unable to say anything and her friends demanded an explanation, another group of students entered the cafeteria.
They were the ones stuck upstairs earlier when Lara blocked the elevator during her argument with Jeryon.
Walking ahead, they were too busy chatting among themselves to notice what was happening in the cafeteria.
"Lara Benett really got shut down."
"That’s what she gets for attacking someone without knowing the truth."
"Actually, Lara isn’t the one at fault. It was Leah. She must have been the one who instigated her sister. Just look at her acting all innocent and playing the victim in front of her friends."
"She’s such a hypocrite. If I could get a Beast Energy Elixir in exchange for failing resonance, I’d want one too."
Their words reached Leah’s ears. Leah crumbled instantly.
She turned around and ran. The female students around her didn’t have time to stop her.
Leah passed the newly arrived students. They realized that she had heard what they said, but not a single one of them felt guilty.
Leah finally stopped running when she reached the elevator.
She immediately called Lara.
"Come on, pick up my call!" Leah said in panic.
"Damn it! Why isn’t she answering?!" Leah cursed when Lara still didn’t pick up.
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After dinner, Shani and her friends returned to the dorm. This time, Sonny came with them.
Kiran, who usually wanted to hit Sonny whenever he spoke without thinking, was now laughing together with him.
"That Leah girl won’t be acting so arrogant anymore," Kiran said.
Sonny nodded wholeheartedly. They completely agreed with each other this time.
The other three remained calmer, though each of them had their own thoughts.
"Leah’s lie went way too far. Is the academy really going to let her get away with it?" Noella asked.
This smartest student among them couldn’t find any academy rule that could punish Leah for what she had done. It left her feeling frustrated and unsatisfied.
The others didn’t answer. It seemed that aside from the social consequences, Leah might get away with everything. They were far from satisfied.
The next day, by lunchtime, everyone already knew about Leah. And new rumors had begun spreading, this time about the punishment Leah had received.
Sonny joined Shani and the others for lunch so they could discuss the news together.
"Lara Benett received demerits that will prevent her from participating in next semester’s Tower Competition," Sonny said in a very gossipy tone.
"And Dave, Leah’s partner, dropped out of the academy for personal reasons."
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