The Cold Beauty's Rebirth

Morning arrived with an eerie stillness. The Leng twins, dressed impeccably in their uniforms, stepped out of the car with the same unreadable expressions they always carried. The academy grounds buzzed with a strange energy—whispers, side glances, hushed conversations.

Something was brewing.

Ruolan stood at the center of a small group of students, feigning distress as she lowered her gaze, her voice trembling just enough to sound believable.

"I never wanted to say anything," she murmured, her eyes misty. "But it's just been… unbearable."

Her audience—mostly students she had carefully manipulated over time—nodded sympathetically. Some shot glares in the twins' direction.

"She's so brave for speaking up," one whispered.

"I always felt something was off about them," another muttered.

Ruolan bit her lip, looking down as if mustering courage. "I have proof."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

From her pocket, she pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper—printed screenshots of 'messages' supposedly sent by Qingxue and Qiuhan. They were carefully altered, portraying the twins as cold, dismissive, and even cruel toward her.

The murmur of voices grew louder.

Somewhere in the crowd, Li Shen leaned against a pillar, golden eyes glinting with amusement. Tianyi, beside him, smirked. "She really thinks this will work?"

Yiran, ever composed, sipped her tea. "Patience. The show has only just begun."

At that moment, Qingxue and Qiuhan arrived at the scene, their silver-blue eyes scanning the unfolding drama with an unreadable calm.

Ruolan stiffened for a fraction of a second before forcing her most pitiful expression. "Qingxue… Qiuhan… I-I never wanted this to happen, but I had no choice."

Qingxue tilted her head slightly, her gaze unreadable. "Oh?"

Ruolan clutched the papers, her voice trembling. "I wanted to believe we were family, but the way you've treated me… these messages—" she lifted the evidence for all to see "—prove everything."

A hushed silence fell over the crowd.

Qiuhan let out a slow, deliberate breath. "Is that so?"

His voice was laced with amusement, sending a chill through Ruolan's spine.

Qingxue stepped forward. "You're right about one thing, Ruolan."

Ruolan's heart pounded. Had she finally cornered them?

Qingxue's lips curled into a faint smile. "You had no choice. Because once a liar starts spinning a web, they have to keep weaving—until they're tangled in it themselves."

Ruolan's fingers twitched, but she forced a small laugh. "I… I don't know what you mean."

Qiuhan pulled out his phone, tapping the screen with ease.

A second later, the large digital billboard above the courtyard flickered—then lit up.

Ruolan froze.

Lines of text scrolled across the screen.

The messages she had 'forged.'

Then, beneath them, the real messages—the unedited ones—appeared in sharp contrast.

Side by side.

Each carefully fabricated insult was exposed as nothing more than a distortion of the truth.

The crowd gasped. Murmurs turned into full-fledged whispers.

"What the—"

"She faked everything?"

Ruolan's blood ran cold.

Qingxue spoke again, her voice calm but cutting. "You made one crucial mistake, Ruolan."

Qiuhan smirked. "You thought you could outmaneuver us."

A thick silence hung in the air.

Ruolan trembled, her mind racing for an escape. "This—this is a trick! They must have hacked—"

Tianyi's laugh cut through the tension. "Of course they hacked it. That's what happens when you challenge someone smarter than you."

Li Shen chuckled, arms crossed. "I must say, that was fun to watch."

Ruolan turned desperately to the students who had been supporting her. "You believe me, don't you?"

But their eyes were wary now.

Doubt had taken root.

Qingxue regarded Ruolan with quiet amusement. "I told you before. I don't deal in intentions. I deal in results."

And this result?

Ruolan had just lost everything.