Ch. 71
The next day felt strangely normal.
Selene sat quietly inside the school library, a thick book open in front of her, though her eyes hadn't moved from the same page for the past five minutes.
Her mind was somewhere else.
Klein clan...
Lizzy...
CCTV deleted...
Liana...
Her fingers lightly tapped the table as she recalled everything that happened at the party.
Grandpa never reacts like that. He really looked pissed.
Just the mention of the Klein family was enough to make his expression turn foul.
Dang... what is going to happen to me now?
After changing Selene's fate, am I really going to turn myself into some kind of detective just to uncover all the damn mysteries in this messed-up novel?
Come to think of it... my only goal was to avoid the male lead and the female lead. And I think I did my best for the past few months.
But what the heck!?
They still dragged me back into the plot.
I can tolerate studying as a 19-year-old student again... but being part of some ridiculous mystery arc?
Yeah... I don't think I signed up for that.
Selene slightly grabbed her hair in annoyance, exhaling in frustration.
"I have free will, okay!?" she muttered under her breath.
"I'm not falling for this stupid novel scheme!"
Selene pouted when her eyes landed on a group of students a few meters away from her. They were laughing quietly among themselves, completely carefree.
She clicked her tongue softly.
"I envy them... it must be nice being an unknown character in this novel," she muttered.
"Tsk."
Her phone suddenly vibrated on the table.
Selene glanced down, it was a message from Aria. She immediately unlocked her phone.
Below the message was a video file. Selene's fingers paused for a moment before opening the video.
"This is it."
The video started playing.
The footage started with Aria holding her phone in selfie mode. The camera angle was bright and cheerful, clearly recorded for social media.
Aria smiled at the camera while Lizzy leaned beside her, fixing her hair.
"Hey guys~ we're at this cute café today," Aria said happily.
"We just finished shopping and—"
Lizzy laughed and waved at the camera.
"Stop recording, you post everything," Lizzy teased.
"That's because my followers love our daily life," Aria replied playfully.
They were both smiling and everything looked normal.
Then suddenly—the camera jerked.
Someone bumped into Lizzy from the side.
"Hey! Watch where you're—" Lizzy stopped mid-sentence.
Her expression changed instantly. From shocked then annoyed until it became irritation. The camera shifted slightly, and another figure entered the frame.
"It's Liana." Selene's grip on her phone tightened. "She looked fine."
"Well, well... look who we have here. The one who clings to Caleb every damn single time." Lizzy let out a mocking laugh.
Aria covered her mouth, laughing quietly beside her.
Liana smirked.
Without warning, she stepped forward and grabbed Lizzy by the hair.
Lizzy screamed.
"Hey—what the hell—!"
Liana pulled her closer, her face twisted with anger.
"I was looking for you," Liana said in a low, murderous voice.
"You slut."
"Ahhh! Help me!" Lizzy cried as Liana tightened her grip on her hair.
"Let go of her!" Aria shouted, trying to pull Liana's arm, but Liana didn't even look at her.
Her eyes were locked on Lizzy.
"You're the whore here, Lizzy!" Liana shouted angrily.
"Caleb and I are soulmates! Why do you keep stealing him from me?! He's my fiancé, for fuck's sake!"
Lizzy struggled, trying to push her away.
"Fiancé!? The hell are you talking about?! The engagement was cut off because you're sick! You psycho! This is why Caleb will never love you! And for the record—YOU were the one who stole him from me!"
Liana's face twisted even more. Her grip tightened.
"No... Caleb is mine. All mine!" she yelled.
"Damn it, I hate you! I'm going to kill you!"
Suddenly—her hand moved to Lizzy's neck.
She grabbed it.
Hard.
Lizzy gasped.
Her face turned red as she struggled to breathe.
"L–Let go...!!"
Her nails scratched Liana's arm, trying to break free, but Liana only pressed harder.
Aria screamed behind the camera.
"Stop it! Liana, stop! You're hurting her!! Someone help!!"
Lizzy's neck was visibly red. Small scratch marks appeared where Liana's nails dug into her skin.
A thin line of blood could be seen. The camera started shaking violently as Aria moved. People's voices could be heard in the background.
"What's happening!?"
"Hey! Stop them!"
"Call someone!"
The video turned blurry. The frame moved wildly.
Lizzy and Liana disappeared from the screen as the crowd gathered.
Then—
The video ended.
Selene lay back loosely after watching the video. She didn't even realize that she hadn't been breathing for a long time.
Selene rewind the video to the part where Liana's face appeared again.
"This face... I've never seen her with this kind of expression before. I never knew Liana could make a face like this." She shook her head.
"That brat really looks so scary... but is it really Liana?? Why does she look so different in that video?" Selene pondered.
Was Liana originally Selene's best friend in the novel? Or was she some kind of hidden character that I coincidentally encountered?
This is what I get for not finishing the whole story!
Selene closed her eyes after blaming herself.
But— it wasn't my fault I got dragged here! Being transmigrated wasn't my idea at all!
Selene jolted when the air suddenly felt cold, and thunder rumbled loudly outside.
See? It reacts immediately whenever I blame them.
Selene closed her phone and looked toward the window. Rain had started to fall, and it was getting heavy.
"Should I just go and get myself some new clothes? I think I also deserve a nice massage," she suddenly thought.
She immediately cleaned up her desk and started to leave the library.
"Yeah... let's just ignore the fact that I just received a proof of a crime. This matter can be handled later. My stress can't... I need to chill. My brain won't function without dopamine."
"Selene's mother taught me that shopping is a stress reliever, and she's right," Selene said to herself as she called the driver to pick her up.
When she arrived at the parking area, she could only stand under the shade to avoid the rain. After a moment, she scolded herself for not bringing an umbrella.
"Ugh! I forgot to check the weather. I'm rich, yet I don't even have a single umbrella with me," she mumbled.
Selene was still standing under the shade in the parking area, waiting for the rain to slow down, when she heard a group of students talking nearby.
They didn't notice her, so their voices were loud enough for her to hear clearly.
"Did you hear what happened to Liana?"
Selene's ears immediately perked up.
"I heard she hasn't been coming to school lately," one girl said.
"No, I heard she's sick," another replied. "Like, really sick. Someone said she hasn't woken up for days."
"Huh? That's not what I heard," a third student said. "My cousin saw someone who looked like Liana in the hospital. She was lying on a bed... like in a coma or something."
The others gasped.
"Seriously!?"
"I'm not sure if it was really her though," the student continued.
"My cousin was visiting her older sister at the hospital. She just caught a glimpse when the nurses passed by. The face looked like Liana, but she couldn't see clearly."
"Wait, wait... I heard something else too," another student whispered.
"What?"
"I saw a post online yesterday. Some influencer girl uploaded a video, but it got deleted right away."
Selene's fingers twitched slightly at the word video.
"Deleted? Why?"
"They said Liana appeared in the video... and she was fighting with someone in a café."
Selene mind instantly recalled the clip Aria sent.
"I don't know if it's real," the student continued, lowering her voice,
"but people were saying she grabbed a girl by the neck. Like she was choking her."
Selene's eyes widened. It's the same as the video.
"No way... that's creepy."
"But how is that possible?" another said.
"If she's really in the hospital, then who was that?"
"Exactly! That's why everyone thinks the video was fake... or edited or something."
Fake...?
Edited...?
Selene slowly clenched her phone inside her pocket.
No.
It wasn't fake.
She saw it herself. Aria sent it to her directly.
"I haven't even gone shopping yet, and the plot is already catching up to me through random gossip...
...Haah.
This arc in the novel is seriously harder than my workload back in my own world."
Her expression turned serious.
Then who... was in that café?
Before she could think further, a loud engine sound echoed in the parking area.
A bright yellow sports car suddenly stopped right in front of her.
Selene blinked.
Her eyebrow twitched slightly.
Seriously?
She crossed her arms.
"It was just another rich kid showing off," she muttered to herself.
"And he even parked right in front of me."