Chapter 6

The accusation spread faster than anyone expected.

By the following afternoon, Night Academy’s largest conference room was packed.

The principal, senior administrators, the newly appointed head of the Greyhaven Night Education Board, and representatives from both adoptive families sat at the front. Reporters crowded along the walls, broadcasting the investigation live across the city.

What began as a dispute over a school performance had become a public scandal about pureblood privilege.

Sylvia stood between Mr. and Mrs. Miller, wrapped in Lucian’s coat. Her eyes were red and swollen, while her adoptive parents held her protectively.

Across the room, Mr. and Mrs. Ashcroft kept their distance from me.

The principal asked Sylvia to explain what had happened.

She lowered her head.

“Tessa said girls like me belong behind the stage cleaning floors, not standing on it beside pureblood students.”

The room erupted.

“She reminded me that her family donated several buildings to the academy. She said no teacher would risk offending House Ashcroft for the daughter of a cleaner.”

Her voice began to tremble.

“I told her we came from the same orphanage. I thought she would understand what it feels like to have nothing.”

A tear slid down her cheek.

“But she said that was exactly why she couldn’t stand looking at me. I reminded her of what she used to be.”

Several reporters were already visibly angry.

Mrs. Miller pulled Sylvia into her arms.

“My daughter cleans classrooms until dawn and still comes to school every day. She never asked to be treated like a pureblood lady. She only wanted to perform with her classmates.”

The red camera lights pointed at my face.

“None of it happened,” I said. “Every accusation Sylvia made is a lie.”

Before the reporters could react, Lucian rose.

“Then why would she accuse you?”

He stepped protectively in front of Sylvia.

“She cleans classrooms until dawn to protect her mother’s wages. She comes to school exhausted and hungry, yet she never complains. She has refused every gift and every dollar I offered her.”

His expression softened when he looked at her.

“She could have chosen House Ashcroft, but she chose an ordinary family because love mattered more to her than wealth.”

Every quality he admired had once belonged to me.

Sylvia had copied the girl I had been in our previous life, and Lucian had fallen in love with the imitation.

He took her hand.

“A girl who works that hard, asks for nothing, and endures everything in silence would never accuse you publicly unless you had pushed her beyond what she could bear.”

Then he looked at me.

“So stop calling her a liar and apologize.”

Mrs. Ashcroft’s gaze fell on the family crest pinned to my uniform.

“If Sylvia’s accusation is true, bringing you into our family was a mistake.”

She had never called me her daughter with affection. Yet in front of the entire city, she was quick to make it clear that I did not belong to her.

Mr. Ashcroft turned toward the cameras.

“House Ashcroft will not protect Tessa or excuse her actions. Until the investigation is complete, she will not return to our home.”

The head of the Education Board nodded.

“No student should be allowed to escape poverty by pushing another child back into it.”

Reporters repeated his words into their cameras. Headlines were already spreading across Greyhaven.

FORMER ORPHAN USES PUREBLOOD POWER TO BULLY CLEANER’S DAUGHTER.

HOUSE ASHCROFT DISOWNS ADOPTED HEIRESS.

The principal rose.

“Tessa Ashcroft, you are suspended from Night Academy and removed from all student activities. Security will escort you from campus.”

Two guards approached me.

No one had asked Sylvia for evidence.

No one had asked who had actually removed her from the performance.

They had already decided that Sylvia was the victim—and that I was an orphan who had climbed into privilege only to pull the ladder up behind me.

Across the room, Sylvia stood surrounded by her parents, Lucian, and the cameras.

Everyone saw a poor girl finally receiving justice.

Only I saw the victory beneath her tears.

She had stolen the role I played in our previous life, and this time, everyone believed her.

Then the conference room door opened.

Mara Quinn walked inside with a folder in her hands.

Her uniform was faded, her shoes were badly worn, and the cuffs of her sleeves had been carefully mended more than once.

The reporters immediately turned their cameras toward her.

Another girl from a low-ranking family.

Another student who looked as though she might have been bullied by me.

One reporter eagerly held out his microphone.

“Are you here to testify against Tessa too?”

“No.”

Mara walked past the reporter and stopped beside me.

“I’m here because being poor doesn’t make every accusation true.”

She looked directly at Sylvia.

“And Sylvia is using your sympathy to hide a lie.”