Aris froze.His throat burned, but no words came out.He wanted to say stop.He wanted to tell her, "Don't defend me."Because the more she spoke, the more the crowd turned on her.
But this was still Sylvia, the girl whose gaze was cold enough to freeze fire.
"You all talk about bloodlines as if your own don't reek of rot.""If his mother were a prostitute, then at least she earned what she had. Can you say the same? YOu all disgust me, behaving as if you're the holiest of all."
Gasps rippled through the courtyard.The students stepped back — not from fear, but from outrage.
"You're insane," one of them hissed."You think that filth deserves to stand beside us?""You're ruining your own name for someone like him!"
And that was the wound that broke him.
Aris couldn't breathe.Sylvia's voice faded into static.All he could hear was the pounding in his chest — a single, screaming thought echoing through him:
