"That wasn't even enough time to take your shoes off! There's no way she performed all the steps…"

The evaluator said their final words and told them to leave while inviting Elena inside for further arrangements. Maya was so shocked that she had to go outside for some air, telling Elena she'd wait for her there.

Seeing her turn her back, Elena had an instinctive urge to follow, but one girl grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, demanding she explain herself.

Elena's lip curled in contempt at the other girls' righteous indignation. "I'm not part of your herd—I don't owe you an explanation."

The girl sputtered, "You little…"

Unfazed, Elena retorted, "You all went in there performing the same shit, right?" She glanced at each of their furious faces. "I should thank you—you bored them to death so thoroughly that anything I did impressed them. Sure, Amanda does praise obedience, but this was nothing but plain stupidity. How was that supposed to set you apart?"

"But the one who performed the most stances was supposed to win," one girl protested.

"Those were the rumours…"

Girls were relentless in arguing as if they could change the outcome by reaffirming what they thought they knew.

"Oh?" Elena's lips curved into a mocking smile. "You all staked your chances on whispers? How… sad." The words fell from her mouth like ice, devoid of any trace of sympathy.

The way she spoke made it seem like things went exactly as she anticipated.

Lauren blinked in shock. "You were the one who told me about the stances!" she remembered.

"So you're the one with the biggest blabbering mouth," Elena laughed.

"You tricked me!"

"Huh?" Elena put her hand on her chest. "Was it that obvious?"

Lauren stared at her in disbelief.

"You were my greatest rival, so I thought of a way to eliminate you. You dragged the rest down with you, all thanks to your good sportsmanship," Elena patted her on the shoulder. "Thank you, Lauren. You did better than I hoped for."

Lauren had never been so insulted by receiving a compliment and a thank-you.

"Y—you…" She clenched her teeth, but there was nothing any of them could do.

None of them had thought for themselves once the "winning strategy" spread. That's what made them play into Elena's hands.

Elena had her own way of doing things. Ever since the Harvester trials were announced, she'd put her plan into motion. Elena knew she was very capable of succeeding on her own, but there was a certain person in power who could pull strings and reject her application.

She planned to win with an overwhelming lead—enough that, if someone tried to rig the result against her, it would be obvious. That way, Elena would still succeed in showcasing Amanda using this academy as her playground.

For the past few weeks, she had been meticulous about when and in front of whom to show her powers or conceal them. The hardest part was not getting into trouble and suppressing her usual antics.

During that time, she sneakily evaluated her potential rivals and underhandedly planted the idea of performing learned stances. Laurel was one of those potential candidates, but also one of those easily swayed gossipers. Weeks earlier, she'd planted the first seed with Lauren by casually striking up a conversation.

"Ugh, can't get past the 8th form. How many have you mastered?"

"Forms?"

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"For the trial, right?" Elena put her hand over her mouth. "Weren't you practicing your stances for the trial? I thought you had a good chance of passing, but if you haven't been practicing… Well, time's running out. What were you planning to show them?"

The girl panicked, and the assumption quickly spread. Soon it reached Maya, and they all frantically practiced even the advanced stances they hadn't yet learned in class, just to impress the judges and get ahead of the others.

Of course, that was no accident either. They got the idea from Elena, who begged their mentor in front of everyone to show them advanced stances. She was refused, but the rest found a way to learn them by asking older students or studying from books. As Elena was recognized as a strong candidate in the first place, no one wanted to fall behind.

Those were the subtle things she did outside Maya's perception. Everyone was panicking. All the while Elena loitered around, not showing interest in practising, hence why Maya was convinced she didn't care about the trials.

As the rest of the girls were bonding and assisting one another, Elena used it against them. She used those bonds of new friendship to spread poison among them.

It didn't necessarily have to be this way. If Elena had participated, they would have had to select the one who performed best in the stances, and her involvement could have fostered closeness among them as they trained together. But Elena was not that type of person. She was always alone.

'It's dangerous to be weak…'

Maya was growing immensely powerful by the day, having advantages others couldn't even imagine. At times, it was as if the world wanted to bend over backwards to lay a soft, golden carpet beneath her feet. So if Elena was to follow after her, she couldn't fall behind. While her main objective was to provoke Amanda, gaining immense power if that failed wasn't a bad consolation prize.

'I thought you didn't care about the trials,' Maya's confession resounded inside Elena's mind. 'I should have told you, but I really wanted to win.'

'Sorry, Maya. I knew that already.'

"But don't you feel guilty?" Keith's question pulled her out of her head.

Elena was in his room, recounting how it all played out. She wanted to place a bet, but Keith already believed she would win this role. Elena always finds a way.

"Why?" Elena rolled across the bed to face him.

"You deceived your friend," Keith said, playing with her hair.

"Maya's my toy," she said with a smile. "She's beautifully loyal, like a gift from gods."

"I thought you didn't believe in gods," Keith said as he kissed her back.

But Keith understood the beauty of having someone's unconditional loyalty. Especially someone who's otherwise underhanded and distrustful. He clearly has her trust; otherwise she wouldn't be confessing those things to him.

But because she would confess such things, that bliss comes with paranoia. If she does such things behind her friend's back when she knows it would make her sad, could she be doing similar things behind his back?

It wasn't very likely. Their bond was much stronger and longer-lasting than her bond with Maya. But paranoia always persisted in the back of his mind. He had no proof Elena would be unfaithful. Many lusted for this girl, but she was his. No one could steal her gaze away from him.

It was beautiful—but what if it was a lie? That beautiful feeling would be stolen and undermined. He kissed her again, and she passed him the smoking joint.

Even though they started their relationship with Elena stating that she didn't like him, she was now completely infatuated with him. It was a pleasant stroke to his ego. Being with her gave him more benefits than he could imagine.

Not only did he savour the special treatment of a girl who was unlike the others, but he also got to indulge in activities that might otherwise tarnish his pristine reputation. Smoking weed, for instance, was easily excusable—people would likely blame Elena and pity Keith for his inability to fully 'reform' her through his positive influence.

Elena was the perfect gateway for him to enjoy his youth while maintaining a spotless record for his future. Above all, she was willing to do it—willing to shoulder any blame—and that was what made their relationship so special. She was a gift that kept on giving. Naturally, he adored her.

"Do you remember the promise we made when we started dating?" Keith asked, brushing her hair back.

Elena swung her head back, the way she would when she was thinking deeply. "The one when you called me distrustful?"

Keith laughed. Indeed, he did. But he wasn't wrong. "Two more months," he smiled. "Two more months and you'll be proven wrong."

Elena suddenly reset her expression into a serious one.

'Hah. Was I supposed to trust you just because I suggested we give this a go? I'm not naïve enough to trust a man to keep his word,' those were the words Elena said back then.

They had started a relationship with a deal for mutual benefit. His benefit was already apparent, and in return, simply by associating with him, he offset some of the bad flak she received. And from there it blossomed. She'd been the first girl to resist his charm so easily, and having her fall in love had been all the sweeter.

'Give me six months. By then, you'll have to accept that I am a precious exception in your dark, distrustful heart… that we're meant to be…'

Keith kissed her temple. "Are you aware of the date it falls on?"

'…Then if you keep that promise… I'll trust you completely…'

"It's on Valentine's Day."

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