CHAPTER 448: CHAPTER 448: REASSIGN

"I’m done pretending nothing’s wrong. I’m done letting other people manipulate me. And I’m done hurting people I shouldn’t have hurt."

Aurora stared at her with a blank expression that made Diana’s chest tighten. But Aurora said nothing.

So Diana continued, seeming to gather courage with every word. "I know what kind of person I’ve been. I know the reputation I built. I know the things I did to make people hate me. I also know I hurt the wrong people along the way." Her throat bobbed. "Including you."

A murmur spread through the classroom. A few students exchanged curious glances. Confessions from Diana were as rare as frost in summer.

Aurora leaned back slightly, folding her arms. "Is that so?"

"Yes," Diana whispered. "And I’m trying to change. I’m trying to atone for the things I did... even if it’s too late."

Aurora laughed calmly, almost as if she had heard a harmless joke instead of an apology drenched in desperation.

She tilted her head and looked at Diana, who was standing before her with a trembling expression, asking for atonement.

When Diana nodded her head as if she truly meant every word she had just uttered, Aurora let out another soft laugh. Her eyes hardened as she pointed a finger directly at Diana.

"If you truly felt any kind of atonement," Aurora said, her voice steady and chillingly composed, "you would have gone after the people who spread the rumors. You would have apologized properly. You would have gone to the victim, the person you bullied. But you didn’t. You didn’t do any of that."

Hearing those words, Diana’s face drained of color. She stood there frozen, like a broken statue. Aurora snapped her fingers sharply in front of her, forcing Diana’s attention back to her.

"Just because you suddenly decided to change and came to beg for forgiveness because of some little plan brewing in your mind, do you really think I would agree?" Aurora asked. Her tone was mocking, almost gentle, yet sharper than a blade.

Diana fell silent. Her lips trembled, but no words came out.

Aurora leaned back, studying her with a mixture of impatience and amusement. "True atonement doesn’t begin with flashy blackmailing moves," she continued.

"It begins with actual amends. And clearly, you’re not cut out for it. If you were, you would have gone to the person involved and apologized sincerely."

At that moment, Diana’s eyes widened slightly. She suddenly understood... Aurora already knew about the rumors, knew who spread them, and knew everything happening behind the scenes. That explained Aurora’s confidence, the firmness in her words, the absolute certainty in her stance.

Meanwhile, Aurora continued casually, as if she were merely discussing the weather.

"I genuinely don’t understand where people like you get the audacity," she said. "You waltz in, suddenly beg for forgiveness, and then have the nerve to threaten the other party to accept it. That kind of apology is empty. And I don’t accept empty apologies."

She folded her arms.

"So if you came here to manipulate me, then you’ve failed miserably. If you came to ask for help, you’ve failed even more miserably. And if you came here for real atonement, then again, miserably failed."

Her voice dropped into a cold whisper. "You may leave now."

The words hit Diana like a physical blow. Her knees trembled as she slowly stood up.

She knew that if she stayed seated even for another second, she would look utterly shameless after being so cleanly dismissed. So she gathered whatever dignity she had left and walked out of the room with stiff steps, looking as if her soul had been sucked out of her body.

The moment the door clicked shut, Mia let out a low whistle. "Damn... Aurora, you truly outdid yourself this time."

Aurora laughed, shrugging casually. "It’s something I do regularly."

She flopped back onto her seat with exaggerated exhaustion, then narrowed her eyes at Mia.

"But why do you look so gossipy? Don’t tell me you’re interested in Diana’s nonsense."

In an instant, Selena cast a sidelong glance at Aurora. She could clearly see Aurora’s intention; Aurora was being provocative on purpose, trying to poke at Selena and stir something up. Selena raised an eyebrow in quiet warning.

Aurora pretended not to notice.

Mia, oblivious to the undercurrent, spoke honestly. "I’ve known Diana for a long time. And she has never apologized with that much sincerity... not once."

Aurora nodded mildly.

Mia leaned forward, curiosity flickering across her face. "But what if.... just what if.... she truly was here to beg for atonement this time? Wouldn’t you be rejecting her sincere heart?"

Aurora let out a small laugh. "’Even if she had a sincere heart, would that change anything?’"

Mia froze, her confusion clearly written on her face.

Aurora sighed and explained,

"Even if she were sincere, she didn’t come to give me a chance to forgive her. She came to beg for absolution. There’s a difference. If she walks out of that door and never comes back again, then it will prove she wasn’t here for atonement at all. She was here for what people like to call... ’inner peace.’"

Mia fell silent, mulling over the words. Selena, on the other hand, nodded in quiet agreement.

Aurora continued, her tone calm but firm. "Diana broke my trust so many times. If I trust her little sorry speech now, it would be equivalent to slapping myself. Or worse, making a fool of myself. And besides... she wasn’t sincere at all."

Mia tilted her head. "So... you know something?"

Aurora smirked.

"I don’t need to ’know’ anything. I just need to know how to read faces. If Diana were truly sincere, she would never have appeared in my life again. That kind of disappearance would be the sincerity I’d expect from her. But she didn’t disappear. Which means she has some kind of ulterior motive."

Mia stared at Aurora with wide-eyed admiration. "Aurora... you really are the smartest among us."

Selena, who had been silent until now, rolled her eyes and interrupted, "It’s basic logic. Even I could figure it out."

Aurora immediately seized the opportunity.

"Oh? So are you saying Mia is dumb? Since she wasn’t the one who figured it out?"

Mia’s head snapped toward Selena so fast it was almost comical.

Selena shot Aurora a venomous glare, immediately realizing that this troublemaker was stirring conflict between them on purpose.

Before Aurora could defend herself, Mia declared dramatically, "I’m not sleeping with Selena tonight."

Selena almost choked. "W... wait... Mia...!"

But Mia had already looked away, acting deeply offended. Selena gritted her teeth and glared at Aurora again.

"I’ll take revenge for this someday," she muttered darkly.

Aurora only laughed. "Come on, at least in my relationship, I have the upper hand. Spencer has to hear my command."

Selena and Mia froze mid-breath, staring at Aurora as if they had just heard a divine revelation. Aurora blinked, then realized she had accidentally blurted out the truth. She slapped a hand over her mouth.

"I... I was just talking nonsense! Ignore me!"

Selena and Mia exchanged looks, then slowly nodded, assuming Aurora had spoken carelessly out of habit.

But only Aurora knew that it was true... at least to some extent.

After that minor chaos, all three of them settled down, eventually focusing on their own notes as the lecture resumed.

Once the class was over, Aurora returned to her room. Days passed quietly.

She focused on solving university problems, developing new software, and sometimes spinning alone on the stool in her room.

She tried to distract herself because, slowly but surely, she was starting to miss Spencer terribly.

Her calls to Spencer increased, so much so that the number of times she called him almost matched the number of times Spencer called her.

Even Spencer was stunned. And to say he felt sweet and bitter at the same time wouldn’t be a lie.

Sweet... because Aurora was becoming more attached to him.

Bitter.... because the distance between them hurt, and knowing she missed him so deeply broke his heart a little.

Aurora wanted to fly to him right away. But she forced herself to wait. Her parents had already chosen their wedding destination, one they had always dreamed of visiting but could never afford. Now, with better finances, they were planning their destination wedding in Country S.

The family was scheduled to leave next weekend.

Aurora was thrilled.

But someone else wasn’t thrilled at all.

Eleanor.

She had originally planned to fly away and escape everything. Her plan had almost succeeded, too, until she arrived in another country only to discover that Mateo had followed her.

Horrified, she hid her presence, booked a hotel far outside his reach, and waited for the system to reassign the role.

"How much longer, system? When will this reassignment be completed?" Eleanor ruffled her hair in frustration and asked.

[Please hold on for a few more days, host. Good news is on the way.]