CHAPTER 36: REVENGE PLAN.

"Is she crazy?!"

"No wonder she was constantly bullied. Just because she stood up in the kitchen the other time doesn’t mean she’s actually brave."

"Pathetic, if you ask me."

The male students spoke among themselves, shaking their heads in utter disbelief and shock, their voices echoing through the hallway.

Darius raised an eyebrow and let out a derisive scoff. "Do you even hear yourself, goat? Sounds to me like you would’ve preferred to be raped. Zephyr shouldn’t have bothered coming to your rescue. Or maybe..." He stepped forward slightly, his arms folding over his chest as he looked her over with disdain. "Maybe you’re doing this just to get the Alphas to start liking you. Is that it? You’re starved for attention, aren’t you?"

Victoria met his gaze unflinchingly. "I don’t need anyone’s attention," she said, her voice calm but firm. "The girls offended me first. And now, I’m telling you to let them go. I’m unarmed, after all."

With that, she turned and walked away toward the hostel, leaving Darius, Zephyr, and the other students momentarily stunned into silence.

****

Once inside the hostel, Victoria wasted no time. She headed straight for the bathroom, took a quick, steaming shower, then changed into a comfortable pair of pajamas. Afterward, she summoned a burger from the locket around her neck and devoured it along with a glass of orange juice...eating swiftly before the others had the chance to return.

It wasn’t that she was stupid or sentimental. She had no intention of truly freeing the same girls who had once sold her to a brothel.

What she hated most was the injustice of it all.

Only one of them was going to be punished when all four were equally guilty.

She couldn’t accept that.

Letting just one face consequences while the others escaped unscathed didn’t sit right with her. If she had to act now, she would do it in a way that ensured they all paid. Because those fools? They would definitely try something again. Whether to convince those dumb alphas that she was a slut, or to pull another cruel trick...one they might think they could get away with.

But not this time. Not on her watch.

Victoria smirked to herself, eyes gleaming with cold calculation. Their plan was already falling apart.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?" came a mocking voice from the doorway. "The sweet little weak omega? Or is she a human today?"

Anna, the red-haired girl, strutted into the room with a sneer, followed closely by the purple-haired girl and the twin sisters.

"Tell me, Victoria," the purple-haired girl said, folding her arms tightly over her chest. "Why did you decide not to punish Anna? Is it because you finally learned your place...that you don’t mess with influential families? Or maybe... just maybe... you did it to get noticed by Alpha Darius. Or was it Zephyr this time?"

Victoria said nothing. She didn’t even look their way. Instead, she continued methodically smoothing the sheets on her bed, her calm demeanor making the others bristle with irritation.

"You two need to stop talking," snapped one of the twins...the one with short hair. Her name was Cassandra. "How could you even do something like that?! You should be grateful that Victoria chose not to have you punished, Anna."

Anna blinked, clearly thrown. "What are you saying, Cassandra? I should be thankful?!"

"Exactly," chimed in Celine, the twin with the long hair. "You’re still here at this training ground because of her. If it weren’t for Victoria, you’d be thrown out by now. So yes, you should be grateful."

"Even you, Celine?!" the purple-haired girl shrieked, her voice rising in shock and disbelief. Her eyes darted between the twins, horror creeping into her expression. "What’s wrong with you both?!"

Without waiting another second, Cassandra stepped closer to Victoria and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. The touch made Victoria pause. She let out a quiet scoff before rising to her full height, arms folding over her chest as she locked eyes with the other girl.

"Anna and Racheal are sorry, okay?" Cassandra said, her tone unusually soft. She brushed a silver strand of Victoria’s hair away from her face with a delicate motion. "They didn’t know what they were doing. Please... forgive them. I didn’t know they would go that far to hurt another girl."

Victoria arched a brow, a smirk curling at her lips. "Really?"

Her voice was sharp, layered with amusement and disbelief.

"Yeah, Victoria. Fine, we girls fight but it should never get to the point where we start planning to seriously hurt one another," Celine added softly as she stepped closer to Victoria. Her eyes were pleading. "Please, forgive us. I know it’s hard to believe that we suddenly changed after treating you horribly from the moment you arrived at this training ground... but we really are sorry."

Cassandra nodded in agreement and stepped up beside her twin. "And to show you that we truly mean what we’re saying..." she paused and turned toward Anna and Racheal, who were still standing off to the side, visibly tense. "Both Anna and Racheal will come forward now and give you a kowtow."

Shock and disbelief washed over Anna and Racheal’s faces instantly.

"What?!" they both cried out, their voices laced with confusion and alarm.

Cassandra’s voice dropped an octave, her tone suddenly sharp and commanding. "Come forward and kowtow to Victoria now or I swear, I’ll make sure the two of you are thrown out of this training ground. You know it doesn’t take me long to handle people like you." She rolled her eyes and then turned her gaze back to Victoria, whose expression was more relaxed than anyone expected.

Not shocked. Not flustered.

Just calm.

Without further protest, like obedient dogs responding to their master’s whistle, Anna and Racheal reluctantly stepped forward. They dropped to their knees before Victoria, and then bowed low, their heads touching the floor at her feet.

"We’re sorry, Victoria," they said in unison, their fists clenched tightly at their sides. "It was wrong of us to plan that scheme against you. Please forgive us. It won’t happen again."

Victoria tilted her head, her silver hair cascading over one shoulder as she studied them in silence for a moment. Then she smiled faintly.

"Oh, I see... It’s okay. You can stand up now," she said coolly.

Without hesitation, the two girls rose from their knees, their faces twisted with restrained fury. They didn’t say a word as they retreated to their bunks, lying down with their backs to Victoria and the twins...clearly unwilling to let go of their bruised pride.

Cassandra turned back to Victoria with a small, almost nervous smile. She reached into the hidden pocket of her gown and pulled out a glimmering golden hairpin, its body adorned with radiant red gemstones.

"Here," she said softly, extending it toward Victoria. "Please accept this as a token of our apology. I’ll believe you’ve truly forgiven us if you wear it tomorrow."

Victoria studied the hairpin before taking it delicately from Cassandra’s hand.

"Why not?" she said with a warm, practiced smile. "I’ll definitely wear it tomorrow."

The twins exchanged a brief, unreadable glance before quietly returning to their beds.

Victoria also climbed into hers. Her smile faded the moment her head hit the pillow. She didn’t believe the twins for a second. Their apology was fake...just another act in a long game she knew wasn’t over yet. But that was fine.

She was ready for whatever came next.

****

The Next Day

Morning arrived swiftly, bathing the training compound in pale gold light. The females were dressed in soft blue floral gowns while the male wore blue shirt and blue trouser. Every girl pinned a golden accessory in her hair, each adorned with a blue-glittering rose...except for Victoria.

She wore the golden hairpin Cassandra had given her, the one decorated with red gemstones that sparkled like rubies against her silver hair.

The students boarded a truck that would take them out for their assigned chores and daily food sourcing. Laughter and small chatter buzzed through the air, especially among the girls.

But as they reached the edge of the woods, only the male students were instructed to get down.

Meanwhile, the truck continued moving...carrying the girls further away into another part of the forest.

"This area has more game. It’ll be a relaxing change of pace," Cassandra explained. "A sort of girls’ outing."

The twins had suggested the idea.

But the moment the truck began to slow, several ragged-looking men emerged from the thick forest brush. Their clothes were tattered, eyes wild. One of them rushed toward the truck’s front, slashing the throat of the driver. a low-ranked omega without hesitation.

Gunshots rang out as they burst the tires, forcing the vehicle to a screeching halt.

"Thieves!" Anna shrieked in panic, peeking from behind the wall of the truck. "We’re screwed!"

Celine, Cassandra, and Racheal all scrambled to get a better look, their faces paling in terror.

But Victoria remained perfectly still, calm and unfazed. She adjusted the hairpin on her head.

"So this was their plan," she murmured to herself.

Then, with swift and deliberate motion, she reached beneath her dress and retrieved several identical golden hairpins...each an exact copy of the one Cassandra had given her.

She worked quickly, pulling out the current pins from the other girls’ hair and replacing them with the duplicates. At the same time, she replaced her own with the blue rose hairpin.

Without wasting another second, Victoria pushed them together out of the back of the truck and into the forest’s brush, just before the thieves could reach the vehicle.

Whatever trap had been set...

She had just reversed it.