The whole stadium had turned still from the moment they heard the girl’s desperate crying, feeling sorry for her, but their doubts remained. They did pity her, but could they call her the one in the right? They couldn’t.

But when they heard Alex “Aha,” a strange chill ran down every person’s spine in the stadium, and the student council members, who could see Alex’s expression right now, didn’t need to think twice as they knew what was happening…

‘Someone’s going to die…’ This was all of their collective thoughts as they held their seats with grim looks on their faces.

Alex, on the other hand, leaned closer to the girl, his brows raised in amusement and voice dropping to a low, venomous whisper. “Anything? Is that what you told Zyrrak, too?”

The girl’s sobbing ceased instantly, her body trembling. The audience recoiled, shocked into silence.

But Alex didn’t wait; wanting to strike the iron while it was hot, he straightened his back, his voice cutting through the heavy atmosphere. “Was Zyrrak really the monster everyone claims he was? Or did you give him permission? Did you willingly trade your dignity for a passing grade?”

His words struck like a whip, leaving the stadium in stunned silence. The council members exchanged alarmed glances because they never thought of this before; if they did, then there was a chance to protect Zyrrak without having their image sullied.

‘Why didn’t you discuss this with me?’ Theron questioned inwardly. ‘Is there something more you want to achieve from this?’

That was the only thing he could come up with, and not just him; the other council members, who knew Alex well enough, came to the same conclusion.

The events turned out so quickly that even the teachers watching from the sidelines, reporting everything to someone who couldn’t come here, seemed paralyzed by disbelief.

A voice broke the tension—a boy jumping out from the crowd, landing in the clearing in front of the stage. It was Ben Dover, the main protagonist of the story.

“That’s not true!” Ben shouted, his voice firm. “My classmate wasn’t like that. Zyrrak forced her!”

A sharp light flashed past Alex’s eyes when he noticed this, but he didn’t panic. ‘I knew you would come…’ He chuckled inwardly. “Oh?” His gaze snapped to Ben, a light of interest playing in his eyes as he pointed at a particular girl—one with orange hair and orange eyes filled with fear—among the group. “Is she your classmate?”

The girl flinched under his scrutiny, her body trembling. But Ben, not noticing that, frowned at Alex’s question but gave an answer nonetheless. “Yes,” he replied.

“Hmm,” nodding his head, Alex turned toward the girl, his steps deliberate, his smile gone.

“Tell me,” Alex said, his voice soft but menacing as he inched closer to the girl. “Did Zyrrak force you? Or did you agree to something in return?”

The girl’s lips quivered under the cold gaze of the guy she admired so much, but no sound came out. Alex, however, leaned closer, his tone growing colder. “Did Zyrrak drag you to his room? Or did you walk there yourself, knowing what would happen?”

The girl’s silence was deafening; she didn’t answer—she couldn’t answer. The look in Alex’s eyes made it hard for her to speak freely; it felt like Alex could see deep into her and peer through every secret she held, terrifying her more.

The audience watched, their gaze filled with trepidation, as Alex took another step closer.

‘Now, what about this?’ A cold glint passed through Alex’s eyes as he leaned forward. “Answer me,” he demanded, his voice barely above a whisper. “Did you enjoy it?”

The moment those words settled, gasps erupted from the crowd. Even the council members looked shocked, unable to understand why Alex would ask such a question—to an assault victim at that.

This girl was the one against whom even Zyrrak had accepted his fault. He told them that he had lost control when with her. All of them knew that because Zyrrak had clearly told them that his other personality did it.

The girl’s panic, on the other hand, reached its peak, her breathing ragged as she struggled to find words. She searched in the crowd for the person who had told her that he would help her get justice—the person who told her to approach Ben with her problem. But she couldn’t find it.

“Answer me,” Alex pressed, making the girl grow increasingly panicked, and she finally blurted out, “I didn’t!” She didn’t stop with just that as she screamed, “T-There’s no girl who would like such a thing! Why would I like it when someone forces themselves on me—?!”

Her voice, however, was cut off by a sudden beeping sound. The air in the stadium stilled as all eyes turned to a small, spherical device in Alex’s hand. It pulsed with a red glow, its rhythmic beeping filling the silence.

The girl froze, as did everyone else. The girl’s eyes widened in terror as she stared at the device—she knew perfectly well what that device was, as did the others.

Alex’s expression was unreadable as he stared at the girl, his grip tightening around the device.

‘You don’t have any other option left now,’ his eyes flashed with a cryptic glint as he looked into the crowd, knowing full well the one behind all of this was among them. ‘What are you going to do now? Abandon her?’

Alex knew very well from the plot that this girl—the one he had seen while walking toward the student council the day Raganath had attacked—was a masochist, something Keryu had discovered later in the plot.

The time with Zyrrag was the first time the girl was treated so harshly, but Alex knew that there was no way she hated it.

The reason she was so devastated was that she had discovered that instead of feeling averse, she was loving the rough treatment given to her, but she couldn’t tell that to anyone. This was one of the reasons why Alex hadn’t helped this girl that day, and also the reason why, when faced with Ben’s questioning, the girl put all the blame on Zyrrak.

How could she have known that her single lie would come back like this?

But could she accept it? In front of so many people with everyone staring at her?

For a while, the stadium fell silent except for the insistent beeping of the device in Alex’s hand, its pulsing red glow accusing the girl who stood trembling before him. Her panic was palpable as she stared at the lie detection device, her denials coming rapidly and breathlessly. “I’m not lying!” she shouted, her voice cracking under the weight of countless gazes. “I didn’t enjoy it! I didn’t—”

But the device continued to beep, each shrill tone amplifying the tension. Alex’s grin widened as he held the device closer to her. “The lie detection device disagrees,” he said, his voice calm, almost amused. “And you know what they say about these little machines—they don’t lie.”

The murmurs of the crowd grew louder, an oppressive tide of judgment that seemed to crush the girl further. Her words faltered, replaced by a pitiful whimper. But before Alex could continue, a sudden movement drew everyone’s attention.

Ben, who had been too shocked to speak for a while, finally moved. Unable to think of anything, his eyes filled with desperation as they searched frantically for someone—someone who had assured him that everything would be fine—but whatever he was looking for wasn’t there.

In the end, gritting his teeth, ‘I need to do something!’ His mind raced, and in just an instant, a thought flashed in his head: ‘Is that device also a part of Alex’s manipulation?’

Ben could still remember Keryu, his new ‘friend,’ telling him how Alex would do anything to get what he wanted. So, with a resolute glint in his eyes, Ben charged onto the stage, and without hesitation, he kicked the device from Alex’s hand, sending it skittering across the floor.

The crowd gasped, the tension reaching a fever pitch. “That thing is faulty!” Ben shouted, standing protectively in front of the girl. “You can’t rely on it! This is all wrong!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep