Ch. On graduation night, 7 On graduation night, 7

Chapter 7 

Rowan’s expression darkened. 

“Were you planning to replace Aria’s initial with your own too?” 

Lyra’s eyes instantly reddened. 

“Aria gave me the pendant. Isn’t it strange for me to wear something with her name carved into it?” 

“So your solution was to erase every trace she left behind?” Asher asked. 

“You were the ones who said you wanted to give me the childhood I missed.” 

Lyra looked at all four of them, tears spilling down her face. 

“You were the ones who told Aria to delete herself from the birthday video.” 

“Now that she’s actually gone, you’re going to blame everything on me?” 

Rowan opened his mouth to argue, but Julian cut him off. 

“She’s not wrong.” 

It had been Lyra’s idea to make everyone reveal their first-choice academy. 

But Damian had created the four fake applications. 

Rowan had stopped me from questioning Lyra. 

Julian had justified the entire deception as the best outcome for everyone. 

And Asher had been the one who forced me to erase myself from the videos. 

Lyra had wanted to take my place. 

But they were the ones who had cleared that place for her. 

Damian took the pendant from Asher and rubbed his thumb over the wolf pup that had been painted white. 

But the paint had already seeped into the carved lines. 

The initial beneath the wolf that represented me was now little more than a blurred half-letter. 

“Damian, I never meant to force her to leave.” 

Lyra tried to move closer. 

He stepped back before she could touch him. 

“But you knew she didn’t steal the pendant.” 

His voice was low. 

“You hid it in her room anyway and let us accuse her.” 

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Lyra froze. 

“You believe her?” 

“I don’t know who to believe anymore.” 

Damian tightened his grip around the pendant. 

“Because we never bothered to find out what actually happened.” 

“All you had to do was cry, and we automatically decided she must have hurt you.” 

This time, no one stepped in to defend Lyra. 

It wasn’t until I had truly left that they finally understood what they had always called “knowing me.” 

They had decided I was strong enough to endure anything. 

And that I cared about them too much to ever walk away. 

They hadn’t failed to hear me say no. 

They had simply never believed my answer deserved to matter. 

The next day, Blood Moon Academy held its graduation ceremony. 

The headmaster personally stepped onto the platform to announce the graduating class’s final placements. 

“Aria Vale ranked first in wolf-core theory, combat control, and overall assessment.” 

“She has passed the final selection for Frostland Academy’s classified research program.” 

“She will not be entering Frostland as an ordinary student.” 

“She has been admitted early as a full research member of its core laboratory.” 

“She is the only graduate in this year’s class to receive that appointment.” 

By the time the news spread across the academy, Damian and the other three were standing outside the training grounds. 

People kept looking in their direction. 

Everyone knew that I had turned down Frostland’s mentors twice because I wanted to remain in Blood Moon territory. 

Plenty of them had also been there on graduation night, when Damian promised he would go north with me. 

Now I had transferred to the Northern Pack alone. 

And Damian, Rowan, Julian, Asher, and Lyra were the ones who had stayed behind. 

The girls who had cornered me in the archives building the day before quickly found Damian. 

The girl who had grabbed my camera forced a flattering smile. 

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“We were only joking yesterday. We didn’t know Aria would take it so seriously.” 

“She already left for Frostland anyway. She’s not going to make an issue out of it now, right?” 

Damian looked at her. 

“You grabbed her camera and humiliated her in front of the entire academy.” 

“You told everyone I’d dumped her.” 

“That was a joke?” 

The girl’s smile stiffened. 

“We thought you didn’t want her anymore.” 

She hesitated, then added, 

“And you were standing right there across the hall.” 

“If what we did was really wrong, why didn’t you stop us?” 

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