CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: OF DORM KEYS, SOVEREIGN SUITES, AND A RETURN TO A LIFE I NEVER WANTED
RIYEE's POV
By the time the sun was up, the entire campus had shifted into survival mode.
The announcements started early—buzzing through every hallway, plastered on every digital board, looping like some mandatory broadcast nobody could ignore.
"MANDATORY NOTICE: All students are required to move into their assigned residential halls by sundown today. Commuting privileges are now suspended until further notice due to security protocols."
There it was.
The school's nice way of saying: Congratulations, you're stuck here.
Students were panicking left and right, dragging luggage across the Scholarium Wing, some still half-asleep, others already ranting about the sudden shift.
I watched it all from my window seat in Veritas Hall, sipping my iced latte without a care in the world.
Because of course Supreme Allievo Academy would drop a plot twist right after the biggest scandal of the century.
Xylia groaned loudly beside me, clutching her phone like it personally betrayed her.
"Bro, we're not even allowed to commute anymore?" she wailed, slamming her phone on the desk.
Jodie looked equally stressed, flipping through the announcement. "It says we're all getting sorted today. Like now. We're moving straight into the dorms after classes."
"Well, there goes my weekend," Mico muttered from behind us, already googling "how to sneak snacks past dorm inspections."
Meanwhile, Errol was too busy laughing at the chaos to care. "Damn. Plot twist after plot twist. We're living in a campus drama."
I didn't even flinch. I already knew this was coming.
Because unlike them—I wasn't being dumped into Lunaris Tower or Astralis Hall like the rest of the elite student body. Not even the on the scholar's dorms—Virelia House or Caelion Hall.
I was headed straight for the Sovereign Suites. The same ultra—exclusive wing near the Imperium Quarter—where the Student Council and the rest of the High Chamber lived.
How convenient, right? The girl everyone suddenly couldn't stop talking about, moved right into the belly of the beast. And I couldn't even argue. Because when your name is Arielle Rylance Del Rio, the universe doesn't ask what you want.
It just drags you where it needs you.
Again.
The moving process was exactly as chaotic as I expected.
Students swarmed the plaza with suitcases and boxes, security officers stationed at every corner, checking IDs like we were entering Area 51.
Names were called, dorm keys distributed.
Lunaris Tower, Astralis Hall, Virelia Hall, Caelion Hall.
It was like some dystopian sorting ceremony—except instead of magic, it was sheer social class and GPA rankings.
And then there was me.
Standing there with my assigned escort, quietly being led away from the noise toward the Sovereign Suites.
Of course, the stares followed. Some shocked. Some jealous.
Most whispering like their lives depended on it.
"Wait, she's not in the regular dorms?"
"She's moving into the Sovereign Suites?!"
"She really is a queen, huh?"
I didn't bother reacting.
I just walked.
Head high, iced latte still in hand, pretending I couldn't hear the rumors stacking behind me like unpaid debts.
Let them talk. I wasn't here to entertain their fantasies.
I was here to survive.
The Sovereign Suites were exactly what I expected. Marble floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, gold fixtures, velvet chairs—all that luxury nonsense people drooled over. I walked in, the keycard clicking softly as the door swung open to my private suite.
And for a brief second—I almost laughed. Because it looked exactly like something out of my past.
The same polished elegance I once called home. Too quiet. Too shiny. Too cold.
Am I going back to my old Celestine life? The luxury. The isolation. The carefully curated comfort that always came with a price.
But this time? There were no Ardent Court friends waiting outside my door. No loyal circle ready to guard my throne and shield me from the world.
Just me.
Standing in this velvet-trimmed cage, staring down at the battlefield below. The Ardent Court isn't here to protect me now.
I took a slow breath, gripping the keycard tighter. It would've been so easy to fall back into that role. The perfect girl in her perfect tower. But I knew better now. This wasn't a sanctuary. It was a spotlight. A front-row seat for every person waiting to see me fall.
And speak of the devil.
As I glanced out from my balcony, I saw her. Bianchi Madriaga. Standing in the Imperium Quarter's common terrace, arms crossed, looking down toward the Sovereign Suites. Her eyes locked with mine—cold, sharp, burning with all the resentment in the world.
She wasn't even pretending to hide it. She was watching. Waiting. Probably thinking I'd crumble under the weight of this place.
I smiled—slow, lazy, dripping with mock sweetness as I raised my drink toward her.
Let her watch.
If she wanted a front-row seat to my downfall, she'd have to wait a lot longer. Because I wasn't planning to fall. Not now. Not ever.
KD's POV
From the corner suite across the hall, I watched everything unfold. Didn't move. Didn't blink.
Just stood there—hands in my pockets, gaze steady—watching as she claimed her space in Sovereign Suites like she wasn't the girl the entire school had been whispering about since yesterday.
Unbothered. Unbent.
Riyee Del Rio didn't just walk into that balcony. She owned it. She raised her glass lazily toward the Imperium Quarter—toward Bianchi's window, specifically—with that sharp, taunting little smirk of hers.
Tch.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
Bianchi—predictably—was fuming in silence from her terrace, caught between pride and humiliation. Typical.
But I wasn't watching for that. I wasn't even watching for her. I was watching because I'd already been warned. Because somewhere behind that effortless smirk, the countdown had already started.
Saichel's words echoed back—quiet but sharp.
"You really think this was about her? This wasn't the opening move. It was just the first crack."
He wasn't bluffing. He didn't need to.
And as I watched her fade back into that room—unaware of the eyes already watching from beyond these walls—I knew exactly what was coming.
They weren't done. Not with her. This wasn't the end of the game. It was only the beginning.
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