"What’s going on? Why are so many friends and classmates tagging me? Some of them I haven’t even talked to in ages..."
Autumn muttered as she opened her chat app. But the moment she saw the messages, her face went blank.
"Autumn, what’s going on? Why are people on the forums and in group chats saying you set up Aurora?"
"You little bitch. Your heart’s still as toxic as ever. Glad I never got too close to you. You actually tied Aurora to a tree?"
"Autumn, is that video on the forum from some kind of game? Why are you tying Aurora up with someone?"
"Wow, Autumn, you’ve gone viral. You’re about to be crowned the most vicious celebrity ever."
"Autumn, you’ve got guts messing with Everett’s girl..."
Autumn scrolled with wide eyes and a pale face. Some messages showed concern, but most were mocking.
She’d never gotten along with many of her female classmates. After becoming a celebrity, she acted superior and rarely kept in touch. Now that she was in trouble, those same girls were thrilled to see her fall.
With shaking hands, Autumn tapped a link sent by a classmate.
It opened a trending forum post titled:
"The Shocking Incident During Goddess Aurora’s MV Shoot"
The post contained a video. Autumn’s breathing grew heavy as a wave of fear hit her.
Her gut told her this video... had everything to do with her.
Caroline, alarmed by Autumn’s reaction, leaned in. The moment the video played, showing the dark forest and the two of them quietly sneaking up on Aurora, both their bodies began to shake.
It was footage of them carrying Aurora away.
Caroline turned pale. Autumn was already trembling in terror. She let out a scream and threw her phone across the room.
"This isn’t real! It’s not real! Who... who posted that video? Who recorded us?! Ahhhh—it’s not real!"
Out of control, Autumn swept all the food off the table with a loud crash. The maids nearby were too scared to approach.
Caroline’s legs gave out as she slowly slid to the floor.
"Who filmed us...? Cousin... it must’ve been that bitch. She’s framing us! She knows I pushed her. She’s terrifying!"
After her outburst, Autumn was frozen, like ice had settled over her body.
Her phone kept buzzing—it was her agent, Audrey.
She didn’t dare pick up. She just smashed the phone on the ground, splitting it in two.
Panting, her eyes filled with hate.
"You’re right. That bitch... she’s cunning. She had someone set us up! She knew we were up to no good, so she flipped it on us! So calculating—how else could she win Everett over?"
Caroline nodded frantically. "But... cousin, what do we do now? With this kind of exposure... there’s no way we can stay in this industry anymore. Wuwuwu..."
"I don’t know! I don’t know either! Stop asking me—shut up!"
Autumn, completely overwhelmed by fear and rage, exploded. She screamed and slammed a chair to the ground.
"That little bitch Aurora! She’s calculating as hell! Even if I can’t be an artist anymore, I’ll still make her life a living hell!"
Autumn was shaking. Her chest heaved with panic as the image of her once-loyal fans turning on her flashed in her mind.
Her knees gave out, and she collapsed into the mess on the floor.
No one knew how much time passed before her agent Audrey burst through the door—only to start yelling at her the second she stepped in.
"How could you be this stupid? Do you even realize you’ve just destroyed your entire career? Even if you were jealous or hated her, this is what you do?! If you’ve got real guts, if you really couldn’t accept it, then you should’ve worked harder, been better, outshined her! What the hell were you thinking? Are you a damn idiot?!"
Audrey jabbed her hard in the forehead, temples throbbing from the rage.
Autumn’s voice might not be the best, but among Audrey’s roster, she had potential.
Audrey had planned to use Aurora’s rising popularity to boost Autumn’s exposure—pairing a pretty face like Autumn’s with Aurora could’ve won her a lot of attention.
But instead, she pulled this reckless stunt.
Audrey, frustrated beyond belief, slapped Autumn across the face.
"Say something! You brain-dead or what? If you were gonna pull this, why didn’t you tell me? Why not talk to me first? Idiot! Did you really think if she died, you’d become famous?"
Autumn slowly raised her eyes, full of hatred. She gave a cold smile and looked at Audrey.
"Do you know what she said when she came to me? She told me she wanted me to play the supporting role in her MV. Do you know how I felt in that moment?"
Audrey stared at her in shock. "Autumn, that was an opportunity. What else could you possibly feel? You should’ve been happy!"
Audrey, with her sense of fairness, couldn’t even imagine the kind of resentment brewing inside Autumn.
Autumn let out a bitter laugh. "No... I wasn’t happy at all. We joined LXL at the same time, trained together, sang together, danced together. The only thing she had over me was her voice. In every other way, I was better—my dancing’s way stronger. So why... why did the company pick her? Why did Everett fall for her and not me?"
"I hate her. I resent her. I’m jealous! I wish she’d just disappear. She took everything that should’ve been mine. Without Aurora, I would’ve been the top rookie!"
Autumn’s voice rose into a scream, veins bulging on her forehead, her expression twisted with rage. Audrey, Caroline, and the housekeepers had never seen her —they were too stunned to speak.
"Don’t you think so too, Audrey? Without Aurora, I would’ve been the one the company pushed to stardom!" Autumn cried, tears streaking down her face, her voice raw.
Audrey looked at her, shocked. All this time, she’d never seen through Autumn’s true nature. She’d hidden this ugly jealousy so well.
She never imagined someone could blame another’s talent for their own mediocrity.
To be bitter over someone else’s excellence—what kind of twisted logic was that?
"Autumn! Are you out of your mind? Aurora was born with a better voice. She’s got talent! You don’t, so that means you should work harder. You can’t use jealousy as an excuse to do something this horrible! Even if she had died, what, you thought you’d magically become famous?"
Audrey stepped back, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You’re wrong. Take Aurora out of the picture, and there’d still be a thousand more like her. The world isn’t short on talented people—it’s short on people who work their ass off and keep going! Aurora’s gifted, yeah—but she also outworks you, every single day!"
Audrey was breathing heavily now, her anger boiling over.
"When you were out schmoozing, she was in the studio. When you were out having fun, she was still practicing. Even when you were sulking, she was still working on her vocals. The scariest thing in the world isn’t someone more talented than you—it’s someone more talented and more hardworking."
"She earned everything she has. And you? What do you have besides complaints and cheap tricks?"