Up here, the air was cooler, away from the suffocating pressure of the crowd. Matthew was leaning lazily against the polished brass railing, a small container of popcorn in his hand.
From his vantage point, he had a perfectly clear, unobstructed view of the central stage, the frantic press section, and the entire high-society political playground below.
Ava quietly crept up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him from behind resting her face on his back, her ivory-white satin train pooling around her heels."What are you doing all the way up here?"
"Watching you," Matthew replied without turning around.
Ava's eyes widened theatrically.
"Ohhh."
She stepped around until she was standing beside him.
"Are you flirting with me right now?"
She winked.
"I look amazing today, don't I?"
Matthew finally glanced at her.
"You look like a troublemaker."
Ava grinned.
"That's a compliment."
"It wasn't."
"I have a talent for giving people headaches."she placed a hand against her chest proudly."I try my best to give people even more."
Matthew stared at her for a moment before returning his attention to the stage.
"So what are you doing here?" Ava asked curiously.
"Fresh air."
Ava looked around the enclosed balcony.
She slowly turned back toward him.
"Fresh air?"
Matthew continued eating his popcorn.
"Yes."
Ava narrowed her eyes but didn't press him.
The real reason was much simpler.
Ever since people had discovered that Matthew might belong to one of the world's top twenty families, the number of people trying to approach him had increased dramatically.
They saw his calm expression, polite behavior, and approachable appearance and assumed he wanted their company.
He didn't.
Being gentle didn't mean he wanted people around him.
Being approachable didn't mean he wanted to be approached.
And lately, he already had enough trouble.
One Ava and seven roommates are enough of a headache.
Matthew silently ate another piece of popcorn.
If more people get added to that list, he will probably end up killing someone.
"You haven't noticed, but you are letting your true emotions show," Ava murmured, leaning hip-first against the polished brass railing.
"Who would have thought your true character is actually that of a narcissist?"Suddenly, she shifted her weight.
She tipped herself backward, extending the top half of her body completely outward over the drop in a beautiful, gracefully fluid arc out into the open air.
She hung suspended over the vast hall, entirely fearless.
Matthew glanced over at her. The ambient lighting on the second-floor mezzanine wasn't exceptionally bright, but it was more than enough to capture the high-fashion lines of her ivory gown, making her appear as though she were glowing beneath the shadows.
That trademark mischievous, naughty look was burning in her eyes.
Her face was genuinely breathtaking—radiating the pure, unblemished features of an angel. It was no wonder she could seamlessly act adorable even while executing the most malicious acts, leaving people entirely desperate to take her side anyway.
Matthew's gaze dropped down to her lips for a lingering beat, before traveling back up to meet her smiling eyes.
She knew exactly what he was doing.
She knew he was checking her out, but she merely held his stare, entirely unbothered.
Matthew calmly turned his face away, looking back over the ledge. The entire unspoken exchange had happened in less than thirty seconds.
"It takes one narcissist to recognize another, Ava," Matthew said, his tone perfectly even as he watched the grand spectacle downstairs continue.
Below, the high-stakes arena was moving into the third category. Crownside High was already sitting comfortably in the lead with two points, while the Averis all-girls school was drowning at zero.
But looking down at the stage, it appeared Averis might actually claw back a victory for this specific round.
The staff and service robots had cleared the previous setups, wheeling out specialized, spinning wheels for the Noble Pottery and Poetry Dual-Challenge. Two new girls from the Averis delegation had stepped forward, matching up against a boy and a girl from Crownside.
The rules of the category were intensely demanding: each contestant had to actively mold a complex piece of clay on the wheel while simultaneously reciting an original stanza of verse.
The next competitor then had to immediately step up, continue the physical manipulation of the clay, and finish the poem without ever drifting from the rhyme, meter, or emotional tone established by the previous writer. It was a brutal test of artistic synchronization, and Averis's strict training was giving them the upper hand.
"Then I'm a narcissist, handsome," Ava teased, pulling her body back over the railing with an effortless, gravity-defying grace. She stood perfectly straight, smoothing the pearl straps of her bodice. "Why don't you give me a kiss for good luck? Because if you don't, I just might lose the next round."
"Then fail," Matthew said, entirely deadpan. He flipped the empty popcorn container directly into a nearby luxury dustbin.
"How is that my business?"He casually dusted the remaining salt from his fingers.
"Heartless," Ava sighed dramatically, tilting her head as she watched his hands. "Even staying here for just one month should make you feel like your school is your home. You're supposed to protect its pride... and here you are, actively wishing for it to fail. How incredibly sad."
Matthew rolled his eyes at her ridiculous antics. "Oh? Then please, Ava, enlighten me. Exactly how 'home-like' is this school to you?"
Ava let out a soft, musical burst of laughter, the sound laced with a heavy, cynical amusement that reached all the way to her eyes.
"I don't like going home," Ava said, her tone bubbling with dark humor. "Does that answer your question?"
"Your parents must be really happy about what you just said," Matthew remarked dryly, resting one hand firmly back on the brass railing.
Downstairs, a sharp burst of applause erupted through the arena as the host announced the two Averis contestants as the official winners of the pottery-poetry round.
The board updated, giving Averis their first point, and the staff immediately began setting up the easels and canvas stations for the next category Painting.
Ava glanced down toward the stage for a split second before turning her full attention back to Matthew.
Without warning, she slid her foot forward and stepped directly onto his shoe. S
he was careful with her stiletto heel, applying just enough weight to anchor him in place without actually hurting him.
Using his foot as leverage, she rose onto her tiptoes, stretching herself taller until she was level with his face. Before Matthew could even react to the sudden invasion of his personal space, Ava reached up, her delicate fingers gently grabbing his chin and pulling his face directly toward hers.
"My parents don't like coming home either," she whispered, her unblinking eyes locked onto his. "But don't change the topic I'm not going to pry into your family background," Ava said, her gaze searching the depths of his eyes with intense, calculating precision.
"But what exactly are you looking for? You carry yourself with the temperament of a lord. It must be something exceptionally important if it brought you here personally. You're not here for educational purposes, are you?" Ava asked already jelous if what got his attention.
Matthew stared back at her, his face a perfectly controlled, unreadable mask. He didn't pull out of her grip. Instead, a faint, smooth smile touched his lips."You don't need to worry about it," Matthew murmured, his voice entirely steady.
"I already know the reason I am here. That's enough."
Ava studied the lines of his face for one more second, searching for a crack, before finally offering a small, accepting nod.
Her intense gaze, however, slowly dropped straight back down to his lips."Yeah... good enough that you know," she mumbled, her tone suddenly turning husky.
"My eyes are up here, Ava." Matthew lifted his index finger, placing it gently under her jawline and pushing her face upward to force her gaze back to his.
Ava let out a soft, musical laugh and winked at him. "I know exactly where your eyes are. I just prefer looking at something a little more tasty."
She stepped back off his foot with effortless grace before he could even formulate a response, leaning lazily back against the railing. "We can go chill somewhere private after this competition, you know."
"Nope." Matthew immediately and ruthlessly shot the suggestion down. "You look like you want to actively consume me. What if you get me drunk? I'd be far too weak to defend myself against whatever you have planned."
Ava's eyes sparkled with unadulterated mischief. "Then you'd be having a absolutely wonderful time." She offered him a wide, completely innocent, saintly smile.
"Double the enjoyment. And by the morning... you might just find yourself far too weak to get out of bed." ava added with a wink
Matthew suddenly choked on his own spit, letting out a sharp cough.
He whipped his head around, giving her a long, stunned side-glance, his ears tinged with a faint, rare trace of color.
Ava stood right beside him, looking immensely pleased with herself, her red hair catching the light as she watched him squirm.
Matthew shook his head, running a hand over his face before stubbornly forcing his attention back down toward the painting competition on the stage below.
He really had to give it to her. For an angelic-looking girl from an untouchable family, she truly knew how to talk incredibly dirty without blinking an eye.
Ava turned back toward the stage below, her sharp eyes scanning the rows of easels where the painting competition was reaching its final, tense minutes.
Almost instantly, her gaze locked squarely onto Jennie's canvas."If I had taken part in this specific round, I would have painted you, Matthew," Ava murmured, her tone dropping into that smooth, reckless lilt as she looked back up at him. "You'd be my ultimate muse."
"I'll think about it," Matthew replied casually, entirely unfazed by the sudden declaration.
He smoothly pulled his phone from his pocket, the screen lighting up with a flood of notifications from his dorm group chat.
A live photo popped up on the interface—Felix and the rest of his seven roommates were piled together at one of the eastern tables, scanning the mezzanine railings as they looked for him.
Felix: Matthew, where are you, dude? You're missing a ton of shit down here.
Amused, Matthew aimed his camera downward, snapping a quick, high-definition picture of the central stage before hitting send to signal his vantage point.
He locked the device with a silent click of his thumb and slipped it back into his tailored pocket.
"That is absolutely not a real answer to my question," Ava pouted, stepping closer to lazily poke his chest with a single finger.
Matthew let out a soft sigh, turning his head to look back over the brass ledge. "Fine." He gestured vaguely toward the array of artists below. "Who do you think takes this round?"
Ava didn't hesitate. She pointed a manicured finger straight toward Jennie's station. "Averis is going to win this art competition."
Down on the polished black floor, Jennie stood back from her finished easel, Moving with calculated drama for the press cameras, she picked up a small glass of water and deliberately splashed the liquid straight across the center of her canvas.
For a few agonizing seconds, the painting looked ruined.
Nothing happened.Then, the high-tech, thermochromic paint layers reacted.
The water began to rapidly evaporate under the stage lights, and the heavy colors beneath started to bleed and violently shift.
What had initially looked like a chaotic, abstract mess of brushstrokes slowly melted away to reveal the breathtaking face of a beautiful woman.
But the true genius of the piece lay in the hidden micro-details. The closer the Judges leaned, the clearer the illusion became—the woman's facial structure had been meticulously formed from the layout of a vast world map.
Tiny, microscopic cities and illuminated neon trade roads were woven seamlessly into her features. Great rivers acted as delicate contour lines across her cheeks, while dense clusters of miniature, painted skyscrapers formed intricate shadow patterns around her eyes.
The entire image structurally transformed depending on the exact distance of the viewer.
The crowd erupted into stunned murmurs, the cameras flashing blindly.
Ava smiled, her lips curving into a dark, knowing line. "She learned that trick directly from me," she whispered, her breath brushing right beside Matthew's ear like a secret.
Before he could even process the weight of that revelation, Ava stepped back, her ivory-white satin gown whispering against the floorboard.
"I'll take you home later."Matthew raised an eyebrow, his composure cracking just a fraction.Ava's smile turned thoroughly mischievous, her red hair gleaming under the dim mezzanine shadows.
"I'm going to go backstage, change out of this heavy silk, and personally participate in the final miniature-city competition."She leaned in close, pressing a sudden, lingering kiss directly against his cheek.
"Then... when we finally get home," she murmured against his skin, her voice dripping with unfiltered, playful malice, "you can be my muse."
Before Matthew could formulate a single word of rejection, Ava turned on her heel and glided down the corridor, her long train rippling behind her as she vanished into the backstage security doors.
Matthew stood entirely alone by the railing, staring at the empty hallway for a long, quiet beat.
He slowly raised his hand, using the back of his fingers to wipe the exact spot on his cheek where her lips had touched.
He let out a heavy, defeated sigh, a faint smirk tugging at his lips as he looked back down at the chaotic playground below.Troublemaker.
Virtue came back to her chair, settling into her seat with a quiet, calculated composure.
"That was a long time to spend in the toilet," one of the girls sitting at the table asked, casting a suspicious look her way.
"Maybe she is busy giving someone head, you never know," Paul said with a mocking smile, leaning back in his chair.
He was openly taking his residual anger out on Virtue.
Virtue's smile froze on her lips. She forced herself to stay entirely calm, refusing to say another word back to him. Beneath the table, her nails dug hard into her palms.
"Now, now, Paul, don't ruin the mood," Drake said, trying to wave off the tension.
"Just joking. I'm just saying you never know what someone's true character is," Paul added as he poured himself wine, his eyes locked onto Virtue.
"Act like a good friend, but is eyeing her friend's man, or willing to slut her way to someone's bed." Paul said
"Virtue is not like that," Sophia said with a teasing smile at virtue as she held her hand winking at virtue making virtue blush as she sneak glance at Aiden.
"And what eyeing her friend's man? She would never do anything like that. And anyway, she has someone she likes and I pray they get together." Sophia said
Paul let out a mocking smile.