Eve Vaughn suppressed her rage. She was so furious she didn’t even want to reply, simply tossing her phone into her desk compartment.

During the break between classes, her phone rang. It was the real estate agent.

Eve Vaughn was surprised. She had only listed the villa with the agent yesterday, and already a potential buyer wanted to see it today.

Since her next class was an elective, she agreed to the agent’s request. She would head over now to discuss the villa with the buyer.

She grabbed her bag, ducked out of the classroom, and prayed that the instructor for her next class wouldn’t do a surprise roll call.

Sharon Lowe found this odd. After all, Eve Vaughn had been staying out all night recently, and she’d skipped class yesterday, too. Sharon was dying to know what Eve was up to.

So, Sharon Lowe also left the classroom and secretly followed her.

After leaving the campus gates, Eve Vaughn hailed a taxi.

But she didn’t know that Sharon Lowe had immediately hailed another one right behind her, telling the driver, "Follow that blue car up ahead. Be careful, don’t let them spot you."

Just like that, Sharon Lowe followed Eve Vaughn all the way to the villa.

She watched as Eve Vaughn went inside. A long time passed before Eve came back out.

Sharon Lowe quickly hid behind a wall. Only after Eve Vaughn had walked some distance away did she quietly emerge.

The agent was closing the villa’s gate. Sharon Lowe walked over and asked tentatively, "Excuse me, are you the owner of this house?"

"Are you interested in this villa?"

The agent said enthusiastically, "I’m not the owner. The owner just left. If you’re interested in the villa, I can call her right now and ask her to come back."

Sharon Lowe stared at the agent in shock, asking in disbelief, "You... are you saying this villa belongs to Eve Vaughn?"

The agent nodded. "That’s right. It belongs to Miss Vaughn. Is there a problem?"

Sharon Lowe felt as if she had uncovered a huge secret. She never imagined that Eve Vaughn’s family was so wealthy they owned such a large villa.

She muttered to herself resentfully, ’How shameless. Living in such a nice villa and still applying for financial aid for poor students.’

...

Over the next two days, people came to view the house daily, and Eve Vaughn would also come over during the showings.

Meanwhile, because of the incident with Todd Hayes, Eve Vaughn and Mason Lawson were in the middle of a cold war. Neither of them had reached out to the other, and they had no intention of meeting up.

Eve Vaughn felt she hadn’t done anything wrong, so she had no plans to apologize.

’This is a good chance to meet with a few more buyers over the next couple of days,’ she thought. ’What if one of them closes the deal?’

Sharon Lowe secretly followed Eve Vaughn for two days, taking photos as ’evidence’.

Soon, a post with the headline ’Eve Vaughn Commits Donation Fraud, Cheats Student Aid Program’ appeared on the university’s online forum.

The post even included pictures of the Vaughn Family’s luxurious villa.

The news instantly caused an uproar on campus.

Eve Vaughn’s actions enraged all the students on financial aid, especially those who had also applied for the grant from the wealthy benefactor.

Every one of them felt that if it weren’t for Eve Vaughn, they might have been the one to receive the grant.

Even Aria, who was usually on good terms with Eve Vaughn, no longer sat with her during class.

Eve Vaughn sat forlornly in her seat, heartbroken as she read the scathing attacks from her classmates on the school forum.

Even in the classroom, she could feel the mockery and contempt from those around her.

’But how can I explain this in a way that will make people believe me?’

Just then, the bell rang, and Hamilton Hale walked into the classroom to begin the lecture.

Eve Vaughn was in a daze because of the whole affair. Her classmates had all opened their books, but she only just remembered she hadn’t even taken hers out.

She sighed and pulled her bag out from her desk compartment.

However, when she opened the bag, the sight that met her eyes made her face drain of color in fright.

"AH!"

Eve Vaughn dropped her bag, let out a scream, and shot up from her chair.

The quiet classroom erupted into a commotion because of her scream.

Everyone turned to look at her, their faces full of confusion and bewilderment.

Still shaken, Eve Vaughn knew she had interrupted the class. She looked apologetically at Hamilton Hale on the podium and said, "Mr. Hale, I’m sorry." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Hamilton Hale walked down from the podium to her desk and asked, "What just happened?"

Eve Vaughn didn’t even dare to look in the direction of her bag; her scalp was tingling with fear.

Hamilton Hale picked up her bag, opened it, and a look of astonishment crossed his face as well.

Someone had put a dead rat in Eve Vaughn’s bag. There were even bloodstains on its mouth.

It wasn’t just Eve Vaughn; even he, a man, had been startled when he saw it.

Hamilton Hale took Eve Vaughn’s bag to the podium and tipped the rat out, which horrified many of the female students in the class.

"Oh my god, that’s disgusting!"

"That’s so sick!"

...

Murmurs broke out below the podium.

Hamilton Hale’s stern, sharp gaze swept over the students. "Who did this?" he demanded.

The students suddenly fell silent. The classroom was completely quiet; no one would be foolish enough to admit to it.

Hamilton Hale said sharply, "I can’t believe it. You are all university students, attending a prestigious century-old institution like Rivaster University, yet someone would do something so childish! If no one comes forward to admit it today, I will go to the school administration and request to review the security footage."

Just then, Sharon Lowe suddenly spoke up. "Mr. Hale, I’m afraid checking the footage will be useless. A lot of people hate Eve Vaughn right now! After all, she committed fraud. Her family is obviously rich, yet she still took a spot meant for a student in need. If someone did this to her, she had it coming!"

Hamilton Hale’s cold, harsh gaze fell on Sharon Lowe. "Did I give you permission to speak? You’re to address the teacher before speaking in class. Don’t you know that?"