The lunch bell rang like a gentle chime across the marble halls of Vermillion Academy, but the moment it echoed, the atmosphere shifted with smooth, choreographed chaos.
In the grand cafeteria—if it could even be called that—sunlight poured in from crystal-paneled windows that stretched nearly two stories high. Glass chandeliers glittered above polished white floors, and rows of gleaming wooden tables ran long and regal beneath the glass-pane ceiling, each table adorned with gold-trimmed trays and soft velvet seating.
This was not a school lunchroom.
It was a hall fit for nobility.
And here, the nobles gathered.
Victoria Langley sat at her usual table near the center of the hall, where the sun always caught the golden tones of her hair and cast a soft halo across her shoulders. With her sat Cassandra Merlot, Lillian Duvall, and Celia Everwyn—the school's own sovereign quartet, each one wrapped in elegance, their uniforms pristine, their presence impossible to ignore.
