Return of The Alpha Heiress-Chapter 41: Clarissa – The Lost Necklace (2)

I took a deep breath, feeling a little guilty. But I still needed to know what had really happened.

"Kellan, can you tell me what actually happened?" I asked in a softer tone, no longer accusing him like before.

Tessa, Mira, and Rylas were still glaring at me.

Kellan ignored them, and explained, "When we finished hunting, the necklace was just lying in front of our tent. We didn’t think it was yours. Your necklace went missing at the academy, right? There’s no way it could suddenly appear here."

What Kellan said made sense, but it still didn’t explain how the necklace ended up there.

Tessa snapped at me. "Instead of asking why that broken necklace appeared in front of our tent, why don’t you ask yourself how many people actually dislike you?!"

Her words pierced straight into my chest.

I had always ignored people’s hateful looks. I didn’t care if others disliked me. That was how I survived.

Back then, I had nothing to lose. At worst, they talked behind my back or hit me directly, like Fani did.

But now it was different.

Now I had a family. I had belongings given to me by people who mattered. I had things I needed to protect.

Yet I stayed careless, believing that if I waited long enough, people would eventually understand I wasn’t who they thought I was.

Now, they have taken action, I’ve only ended up blaming the few people who were ever kind to me.

I rubbed my face, feeling incredibly stupid.

Meanwhile, Kellan calmed Tessa and continued, "When Tessa saw the necklace, she realized it wasn’t ordinary. We picked it up and talked about it for a bit, about how it was actually an ae-device. Since it was already broken and unusable, I was about to throw it away—"

I gasped. If the necklace had been thrown away, I didn’t know what I would have done.

"—That’s when Edwin suddenly showed up," Kellan continued. "He yelled angrily, grabbed the necklace, and left. That’s when we realized it was the necklace you’d been searching for all week."

Mira finally let out her pent-up irritation. "Your brother yelled at us for no reason, and now you came accusing us too. You Green siblings really are alike!"

"I’m sorry," I said, looking at them with guilt. "I was blinded by anger earlier. I couldn’t think clearly. You got dragged into this mess, and I truly apologize."

There were still strange parts in this story. But if someone else was involved, then everything made sense.

Tessa, Mira, Kellan, and Rylas were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. All the blame had fallen on them.

Kellan forgave me immediately. Mira pouted but still nodded. Rylas nodded silently.

Only Tessa clicked her tongue.

"Listen carefully, Clarissa. Don’t underestimate life among the elite. It’s not just spoiled kids living comfortably. There are schemes, conflicts, and people tearing each other down. You can’t survive on privilege if you refuse to understand what’s really happening around you."

I said nothing. Tessa understood me too well. I had always avoided problems, believing everything would fix itself eventually.

Thinking it didn’t matter if people disliked me, without realizing it wasn’t that simple.

Without another word, the four of them left.

Now I understood why Alpha Will didn’t accept me. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust someone poor.

He knew I couldn’t survive in their world. I wasn’t raised in that environment like his other children.

Honestly, I didn’t even want to face this kind of life. I didn’t care about elite intrigues.

All I cared about was a family that was truly sincere with me.

Right now, my priority was finding Edwin and explaining everything.

’I’ll be more careful from now on. But first, I have to fix things with Edwin.’

The sky turned yellow as night slowly approached. Students were told to gather at the teachers’ area for dinner.

I didn’t join them. Instead, I headed toward the first-year best-class tents.

Only a few students were left there. I scanned the area, searching for Edwin.

"Clarissa!"

I turned to see Adrian smiling at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I’m looking for Edwin," I said, still glancing around. "Have you seen him?"

"I went to his tent earlier, but he wasn’t there," Adrian replied. "I was assigned to call students for dinner, but I couldn’t find him anywhere."

My shoulders slumped.

"I see. Then I’ll head out first," I said, turning away.

"Let’s go together. I’m done too," Adrian said, his long strides quickly matching mine.

I only nodded, didn’t really care about him.

Fear filled my thoughts. What if Edwin was avoiding me?

If even Edwin could angry, maybe someday, everyone in the Green family would turn against me.

When I thought it through, I realized Edwin had been especially harsh when it came to Tessa and her friends.

He was reminding me to stay away from them, even though Shannon and Larry didn’t mention it at all.

My gaze fell on Adrian. Since he had known Edwin since childhood, I decided to ask him for confirmation.

"Adrian, do you know the four troublemakers in our class?"

He chuckled. "You mean Tessa, Mira, Kellan, and Rylas?"

I nodded awkwardly, realizing I had just mocked classmates in front of the class monitor.

"Are they really that problematic? From what I see, they’re just lazy students," I asked again, shrugging off the awkwardness.

"They’re not that bad," Adrian said. "Most rumors started because they’re still in best class despite being lazy. People assume they cheat because of that."

I nodded. "So... do they actually cheat?" I asked, curious.

Adrian shrugged. "Most of it can’t be proven. But... didn’t Edwin tell you?"

"Edwin?" I turned sharply toward him. "What does Edwin have to do with this?"

Panic crept into my body.

Adrian looked back at me, smiling helplessly, as if agreeing that I had made a serious mistake.

I stared at him impatiently. "What really happened?"

...