Chapter 187: Chapter 187: A Little Scheming

Chapter 187: A Little Scheming

"Mm."

After that, Elias and Giselle headed toward the auditorium.

Westbridge had too many students for any auditorium to hold them all, no matter how large it was. Besides, not every student cared about school events. Even an anniversary gala was only an interruption to the real academic grinders, the kind of people who thought a campus celebration had less value than another hour with a textbook.

Between that and the other events splitting the crowd around campus, the paths were not especially packed even though classes had just ended.

But Giselle still drew attention.

She always did.

The festive mood seemed to loosen people in strange ways. A few boys who normally would have taken one look at Giselle and made a clean detour actually gathered their courage and approached.

They looked at Giselle first, then at Elias beside her.

One of them swallowed and asked, "Giselle, is this your boyfriend?"

Giselle’s brows drew together. She had only just opened her mouth when Elias answered ahead of her.

"No," he said quickly. "Giselle and I are just Besties."

Giselle’s faint frown eased.

Still, something about his answer made her pause.

When Elias said they were Besties to her, she felt nothing wrong with it. That was their agreement. That was the place he had asked for, somewhere above ordinary friendship and below a relationship. But hearing him explain it to other people so quickly, in that almost urgent tone, made a faint discomfort stir under her calm.

Was it her imagination?

While Giselle found no obvious problem with Elias’s explanation, the four boys froze.

Just Besties?

Their expressions turned strange in a way that was hard to name. They looked at Elias with a kind of evaluation, as if trying to figure out which infamous little fake-sweet schemer on campus he was. But they stared at his face for a while and still could not match him to anyone they knew.

Then they looked at Giselle.

Her face was calm. She had accepted the description without objection.

But girls might not understand what that so-called Besties label meant. Boys understood. How could there be a clean, normal Besties relationship between a woman and a man? That was the kind of wording people used to deceive their girlfriends while knowing perfectly well what they were doing.

One of the boys seemed to want to warn Giselle.

Before he could speak, Giselle glanced at him.

It was only one cool look, but it carried enough ice to shut his mouth at once. The four boys tugged at one another and hurried away.

Elias watched them leave, his lips curving in a faint smile.

So what if he was conditioning Giselle?

Giselle was letting him.

The only person who still had any chance of pulling her out of this was Victoria Frost. In front of Elias, even that small chance would disappear.

After that brief interruption, the rest of the walk went smoothly.

At last, they reached the auditorium entrance.

Just as they were about to step inside, two security guards reached out and stopped them.

"Please show your passes."

Elias blinked. "We need passes?"

A student volunteer wearing an event badge stepped forward. Her smile was polite, and her tone carried apology from beginning to end.

"Yes. Because there are too many students attending the gala, the auditorium can’t seat everyone. We’re using a one-pass, one-seat system tonight."

She added quickly, "The passes are free. There’s no charge. Students just had to claim them in advance."

Elias bit his lower lip lightly. "Can we still get them now?"

The volunteer sighed. "I’m afraid it’s too late. They’ve all been claimed."

Then she gave another apologetic smile. "I’m really sorry. The whole gala will be recorded, though. You’ll be able to watch the replay later."

Elias almost rolled his eyes in her face.

He was not here to watch their stupid performances. He was here to seduce women. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Outwardly, he only forced a small smile and nodded.

"I understand."

The volunteer left.

Elias turned to look at Giselle.

His face was full of disappointment, but there was still a trace of hope in his eyes, as if he were quietly waiting for something.

Giselle crushed that hope without mercy.

"I’m sorry," she said, guilt faint in her voice. "I didn’t ask about this beforehand. I forgot to get the passes."

Elias’s last bit of luck vanished.

What filled the gap was irritation.

"She’s supposed to take two passes out of her pocket right now," Elias said in his head. "Why is she telling me she doesn’t have any?"

Was this what the heroine of an abusive dog-blood romance was supposed to do?

No.

This was campus-love-template behavior.

Embarrassing.

She was an insult to scumbag women everywhere.

[System Theta: Please calm down. She probably didn’t do it on purpose...]

Elias went still.

Then his mind cleared.

No, she had done it on purpose.

With Giselle’s personality, once she decided to attend an event, how could she miss something as important as entry passes? She must have known already. She simply did not want him entering the auditorium to see Serena, so she had taken the indirect route and blocked him this way.

Elias’s eyes flickered with surprise as he looked at Giselle.

Not bad.

She had learned to scheme.

Scumbag women really did evolve. Even the pure little virgin had grown a few tricks of her own.

Unfortunately, she had put her points into the wrong skill. If her instincts were truly that good, the Besties label would not have worked on her in the first place.

"It’s fine."

Elias shook his head at Giselle.

He was smiling, but the smile could not hide the dazed, hollowed-out look on his face. When he stepped down from the entrance stairs, his foot slipped. He nearly pitched forward, and if Giselle had not caught his arm at once, he would have fallen.

"Are you okay?"

"I’m fine."

Giselle’s blue eyes cooled until they looked like the sea before a storm.

He had lost his soul over one missed gala?

It was not the gala. It was that person.

He really had not let Serena go.

But looking at Elias in that state, what could Giselle say?

She slowly exhaled, took his hand, and prepared to lead him away.

Behind her, Elias kept a faint smile on his lips.

The little virgin had grown quite a bit. Even after seeing him like this, she still did not get angry.

But that would not do.

Giselle had ruined his plan. Even if it did not affect his strategy with Serena, he still had to make her unhappy too.

Elias was just about to start causing trouble when a familiar voice rang out behind them.

"Elias."

He turned at once, his face lighting with surprise.

A tall, poised beauty stood not far away. Her flirtatious eyes looked even more alluring beneath the night lights. Her long legs were straight and full, wrapped in sheer black tights, and her whole body carried the polished charm of a mature woman who knew exactly what kind of attention she drew.

Giselle stopped too.

She turned at the sound of the voice, and her gaze grew colder.

Liora’s appearance meant Serena was close.

But against expectation, Serena did not appear.

Only Liora walked toward them on her black heels, one step after another. She smiled, holding a single pass between her fingers, and slowly offered it to Elias.

"Serena knew you would forget to claim one," Liora said. "She asked me to pick up a pass for you."