Chapter 314: ...Wow

Words : 1196 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

Chapter 314: ...Wow *** {Outside The Projection} The moment she appeared— BOOM! It was like someone dumped a bucket of freezing water on the entire hall. They all stiffened, their jaws dropped, and their eyes snapped to one person. Roya. Last time, when Noor made her appearance, not everyone had figured it out, at least not immediatly, but now, they all knew exactly who it was. And the subtle frown on her face? Oh yeah. That gave it away real fast. It was her. Her. The girl in the projection. The one with the too-normal hair, the too-average face, the carefully perfected smile that was designed to be just... forgettable. She looked exactly the same. The very exact same. And that was when it hit everyone. Of course she looked like that forever. It was a choice, a very deliberate one. She’d been masking herself, even back then. Creating a look so polished, so average, that no one would question it. Pretty, yeah—but safe. Background noble. Nothing too eye-catching. But it was a lie. It was always a lie. She’d been planning her image from the very start. And now they all saw it. "She... didn’t age a day." "How the Hell did we not notice?!" "Because we weren’t meant to notice." "She fooled everyone all these years." Well, not everyone. Because the smart ones? The old foxes in the room? They weren’t surprised at all. They’d known this truth. They’d just never had proof. Till now. Till the projection put it in their face. And suddenly all the... bickering from earlier? All that drama with Zafar? It was gone and forgotten. All eyes were locked on that frozen, ageless girl leaning against the pillar. Meanwhile, their thoughts were on the fact that their Sultan was now about to interact with the Big Three. Zafar. Noor. And Roya. At once. In one place. Under one roof. He truly was about to teach them. The crowd didn’t know if they should be nervous, excited, horrified for the tragedy that was sure to happen, or all three at once. But one thing was for sure. They were watching history. And they weren’t going to miss a second. Neither would Roya. She didn’t twitch. But oh... her heart? Her heart was racing. Because she remembered what came next. She remembered all of it. It was their turn now. Their turn on the hot seat. And now that it was here... Everything began to feel real. Real enough that regret began to seep in. Not regretting how she lashed out at him, never that, but how she conducted herself. Regret for what she was about to do... the disaster all of it led to. *** {Inside The Projection} Malik looked at her for a long, long time, then turned and casually walked away. Something told him... This shit was about to getting annoying. And he wasn’t here to be annoyed. Roya didn’t care, however. "With all due respect, Professor..." She wanted to be the worst. "Someone like you doesn’t belong in here." *** {Outside The Projection} And there it was! The crowd in the hall nearly face-slapped themselves into the next realm. It wasn’t shock, they were somewhat expecting this to happen. It wasn’t even offense, they had seen much worse. It was disbelief. "Already?" "That fast?" "She came at him just like that?!" Nobody could process it properly. What the Hell did Malik even do to deserve that kind of venom? He hadn’t said anything. He hadn’t moved threateningly. Man just looked at her, and she popped off, ready to throw a sword at his throat. And so, those in the hall looked at each other, silently asking each other what they didn’t dare say out loud. "What’s her deal?" "She hates him already?" "She doesn’t even know him yet!" Except... Some of them did know the truth. Or at least some of it, basing it on their own truth. And they knew how much history could hide behind a look. Or a sentence... Or several. Huda, Layla, Safira, Azeem, Noor... These five weren’t surprised. They didn’t seem to care either. And Roya, the woman under question, was much the same. She stood there with that signature deadpan expression, watching her younger self spit venom like it was a good morning greeting. But she felt it deep inside. Again, it wasn’t anger or shame. Just... irritation. Incredible irritation. Because they were seeing it now. Her story. And she didn’t like it. Not one bit. Her lashing out wasn’t some attitude problem. This wasn’t a noble brat running her mouth. She hadn’t grown up like Huda. No. This—this—was the first moment. The first time she saw his face. The face of her killer. Sure, sure, it was another timeline. Sure, they were different people now. Sure, reality had shifted unfathomably different ways since then. It didn’t matter. HE KILLED HER. That memory? That final breath? It stuck. It stayed. And now? Now she finally had something to pin it on. A face. A body. A man. The man who stood tall, said nothing, and looked at her like she didn’t even matter. Something that made it worse. That made it so much worse. It amplified her hatred forevermore. And the her of the past couldn’t attack him. Not there. She was too weak. But even as she leaned on that pillar and flashed him her fake little smile... She was already calculating. Already planning. Already scheming. She wanted his end. His fall. His blood. And she was ready to make it happen. Only... she failed. Incredibly badly. That plan? The one she started right there? Yeah. It didn’t go how she thought it would. And it scarred the world forever. *** {Inside The Projection} Roya’s chin was raised to the skies. "I don’t know what strings you pulled to get accepted here, but I assure you, lasting long is a whole other matter." She glared at him like he’d insulted her ancestors. "And trust me, if you were someone important or worthy of this position, I would’ve known about you already. But you aren’t, so I... I don’t know you." The more she lay into him, the angrier she got, too angry for someone so wanton about capabilities or so she tried to make herself appear as. "But why? I’m sure a man like you has all the resources he needs, so why come here? Is it for status? An ego boost? What do you even know about people like us? The students here in Nourzadah? About our struggle?" ...Huh. Malik didn’t know about struggle? He had all the resources he needed? He pulled strings to be accepted here? Well, the last one was someone true, but yeah... This girl had absolutely NO idea just WHO she was talking to. Malik had long since caught a glimpse past her fairness driven front, at the real reason why she was acting like this, but still, he didn’t call her out on her bullshit, his face remaining blank. "People like you... She scoffed. "You were born with it. You didn’t have to bleed for it like the rest of us. You didn’t lose anything." "..." "..." "..." "..." ...Wow.

Chapter 314: ...Wow

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