Born Into Villain's Family: I Have a 200\% Rebate System-Chapter 26: Avery Jones

The students gasped at Natasha’s words, their suspicion deepening.

"You mean... you don’t actually know if Olivia pushed you?" a girl asked slowly.

"I—" Natasha bit her lip, unable to answer.

Janet sighed and turned back to Rose. "And you, Rose? If you really know so much about jewelry, then tell us—why did you assume the ring was fake without even examining it?"

Rose’s hands curled into fists. She was backed into a corner.

If she admitted she didn’t check, her reputation would be in shambles. If she admitted she did check, then others would say that she had deliberately framed Olivia.

Damn it.

Just then, the classroom door creaked open.

Everyone turned.

Standing in the doorway, was the Class Teacher Avery Jones.

Rose’s eyes lit up.

Avery Jones was a biased teacher. She loves to suck up to the rich while looking down on the poor.

If anyone hated Olivia other than her, it would definitely be Avery.

Avery Jones’s sharp gaze swept across the room, her neatly manicured fingers tapping impatiently against the clipboard she held.

The once-buzzing classroom fell silent in an instant, the weight of her presence stifling the air.

"What is going on here?" she asked, her voice cool yet authoritative.

Rose immediately seized the opportunity.

With a deep breath, she schooled her features into an expression of hurt and innocence, her voice laced with just the right amount of tremor.

"Miss Jones," she began, stepping forward slightly, "we were just trying to clarify a misunderstanding, but things got... out of hand."

She bit her lip, her eyes shimmering with the perfect mixture of vulnerability and frustration.

She roughly explained everything and said,

"I admit I made a mistake regarding Olivia’s ring, but I never meant any harm. I was only trying to help. And Natasha—" she turned, placing a comforting hand on Natasha’s arm, "—she truly believed she was pushed. We were just trying to figure things out, but now it feels like we’re the ones being attacked."

Avery’s sharp gaze flickered between Rose and Natasha, then shifted to the rest of the class.

"Hmph," she scoffed, closing the clipboard with a snap.

"All of this over a ring?" She let out a short, dismissive laugh. "This is childish. I expected better from you all."

The students exchanged uneasy glances. A few of them opened their mouths to protest, but before anyone could speak, Avery continued, her voice growing colder.

"Olivia isn’t even here, is she? And yet, you’re all making such a fuss on her behalf." She raised a brow, her lips curling into something akin to amusement.

"This is nothing but petty drama. I suggest we move on before this nonsense disrupts the learning environment any further."

Rose’s lips curled into the faintest smirk.

Perfect.

Avery had understood the situation almost immediately.

She didn’t need to say it outright, but the implication was clear—Olivia wasn’t worth the effort.

The murmurs in the room slowly faded as the weight of Avery’s authority settled over them. No one dared to argue further.

Even those who had initially spoken out in Olivia’s defense hesitated, their resolve wavering.

Outside the classroom, Olivia stood still, her fingers clenched into tight fists.

She had orchestrated everything—the confrontation, the exposure of Rose’s lies, the gradual shift of public sentiment in her favor.

Every tear, every tremble in her voice, every hesitant glance upward as though she were fighting back emotion—it had all been carefully calculated to paint her as the victim.

And for a brief moment, she had succeeded.

The tide had turned against Rose, and Olivia had been on the verge of completely dismantling the false narrative woven around her.

But in mere seconds, Avery had undone it all.

With a single dismissive remark, she had crushed the momentum Olivia had painstakingly built.

Olivia’s nails dug into her palms as her cold, calculating gaze darkened.

Hateful...so hateful.

Avery Jones...

This wasn’t the first time Avery had sided against her.

Olivia had known from the beginning that the woman had a distaste for her, but to brush off an entire scheme Olivia had carefully laid out—that was unacceptable.

Her lips curled into a smile—cold, calculating, and razor-sharp.

Very Well.

If Avery wanted to step in and erase her efforts so easily, Olivia would simply have to make sure that next time, no one—not even a teacher—could interfere.

The classroom door creaked open once more, and all eyes turned toward the entrance.

Olivia stepped in, her expression unreadable, though her gaze—tinged red from suppressed emotion—swept across the room with quiet intensity.

Avery Jones barely waited for Olivia to reach her desk before addressing her, arms crossed over her chest.

"Olivia," she said sharply, "not only have you managed to turn this classroom into a circus, but now you have the audacity to stroll in late?"

The reprimand was laced with condescension, each word deliberately enunciated to highlight Olivia’s apparent transgression.

Olivia lowered her head slightly, her lashes casting delicate shadows over her pale cheeks. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, almost fragile.

"My apologies, Miss Jones," she murmured. "It won’t happen again."

Something about her subdued demeanor made even the most skeptical students shift uncomfortably in their seats. But Avery, predictably, was unmoved.

She clicked her tongue in irritation, glancing back at Rose before addressing Olivia once more.

"Enough of this nonsense," she declared.

"This entire matter has been blown out of proportion. Rose made an innocent mistake—there was no malice involved."

Her sharp gaze flicked to Olivia. "You need to let it go."

Olivia slowly lifted her gaze.

Her eyes were still red, her lips curved into a faint, almost resigned smile.

She nodded.

"You’re right, Miss Jones," she said gently. "Rose is innocent, too. And I should let it go."

Avery gave a brisk nod, satisfied.

But Olivia wasn’t finished.

She turned then, her eyes sweeping across the classroom, lingering on each of her classmates as she spoke.

"I’ll forget it all," she continued, her voice carrying the faintest tremor.

"I’ll forget the humiliation, the way my words were dismissed, the way I was accused without evidence. I’ll forget how, because of one seemingly innocent mistake, I was forced to endure public disgrace."