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"You staring at Alaric wasn’t baseless gossip," Dion said with a knowing smirk.

Violet, the way you looked at him was so captivating, I swear the sparks in your eyes could have rivaled Alaric’s own thunderbolts."

At once, a blush crept up Violet’s face, and she couldn’t exactly deny it, not when there was picture evidence. Yes, the Oracle had somehow captured her staring at Alaric while he slept during class.

But she had only looked because he was undeniably handsome at that moment. Unfortunately, her innocent admiration had been twisted into something more by the gossip column.

And to make matters worse, how dare that coward, hiding behind her pen and paper, suggest she had any kind of interest in Griffin? She would sooner cut her own throat than have anything to do with that bastard.

"Moreover," Dion said, the amusement fading from his face, "no one knows who the Oracle is, and neither do we search for her—"

"Why assume the Oracle is a ’her’? It could be a ’he’ for all you know," Violet interrupted.

"From the tone of the articles, it sounds feminine—like gossip between girls—so we assume it’s a she," Dion replied.

"It could also be a disguise, a trick to throw people off his trail in case anyone tries to find him," Violet reasoned.

"Whether the Oracle is a he or a she, the point is that no one searches for the Oracle. If anything, the Oracle finds you instead. She’s a collector of information, which means she probably has secrets on everyone here, making her either a dangerous enemy or a powerful ally.

It all depends on which side you want her to be," Dion explained.

But Violet snorted. "She doesn’t scare me. I don’t have secrets."

Dion frowned. "Don’t push your luck. The Oracle has sources everywhere, making information retrieval look like a piece of cake. And look at what happened today, she doesn’t need an ugly secret to turn your life upside down."

While Dion’s warning sank in, Violet’s gears began to turn. "So, she might be able to find my parents then?" she asked.

"What?" Dion said in confusion.

"That’s the only secret I have. That is, if it even qualifies as a secret," Violet replied. "I’m sure the moment Asher pulled my records, he already found out I was adopted."

"About that, I don’t know..." Dion said, uncertain.

"See?" Violet shrugged, making her point. "She can’t find everything, after all. I don’t have some incriminating secret like the rest of you. It’s the ones who have the most to lose who have too many secrets to cover."

Dion groaned, rubbing his palm down his face. "You do know you’re too stubborn for your own good."

Violet smirked. "I like to think of myself as difficult to convince."

They both laughed, and Violet realized she was enjoying Dion’s company more than she had expected.

But then Dion said, almost out of nowhere, "The Cardinal Alphas all had females satisfying their needs before you arrived." The comment was so sudden that Violet, still caught up in the euphoria of their joke, felt the smile vanish from her face.

He went on, his tone ominous, "What do you think these women will do when some purple-haired girl comes out of nowhere and snatches away their prized Alphas? Alphas, some of them have already dreamed of having a future after graduation."

Violet’s throat suddenly felt dry, and she swallowed before saying, "I have no interest in their Alphas."

"That’s not what they see," Dion replied. He leaned in, his gaze boring into hers, as if he could see through the deepest parts of her soul. "And besides... desires can change."

For some inexplicable reason, Violet’s heart began to pound, and she felt vulnerable beneath Dion’s unnerving stare. No matter how much she tried to deny it, she knew he was right. Desires do change.

Asher was slowly breaking down her defenses. She still hated Griffin, but she was undeniably curious about his beast side. And then there was Alaric whom she might just have a crush on.

Fuck. This was getting bad.

Desperate for a distraction from the intensity of the moment, Violet’s eyes fell on Lila. It was strange for Lila, the usual chatterbox, to have remained so silent, and from the looks of it, she was furiously typing away on her phone.

Without warning, Violet snatched the phone from Lila’s hands. At that action, Lila’s eyes widened in shock.

"No, don’t, Violet! Don’t go to the comments section!" she shouted, panicked.

But that was exactly what Violet did.

And from the look of things, it seemed that Lila had been using a bot account to defend her under the Oracle’s post.

Instantly, Violet’s stomach churned with dread. If Lila had been using botted accounts—gods knew how many—to write positive remarks about her, then the situation must be worse than she thought.

With a sinking feeling, Violet took a deep breath and clicked on the comment section, bracing herself for whatever lay ahead.