St. Văduva's School for Prestigious Girls

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞-𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙

"Will you just tell me who it is?" Temperance asked as they exited the front doors.

"And ruin the surprise? I can tell who was most likely to open the birthday gifts before they were allowed." Kanani's sing-song tone was getting more annoying by the second.

"Jesus, Kanani. Just get on with it."

"Fine," she spat out, opening her umbrella up as soon as they left the awning and angling it over the two of them. Temperance crammed in closer, trying to avoid the cold rain soaking her already-wet shoulders. "Know Helen Grace Hess?"

"Should I?"

Kanani scoffed indignantly. "She's one of the elites of the music industry. Learned Beethovan's Cello Sonata Number Three at seven years old. Her family donates a lot of money to this school. It's a fucking miracle you haven't met 'Her Highness'."

"Okay, and what's the connection?" She followed Kanani around the bend of the school, walking across soggy courtyard grass and around to the back. Temperance marveled at Kanani's ability to walk in stilettos through rough terrain and not break an ankle.

The rain was thankfully nothing more than a drizzle. Even so, Temperance still slipped on the wet grass with her worn-out combat boots.

Kanani continued, "Ji once made her a model for the annual fashion show in Bucharest and little miss 'I'm-a-natural-blonde-I-swear' biffed it on the runway. She tried to blame it on Ji, saying that she purposefully made the front of the dress long so Helen Grace would fall on her face. Honestly, anyone could see it was an accident, but she threatened to sue. Well, she planned on suing, until I happened to show her a certain little video of her falling flat on her face. She's been pressed since."

"Blackmail. Got it. But yeah, she sounds like quite a bitch," Temperance muttered.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Anyway, I heard from Tracy Huntington who heard from Aya Sakamoto that Helen Grace was seen leaving the laundry room that night. Aya said she was really freaked out."

"Why didn't she come forward?"

"Remember when I said no one was supposed to know what happened? I meant that."

Kanani refused to elaborate, much to Temperance's befuddlement. Nevertheless, she followed the girl in the orange-sherbert sweater vest with glittery heels and fake heart-shaped freckles on her high cheekbones.

Kanani made a sharp turn once they reached the very back of the university, letting them stumble upon an old, broken-down Victorian greenhouse. Several of the window panes were broken through, letting the rain fall inside like an open mouth. She could see several vines of ivy snaking through the opening, growing on blurry shapes within.

"Come on, she's inside," Kanani urged, walking forward.

Temperance's countenance twisted into an even more confused one. "What is she doing in a dirty, old greenhouse?"

"Oh, I put her there."

Temperance skidded to a stop, shoes stalling in the mud as Kanani continued on, leaving Temperance in the rain. "You put her there? What does that mean, exactly?" 

Kanani turned with a groan. "Ugh, you ask so many questions, damn. Just get your ass over here or go back inside without me."

Temperance's gaze flickered back to the school that stood menacingly behind her, blocking out what was left of the sun behind the clouds and shrouding them in a cold, gray shadow. As much as she wanted to not be involved in... whatever this was... she wanted to know what this had to do with Ji-Yeong. And if this truly absolved her from the responsibility of at least one murder.