The whispers of Seraphine

As tension in the main hall skyrocketed and Ren wrestled with his own demons in the bathroom, the stage had become a silent battlefield.

Mio and Seraphine continued to stare at each other. To the hundreds of spectators and live cameras, it looked like an electrifying stare-down between the rookie sensation and the international supermodel. A clash of titans. Seraphine, with her icy blue eyes, scanned Mio. For the first time, behind her arrogance, she recognized something. She has poise. She has fire.

Finally, she recognized this pink-haired girl as a worthy rival. She wasn't just a pretty face; she had something that drew the masses. But that won't stop me, Seraphine thought, her smile becoming imperceptibly more cruel. If I can't break you with beauty, I'll break you with my mind.

Seraphine took a step forward, closing the distance between them and invading Mio's personal space. It seemed like a gesture of complicity, as if a queen were giving advice to a princess. She leaned toward her ear, making sure her blonde hair covered the movement of her lips and that she was out of reach of the handheld microphone.

“ Ren Shinomiya... ” whispered Seraphine, her voice soft as silk but cold as ice. “ Do you think he's looking at you? ” Mio tensed. “ He's a collector of women, dear. A high class womanizer. You're just the flavor of the month. When he gets bored with your clumsiness and your scared little girl face, he'll discard you like all the others. You're not worth his time."

To Mio, these words were more than enough to throw her off balance. Her eyes widened in pain. Doubt, that old friend Kaguya had managed to silence, screamed in her head once again. Is it true? Am I just a game?

Seeing that the first blow had landed, Seraphine didn't stop. She smelled blood. She continued whispering things that the microphones couldn't pick up, lowering her voice even further to drive the dagger deeper. She had done her homework. She had read the report that Ryōma Shinomiya's investigators had compiled on the Pink Bunny.

“ And tell me... ” Seraphine continued, with pure malice. “ What would your parents think if they saw you now? ” Mio stopped breathing. The world froze. “ Oh, that's right. They're dead. ” Seraphine let out a dry chuckle. “ Do you think they'd be proud to see their daughter turned into a marketing tool? Into a doll sold to the highest bidder to forget that she's alone in the world? ”

The impact was too much for her. It wasn't fear. It was a very painful anguish that hit her directly in the chest, cutting off her breath. The mention of her parents, her most sacred and painful wound, was too much. Mio's legs gave way. She fell to her knees on the stage. There was no elegance in the fall. She covered her face with her hands, trying to stifle a sob that threatened to break her throat.

The audience gasped. There were murmurs of confusion. Is this part of the show? Did she faint? Seraphine stood beside her, looking down with feigned concern, enjoying her total victory.

But before she could act further, a figure crossed the hall like a flash. Kaguya Minamoto had risen from her seat at the main table. She didn't wait for the guards or the protocol. She climbed the stairs to the stage with restrained fury in every step. She reached Mio, stepped between her and Seraphine, and knelt down. “ Mio... ” Kaguya took her firmly by the shoulders. “ Look at me. Don't listen to her. ”,  “ Miss Kaguya... I... ” Mio sobbed. “ Shh. Come on. ” With the help of Tanaka, who had arrived seconds later, Kaguya helped Mio to her feet, shielding her from the cameras with her own body, and they quickly carried her off the stage.

As they led a trembling Mio to her private table, away from the spotlight, Kaguya felt someone's gaze on her back. She paused for a second and turned her head. She looked toward the Shinomiya table. Ryōma was there, a glass of champagne in his hand and a satisfied smile on his face. Seraphine, from the stage, winked at her boss.

Kaguya gritted her teeth in anger. She could read lips. It was an essential skill in the corporate snake pit. She had seen exactly what that blonde woman had said to Mio. Womanizer... Dead... Alone.

Kaguya glanced sideways at Ryōma, her eyes distilling cold, absolute hatred. She thought this was a business competition. A competition of glamour. Of sales. But what Ryōma had done... using the memory of dead parents to break an orphaned girl... that was hitting rock bottom. Even for him.

Kaguya turned her attention to Mio, stroking her hair to calm her down. " All right, Ryōma" , Kaguya thought, as a dangerous darkness clouded her gaze. " If you want to play dirty... if you want to get down in the mud and use personal trauma... then I can play dirty too. "

The Queen had just decided to take off her white gloves. The war no longer had any rules.