Inside Councilman Macht's residence.
Blushing furiously, Hazel shut herself in her room again, then leaned heavily against the door.
She had finally realized exactly what her mother had misunderstood.
This was utterly ridiculous!
How could I possibly-how could I possibly have done that!
Hazel jumped onto her bed and wrapped herself tightly in her blanket from head to toe.
I haven't-I haven't even touched a boy's hand!
Wait!
At that thought, a scene suddenly flashed through Hazel's mind. When that bastard James Scott had caught her red-handed, her hand seemed to have-actually touched him.
"That doesn't count! It doesn't!" Hazel shook her head desperately beneath the blanket, trying to shake off that embarrassing memory.
"That man isn't even-he's just a devil-"
"Ugh..." Hazel heaved a sigh and pulled the blanket down.
"If you weren't going to see him, why were you climbing over the wall in the middle of the night?" Her mother's suspicious interrogation echoed in her mind again.
I wanted to see my teacher! How was I supposed to know the family's bodyguards would spot me...
Since her teacher had insisted that everything about her must remain strictly confidential, Hazel couldn't tell the truth. Nor could she think of another reasonable excuse to cover it up. In her mother Liana's eyes, didn't that just look like stubborn denial in the face of irrefutable evidence?
"Hazel! Come out! We're going to the hospital-"
Outside the door, Liana's frantic knocking sounded again.
"Don't do anything foolish!"
"Mom! Why would I do anything foolish? Don't you even trust your own daughter?!" Hazel snapped irritably.
"You're still young. If something really has happened, how are your father and I supposed to-" Liana's anxious voice continued to drift through the door in fits and starts.
"Aaaah! I told you, nothing happened!" Hazel felt