The Billionaire's True Heiress From Fake Jewel to Real Crown novel Chapter 144

“What? Are you serious? Why would Claire stop someone from seeing a doctor?” Molly’s eyes lit up with gossip, acting like Claire had done something scandalous.

The guy chiming in clearly had it out for Claire. Honestly, he’d always had a chip on his shoulder because she kept beating him in the rankings. Claire was always number one. He was always number two. People even teased him about it, calling him the forever runner-up. He’d been jealous for ages, but back when Claire was the James family heiress, nobody dared mess with her. He certainly kept his feelings to himself.

Now things had changed. Claire had nothing to do with the James family anymore. She wasn’t the real heiress, just some girl from the countryside. That news had made him way too happy. He was sure that with everything going on, Claire’s grades would finally start slipping. Her status was nowhere near theirs now, and he was convinced he’d finally pull ahead.

He even thought the teachers might start treating her differently. But to his disappointment, their homeroom teacher acted exactly the same as before. Still, as Claire kept running into trouble lately, he got his hopes up all over again.

“Why else? I heard she was too cheap to lend anyone money,” he said, leaning in like he had some juicy secret. “She was at the scene, acting all heroic, but when the woman asked for medicine, Claire wouldn’t give her any. The woman had no money and begged her to help save her kid, but Claire refused.”

Then he put on this fake-sympathetic look and added, “I mean, I get it. She’s not the James heiress anymore. She probably has to watch every penny. Not wanting to lend money makes sense. But refusing to share a tiny bit of medicine? That’s just cold. I even heard the kid’s face was covered in glass shards, all because of Claire. She’s scarred for life now.”

His sarcasm was obvious, but some of the class started to believe him. Everyone was so busy with senior year that most hadn’t followed the news. If Claire was broke and didn’t want to lend money, fine, they could get that. But not giving away a little medicine? Then why bother acting like a hero at all? Was she just trying to show off and get a good reputation? It seemed pointless now that she wasn’t the James family heiress. Was she hoping all this would get her back into their good graces?

Molly leaned over and whispered to Cindy, “Don’t underestimate what people say. The James family still needs their good name. If Claire’s trying to get attention so they’ll take her back, even just as a goddaughter, that’s not going to be good for you.”

Cindy felt a heavy weight settle in her chest. She knew Molly had a point, but she couldn’t let it show. She hated the idea of Claire competing for attention. Especially since her mom had brought in tutors for her lately—the same ones who used to teach Claire. Every single one compared her to Claire, saying she didn’t pick things up as quickly or have the same talent. Even her mom would sigh and say, “Why can’t you be at least half as gifted as Claire?” Hearing that over and over made Cindy’s resentment grow. Why did everyone act like she was less than Claire? It wasn’t fair. Claire had been trained since she was little, while Cindy was just starting now. Of course she was behind. If Claire hadn’t taken her spot all those years, would she really be any worse? The more she thought about it, the more bitter she felt.