That evening, the entire class gathered for dinner, chatting animatedly while taking photos together.
"Wow... a lot of shocking things happened back in Sin City today," one classmate said while scrolling through their phone. "Ricci Corporation officially declared bankruptcy."
"You saw that too?" another replied in disbelief. "It's hard to believe a family as powerful as the Riccis could fall this fast. What's going to happen to Calin now? She's really unlucky. Even her love life is a complete mess."
"I remember my parents were so convinced she'd marry Shin Keir that they couldn't wait to get on the Riccis' good side," another classmate said with an awkward laugh.
Realizing what she had just said, she quickly covered her mouth, her eyes slowly drifted toward Yeri.
The other classmates also exchanged awkward, apologetic glances, assuming Yeri and Calin were bitter rivals.
However, Yeri didn't have much of a reaction.
There had always been all kinds of gossip and different versions of her relationship with Shin Keir, as well as her supposed rivalry with Calin Ricci.
"I'm not friends with her, nor do I see her as a rival. Brother Shin said they never dated, and I believe him." Yeri simply shrugged.
Seeing that she wasn't bothered by the discussion, her classmates visibly relaxed.
Soon, their curiosity shifted to Shin Keir instead. After all, at their age, romance was still an unfamiliar experience for many, while others, especially the girls, couldn't help dreaming about their ideal partner.
"I watched that livestream during Calin's engagement banquet. She really made a spectacle of herself."
"Yeah. Young Master Keir even confronted her. Before that, she kept dropping hints that made everyone assume they'd dated. She's seriously shameless."
Yeri didn't distance herself from the conversation either. She casually answered some of their questions, earning bursts of giggles and playful teasing from everyone.
As the night grew later, the classmates gradually returned to their respective hotel rooms. Yeri and Nina also excused themselves and headed back to rest.
Looking out the window, Nina murmured, "This blizzard is beautiful and terrifying at the same time."
Yeri glanced outside as well but didn't comment. Instead, she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. When she came out a few minutes later, Nina had already fallen asleep.
"You're asleep already?" she asked with a smile, tossing a pillow at Nina.
The pillow landed softly, but Nina didn't stir.
Yeri merely shook her head. Nina was usually the type to stay up late binge-watching dramas, only to knock on her dorm room the next morning looking like a zombie while complaining she'd been tricked into watching "just one more episode."
These were moments she knew she'd miss.
After switching off the lights, she closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.
She didn't know how long she'd been asleep when a sharp pain suddenly shot through her scalp, as though someone had violently yanked her hair. At the same time, something heavy pressed down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
Yeri's eyes flew open.
Instinctively, her hands reached for her neck, only to find another pair of hands wrapped tightly around it, choking her.
The face she least expected came into view.
Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
Calin laughed menacingly, looking completely unhinged.
"Surprised? Afraid? Hahaha... Yeri Zhi, you never saw this coming, did you?"
Yeri narrowed her eyes. One of her hands quietly searched around the bed for anything she could use, but Calin noticed the movement and immediately pulled out a gun.
The pressure around her neck loosened as she doubled over, coughing violently as she greedily sucked in precious air.
Still straddling her, Calin slapped her hard across the face.
As if that wasn't enough, she slapped her twice more.
"You've been living such a carefree life, haven't you? Going on vacation with your classmates, then graduating and marrying Shin Keir." Her voice grew increasingly hysterical. "Did you think I didn't hear you chatting so happily with your classmates earlier? Laughing about me. Mocking me. Tell me, Yeri Zhi... does it feel good? Hm? Are you satisfied now, living the life that should've been mine?"
Yeri "..."
If any, the burning sting on her cheeks reminded her that this wasn't a nightmare.
Calin Ricci was truly there, right in front of her.
Her gaze briefly landed on the gun before returning to Calin's crazed expression. Yeri forced herself not to make any sudden movements or provoke her further.
What worried her even more was Nina.
Despite all the noise, Nina remained unconscious on the other bed.
"What did you do to Nina?"
Calin glanced at Nina and grinned wickedly.
"She was too busy admiring the snow outside to notice me... or maybe she thought it was you," Calin said, casually shaking the gun in her hand. "Either way, I only hit her once."
Hatred surged through Yeri, but she quickly forced it down. She glanced at Nina, who was breathing evenly, and reassured herself that her friend had merely lost consciousness from the blow.
"What exactly do you want?" Yeri asked, her voice slightly hoarse.
Calin's expression twisted violently, as if the question itself had triggered something inside her.
"What do I want?" she shrieked. "You're still asking? I want you dead! I want you to cease to exist! I want you to pay for ruining my life! I want you to live miserably, to grovel, to wish you were dead while you're still breathing, and then beg to live when there's nothing ahead of you but the gates of hell!"
Yeri quietly listened to Calin's unhinged, increasingly incoherent rant.
From Calin's words, she gradually pieced everything together.
Out of the many legal cases Calin was facing, one was enough to put her behind bars for life, a homicide charge.
Moreover, with Bryce Gate's assets being investigated and recovered, a substantial portion of the engagement banquet expenses had remained unpaid and ultimately fallen on Calin's shoulders, amounting to millions.
Not to mention, she hadn't exactly succeeded even after leaking the contract. KGG's influence and control weren't so easy to bring down. Its stocks had only dipped briefly before stabilizing again.
Then, just earlier, Ricci Corporation had declared bankruptcy.
Wealth. Reputation. Love. Influence. Status.
Everything had come crashing down at once.
Losing everything in such a short span of time must have driven Calin to the brink of insanity.
For someone who had never experienced real hardship, falling from such a height was enough to shatter a person's mind.
Instead of humbling herself, taking responsibility, feeling remorse, and changing, she chose to pin all the blame on Yeri.
To Calin, Yeri was the obstacle.
The one who had altered the entire trajectory of the life she believed had already been laid out for her. The thief who had stolen everything that was rightfully hers.
Calin would rather convince herself that she had been robbed than admit she had been wrong.
In her mind, as long as Yeri disappeared, everything would return to the path she had envisioned.
And this vacation wasn't exactly a secret. Many of Yeri's classmates had been posting photos, sharing updates on social media, and livestreaming throughout the trip.
Tracking Yeri down had never been difficult.
With Ricci Corporation bankrupt, their properties seized by the bank, and the police actively searching for her after new developments in the homicide case, Calin was finally forced to take matters into her own hands.
"Luckily, I caught the last flight before the blizzard got worse." Calin laughed as she looked down at Yeri as though she were already dead. "Brother Shin may have influence everywhere, but in a place this far away, bribing someone to let me into your room was ridiculously easy."
Moreover, the suite was one of the hotel's largest. It had several corners and separate sections where someone could easily hide. No wonder Yeri hadn't realized there was another person in the room besides her and Nina.
"You said I ruined your life," Yeri said softly. "But have you ever considered that even without me, Brother Shin still might not have chosen you? Even if you had never fallen for him, with your current attitude and personality, you were still bound to ruin your own life eventually."
"Shut up!" Calin shrieked. "Who said you could call him Brother Shin? I'm the only one allowed to call him that! I've known him for years! And what about you? You're just some random bitch he happened to meet. Once you're gone, he'll lose interest in you soon enough."
Yeri realized there was no reasoning with her.
Out of everything she'd said, Calin had chosen to obsess over the most trivial part.
"Afraid? You should be!" Calin sneered as she climbed off the bed and pointed the gun at Yeri. "I wanted to kill you earlier. No... I should've shot you while you were asleep so you'd never wake up. But why should I let you die so peacefully? Why should I make it easy when you've turned every minute of my life into hell?"
She burst into hysterical laughter.
"You should suffer too! No... you should crawl into hell in agony! Go scout hell for me and tell the Demon King I want the best room in his realm! Hahaha!"
Yeri "..."
Should she thank Calin for being so vicious that she didn't die too easily, without even knowing why?
"What are you waiting for?" Calin shouted. "Get up!"
Yeri slowly rose to her feet.
Without warning, Calin slammed the butt of the gun against Yeri's forehead as pain immediately exploded through her head.
"Aren't you supposed to be so delicate that even a little cold makes you sick?" Calin mocked. "Let's test that theory. You're so good at acting weak in front of Brother Shin. Why don't you show me now?"
Yeri frowned as they stopped in front of the balcony's sliding glass door.
"A blizzard isn't 'a little cold.'"
"Well, let's see whether your luck can withstand it." Calin's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I want to see what it's like to freeze to death. To slowly lose feeling... to become numb... until you're nothing but an ice sculpture."
Yeri opened her mouth to speak, but Calin had already slid the balcony door open.
A violent gust of freezing wind burst into the room, carrying swirling snow that piled inside without mercy.
Calin shoved her toward the balcony while Yeri desperately grabbed the doorframe.
"Calin," she said through gritted teeth, "this is murder. Even if I die, you won't escape."
Calin yanked her hair and laughed like a madwoman. "So what? As long as you're gone, I don't care! If I can't have Brother Shin, then neither can you!"