Chapter 7
When Madison woke up again, she was already in a hospital. The smell of disinfectant filled her nose. Seeing the person by her bed, she felt dazed for a moment. “Alex?”
Alexander Shaw, seeing she was awake, quickly grasped her hand. “Maddie, you’re awake?”
Madison came to her senses belatedly, her voice hoarse as she asked, “Alex… was it you who saved me?”
Alexander’s eyes flickered slightly, but he quickly said, “It was me. Who else?”
Madison gave a bitter smile.
In her last moment before losing consciousness, she had actually thought…
Pushing the wild thoughts from her mind, she heard her brother’s voice turn low and dangerous.
“The arrogance of Northwood… laying hands on my
sister.”
His grip on her hand tightened, not painfully, but with
touch a Shaw.”
a promise, “They will learn what it costs to
But seeing Madison’s pale face, he realized it wasn’t the time for this and softened his tone. “Let’s not talk about that for now. Your wounds have mostly healed. We’ll return to Southport today.”
Madison came back to her senses and shook her head. “No, Alex, I still need to go back to school to get something.”
Leaving the hospital, Madison discovered she had been unconscious for two days and two nights. Today happened to be the day of the school’s graduation ceremony.
Since her injuries weren’t serious anymore, Madison refused her brother’s offer to accompany her
into the school and went alone.
But when she walked into the classroom, she saw a group of girls gathered around Chloe, doing her makeup. She was taken aback for a moment, then remembered, today was the Snow White performance for the graduation ceremony.
Madison pretended not to see them and went to her locker to look for her pen.
Unexpectedly, a girl spoke up sarcastically, “Well, look who it is. It’s Madison. Didn’t you say you weren’t coming to the graduation ceremony? What are you doing back?”
“Yeah,” sneered the girl playing the Evil Queen beside her. “If you didn’t want to play the villain, you should’ve just said so! Why come back now?”
“Maybe she wants to play Snow White?”
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The girls laughed mockingly. Madison ignored them, grabbed her things, and was about to leave when Chloe suddenly grabbed her wrist.
She froze, looked up, and saw that Chloe’s face was unnaturally pale. “Madison,” Chloe said with a sickly smile, “you came back… because you want to play Snow White, don’t you?”
“Of course not…”
Madison frowned, about to deny it, but Chloe interrupted with an even paler, more strained smile.
“Then… I’ll let you have the role. Okay?”
The next second, Chloe grabbed a nearby eyebrow razor and slashed it hard across her own wrist.
“Ah!”
Blood spurted out. The room erupted in screams. Before Madison could react, “Chloe!”
An urgent voice rang out. Madison looked up to see Ethan rushing over, scooping Chloe into his
arms. He looked up at Madison, his eyes filled with anger.
“Madison, what did you do now?!”
Madison opened her mouth to explain, but Ethan was already carrying Chloe out. The surrounding girls finally snapped out of it, exclaiming in panic, “Wait, if Chloe’s gone, then our Snow White…”
Ethan’s steps halted. He turned to look at Madison behind him and said coldly, “Isn’t there someone else here who wants the role?”
With that, he strode away without looking back.
The remaining students in the class looked at each other. “Madison as Snow White? You’ve got to be kidding! With that face? More like ‘Coal White‘!”
“If she goes on stage like that, she’ll definitely go down in history as the ugliest Snow White ever!”
“But then again, isn’t our script meant to satire the hypocrisy of fairy tales? Having an ugly Snow White might actually fit the theme better…”
They grew more and more enthusiastic. Completely ignoring Madison’s refusal, a few girls actually held her down and started changing her clothes.
Madison, still injured, couldn’t resist. They haphazardly stuffed her into a costume, fixed her hair, didn’t even bother with makeup, and dragged her straight to the performance hall.
Madison was dumped behind the stage curtain. The girls who liked Ethan laughed especially loudly. “Madison, just you wait! Once the music starts and the curtain rises, your performance begins!”
“Don’t worry about lines. Your face alone will be the best comedy effect!”
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“That’s right! Several campus influencers are live–streaming today. You’re about to go viral online! The world’s ugliest Snow White…”
They left, laughing together. Madison tried to get up but found her injured ankle had been hurt again. She couldn’t move.
She knew she couldn’t leave. Her gaze finally fell on a makeup bag one of the girls had accidentally dropped on the floor. Inside the bag was a package of makeup remover wipes.
Outside the curtain, the music and narration began, “Once upon a time, a queen gave birth to a beautiful girl…”
She had hidden her looks to reduce trouble, but never expected that Ethan’s presence would bring her even greater malice. If that was the case…
Madison finally made up her mind. She picked up a makeup remover wipe and, without hesitation, wiped it across her face.
Meanwhile, Ethan had quickly taken Chloe to the university–affiliated hospital. After confirming Chloe was fine, he finally relaxed. But then he received a call from a friend.
“Hey, Ethan, hear the news?” The friend’s voice was gleeful. “Your little ‘Freckles‘ is playing Snow
White today!”
“What?”
Ethan’s expression changed. His comment when he left with Chloe had been said in anger. But these people actually went and put Madison on stage? His friend was still laughing on the phone.
“I mean, with that freckled face playing Snow White? With so many people live–streaming, I bet she’s gonna get roasted online…”
Ethan immediately hung up and strode out.
Ethan quickly arrived at the auditorium and first saw Madison’s classmates. He grabbed one of them without a word and demanded, “Where’s Madison?”
They were startled. “Madison? She… she’s already on stage.‘
Ethan’s heart sank. He was about to turn and head backstage when someone suddenly exclaimed. “Wait, isn’t that Alexander Shaw from the Southport Shaws? What’s he doing here?”
Ethan looked up and sure enough, saw Alexander Shaw in the audience, looking anxious, as if searching for someone. The girls around them grew restless.
“It really is Alexander Shaw! I’ve seen his photos online! But why is he here?”
I’ve seen
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In that moment of distraction, the lights in the auditorium suddenly dimmed. Stage lights
brightened, accompanied by music and a narrator’s voice, “Once upon a time, a queen gave birth to a beautiful girl…”
The advertising department girls immediately forgot about Alexander Shaw, eagerly turning their attention to the stage.
“She’s coming out! Madison’s coming out!”
“Move over, I need a clear shot of the ‘world’s ugliest Snow White‘!”
Schadenfreude filled the air. Ethan felt an inexplicable irritability and was about to say something
when, the stage curtain rose.
The smug smiles on the faces of the girls
“Wait… that… that’s Madison?”
him instantly froze, turning into gasps of shock.
Ethan was stunned. He finally looked up at the stage.
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