[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-solflare-the-painter-s-secret":3,"chapter-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-47":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Solflare: The Painter's Secret",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1322875,1757,"Chapter 47: The Video","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-47",47,"\u003Cp>Leon’s fingers, slick with sweat, fumbled to unpause the Requiem. He needed the thunder, not her venom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ignoring me?\" Vera said, her voice echoing in a sweet, poisoned dart. \"No wonder everyone neglected you!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon tapped the screen. The datapad showed his seventh sprint time: three minutes, forty-eight seconds. He had maybe ten minutes left to log enough runs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sudden wind blew between them, raising two small green leaves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He finally looked at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vera stood like a portrait of curated pity. \"I heard about your... condition.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She hugged herself, lips in a soft pout. \"Waking up in a stranger’s room must be so disorienting. Especially for someone from Dust Hollow.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon said nothing. He tilted and picked up the hoodie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m talking to you, Leon.\" Her tone sharpened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I heard you,\" Leon said, his voice flat, devoid of the anger she was fishing for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled the hoodie on, the damp fabric chilling his skin. \"I’m busy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to dash for his final sprints. His eyes softly widened as they flickered to the datapad’s clock. 11:58.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His blood ran cold. ’The 60-minute ends at 12:00. Damn! Why did I lose track of time?’ He closed his eyes and shook his head twice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spun and sprinted for the field’s gate, the music in his headphones a forgotten roar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The key.\" His expression changed when he tapped the side where he had placed the key. He needed it to get ready for the next task.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shoved a hand into his pocket as he ran, slowing his speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Empty?!’ saliva snaked down his throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He skidded to a halt just outside the gate, patting his hoodie, his trousers. \"Not there too? How?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A soft, metallic jingle sounded behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon turned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vera stood a few feet away, twirling his key around her index finger. The morning sun glinted off the metal. \"Looking for this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon’s jaw tightened, his bones cracking. He walked back into the field toward her, his hand stretched. \"Give it back.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vera’s smile widened. She let the key spin faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clackclackclack\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You should be more careful with your things. Someone less... charitable... might have kept it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Vera.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ask nicely. Like a gentleman.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon took another step, his hand still stretched out. \"The key.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her fingers stilled. She held it poised over his palm. \"Say please before I hand it.\" She laughed, pulled it back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon’s heart heaved, staring at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stretched it back, held it poised over his palm. Then, with a tiny, deliberate flick of her wrist, she let it go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clink-clatter!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key didn’t land in his hand. It clattered onto the gravel path, right between her feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon stared at it, then at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her expression was one of innocent curiosity. \"What are you going to do now? Beat me?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the field entrance, laughter erupted. Two girls and two boys from Vera’s usual circle sauntered in, their eyes lighting up at the scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silver light flickered at the side of the guy beside the ladies, his veins bulging up as his fingers curled, as if hiding something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon’s ears burned. He could hear the Lacrimosa’s ghost in his skull. Dies irae...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He bent down, sweat prickling from his chin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gravel dug into his knees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He snatched the key, his fingers closing over the cold metal just as Vera’s polished boot shifted, almost touching his knuckles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood up, shoving the key into his pocket. Sparks of sand prickled on his trousers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Aw, was the little rat hungry?\" Vera cooed to her arriving friends, her voice loud enough for Leon to hear as he turned to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He was just begging me for scraps. So pathetic.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seriously? Hahaha...!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her friends’ laughter chased him like a pack of hounds as he fled the field.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main academy grounds were a gauntlet. Eyes followed him. Snickers cut through the air like swords.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did you see the video?\" a girl whispered to her friend, not bothering to lower her voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The one where he’s on his knees? Begging Vera? I thought he’d have more pride.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon kept his head down, the hood drawn tight. Their words weren’t just insults; they were nails hammering into a narrative he hadn’t written.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’A video?’ his stomach twisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon pushed into the cream-colored dormitory door, the sanctuary he’d left just hours ago. It felt like a different world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elevator’s calmness wasn’t there. It was worse. A river of whispers becomes an ocean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the doors closed on a crowded car, smart device screens lit up around him like malevolent fireflies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On them, a short, grainy clip: a low-angle shot of him bent at Vera’s feet, her boot near his hand. The angle made it look exactly as she’d said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heat flooded Leon’s face. He stared at the floor number, counting the agonizing flashes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He burst out, shoving past people, their laughter lapping at his heels on the second floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fumbled for his key in his pocket, his fingers brushing something else – soft, yielding. He pulled it out with the key.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rotten apple, brown and mushy, sat in his palm. It must have been in his hoodie pocket, giving him a bad smell – the one he thought to be his sweat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anger rose in his throat. ’Vera!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He crushed the fruit in his hand, the putrid juice oozing through his fingers, and dropped it into the black-grey bin in the hallway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon stabbed the key into the lock of door 7 and swung it open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside, Zoe was standing by the open window, the breeze stirring her hair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her eyes, usually unreadable, were wide with something that looked like... disappointment as she turned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did you really beg her?\" Her voice came in quietly and coldly. \"I never knew you’d be this low.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words hit Leon harder than Tiger’s fists ever had, sharper than the needles he plucked out of his skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his mouth to explain, but nothing came out, only smelly air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What was there to say? The evidence was playing on every screen in the academy, including Zoe’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zoe shook her head, a flicker of pink shimmering on her cheeks – not embarrassment, but anger. She moved past him without another word and yanked the door open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crack...!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bam...!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she left, the hallway noise rushed in. Laughter. And clear, cutting words aimed at her.\u003C\u002Fp>",1067,"2026-06-05T19:15:29.303Z",1,"novelbin.me","719a3d7f267ec9ebc0966f89c8e3b0b62fc0296870cd0f5f92ad0dc6a5d3d6e4","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-48","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-46",272,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsolflare-the-painter-s-secret-cover.jpg"]