Students packed the area in front of the bulletin board, shoulder to shoulder.
Some stood on tiptoe, craning their necks to peek inside.
Some held up their phones to take pictures.
Others were already scanning the list by memory, hunting for names based on the scores they thought they remembered.
“Rosalind’s name is over there!”
Nobody knew who yelled it first, but the second that voice rang out, the crowd shoved forward again.
“Tenth place!”
“Rosalind got tenth!”
“Knew it.
Still top ten in the grade.”
The moment she heard that ranking, Rosalind’s expression shifted ever so slightly.
Tenth?
A little lower than she had expected, sure, but still inside the top ten.
As long as Elara did even worse, then she was still the one who came out on top.
She immediately turned her head.
“Sebastian, where’s my sister?”
Sebastian was searching too.
His gaze swept downward line by line.
Not in the top ten, the top twenty, or even the top thirty.
They exchanged a look, and a mocking smile appeared on Sebastian’s face.
“She didn’t seriously miss even the top fifty, did she?”
Rosalind deliberately arranged her features into a worried expression.
“Did my sister totally bomb this exam?”
“Come on.” Sebastian caught her by the wrist and led her over.
“Let’s check from the back.”
The two of them went straight to the bottom of the ranking list and started there.
They checked the bottom ten, then the bottom twenty, then the bottom thirty.
Rosalind’s name was nowhere to be found.
Sebastian’s smile widened until it was almost impossible for him to hide his satisfaction.
“I told you.
How could she possibly be number one?”
Rosalind finally let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Maybe…
my sister didn’t even make the list.”
“No way.”
Someone nearby heard that and couldn’t help laughing.
“Even if her grades were awful, she still wouldn’t miss the list, okay?
Our school posts everyone’s scores.”
Sebastian didn’t care in the slightest.
He even looked a little smug.
“Then she must’ve done so badly she was too embarrassed to let people see it.
Anyway, there’s no chance the person in first is her.”
Rosalind smiled softly while already imagining what would happen next.
As long as Elara crawled like a dog today, she’d never be able to hold her head up at school again.
But right then—
A startled voice rose from the front of the crowd.
“Wait!”
“Who got first place?”
“I’m not seeing things, right?”
Then another voice burst out, loud and sharp.
“Elara!”
“Elara is number one!”
Boom—
The crowd erupted.
“What?”
“Elara?”
“First place is Elara?”
“No way!”
Sebastian stopped dead in his tracks.
The smile on Rosalind’s face froze instantly too.
The two of them turned around almost at the same time.
“Who did you say?”
The student pointed excitedly to the top of the rankings.
“Elara!”
“First place is Elara!”
“And look at her score!”
“She didn’t just come in first!”
“She’s way ahead of everyone else!”
Everyone snapped their eyes back to the ranking board.
Number one.
Elara.
The gap between her and second place was enormous.
She had won by a remarkable margin.
Below her, second, third, fourth…
the scores dropped one after another.
Elara’s name remained firmly at the top, far beyond anyone else’s score.
“Oh my god…”
“How do you even get a score like that?”
“Did she seriously get almost everything right?”
“She’s that far ahead of second place?”
“This is insane!”
The discussion around them grew louder by the second.
Rosalind stood frozen where she was, the color draining from her face little by little.
She was tenth.
Elara took first place.
There were nine whole spots between her and Rosalind.
What unsettled Rosalind most was that—
Elara had not narrowly taken first place.
She had won by a wide margin.
Rosalind could not even dismiss it as luck.
She stared at Elara’s name without blinking.
“No way…”
She muttered it under her breath, voice thin and stiff.
“How could she possibly be first?”
Sebastian looked just as awful.
Only moments earlier, he had insisted Elara would not even rank.
The result made his earlier certainty look ridiculous.
He clenched his jaw.
“Cheating.”
The accusation came almost instinctively.
The noise around them cut off for a beat.
Sebastian kept staring at the list, eyes dark.
“She definitely cheated!”
“Someone who was always near the bottom suddenly takes first place?”
“And not just first—first by a ridiculous margin?”
A few people nearby frowned.
“But this was a school-wide exam.”
“How could she even cheat?”
Sebastian’s voice turned cold.
“Who knows what trick she pulled?
Maybe she got the answers in advance.”
Rosalind quickly reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Sebastian, let it go.
Maybe my sister really did improve.”
She was saying that like she was trying to calm him down, but her eyes deliberately swept across the people around them.
“If there’s no proof, we really shouldn’t accuse her like that.
What if my sister really didn’t cheat?”
On the surface, it sounded like she was speaking up for Elara.
But in reality, she had already planted the idea of cheating deep in everyone’s mind.
Sure enough, whispers started spreading through the crowd.
“Even Rosalind is saying that…”
“Elara’s grades were never this good before.
A jump like that is unusual.”
“Do you think she actually cheated?”
Elara stood at the outer edge of the crowd, silent the whole time, not saying a single word.
Only when Sebastian walked straight up to her did she finally look up.
“Elara, say it yourself.
Did you get these scores by cheating?”
Elara lifted her eyes.
“Do you have proof?
If you don’t, why should I explain anything to you?”
Sebastian’s face darkened.
“You…”
Elara gave a faint little smile.
“What, the bet hasn’t even been settled yet, and you’re already acting like you can’t afford to lose?”
The challenge struck a nerve.
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“I don’t believe you.
I’m taking this to the school.
They need to investigate properly.”
The second he finished, he spun around and strode toward the academic building without another word.
Rosalind hurried after him right away.
Even then, she still didn’t forget to glance back at Elara.
Her expression turned complicated, several conflicting emotions crossing her face at once.
She truly couldn’t understand it.
How had Elara suddenly become this good?
Back then…
Elara had been worse than her at everything.
Something had to be wrong.
This could not be normal.
She had to have cheated.
As long as the school looked into it and found something, Elara would still be the one who lost in the end.
…
The dispute quickly reached the school administration.
Inside the office, several school leaders were staring at the score sheet, each wearing a different expression.
Sebastian stood off to the side, back straight, jaw tight.
“Principal, I’m not trying to target her,” he said, keeping his tone serious, “but this score just doesn’t make sense.”
“Her grades used to be consistently bad, and now she’s suddenly miles ahead in first place.”
“I hope the school runs a full investigation.”
Broderick had come too.
He stood beside Sebastian, his face clouded over, looking grim.
The moment he heard Elara had taken first place, his first reaction had also been the same—
he didn’t believe it at all.
“Principal, I think this needs to be investigated too.”
“I know Elara’s grades from before.
There’s no way she could’ve scored like this.”
“If she really cheated, then the school should deal with it by the rules.”
He said it without the slightest hesitation, firm and cold, like the Elara in his mouth wasn’t the sister he’d called family for more than ten years.
More like some stranger who’d done something disgraceful.
Rosalind stood off to the side, still wearing that soft, understanding expression, looking as considerate as ever.
“Principal, Broderick, Sebastian…
I really don’t think my sister cheated.”
“After all, she’s part of the Weston family too.
I want to believe her.”
But the more gently she spoke, the more everyone around her seemed convinced she was kind-hearted.
And that only made Elara look even more alone.
Elara watched the whole little scene play out in front of her and suddenly found it almost laughable.
Her own family.
Her own fiancé.
Not one of them was willing to trust her.
If anything, they seemed eager to assume the worst of her.
“Done talking?” she said at last, her voice flat.
The room went quiet, and every pair of eyes turned to her.
Elara took out her phone without explaining or arguing.
She just dialed a number.
Beep—
The call connected almost immediately.
“Hello?”
An older man’s steady, authoritative voice came through the phone.
Elara looked calm as ever.
“Dr.
Drummond.”
“It’s me.”
The office fell silent.
Dr.
Drummond?
Everyone traded looks, clearly stunned.
Broderick frowned hard.
Sebastian looked confused too.
Neither of them had any clue when Elara had gotten connected with someone at that level.
A few minutes later, footsteps sounded from outside the office.
Right after that, the door was pushed open.
An elderly man with graying hair and an authoritative presence walked in.
It was the president of the medical institute.
The second the principal saw him, he shot to his feet.
“President?”
The old man didn’t spare anyone else a glance.
His eyes went straight to Elara.
“I heard about the scores.
Did you cheat or not?”
Elara shook her head.
“No.”
The president gave a small nod, but he didn’t rush to clear her name.
Instead, he turned to the school leaders.
“If there are doubts, we’ll settle them fairly.
She can take another exam.”
The office fell silent all over again.
Sebastian froze for a second.
“A retest?”
“That’s right.”
The dean spoke in an even, unhurried tone, calm but firm.
“I’ll write the questions myself and make them more difficult.
She’ll take the test here, under supervision, with no chance to see the questions beforehand.”
He paused, then added, “If Elara scores above eighty percent, that will be enough to prove she didn’t cheat.”
The room instantly went quiet.
Everyone understood that—
this was already the fairest solution possible.
Sebastian gave a skeptical laugh.
“Fine.
I agree.”
He refused to believe Elara could still take first place all over again.
Rosalind also gave a small nod.
“I agree too.”
Deep down, she was almost relieved.
As long as there was a retest, Elara would definitely slip up.
In the end, every pair of eyes landed on Elara.
She only lifted a brow, looking cool as ever.
“Sure.
When do we start?”
The dean looked straight at her.
“Right now.”
Elara nodded.
“Okay.”
She turned, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
“Let’s begin.”
She offered no explanation and made no attempt to argue.
Not even a hint of nerves showed on her face.
She picked up a pen and waited for the exam that would settle the matter.
Outside the office, Adrian stood at the far end of the hallway.
Hearing the noise from inside, he stopped, his gaze landing on that slim figure.
The corner of his lips lifted ever so slightly.
This time, he still didn’t step in for her.
He wanted to see how many more surprises the young doctor still had in store.