Inside the exam room, the only sound was the scratch of pen on paper.
Elara was seated in the last row by the window.
Sunlight filtered through the glass and spilled across the edge of her test paper, brushing it with a faint wash of gold.
Her head was slightly lowered, her expression unnervingly calm.
The paper in front of her had been written by the dean himself.
To avoid any dispute afterward, the school had brought in several senior professors to proctor the exam, and the questions were far more difficult than an ordinary final.
A few even tested graduate-level clinical reasoning, material most undergraduates would never encounter.
Outside the exam room.
Rosalind stood in the crowd with her arms folded across her chest.
She stared at the closed exam-room doors, and a small smile slipped out before she could stop it.
“This time…
I don’t think my sister has any way out.”
Beside her, Broderick let out a cold snort.
“I looked over that paper just now.
There were a few questions even I couldn’t do.”
His gaze shifted toward the exam room, openly contemptuous.
“Elara can barely handle basic lab work.
There’s no way she can answer questions like those.”
Rosalind nodded, as if the outcome were already decided.
“So this time, the school should finally be able to prove she cheated.”
Neither of them bothered to lower their voices.
Quite a few students nearby heard every word.
Someone couldn’t help whispering,
“If even Broderick says he can’t do it, then Elara’s got even less of a chance, doesn’t she?”
“Come on, this is the dean’s paper.”
“If she can answer all of that, I’ll be shocked.”
Right then—
“Ding—”
The bell rang for the end of class, and the exam room doors swung open.
Several proctors came out first.
But something felt off—
Something about their expressions was off.
None of them looked relaxed.
If anything, they seemed unusually serious—and more than a little stunned.
Rosalind’s stomach tightened.
She hurried over.
“Professor, my sister, she…”
But the professor acted like he hadn’t heard a word.
He was holding Elara’s test paper, his brows locked tight.
After a long pause, he finally let out a low murmur.
“How is this even possible…”
Rosalind’s expression changed.
Broderick also sensed that something was not right.
“Professor, what happened?”
The professor glanced at him, but said nothing.
He only lowered his head again and looked over the answers in his hand one more time.
The longer he looked, the more astonished he became.
Another teacher walked out as well, carrying a thick stack of test papers.
“Professor Bennett, how does it look on your end?”
“Did you check her answers against the key?”
“I did.”
Professor Bennett drew in a slow breath.
“This paper…
in some parts, it’s actually more complete than the standard answers.”
The moment she finished speaking, the whole hallway went quiet.
Broderick froze.
Rosalind’s face turned pale in an instant.
“More…
complete than the standard answers?”
She almost thought she’d misheard him.
Professor Bennett did not explain.
He simply looked back toward the exam room.
At that moment, Elara had already packed up her things and walked out.
The girl was dressed in a simple white shirt.
Her long hair fell loosely behind her shoulders, and there wasn’t a trace of nerves on her face.
If anything, she looked relaxed, as though she had just finished an ordinary exam.
As she passed by the group, someone called out to her.
“Elara.”
She stopped.
“Sir.”
Professor Bennett studied her for a moment before asking the question he had been holding back.
“For question eighteen, why didn’t you answer according to the standard solution?”
Elara blinked once.
“Because the model answer is wrong.”
“…”
The hallway fell silent again.
Professor Bennett’s expression tightened.
“Do you even know the dean wrote that question himself?”
“I do.”
“And you still dare say the model answer is wrong?”
Elara’s expression didn’t change at all.
“Because the third data point in the case contradicts the clinical symptoms listed later.”
She paused, her tone flat and steady.
“If you handle it according to the model answer, the patient would, at the very least, be forced to take on the risk of one completely unnecessary surgery.”
Professor Bennett went still.
He quickly opened the answer key again.
The more he read, the more serious his expression became.
“You…”
But Elara clearly had no interest in saying more.
She only said, calm as ever, “The question itself is flawed.”
Then she turned and left, just like that, leaving several professors staring at each other in shock.
One professor murmured under his breath, “Just how talented is this girl?”
Very soon, the results came out.
The dean personally carried the score sheet to the main hall of the teaching building.
The hall was already packed with students, with Rosalind and Broderick standing among them.
Both looked far less confident than before.
The dean stepped up onto the stairs, his gaze sweeping across the crowd one by one.
“About the earlier accusation that Elara cheated on the exam, the school has now completed the retest and the full review.”
The whole place went quiet at once.
Then the dean went on,
“I am now speaking on behalf of the school to make an official announcement.”
“Elara did not cheat.”
That one sentence set off a wave of shocked reactions.
“She really didn’t cheat?”
“Then her first place before was actually legit?”
“How the heck did she even pull that off?”
The dean lifted a hand, signaling for calm, and the scene slowly quieted again.
“And one more thing.”
He glanced down at the score sheet in his hand, his tone growing noticeably more serious.
“In this retest, Elara is still ranked first in the entire department.”
“And—”
The dean paused on purpose.
“She scored far above second place.”
This time, the crowd erupted.
“How many points?”
“How much higher than second place?”
As the dean read out the scores, astonished voices broke out across the hall.
Several students audibly drew in breath.
Because Elara hadn’t just taken first place.
The gap between her and second place was enormous.
What impressed the professors most was the clarity of her reasoning; some of her clinical deductions were even more rigorous than the official answer key.
The dean looked at Elara.
“This time, the school can officially confirm that Elara possesses medical theory and clinical reasoning far beyond others her age.”
“She is a true medical genius.”
The announcement landed heavily on everyone listening.
For a moment, no one seemed to know how to react.
Broderick’s expression darkened.
Rosalind stood rigid, her fingers curling tightly at her sides.
No way.
How could this happen?
Wasn’t Elara supposed to be useless?
Wasn’t she the one the Weston family had kicked out?
Wasn’t she supposed to have nothing left?
Then why…
Then why was she still the one everyone was looking at?
Rosalind bit her lip hard, then walked over to Elara.
“Elara.”
Elara looked at her, calm and unreadable.
“Something you need?”
Rosalind’s eyes were slightly red, as though she had been holding back tears.
“I’m sorry.
I misunderstood you before.”
Elara’s expression didn’t shift in the slightest.
“All right.”
Rosalind faltered.
She had clearly thought that once she apologized, Elara would at least say, “It’s fine.”
But Elara’s response was cool and distant, offering nothing more.
Rosalind’s expression tightened further.
“Elara, I really didn’t mean to…”
“An apology is enough.”
Elara cut her off cleanly, no hesitation at all.
“Don’t explain.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but every single word landed clearly in the ears of everyone around them.
“If you messed up, then apologize.
There’s no need to dress yourself up as the innocent one.”
The smile on Rosalind’s face completely stiffened.
All around them, the students lowered their heads and started whispering under their breath.
“After accusing her of cheating, now she has to apologize to her.”
“Wasn’t Rosalind the one saying before that Elara cheated…?”
“That has to be humiliating.”
Elara didn’t bother arguing anymore.
She turned and was about to leave.
Right then, a voice suddenly cut through the crowd.
“Wait!”
Sebastian stepped forward, his expression grim.
“This exam only proves she gets good grades.
It doesn’t mean that old bet counts!”
Elara stopped.
Then she slowly turned back.
“The bet?”
Sebastian clenched his jaw so hard the muscles twitched.
“That was just people messing around before.
Who actually takes that stuff seriously?
Who would really make someone kneel down and bark like a dog?”
Elara looked at him for two seconds, then gave a short laugh.
“Sebastian, don’t tell me you can’t handle losing?”
His expression hardened.
“Elara, don’t push it too far!”
“You were the one who agreed to it back then.”
Elara walked toward him, her expression calm but unyielding.
“You forgot?”
“Whoever lost had to crawl.”
“Whoever lost had to apologize.”
“Now you lost.”
She fixed her gaze on his eyes.
“It’s your turn to make good on the bet.”
The color drained from Sebastian’s face.
“I already said it, that was just a joke!”
The next second, a cold, sharp voice cut in from behind the crowd.
“Whether it was a joke or not isn’t for you to decide.”
Everyone instinctively turned around.
A tall man was striding over, dressed in a black suit, his expression hard and unreadable.
It was Andrew.
Sebastian’s expression changed.
“Who are you?”
Andrew didn’t answer him.
He walked straight up to Sebastian and grabbed him by the collar in one clean motion.
“Honor the bet.”
Sebastian immediately started struggling.
“Let go of me!”
“Do you even know who I am?
I’m from the Merritt family!”
Andrew’s gaze cooled, and a faint, mocking smile touched his lips.
“The Merritt family?
Of course I know.”
Sebastian froze.
In the next second, Andrew lowered his voice.
“If you don’t honor the bet today, then trust me—by tomorrow, the Merritt family will be getting a bankruptcy notice.”
Sebastian’s smile vanished, and the color drained from his face.
“You…”
Andrew let go of him, casual as ever.
“Try me.”
Sebastian stood rigid, all the fight seeming to leave him at once.
Only then did Sebastian realize Andrew was not bluffing.
He really did have the power to threaten the Merritt family.
The surrounding students fell silent.
No one had expected the confrontation to go this far.
Andrew lifted a hand and said coldly, “Take him.”
Two subordinates stepped forward at once.
Sebastian still wanted to resist.
His fingers twitched, his body tensed, pride screaming in his chest.
But the second he thought of the Merritt family, he froze in place anyway.
Soon, on the sports field, the commotion had drawn students from across the school.
Sebastian stood in the middle of the crowd, visibly humiliated and looking as though he wanted the floor to swallow him.
He clenched his fists so hard the veins on the backs of his hands stood out.
“I…
I apologize.”
Elara stood outside the crowd, her expression calm, almost indifferent.
Sebastian lowered his head, his voice trembling.
“Elara…
I’m sorry.”
“I was wrong about you before.”
“I shouldn’t have accused you of cheating.”
Elara just looked at him, calm and unreadable.
“Keep going.”
Sebastian’s face turned paper-white.
“And…
the bet from before.”
He shut his eyes tight, like he had to squeeze out every last bit of courage, then dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
The crowd burst into shocked murmurs.
Sebastian kept his head down, his voice forced out through clenched teeth.
“I’m sorry.
I lost.”
“I’ll honor the bet.”
After saying that, he shut his eyes again.
“Woof.”
For a second, the crowd went still.
Then laughter broke out around him, while several students covered their mouths in disbelief.
Sebastian’s face burned bright red, but he had no choice except to keep going.
“Woof…
woof woof!”
The laughter only got louder.
In that moment, Sebastian—the Merritt heir who had always carried himself as untouchable on campus—was thoroughly humiliated.
At the back of the crowd, Rosalind stared at the scene, stunned.
A chill ran through her.
Elara.
The one the Weston family had kicked out.
The one Rosalind had always assumed had already lost everything.
So why…
Why were people like this suddenly showing up around her?
Not only had the dean spoken up for her, even the Merritt family had people being openly warned off.
And judging from Andrew’s attitude, the power behind that man was on a whole different level, way beyond anything the Merritt family could afford to mess with.
Rosalind clenched her teeth so hard her jaw hurt, her eyes locked on Elara like she wanted to bore a hole through her.
For the first time, she truly realized something.
Maybe she’d been wrong from the very start.
She had assumed leaving the Weston family would ruin Elara completely.
Instead, it seemed that leaving the Weston family was when Elara had finally begun living on her own terms.
And through all of this, Elara never explained a single thing.
She just turned and walked off the field.
After leaving the academic building, she saw a black luxury car parked quietly by the roadside.
The window was lowered halfway, and inside sat a tall, straight-backed figure.
The man’s profile was sharp and cold, his eyes deep and unreadable.
Elara’s steps paused for half a beat.
She recognized him.
Adrian.
She walked over, and the car window slowly slid all the way down.
Adrian looked at her.
“Finished with the exam?”
“All right.”
Elara stood beside the car, staring at him for two seconds before suddenly speaking.
“Adrian…
you were the one helping me, weren’t you?”