“I think so, too,” someone muttered behind me. “Sienna always acted like she was some kind of genius, but after flunking that entrance exam? Now she’s humiliated and taking it out on Caitlin.”
Dean scoffed, spitting out the words like they physically disgusted him.
“Sienna, you bomb the exam and then get jealous of Caitlin, so you try to frame her? That’s pathetic.“}
Lance’s expression shifted, his jaw tightened, and that calm gaze turned cold. His brows pulled together into a sharp, deliberate crease.
And suddenly, a thought clicked in my memory.”
His mother… wasn’t she from a long line of scholars? A family known for generations of top academic performance?‘
If Lance believed I couldn’t even clear the minimum cutoff for junior college, would he be embarrassed?>
Would he regret having someone like me as his fiancée?
“You didn’t even pass the minimum cutoff?” he asked.
His voice was low, even, but the weight behind it brought the whole room to a stop.
Caitlin and Dean exchanged smug little glances, convinced that the final blow was about to land.
The crowd quieted completely. Everyone’s eyes were on us.
I felt my eyelashes flutter. My throat tightened.
I could barely force the words out as I asked, “D–Do you believe me?“{
“I don’t believe it.“>
Lance’s reply was firm and unwavering.
I was stunned. I hadn’t expected such certainty or trust from someone like him.
The entire room gasped all at once.
Meanwhile, Caitlin’s face contorted in disbelief. She marched forward and shoved a sheet of paper toward him like it was her golden
ticket.
“Lance, what kind of spell did she put on you?!“>
She slapped the exam report onto the table like she was revealing some grand truth.
*Just look at this! She scored a 230! Two hundred and thirty! Even if you scribbled answers blindfolded, you’d probably end up with more!”
She said this with pride, forgetting that this score was actually hers.
Lance raised one brow slowly, his tone dry and cutting. “Exactly. Even stomping on the paper would’ve earned more points.“}
Laughter rolled across the room. Some people tried to hide it. Most didn’t bother.
But Lance wasn’t finished. “I didn’t know Mr. and Mrs. West raised such a disgrace. You score that low and still have the nerve to act like you’re someone important?“>
More gasps filled the room like dominoes tipping one after another.
“Wait, what? Did Lance just say Caitlin’s the disgrace? I thought she scored in the top ten in the whole town!“>
“Yeah, didn’t she brag about placing tenth?“>
Caitlin’s face went pale as she scrambled to fix it.
“Lance, what are you talking about? I did score tenth in the town!“>
“Oh really?” he replied flatly. “Or did you steal that score from someone else?“}
Another wave of gasps rippled through the crowd.
“Did she seriously… switch scores with someone?“>
“Don’t tell me it was Sienna’s score?“}
“Honestly, that would make way more sense. Caitlin always seemed to think she was coasting on her looks. She wasn’t even planning to take the domestic exams seriously.”
“Right? The timing’s weird. Something’s definitely off.”
Caitlin’s panic hit her like a wall. Her eyes flooded with tears as she turned toward Lance, trying to cling to whatever sympathy she could.
‘Lance! Even if you’re trying to protect your fiancée, you can’t throw accusations around like that! Tampering with entrance exam scores is a serious offense! I would never! If you don’t believe me, ask Sienna! Ask her directly if that score belongs to her!”
All at once, every eye in the room shifted back to me.
I could feel the heat of Caitlin’s and my adoptive parents‘ stares boring into me, practically willing me to shut up.
I dropped my gaze.%
But Lance didn’t turn to me. He didn’t ask.
“There’s no need to ask,” he said simply. “I believe in evidence.”
Right then, the doors swung open, and a group of men entered, each carrying a folder. They moved quickly, distributed documents, and within minutes, the truth was revealed.
The Wests had paid an official to manipulate the entrance exam system, and behind the group was the man they had hired for the job. He stepped forward without hesitation, dropped to his knees right in front of Lance, and spoke loudly enough for the entire room to hear.
ད་ པ་P
པ་པ ་་དད་པས་་ཁས་་ས་་པ་་, པ་པPP-ས པ |– ་་པཅཔ ད་g. དn ་ཕ་ད་ པ་ –་་ཅཅད ས་་ས པPཔ་ད་ དཔཔས་་ ་་པསཕྱ་་ ་ཅ་ ས་ ས་་་་་ཅ་པས་་་
2INCI.E
“I admit it! I’m the one who swapped the West sisters‘ scores! But I only did it because I was ordered to by the West family!”
The silence that followed was deafening. The room went still.
Behind Caitlin, Dean looked like the floor had just been yanked out from underneath him.§
He turned to her, his voice trembling. “Is he… is he telling the truth?“}
Caitlin started shaking her head, her whole body trembling.”
“No! I’ve never seen that man in my life! This has to be Sienna’s doing! She’s bitter about having to marry into the Sterling family, and now she’s using Lance to get back at us! She’s making this all up to ruin us!“}
