On the other side of the spectrum.


    With Amanda and the others gone, the once bustling office now housed only Tommy, Abbey, and Elijah.


    "Grandfather..."Content property of N?velDra/ma.Org.


    Abbey was terrified of Tommy, especially after her recent blunder, which left her feeling utterly vulnerable and her voice barely a whisper.


    "Abbey, I''ve always had high hopes for you, but look at this mess you''ve made!"


    Tommy was livid, a mix of disappointment and heartache etched on his face.


    "No matter how much you detest Flora, sabotaging her at the medical league was utterly foolish! She''s just an Austenberg woman for crying out loud. Why did you resort to the dumbest, riskiest move?" "Sir, it''s not entirely the youngdy''s fault!"


    Elijah jumped in to defend Abbey, "You don''t know how horrible Flora has been to her. She did countless awful things, and Abbey just snapped..."


    "Who gave you the right to speak?"


    Despite his age, Tommy''s authoritative presence was still intimidating, causing Elijah to shrink back and fall silent.


    "Grandfather, there''s no need to worry so much. Flora can''t cause much trouble without solid evidence. If things get too heated, we can always find someone to take the fall."


    Abbey thought Tommy was being overly cautious. Was Flora really worth all this fuss? Even with Connor''s protection, what could she possibly achieve?


    Connor wouldn''t destroy Lone Ind just for her, right?


    "What do you know, you—"


    "The White family head, Miss Abbey, there''s trouble! Something''s gone wrong at thepetition venue!"


    Tommy shot up from his chair so fast that he nearly toppled over, his body unsteady from the sudden movement. Abbey''s face went pale, a sense of dread creeping in.


    ...


    At thepetition venue.


    Over a hundred teams were still


    hanging around, growing


    increasingly impatient. The


    Austenberg team had been gone for more than an hour to verify their


    scores, with no sign of returning.


    "Do you think Flora''s scores were really tallied wrong?"


    QUMS


    "The medical league is a prestigious globalpetition, it''s been around for ages; when have they ever messed up?"


    "If it was just a simple mistake,


    they''d have been back by now. It''s been over an hour! My guess is the Austenberg team found out their yer scored a big fat zero and are making a scene about it."


    "Haha, I bet Flora fell asleep during the exam and just scribbled random answers. Scoring zero is no surprise. Hell, I''d score higher than her just by stepping on the answer sheet."


    The whole ce burst intoughter.


    Flora''s zero score was going to be their joke for years.


    The Austenberg team was utterly humiliated this time.


    Mr. Tanner led his team back to the venue, overhearing the snide remarks, and his face turned as dark as thunder.


    To make things worse, someone spotted them and added fuel to the fire, "Oh look, Mr. Tanner is back! How did the score check go?"


    "Why the long face? Where''s your lucky charm, Flora?"


    The term "lucky charm" sparked another wave ofughter.


    Anyone stuck with such a "lucky charm" was surely jinxed.


    Mr. Tanner sat down, seething in silence.


    What did these people know?


    His Flora was a genius who aced the test, and they had no right to mock her.