Chapter 4

The commenters on the live stream started cheering for Heather.

"Well said! Your words moved me to tears."

"She could have just ignored what was happening and enrolled in a top university. But she chose to make a stand for the sake of everyone else."

"She's the true embodiment of righteousness."

"Heather's the bravest student of this year's college entrance exams."

Oliver's face was devoid of emotion when he rapped his knuckles against the table.

"We've looked through the evidence that you provided, Ms. Cliffton. Now, we need an eyewitness of this case to give us a statement," he said, turning to look at Louis. "Are you willing to testify, Mr. Henderson?"

Louis' chair scraped backward when he stood up, causing an ear-piercing sound to cut through the air. He swallowed before replying, "Yes. I'm willing to testify."

"Were you telling the truth when you accused Ms. Lorde of peeking at your answers?"

Louis twisted his fingers together under the table, his knuckles turning white.

"Y-Yes," he stuttered. "She would always lean toward me and look at my answers during our Englorian tests."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

"Was she able to look at your answers? Did you place your test papers on the table?"

"That's right. She sat on my right. All she had to do was turn her head to look at my answers."

"You've never tried to stop her?"

Louis fell silent for two seconds before he answered, "No…"

"Why?"

"I… I didn't dare to. She's the class representative. I was scared of getting on her bad side."

The audience began to discuss among themselves in hushed voices.

The live stream was flooded with comments once again.

"Does she think that she can do whatever she wants just because she's the class representative?"

"I can't believe that someone like her was chosen to be the class representative."

"Poor Louis. He didn't dare say a single word, even though he was bullied for three years."

Oliver wrote something in his notebook before he looked up at me. "Do you have anything to say, Ms. Lorde?" he asked.

I stood and took a deep breath before saying, "Louis is telling the truth."

Someone in the meeting room gasped while the commenters went wild.

"Oh, my God. She actually admitted that she cheated!"

"What's this crazy plot twist? She actually admitted to her mistakes?"

"She admitted it just like that?"

"I thought that there would be another twist, but she just admitted it?"

"Sarah just gave up on being a good student after she cheated for the first time, huh?"

The corners of Heather's lips curled up slightly before she immediately forced them down. However, she failed to hide the triumphant glint in her eyes.

I had seen it.

I didn't try to hide what I had done, saying, "It's true that I've never scored more than 145 points for my Englorian tests. It's also true that I peeked at Louis' answers during our Englorian tests."

Heather couldn't hold herself back any longer. Her words were colored with the smugness of someone who knew the truth since the beginning when she interjected, "What else do you have to say for yourself?"

Her eyes were as sharp as daggers as she stared at me.

The air in the meeting room froze.

I looked at Heather and said, "It's because the Englorian tests aren't important to me at all."

"Not important?" she repeated, her voice rising an entire octave as if she had heard something utterly preposterous. "The Englorian test makes up 400 points in the overall college entrance exams. And you're telling me that it's not important?

"Do you think that you can spout nonsense just because you're the provincial top scholar?" she demanded in a shaky voice.

Heather didn't sound troubled. On the contrary, she sounded furious. The tone of her voice suggested that she was infuriated by the fact that I was still being stubborn even though, from her perspective, she had already exposed my wrongdoings.

Some of the members of the investigative team frowned.

The spectators began to whisper among themselves.

"Has she lost her mind? The Englorian test is worth 400 points, yet she said that it's not important?"

"Is she trying to provoke everyone here?"

"I can't believe that someone like her is the provincial top scholar."

Chaos had also erupted among the commenters.

"Sarah is insulting all the other students."

"Englorian isn't important? Is she implying that I wasted 12 years of my life learning it for nothing?"

"Hurry and correct her, Heather!"

"That's right. It's not important to me," I said while accepting everyone's scrutiny. "Because I never took the Englorian test in the college entrance exams."