Chapter 6

Nolan's face changed.

“Professor, she is only an ordinary woman from an outlying territory. How could she possibly complete research like this? Why are you lying to protect her?”

Brielle looked between Marcus and me before asking suddenly.

“Or is there some shameful relationship between the two of you?”

I was trembling with rage, but I stopped Marcus before he could explain.

“You said this report was yours, didn't you?” I looked directly at Nolan. “Then explain every theoretical principle, the original premise of each experiment, and the derivation leading to the final result.

If you can prove all of it, I will admit that the report belongs to you.”

Confidence returned to Nolan's eyes.

“Those are your own words. Don't regret them.”

He had read the entire report in the interrogation room.

As long as he repeated the steps written on the pages, he did not believe he could lose.

Nolan stepped onto the stage and displayed the research report.

The beginning of his presentation went smoothly.

He accurately repeated the path silver toxin followed through werewolf blood and the reason wolf cells lost their regenerative ability. Researchers in the audience nodded repeatedly.

If the direction proved correct, wolves severely wounded by silver weapons might no longer require amputations. Some could even recover part of their wolf strength.

The admiration in the room made Nolan more confident with every sentence.

In our previous life, this achievement had made him the youngest chief researcher in the field. This time, he was simply claiming that glory a few years earlier.

But when he reached the core data derivation, his voice stopped abruptly.

The equations on the screen did not produce the experimental results stated in the report.

“Why did you stop?” someone asked.

Nolan stared at the dense rows of data as sweat slowly gathered on his forehead. Something was wrong. He had repeated every step written in the draft, yet the model still could not account for the experimental results. He had no idea what was missing.

An elderly professor tried to help him.

“Are you nervous? Take a moment to collect yourself.”

Everyone in the hall was still watching him.

Nolan altered the data again and again, but each attempt moved the result farther from the stated conclusion.

Sweat soaked the back of his shirt, and the hand holding the controller began to shake.

“How can this be happening?”

I walked onto the stage.

“Get down, Elara!” Nolan snapped.

“You cannot solve it, can you?” I took the digital pen, deleted the incorrect variables from the screen, and rearranged the wolf-cell regeneration cycle. Then I added the differences in silver tolerance among distinct bloodlines.

A complete model rapidly appeared across the display.

The hall fell silent. Then several senior researchers rose at the same time.

“The missing factor was the bloodline variable!”

“This explains every failed data set we collected before.”

Nolan stared at the screen. “How could you know that?”

“Because the report you stole was an early draft. It did not yet include the bloodline variable. You copied the steps without understanding why the model was incomplete.” I accepted another file from Marcus. “This is the complete report.”

Nolan snatched it from me. The professors below the stage hurried forward as well. After reading only a few pages, they understood that this version was vastly more complete than the first.

Marcus stood beside me and formally addressed the hall.

“Elara Bennett is the student whose identity I have kept confidential. Over the past five years, she identified every error in our silver-toxin experiments and independently completed the core formula for the regeneration inhibitor. This summit was organized to announce her achievement.”

Nolan shook his head, unable to accept it. “Impossible. How could she be that researcher?”

Marcus looked at him coldly. “Why did you think someone of your ability was admitted to the High Council Institute? Elara recommended you, so I offered you a position. Instead of valuing the opportunity, you stole her report and accused her of betraying the packs.”

Nolan's face turned deathly pale. “But you praised me before.”

“You do possess a little cleverness,” Marcus said without mercy. “But you are arrogant, impatient, and unwilling to verify your experimental results. Not one of the reports you submitted over the years was usable. They are still buried at the bottom of our review system.”

“That isn't possible...”

Nolan remembered our previous life. He had used those very reports to become the most celebrated figure in lycan medicine. Only now did he realize that the complete data, rigorous logic, and repeated corrections had never reflected his ability.

All of it had come from me.

Marcus opened the project archive. “Elara submitted the complete report a month ago. Her laboratory records, raw data, and every revision timestamp are preserved in the Institute's system. None of them can be forged. Yet you treated the true researcher as a traitor, interrogated her without authorization, and attempted to seize her work.”

Council investigators immediately detained the security captain and the official who had supported him. Nolan's research access was revoked on the spot.

“Effective immediately, Nolan Hayes is expelled from the High Council Institute of Lycan Medicine. Once the investigation is formally concluded, every Council-governed research institution will be permanently prohibited from employing him.”

Nolan stood motionless, as if he could not understand what he had heard. The project directorship that had seemed within reach dissolved in a matter of minutes. The woman he had despised, discarded, and assumed would never escape Ironwood Pack was the true focus of the summit.

As the staff escorted me away, Nolan suddenly broke free of the guards restraining him. His eyes burned red as he glared at me with naked hatred.

“Elara, I will never let you get away with this. ”