Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

But Madeleine was overseas attending an academic summit and hadn't returned yet, so Roseanne's team was without their mentor present.

And, just their luck, they were scheduled to present right after Edna's group.

Carlson stood up, detailing the academic progress they'd made that month. The highlight was Sybil, as the lead author, publishing an article in a highly respected scientific journal.

At this point, Carlson paused, seemingly overwhelmed.

The audience was momentarily puzzled, then quickly caught on that this might be their cue to applaud.

Soon, a thunderous round of applause filled the room.

Carlson was speechless.

The university and department leaders on stage were grinning from ear to ear. Especially Babur, whose smile was so wide it was almost comical.

Edna straightened up in her chair, a small smile playing on her lips.

Amidst the applause, Sybil stood up, saying, "Thank you, everyone. But the person who truly deserves my gratitude is my mentor-Ms. Edna! Her professional guidance and patience have been invaluable."

The applause resumed, even louder this time.

acknowledged the gesture with a

took

sitting nearby, couldn't help but marvel, "Oh my goodness! Sybil spends her days either out exploring or just chilling, sometimes even skips classes. Yet, she managed to quietly publish

set foot in the lab. Does

a paper and were about to submit it? Which journal were you thinking of sending it to?" "Not

you submit it?" Arkle asked, eyes filled with

of having his own academic achievements

sending it home to his parents.

"I'm not submitting it."

lost in his daydreams, took a moment to process, "...Not submitting

countless hours in the lab, laboring over experiments and analyzing data. How could he just decide not to submit? Carlson's expression was unreadable:

Such a significant discrepancy shouldn't have been discovered at

glimpse of Carlson's grim expression, Arkle felt a pit in his stomach and

moving! We don't want to waste everyone's time," he

voice calm: "Last month, our group secured a lab space, self-funded the purchase of a CPRT meter, and finalized our research topic and

"Seems pretty basic. Well, I guess if you don't have

Roseanne remained silent.

was a fact, and