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

took

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 in a top journal... That's

barely set foot in the lab. Does writing a paper not require experiments

were about to submit it? Which journal were you

it?" Arkle asked, eyes filled with

too dreamed of having his own

copy of the journal and sending it home to his parents.

"I'm not submitting it."

took a moment to process, "...Not submitting it?! What

How could he just decide not to submit?

ready for submission. Such a significant discrepancy shouldn't have

grim expression, Arkle felt a pit in his stomach and dared not ask

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

space, self-funded the purchase of a CPRT meter, and

if you don't have any significant findings to report, there's not much you

Roseanne remained silent.

lack of academic results was a fact, and there