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.

gesture with

quietly took his

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 in a top journal... That's just amazing!" Where did she even find the time

barely set foot in the lab. Does writing a

you'd finished a paper and were about to

will you submit it?" Arkle

too dreamed of having his

copy of the journal and sending it

"I'm not submitting it."

moment to process, "...Not submitting it?!

in the lab, laboring over experiments and analyzing data. How could he just decide not to submit? Carlson's expression was unreadable: "There was an issue with the direction

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

a pit

next? Let's keep this moving! We don't want to waste everyone's time," he said, casting a snide glance toward

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

sneered, "Seems pretty basic. Well, I guess if you don't have any significant findings to report, there's not much you can say without making

Roseanne remained silent.

academic results was a fact, and there