Novel Palace
Chapter 103
Mirabella, who refused to accept any defeat, furrowed her brow in frustration, her eyes darkening slightly, “I had answered all the questions, and I am a hundred percent sure I hadn’t made a single mistake. Where did the ten points go?”
Beside her, Jenna’s expression grew more complicated. She couldn’t begin to understand the world of an academic genius like Mira.
Unable to shed light on Mira’s dilemma, Jenna bowed her head once more, reverting to the BrainSpark Nationals‘ official homepage, where there was a link to the national rankings.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Jenna’s fingertips danced across the screen, and she was swiftly directed to the national leaderboard.
First place, Mirabella, 200 points
Second place, Vincent, 195 points
Third place, Kent, 193 points
Jenna didn’t bother to scroll down any further. Her gaze was fixated on Mira’s name at the top of the list. Even though she had anticipated it, the reality still left her stunned. Lifting her head, Jenna extended her smartphone towards Mirabella. “Queen Mira, forget the missing ten points. You’re already the nation’s number one.” Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
Mirabella merely glanced at the screen with a grave expression. “This isn’t about being number one.” It was a challenge to her academic integrity.
Jenna’s lips twitched into an involuntary smile. “Maybe you should ask around about it?”
Mirabella found the suggestion logical. Standing up with a determined look, she said earnestly, “Right, I can’t just ignore these mysteriously lost points just because I came in first.” What about her pride?
Jenna couldn’t help but snort. “No, no, no, Mira, I just blurted that out without thinking. Don’t take it to heart!”
As Mirabella exited the classroom, Jenna facepalmed, secretly admiring how much cooler Mira seemed.
**
Meanwhile, Summer had just taken out her phone, preparing to check her own score from the competition.
“Summer, do you know how many points that foster girl of your family got this time?” Phone in hand, Madeline couldn’t hide the shock on her face.
Having learned of Mirabella’s perfect score and national top ranking in the preliminaries, Madeline had been keeping an eye out, so much so that she checked the rankings before even looking at Summer’s results. As soon as she saw the scores, she rushed to find Summer.
Summer’s hand froze as she held her phone, her expression unchanging as usual. “Oh, how many points did she get?” “You won’t believe it if I told you–two hundred points!” At that moment, Madeline didn’t know what to feel about such a score. Suspecting cheating seemed far–fetched. One could suspect cheating for a perfect score once, but to cheat and achieve such a result again… Wouldn’t that be questioning the fairness of the entire competition? After all, the exams were not held internally at the school but were overseen by the Education Association itself.
Summer’s mind buzzed as if something had snapped, and her usually calm complexion began to pale.
Two hundred points… How could Mirabella possibly score two hundred points?! Something had to be wrong. Summer refused to believe this.
Summer’s thoughts were a mess. She tried to sort through the information in her head, but it only became more tangled.
“Summer, are you alright?” Madeline finally noticed Summer’s pallor, which made her appear vulnerably pitiable. She
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regretfully smacked her own mouth, feeling annoyed with herself. She had brought up Mirabella in front of Summer, Wasn’t that just rubbing salt in the wound?
With an awkward smile tugging at her lips, Madeline casually unlocked her phone. “Ah, forget about her, Let me help you check your score.”