He Destroyed the Tenderly Nurtured Rose by His Own Hands

The next day, all my information and that of the blogger were laid bare.

I discovered that it was Sophie who had stolen my data.

No wonder Ethan had acted so strangely yesterday, even uttering words that contradicted his principles.

He must have known the truth all along.

But because it was Sophie, he was willing to abandon his values and forsake his morals.

Not all the netizens were oblivious; some began to suspect that Sophie was the real plagiarist once they learned about our relationship.

After all, who would be foolish enough to present plagiarized data at a competition?

Sophie's actions seemed too selfless to be genuine.

However, those suspicions were quickly silenced.

Ethan organized a press conference for Sophie, where she presented her initial data.

Standing tall and composed, she confidently told the cameras that the refined data was derived from countless hours of work based on her initial findings.

After proving her "innocence," she generously advised everyone, "Please stop fixating on this issue; there's no question of who plagiarized whom between Emma and me."

"Though I'm not officially married yet, in my heart, we are already family. If I had known she would enter this work into a competition, I would never have released it; this is truly just a misunderstanding."

Her seemingly supportive words only fueled public outrage against me.

People called me brainless, claiming I lacked independent thought and could only rely on others' work.

They said I was ungrateful and had brought shame upon my parents.

I trembled as I clicked on the latest comment, "Thank goodness her parents died early; otherwise, they'd be dead from shame by now."

It felt like a boulder had lodged in my chest, making it hard to breathe.

My phone slipped from my grasp and shattered on the floor.

I drifted out of the villa like a lost soul.

Passersby pointed at me, and I raised my hand to shield half my face as I walked aimlessly forward.

I lost track of time and didn't even notice when a man approached me with a knife.

He pushed me down to the ground, pressing his leg against my back while hurling insults. "You filthy thief! You've embarrassed our tech academy with your plagiarism; keeping your hands is just a curse!"

As soon as he finished speaking, pain shot through my wrist.

The man ran away.

I struggled to get up, staring blankly at the dark red pool spreading around me.

Just then, a familiar figure rushed over and gathered me in his arms.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself looking into Kyle's concerned gaze.

I tried to sit up, but he gently pressed down on my shoulder. "Don't move; you just had surgery."

As memories flooded back, I remembered what had happened before I fainted. "Did they catch him?" My voice came out hoarse and raspy.

Kyle quickly poured a glass of water and held a straw to my lips. "The police will handle it; just focus on recovering."

After I drank some water, he hesitated before saying, "I wasn't sure if you wanted to see anyone else, so I didn't notify anyone—Ethan included."

"If you want to see them, I can contact them right now."

I paused for a moment before shaking my head.

I didn't want to see him or Sophie.

During my ten days in the hospital, seniors and mentors visited me in turns.

Everyone tacitly avoided mentioning my hand injury or the competition.

As for Ethan? It seemed he had forgotten about me entirely; he hadn't even bothered to check in.