The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

"Yeah. The world doesn't work like that."noveldrama

Henry said, "Exactly. And her response at the time was..." He cleared his throat and did his best to imitate her tone. "I didn't do anything to you. I simply told the truth about what happened. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The principal replied, "You may not have done anything wrong, but your actions have had a huge impact on our school. We used to be the top-ranked school in the city. And now, we've dropped to second place!"

She remained unfazed. "If you were so concerned about the school's reputation, why didn't you do anything when I was being bullied? Given your seniority, you should have considered these consequences from the start.

"Yet, you didn't. So, it proves you thought that even if I left, it wouldn't affect your school much. Isn't that right?" The principal remained silent.

She continued, "And honestly, you were right. I don't have that kind of influence. So there's no need for you to come looking for me. If the school is facing problems now, it's because of its own internal decisions. You should be focusing on fixing those instead."

The principal had nothing left to say.

At that moment, her father finally spoke up.

"You may not care about the school, but you care about me, don't you? I'm your father! The company is

on the verge of collapsing. If you just come forward and say a few words to help, you could save the company."

She gazed at her father and scoffed, "Didn't you disown me when you and Mom got divorced? You said, 'From now on, you're no longer my daughter, and I'm no longer your father.' I've always remembered those words, no matter what happened over the years and how difficult things got.

"Even when your other daughter deliberately provoked me, I never once asked you to stand up for me Yet, after facing just a little trouble, you expect me to step in and solve it for you? Don't you find that utterly pathetic and disgraceful?"

Her father was speechless.

Eventually, the principal threatened, "So you won't budge, no matter what? Fine. Just you wait-we won't let you off so easily!"

Steven sneered, "Are these two grown adults seriously planning to take revenge on a student?"

Henry waved a hand dismissively. "Relax. They never got the chance."

Steven asked, "Did she do something again?"

Henry shook his head. "Their business rivals caught wind of what they had done and used the opportunity to dig up evidence against them. They ended up getting thrown behind bars."

Steven was silent for a long moment. "Are we sure she had nothing to do with it?"

"There's no concrete proof linking

her to it. However, everyone suspects she played a part. If she hadn't exposed what they did during that interview, their competitors might never have even thought to investigate them. They probably wouldn't have realized that there was something worth looking into."

"That's true."

Steven shook his head, pushing aside the strange thoughts forming in his mind. She was impressive, no doubt. But at the end of the day, she was still just a student.

No matter how capable she was, how could a mere student possibly take down a well-established businessman with a successful

career? Still, he couldn't help but ask, "So, those two must absolutely

despise her now, don't they