After a pause, Celine's gaze lowered slightly, sweeping coldly toward a corner below the stage.

There sat the people who had followed Sienna, repeatedly kicking her when she was down and mocking and slandering her in public.

"Although you did not participate in plagiarism or fraud, you spread malicious rumors without regard for right or wrong. The workplace requires honest and upright practitioners, not people who cozy up to the powerful and trample on the dignity of others at will."

"Therefore, our company’s decision to cancel your interview qualifications is entirely compliant, reasonable, and justified. There is no injustice or targeting involved."

"My response ends here."

She withdrew her gaze and faced the media once more, her posture composed.

"Does anyone here have any further questions?"

Chapter 11

The media reporters present looked at one another and finally began to applaud.

In an instant, warm applause filled the entire venue.

The previously incessant sound of camera shutters and whispering vanished, replaced by genuine admiration and praise.

"Incredible. To be able to secure the position of CEO of a unicorn company at such a young age—her scope and vision are simply not comparable to ordinary people."

"Calm and collected, rational and evidence-based, upholding her principles while remaining fair and transparent. No wonder she was the only Chinese person from the overseas headquarters to break through the encirclement and enter the upper management."

"If it were someone else, they might only care about talent and capability; she, however, puts character first. It really is rare..."

Julian's gaze landed on Celine, a dark and obscure emotion flickering in his eyes.

After a brief silence, the press conference host timely took the stage to conclude. The much-watched recruitment controversy press conference came to a successful end.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the noisy venue slowly grew quiet.

Sun Shiya rushed to the stage at the first opportunity, grabbing Celine’s hand, excited and gratified:

"Celine, congratulations! You have finally completely proven your innocence!" Sun Shiya said, her eyes becoming red.

"I knew you could do it. All these years, you were never wrong. Today, you finally let those blind people see the truth and let that despicable woman Sienna eat her own bitter fruit! I'll host dinner tonight; I must treat you to a big meal to celebrate properly!"

Celine curled her lips into a faint smile and nodded gently: "Okay, wait for me a moment; I'm going to the restroom."

With that, she straightened her jacket, left the venue, and walked toward the restroom at the end of the corridor.

Cold lights spilled onto the clean marble countertop. Celine stood before the sink and turned on the faucet. The cool water flowed over her fingertips, slightly calming the emotions she had felt while facing the cameras.

But the upturned corners of her lips still revealed her happy mood.

She had finally done it.

She had made everyone hear her voice.

She was just about to raise her hand to dry the water.

The next moment, a tall, slender shadow suddenly loomed over her.

The figure, carrying a faint, icy aura, approached step by step. Before she could react, her back pressed against the cold, hard vanity.

Celine froze, instinctively looking up. Upon seeing the familiar brows and eyes of the person before her, the upward curve of her lips immediately stiffened:

"A good dog doesn't block the road; move aside."

"Celine."

Julian’s large frame trapped her in a small space, his long arms braced on both sides of the vanity, cutting off her path.

He leaned in slightly, his deep eyes locked onto the woman before him, his gaze swirling with heavy darkness and complexity.

"You returned to the country specifically to take over the branch, hid your identity to lead everyone into a trap, and then took the opportunity to hold a high-profile press conference."

His voice was low and icy.

"Calculating every step, pressing in inch by inch—from beginning to end, were you doing all of this just to get revenge for everything that happened back then?"

It was a question, yet it was stated in the tone of a declaration.

Chapter 12

The cramped restroom was airtight and quiet; the temperature in the air plummeted to freezing point.

Julian loomed over her, his black eyes pressing down with turbulent emotions—a deep, brooding frustration born from being outmaneuvered.

Celine was forced to look up at him, letting out a light chuckle:

"And so what if I am?"

"You, Mr. Julian, have always been high and mighty. Naturally, you never imagined that the version of me you once trampled into the mud would one day stand firm and reclaim all the justice owed to me by your own hands."

Julian’s gaze darkened abruptly. His knuckles pressed against the cold countertop, tightening until his skin turned pale.

"Celine, it’s been so long. Do you really have to be this heartless?"

"Heartless?"

Celine sounded as if she had heard the greatest joke in the world; the last shred of warmth in her eyes completely faded away.

She raised her hand and neatly rolled up the sleeve of her suit jacket.

Her fair, slender forearm was exposed to the cold light. Stretched across the skin was a shallow but remarkably jarring scar. The texture was aged—an old wound from years ago, now set, never to disappear.

"Julian, ask yourself: was what you did back then not heartless?"

"Have you forgotten this scar?" Her fingertips brushed lightly over the old mark, her tone terrifyingly calm.

"You left this when you drove your car into me."

"And if you hadn't thrown me into that detention center..."

A thin mist of chill clouded Celine’s eyes.

"How would my father have suffered a heart attack from pure rage and ended up in the ICU? How would my mother have been forced to shoulder the burden of the entire family alone, only to break her leg and be left with lifelong chronic pain?"

One by one, each incident was a catastrophic disaster that crushed her youth; this was bone-deep agony, nothing more, nothing less.

The icy, cold malice surrounding Julian stiffened; a flicker of shock and panic crossed his eyes.

"That was also because you were the one who drove into Sienna first."

"I hit her?"

Celine laughed, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Julian, aren't you someone with all the power in the world? How could you have failed to check the surveillance footage from that time?"

She stared straight into his eyes.

"That’s because you aren't just as despicable as Sienna; you are also self-opinionated, forever believing only what you choose to see."

"Therefore, you have absolutely no right to question me."

Julian froze.

These eyes—they were exactly the same as they were five years ago.

Except, five years ago, her eyes were filled with tears, broken and stubborn.

But now, she had long since shed the naivety of those days, becoming hard and sharp. Instead, she was like a stone thrown into his calm lake of a heart, stirring up ripples.

It was like a sharp claw scratching into his soul—not particularly painful, yet impossible to ignore.

His gaze fell involuntarily upon her arm, that winding scar.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

Subconsciously, he reached out, wanting to touch her, his voice raspy: "Does it... still hurt?"

Chapter 13

But before he could make contact, Celine pushed him away forcefully.

Julian veered to the side, and by the time he realized what happened, Celine had already walked away quickly, without giving him even another glance.

He stood in place, the scent of Celine seemingly still lingering in his arms.

Although she had intentionally worn a powerful, commanding perfume, when smelled closely, one could still detect—hidden beneath the cold, glamorous scent—that faint, bright aroma of orange blossoms.

It was the exact same scent she wore back at school, when she would wear her neat uniform with her hair in a simple ponytail, smiling shyly at him.

Julian’s eyes darkened.

It was as if the scenes from five years ago were playing out before him.

Sienna had grown up alongside him, her nature soft and sensitive, but she had always been obsessively competitive.

With the college entrance exams approaching, Sienna, who had always been overshadowed by Celine, was unwilling to accept defeat. With red-rimmed eyes and a choked voice, she had said to him:

"As long as Celine keeps performing consistently, I will never be able to take first place. My mother will definitely beat me when the time comes. Julian, I need you to help me..."

And so, he had actively approached Celine to clear the path for Sienna.

Deliberately manufactured encounters, small talk, walking together on the way home from school.

His goal had been despicable and clear from the very beginning: to disrupt Celine’s state of mind, distract her, make her unable to focus on her studies, and leave her powerless to compete with Sienna.

But gradually, watching her treat others with sincerity, holding gentle kindness for all things in the world, watching her drill repeatedly over a single wrong question, watching her laugh in a frank and vibrant way—