In a long–distance race, athletes typically focus on theirnes, making it challenging to see what is happening in others. Fortunately, Beatrice kept talking, which made her performance more convincing and captured a lot of

    Briar’s attention.

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    To match the rhythm of her performance, Briar deliberately slowed her pace. When Leni lunged, she

    sidestepped with practiced ease, reacting almost instantly. She even slipped in a subtle kick at Beatrice, who was

    trying to trip her. The move was so discreet that it went unnoticed by all but the most observant.

    “Ah!” Beatrice eximed softly as shended right beside Leni, and the two of them tumbled together.

    The entire event unfolded in an instant. All anyone witnessed was Leni on the verge of falling onto Briar, but with a quick sidestep, Briar left Beatrice and Leni tangled on the ground together. The gasps from the onlookers rapidly gave way to sheer disbelief.

    Halle and Camden also jumped up in shock from the stands. Halle called out anxiously, “Beatrice!”

    Camden quickly got up and left the stands, ready to run onto the field, but he didn’t notice a figure in ck silently

    following him. As he rounded a corner, he was suddenly pulled into a secluded area.

    “Oh my gosh! What just happened?”

    “How did those two end up together? Wasn’t the campus belle right between them?”

    “The campus belle’s reflexes are crazy fast!”

    “Judging by the way they look, they must be hurt, right?”

    “Unfortunately, we’ve now lost twopetitors in the women’s two–mile race. Shoneport University is likely to be at a disadvantage against the other schools.”

    The crowd outside the track buzzed with gossip. It took a full minute for an onlooker to rush over after the ident. He helped Leni to her feet and asked, “Are you hurt? Can you continue running?”

    When they fell, Leni found herself pinned beneath Beatrice. With another person’s weight pressing down on her, she instinctively braced herself with her hands, scraping both palms until they bled. Her pants were torn at the knees, and her knees throbbed with pain. Meanwhile, Beatrice appearedpletely unscathed.

    Leni’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at the observer. “My knees hurt so much! I don’t think I can keep going.” The observer, a young man, examined her injuries and nodded, acknowledging her pain.

    Beatrice stood there, pretending to limp, and bsaid/b, “My foot hurts too. I can’t keep going.”

    The other observers stared at Beatrice in silence. Leni couldn’t run–her knees were scraped and bleeding–but Beatrice’s clothes weren’t even dirty. There was no visible injury to justify her im, making her excuse all the more absurd.

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    There was nothing they could do. It wasn’t an officialpetition, and Robert had already warned them. If Beatrice chose to withdraw, no one would intervene. An observer nodded and said, “Alright,e with me. Let’s

    clear the track for the others,” then guided Beatrice and Leni off the course toward the infirmary.

    From the stands, Robert noticed Beatrice limping and immediately felt the urge to rush over. ‘What happened? How did Beatrice get hurt, too?‘ he wondered.

    He had been so focused on Leni trying to take down Briar that he hadn’t even noticed how Beatrice had gotten. injured. Now, seeing her struggle to walk, he felt a wave of anxiety. Robert stood up, attempting to squeeze past the people beside him. “Excuse me, could you-”

    His words caught in his throat the moment he got a clear look at the figure beside him. The junior who had been

    sitting there was gone, quietly reced at some point by a tall, burly man in ck. With a full beard and dark sunsses, the man had the look of someone best not challenged. ‘Is this man a student’s parent? Why does he

    look so intimidating?‘ Robert wondered.

    The bearded man heard Robert’s words and lowered his sunsses, casting him a icold/i, sideways nce. That single look was enough to silence Robert entirely.

    Robert swallowed hard as he pointed at Leni and Beatrice limping on the track. Summoning his courage, he exined to the bearded man, “Could you please let me through? My friends are hurt, and I need to help them.”

    The bearded man finally spoke. “Someone is already helping them. Just stay where you are, alright?”

    It was an oddly out–of–ce thing to say. Robert wondered why this man had the authority to stop him from checking on them. Maybe it was the bearded man’s intimidating presence, or maybe Robert was too shaken–but either way, he didn’t register how strange the words truly were.

    Hearing this, Robert turned to look at the track. Sure enough, Leni was receiving assistance from an observer. At the same time, Beatrice was being supported by Briar, who had also dropped out of the race, and they were

    walking off the field together.

    Robert was shocked and grew even more anxious. Given the awkward and tense dynamic between Briar and

    Beatrice, it was hard to imagine Briar voluntarily withdrawing from the race to assist Beatrice to the infirmary. Robert couldn’t believe that would happen, even if his life depended on it.

    ‘Wait, could it be that Briar had already realized this was a setup against her, and now she’s nning to get back at Beatrice?‘ he thought. ‘That must be it!‘

    Robert couldn’t just sit idly by, the growing anxiety overwhelmed him. He eximed, “Please, let me through. I need to help them.”

    The bearded man didn’t bmove/b. No matter how earnestly Robert pleaded, he stayed put, ignoring himpletely. He even blocked the nearby students from leaving, overly forceful in his actions. All Robert could do was watch helplessly as Briar led Beatrice away, the distance between them growing with every step.

    Watching the events unfold in the stands, Hamish crossed his arms and leaned over to whisper, “Ashton, you truly

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    are devious, aren’t you?” He promised Briar he wouldn’t interfere, yet in the end, he still kept those troublemakers

    under control secretly.

    “Briar only said I couldn’t interfere with her n–not that I couldn’t deal with others,” Ashton said. Ever since learning about her past, he’d wanted to remove every threat around her. With someone targeting Briar today, there was no way he’d sit back.

    “Should we follow them and see what’s going on? I doubt Briar is genuinely nice enough ito /iescort Beatrice to the

    infirmary,” Hamish urged, clearly eager to find out what would happen.

    Ashton shared the same concern. He wasn’t worried about Beatrice–his main worry was that Briar might

    encounter Sawyer in the infirmary. If that happened, she might lose control and provoke a fight with him. “Come on, let’s go check it out,” he said. The two of them quickly got up and made their way to the infirmary.

    Meanwhile,n, who had been quietly blending into the crowd, trailed after Briar and Beatrice ionce /iBriar led her

    away. Briar had told him that after the race, he could make sure she wouldn’t be causing trouble for a while. Now

    that Beatrice had withdrawn on her own, the timing couldn’t have been better.