She genuinely did not have the patience to deal with them. She did not want to spoil her appetite by watching Xenia put on her pitiful act.

Xenia wailed, "It's my fault! It's all my fault! You should blame me for all of this!"

"You're way too kind, Xenia. If anyone were to leave, it should be Noelle," replied Lucas.

Noelle instantly agreed. "Yeah, sure! I'll leave!" Now that she had achieved her goal, she no longer needed to stay and waste time.

Frank immediately explained, "You can't leave, Noelle. This is your home! Where else would you go?"

"Just deactivate her credit card, Frank. We'll see how long she can last out there by herself," said Lucas.

Noelle shrugged. "Whatever."

It was a memory she would never forget. In her previous life, she had ended up wandering the streets and begging for food when her credit card was deactivated. She had to earn her own money to survive.

Noelle returned to her room, grabbed a backpack, and stuffed it with some clothes and her ID, leaving everything else behind. Frank began to panic. "Don't do this, Noelle. Didn't you say you'd be coming home after the exams?"

Noelle's gaze was as calm as ever. "Yeah, I did say that."

She knew Frank and Lucas would have probably interfered with her exams if she hadn't said so. Now that the exams were over, nothing was left to hold her back. And with that, she had no reason to continue putting up with the Liddells.

Frank pleaded, "We're a family, Noelle. It's only normal to have a few disagreements, but it's fine so long as it's nothing major, right? I know you've been wronged in the past. I promise I'll make it up to you."

He hadn't slept a wink last night but hadn't dared to approach Noelle. Certain things had become dear to him, and memories of the past continued to stab into his heart like daggers, keeping him awake.

He realized Noelle had been treated unfairly since the Liddell family adopted Xenia. Considering how many years it had lasted, Frank couldn't bear to imagine all the pain Noelle had gone through. The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became.

Noelle smiled and calmly replied, "Don't say that, Frank. I've been considering looking for a part-time job after the exams and learning to live alone. You can let Xenia have my room. Her father saved my life, after all. It's only right to treat her well."

Lucas walked over and snorted. "You should've done that a long time ago." He believed Noelle was, in fact, afraid of cutting ties with the family.

Noelle continued, "Now that the exams are over, Xenia should return to the team and compete. Just because she sucks at the game, it wouldn't be fair to bar her from her training. She's a member of Team Luminak, after all."

Lucas's expression shifted as he replied, "O-of course. I'll see to it."

She then nodded and said, "That's great. Alright. I'll be leaving now. Just let me know if anything comes up." With that, she headed downstairs without looking back. Lucas started to panic. "Are you really just going to let her go, Frank? Weren't you the one who said you wanted to cut ties with her?"

Frank smiled helplessly and replied, "What else can I do? Weren't you the one who told her to leave? I was just stating it out of impulse."

"Listen, Lucas. The words you say don't just disappear from our memory." The damage caused by hurtful words would accumulate.

Frank felt extremely helpless. Looking at Lucas, he saw a reflection of his past self.

Xenia noticed Frank's demeanor change and said, "It's okay, Frank. I'll move out instead. After that, you should convince Noelle to come home."

Frank shook his head and replied, "It's fine. You can stay with us." The issue with Noelle wouldn't be solved by simply having Xenia move away. However, Xenia insisted, saying, "I've already made up my mind, Frank. Thank you for taking care of me for all these years." She then left to pack her things. Frank's change of attitude was purposely too subtle. Xenia knew that if she didn't make a drastic move herself, he would begin to suspect her.

"Xenia's never felt at ease living with us because of Noelle. Frank, can't you see? Noelle's just throwing a tantrum by forcing Xenia to leave! But Xenia has never done anything wrong!"

"Noelle has endured a lot over the years."

"But Xenia's father and Noelle did so much. So what if Noelle left late? The debt can't be repaid."

Frank struggled to breathe after listening to Lucas' reply. He clutched his chest as he gasped for air. The next moment, he fell unconscious and collapsed onto the floor.