Chapter 32: Tarnishing Her Reputation
After an indeterminate amount of time, a hint of blue seemed to spread across the sky, marking the end of the tormenting night. After Sebastian pulled away from Madelyn, he promptly got up, put on his suit, and exited through the door. Madelyn was left alone in the quiet room. She curled up on the bed with her legs drawn together and silently shed tears. Her body was in relentless pain, but compared to that, the pain in her heart was even more excruciating.
Throughout the ordeal, Madelyn was left in the dark, utterly clueless about what had transpired. She couldn’t understand why Sebastian treated her that way. As she mulled over it, she felt utterly aggrieved. Yet, deep within her heart, Madelyn kept reminding herself repeatedly, “I have no right to cry. This is all my own doing.”
Reflecting on her past life and the unscrupulous methods she used to harm Sebastian, Madelyn figured there was no way he would ever forget them. At that moment, she merely fulfilled her duties as a wife. What was that bit of pain in comparison to how she had hurt Sebastian?
Meanwhile, Sebastian had already descended the stairs. After he had vented his frustrations throughout the night, the malicious glint in his eyes had long since faded. He went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He took a couple of gulps, allowing the icy liquid to enter his system and calm him down. Then, he turned and looked upstairs.
The room’s lights were still on. Sebastian couldn’t help but be reminded of his own brutality and how Madelyn was curled up and shivering on the bed before his departure. This night must have been torturous for her, not at all enjoyable. With this thought, a hint of reluctance flashed in Sebastian’s eyes. Yet, so what if I feel a hint of reluctance? She harbors feelings for another in her heart. Her love, it seems, is never meant to be mine.
So, in the end, Sebastian drove away without even looking back. Following that morning, Madelyn didn’t see Sebastian for two whole days. Just like in their past life, after the night of their engagement, she hadn’t seen him for a very long time. With that thought, Madelyn let out a sigh. She knew, once again, she had messed things up.
However, what truly baffled her was that she never understood what had caused everything to fall apart. Why had he lost his temper that night, after all? Madelyn refused to believe that Sebastian was the type to fall out with others without reason. She was certain something must have provoked him. However, she wondered what could have possibly provoked him, considering it was already so late at night.
Madelyn couldn’t make sense of it all, and as a result, her overall mental state had significantly deteriorated over the past couple of days. When she arrived at school, her mood was somewhat downcast. Still, Ruth had a knack for hounding Madelyn relentlessly. Whenever she had free time, she would go out of her way to bother Madelyn. Sure enough, Ruth came charging over in a flurry as soon as class ended.
Right off the bat, Ruth hurled a barrage of criticism at Madelyn. “Madelyn, do you know how much your actions have…”
Madelyn didn’t have much energy and responded, “Professor Pierson, I already told you I’ll rewrite it. Could you please give me some peace for a while?”
Taking in Madelyn’s lethargic demeanor, Ruth couldn’t contain her anger. “You still want peace! The whole school knows now about you paying someone to ghostwrite your thesis. This has seriously affected the morale of our class. Don’t you have anything to say to everyone!”
Judging from Ruth’s tone, Madelyn figured that seemed severe. She could only rub her temples in helplessness. “What happened?”
Ruth’s voice became even more piercing as she shrieked. “Go check the school forum yourself. This issue has already blown up there. You owe our classmates an explanation. You can’t let everyone be affected by your actions!”
School forum? Madelyn seldom browsed forums, but since Ruth mentioned it, she decided to take a look. Surprisingly, as soon as she clicked into the forum, she saw that all the news was about her, which instantly sobered her up quite a bit. Posts with themes such as “Madelyn Seeking Ghostwriters for Her Thesis,” “Incompetence among Finance Students,” and “Shame in Hiring Ghostwriters” were all trending. One of the posts, in particular, was creating quite a buzz.
First, the topic creator spread the news about Madelyn hiring a ghostwriter, demonstrating to everyone just how deplorable Madelyn’s character was. Then, it was disclosed that Madelyn planned to write a thesis in public to prove her innocence. The comments under that post were too dreadful to behold. Many people couldn’t stand Madelyn and seized that opportunity to berate her in the comment section below endlessly.
Netizen A wrote: Madelyn is nothing more than a bimbo, good for nothing but her looks. No wonder she needs to resort to using a ghostwriter.
Netizen B commented: I heard that Madelyn has quite the temper. She’s arrogant, shows no courtesy to others, acts high and mighty, and doesn’t regard people with respect. I really can’t stand her.
Netizen C: She has low emotional intelligence and intellectual intelligence. I can’t fathom how such a person got into our school.
Netizen D: It’s baffling how a goddess-like top student like Janessa became friends with her.
Netizen E: I heard Madelyn’s personal life was chaotic and that she was promiscuous. On the surface, she plays the innocent while living a scandalous life. How disgusting!
Netizen F: Hopefully Goddess Janessa will never associate with her again in the future.
Netizen G: I believe Madelyn likely plagiarized her thesis from Goddess Janessa! Janessa is the real top student. Madelyn is nothing more than a joke!
Madelyn calmly browsed through the comments below, almost laughing out of sheer exasperation. Madelyn and Janessa were quite renowned figures at their school. They were commonly recognized as the beauties of the Department of Finance. Madelyn, in particular, was widely acknowledged for her stunning beauty, while Janessa relied on her talent to captivate others.
However, after the rumors spread, everyone’s reaction toward Madelyn was pure slander, defamation, and vilification. There were even some who wished she were dead. As for Janessa, she was highly praised in the comment section and fawned upon by others, establishing herself as a talented goddess. Madelyn found such a glaring disparity laughable.
Just then, Janessa approached. When she saw Madelyn engrossed in browsing through the forum, a sly smile crept upon her face. Yet, she comforted Madelyn, saying, “Madelyn, you really shouldn’t concern yourself with these things. Just be yourself. Why worry about what others say? Regardless, you should know that I believe in you.”
Upon hearing those words, Madelyn glanced up at Janessa. Seeing the latter’s insincere expression, she inexplicably felt a wave of nausea washing over her. Does this Janessa really take me for a fool? The topic creator of that thread had posted anonymously, and many of the comments below were from users who didn’t even have a nickname or a profile picture. Clearly, someone must have hired ghostwriters to intentionally slander Madelyn and ruin everyone’s impression of her.
Madelyn thought, Who else in this school could have gone to such great lengths and carefully plotted against me if not Janessa? Ha! This despicable woman seriously doesn’t miss any opportunity to tarnish my reputation.