Conrad felt the weight of everyone''s stares on him. He clenched his fists, then rxed them, trying to keep his cool. Ever since the group had jumped to their conclusions, his mind was racing, trying toe up with a n. He said, "Yeah, I did make this remedy myself. As for the bottle the president has, I''m not sure how you got it. My cousin asked me for a bottle a while back. She mentioned it was a gift for someone."


    This exnation seemed reasonable enoughing from the same source made it believable. Conrad hadtched onto this excuse after he heard David say, ''a friend gave it to me'' instead of ''crafted it,'' so he stuck with his story. He could only hope that David''s friend wasn''t the actual creator of the remedy.


    Presley nced over at Conrad. He didn''t look rattled, but Presley was suspicious, remembering how Conrad had suddenly approached him a few days ago to talk about the exam ingredients. After a moment, Presley turned to David and said, "Even if Conrad was desperate to win first ce, he wouldn''t stoop to using someone else''s remedy."


    Just then, David''s phone buzzed with a message. He didn''t rush to respond to Presley but checked his phone instead. It was from Mirabe.


    [Yeah, I gave a friend a few doses of that remedy. Why?]


    With a confirmed reply, David looked up and said, "Well, it''s quite a coincidence. My friend also imed she crafted the remedy herself, and she gave a few doses to a friend too."


    Conrad''s heart dropped at this, but he''d already spoken, and with all eyes still on him, there was no way he could backtrack now. Plus, he wasn''t sure if David was fishing for the truth. After a moment, Conrad said confidently, "The remedy for today''s exam was definitely made by me. Everyone was there, watching the whole process. How could there be any cheating?"


    "That''s true," a deputy nodded, "If there was any deceit, it wouldn''t have slipped by us. Maybe there''s just been a misunderstanding."


    Since Conrad was Presley''s apprentice, most people thought highly of him and were inclined to believe he wouldn''t cheat.


    "So, you all think Conrad crafted this remedy?" David asked calmly.


    Presley pressed his lips together, "It''s not about thinking; it''s a fact that Conrad made the remedy." He nced at Devon and continued, "President, I get that you want to stand by your apprentice, but let''s be fair."


    Conrad felt a bit of relief hearing his mentor back him up. At this point, he had to stick to his guns.


    Presley noticed David''s phone and realized they couldn''t keep dragging this out. He said, "Since this is just a misunderstanding, let''s move on. Let''s have the secretary announce this year''s exam results."


    Caught in the middle, the secretary knew something fishy was going on but couldn''t afford to upset either side. He stood there, unsure of what to do.


    David, amused by Presley''s call for ''fairness,'' nodded and said, "Fair and impartial, right? Okay, today I''ll make sure everything''s above board, so no one gets wrongly used."


    With that, he tapped his phone and called Mirabe.


    Presley frowned as he saw this unfold.