Byron hadn''t expected Juniper to answer, and the lecture he''d prepared was now stuck in his throat.


    "Onest question..."


    He couldn''t stand her showing off. He clicked open hisptop, and a new problem appeared on the screen. It was a dense block of text and numbers, difficult even to decipher.


    "Have we even learned this concept yet?" a few students whispered among themselves.


    "No," another replied. "We''ve only touched on the first half of this topic. Putting it all together, this is almost as difficult as something from the graduate school entrance exam, right?"


    "That''s low of Byron, using a grad-level problem to corner our Goddess."


    "While we haven''t officially covered this yet," Byron said, crossing his arms with a smirk, "I did mention it when I was giving examples in ss. Anyone who was paying attention to my lecture should be able to answer it."


    What? The students thought that was absurd. Mentioned it? Byron mentioned a lot of things in ss, most of which involved bragging about his own research achievements. He just rattled on and on; who could possibly remember every little thing he said? There was no way their Goddess could answer this.


    "Can you answer it or not?" Byron asked, deliberately pressing her.


    "No." Juniper stared at the problem on the screen, her delicate brow furrowed in aplex expression.


    At her response, Byron let out a coldugh. He had finally caught her. He began his tirade. "I thought the top scorer was supposed to be so brilliant. But the moment you get distracted in ss, you don''t know a thing, do you? Once you''re here, no matter how great you were before, you start from zero. The thing I despise most in this world are students like you who get a little sess and let it go to their heads, always showing off with the little bit of cleverness they have."


    Byron''s sarcastic remarks were so harsh that even the other students couldn''t bear


    to listen, and they all looked toward Juniper with concern.


    What was their Goddess looking at? Why wasn''t she saying anything?


    "And that advisor of yours-Tucker," Byron added, his tone growing even more dismissive. "Does he really think it''s that easy to win an internationalpetition? He just got lucky..."


    Suddenly, a softugh escaped from Juniper.


    Byron''s rant came to an abrupt halt. "What are youughing at?" he demanded, looking quizzically at the girl''s mocking expression.


    "At you." Juniper met Byron''s gaze, her eyes steady. "Before you criticize someone else for not studying hard enough she said slowly "shouldn''t


    Make sure you''ve done your


    own work properly?"


    "What is that supposed to mean?" Byron''s brow tightened, his aged face an icy mask. "You can''t answer the question, so now you''re just trying to twist things, is that it?"


    "Of course I can''t answer it," Juniper replied, her chin held high, showing no fear. Her voice was firm. "Because the problem you''ve presented is wed."


    wed? The words sent a ripple through the ssroom. Students craned their necks, their eyes wide with disbelief. That couldn''t be right. Wasn''t this a question Byron had personally designed for a past


    entrance exam? Everyone who had


    taken it said it was incredibly


    difficult.


    "wed?" Byron nced at the question, a flicker of panic in his eyes, but his voice


    remained firm. "How could a question I created possibly be wed?"


    In truth, he had discovered the error long ago; it was impossible to arrive at the correct answer. But after studying it for ages, he couldn''t figure out where the mistake was. He figured no one would ever be able to solve it anyway so no one would notice. He could just feign ignorance.


    A freshman like Juniper, who had barely attended a few weeks of university


    sses? She could spot the error? What a joke!