The Forgotten Twin Chapter 05
“Rank D?”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Didn’t they just say Clara was an SSS-ranked Golden Wolf?”
The moment the results appeared, whispers spread through the crowd.
Mom stared at the screen, her voice trembling, “No… that’s impossible. Clara can’t be Rank D too.”
William began to panic as well, “Exactly! How could they both be Rank D? There has to be something wrong with the system. The admissions officers are all here! They came all this way because of an SSS-ranked Golden Wolf!”
“Clara, don’t be scared. These results have to be wrong. They have to be.”
He pulled Clara into his arms and gently patted her back.
Leaning against the wall in the corner, I quietly watched the scene unfold.
Then I smiled.
What they didn’t know was that on the very day Clara was diagnosed with Sibling Rivalry Disorder, I had gone to see the Swamp Witch and drunk one of her potions.
It swapped the scores between the two of us.
—
From that day on, not only our exam scores but even our wolves had been completely exchanged.
Every time Mom and the others did everything they could to stop me from doing well, I still gritted my teeth and finished every exam paper.
I endured every physical assessment to the very end.
What they never knew was that my grades kept improving, and my strength grew greater with every passing day.
Yet in their eyes, it only proved that their plan to make me worse was working.
They also had no idea that, wrapped in that false sense of security, Clara’s real abilities were declining day by day.
While she wandered through shopping malls trying on dresses, I was memorizing biology.
While she enjoyed steak at fancy restaurants, I was training in the pouring rain, running with weighted gear.
While she hugged her new designer bags and pouted for more spending money, I was sparring with pack warriors in combat simulations.
She believed that as long as I became worse and worse, she would naturally become better and better.
But every single time they happily used my “low scores” to comfort her… those scores had actually been hers all along.
On the day of the ranking examination, the moment I looked at the bottle of water they handed me, I finally knew for certain.
—
I didn’t want them anymore.
“Mom… no… it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Clara struggled free from William’s embrace, stumbled backward two steps, and collapsed against the armrest of a chair as her knees gave out.
She didn’t cry out in pain. She only stared at the giant screen, her lips trembling.
“I filled in every answer. I completed every paper. I also finished the physical assessment perfectly. I can’t possibly be Rank D.”
She suddenly turned around and grabbed Mom’s wrist, “I want my exam reviewed! Right now!”
As the Luna of our pack, Mom immediately used her authority to arrange an official review of both my ranking exam and Clara’s.
The results came back quickly.
The staff retrieved scanned copies of our answer sheets and displayed them on the giant screen.
The two answer sheets appeared side by side.
Clara’s paper was completely filled in. Every page was packed with answers.
But the grading column was covered in red X’s.
Even the multiple-choice questions she guessed at were almost entirely wrong.
—
Statistically speaking, she wasn’t just a poor student. She had unbelievably terrible luck as well.
My answer sheet, on the other hand, was almost completely blank.
Aside from my name, every page was empty.
Mom stared at the screen. The light slowly faded from her eyes.
Her knees buckled, and her whole body began to sink. William quickly caught her.
“How… how could this happen?” Her lips quivered.
When she finally spoke, the words seemed to be forced out of her throat.
“But Clara said she felt amazing after this exam. She said she was definitely going to be an SSS-ranked Golden Wolf.”
Suddenly, she looked up.
The panic in her eyes disappeared, replaced by an almost obsessive certainty, “No.”
“No, this isn’t right.”
She shoved William aside and staggered toward the admissions officers, grabbing the sleeve of the one closest to her.
“You came here to recruit Madeline! But she’s Rank D too! How could you possibly be here for her? You’ve made a mistake! There has to be a mistake!”
The admissions officers exchanged uneasy glances. None of them
—
dared to speak first.
They looked at one another before collectively turning their eyes toward the glaring Rank D displayed on the screen.
It couldn’t be right.
There was no way their principals would have sent them here to compete over a Rank D student.
The three most prestigious werewolf academies would never appear together for someone like that.
Something had to be wrong.
After exchanging another knowing look, they all pulled out their phones and called their respective principals.
When the calls ended, the three admissions officers walked toward Mom together.
“Our principals have confirmed it.”
“There is no mistake.”
“The student we came here to recruit is Madeline Morton.”