?Chapter 529:


    When the number 1600 zed across the screen, bewilderment crashed over them instead of shock. Their minds refused to process what they witnessed. They must have mistaken 160 for 1600—surely just an optical illusion created by an extra zero. Everyone blinked furiously, attempting to restore rity, but the digits remained stubbornly unchanged.


    The SAT’s maximum possible score stood at exactly 1600. Had Elliana truly achieved perfection? Disbelief strangled their rational thoughts, and the Evans family began questioning their own perception.


    Ruben scrambled for his reading sses and pressed them against his nose. “Assist an old man here,” he wheezed. “Does that disy 160 or 1600? My vision betrays me.”


    Bertram, equally shell-shocked, asked, “Dad, are you witnessing 1600 or 160?”


    “1600,” Ruben confirmed with trembling certainty.


    Bertram pivoted to face Ruben, his own stare zed with iprehension. “Dad, I’m witnessing 1600 as well.”


    Ruben gradually turned his head to meet his son’s gaze. The two men locked eyes in an extended, earth-shattering silence, as though reality itself had dissolved around them.


    Jason finally shattered the spell,ughter erupting from his chest. “Grandpa, Dad—you can cease your self-doubt. It’s absolutely 1600!” His deration obliterated their fragile bubble of denial. A collective intake of breath swept through the room, followed by stunned silence before the floodgates burst open.


    The butlers and servants burst into animated conversation, their voices weaving together in a tapestry of amazement. “Dear God! Ms. Marsh achieved a perfect score!”


    “I’ve weathered decades on this earth, and I’ve never witnessed a wless SAT performance!”


    “We all branded Ms. Marsh a beginner, but she’s revealed herself as an elite dark horse. You truly cannot judge a book by its cover!” The Evans family traded stunned looks, their usual eloquence abandoned in the face of the impossible.


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    Ruben fixed his gaze on the score, his eyes zing with wonder, his voice quaking with exhration. “I was the one who demanded Elliana take the SATs, but I never dared dream to discover she possessed such genius! That girl has been concealing her brilliance from us all!” Bertram managed only a slow nod of acknowledgment. “She has indeed.”


    Louisa whirled on Emmanuel with sudden fury. “Yesterday, you revealed that Lance had be Elliana’s protégé. I dismissed it as preposterous—what wisdom could he possibly glean from her? Now the truth zes before me. You and Lance knew Elliana was brilliant all along, didn’t you? You knew she concealed some extraordinary gift and you withheld it from me!”


    Unease pierced Emmanuel’s chest like a de. He cleared his throat and remained silent, his wordlessness serving as damning confirmation.


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