Chapter 298: I Was Too Rash
Caspian Rhodes seemed to sense something and glanced over at the man chatting amiably with Julian Spencer, his expression turning serious.
Aurora Donovan’s eyes sharpened as well. His gaze on Derek Kensington instantly became more vigilant. ’No wonder our Serena had that tone when she mentioned this guy. So that’s what’s going on...’
’Fine, just fine. One by one, they come. I’d like to see just how many demons and monsters are hiding in this little research institute!’
’This Derek Kensington really doesn’t accumulate any good karma with the things he does. He spends all day acting noble and virtuous, like he’s some exceptionally upright, dutiful, and approachable guy, but in reality, he’s a smiling tiger who devours people whole—a complete wolf in sheep’s clothing.’
To put it bluntly, Derek Kensington was a bit of a snob. He was an only child from a well-off family and doted on by his parents. Since he was smart from a young age and always at the top of his class, he was the object of admiration for his teachers, classmates, and even all the surrounding friends and relatives.
But all that changed dramatically after he was accepted into Brynn University.
In a place like that, you might be smart, but someone else is smarter. Your family might be well-off, but someone else’s is even better off.
The moment he stepped onto campus, Derek Kensington discovered that everything he had been so proud of for over a decade was utterly insignificant here. This was especially true after he buried his head in his studies at Brynn for several years and finally managed to get into the research institute. When his parents found out, they bragged to everyone, and their friends and neighbors all competed to praise and envy him.
But only Derek Kensington himself knew the truth: in his own team, he was just a logistics person running errands. Not only did he have no access to the core research, but anyone could order him around. This was a world away from the grand ambitions he’d imagined before university, of making a name for himself while he was still young.
Such a huge contrast inevitably threw Derek Kensington off balance. On the surface, he appeared no different than usual, but inside, his heart had long been consumed by jealousy.
And with the arrival of Aurora Donovan, this resentment and bitterness spread like wildfire, becoming completely uncontrollable.
Aurora Donovan was younger than him, had a worse temperament, and came from a similar family background. He had even attended a less prestigious university. Yet, it was precisely this person who had earned the praise from Elder Lyons that Derek had always dreamed of. In less than two months, he had firmly established himself in the lab. Elder Lyons even broke convention to accept him as his final, personal disciple and applied for him to enter a direct PhD program, skipping his master’s degree.
’Right now, Derek Kensington is all smiles looking at my third brother, but inside, he’s cursing him out. That’s why later on, as soon as Julian Spencer egged him on, he immediately stepped up as a "witness" to sling mud at my brother.’
’It was all just because of that?!’
Hearing this, Aurora Donovan found it both unexpected and, in a way, perfectly logical. He recalled Arabella mentioning not long ago that this man had deliberately tried to sow discord between him and Julian Spencer.
Thinking about it carefully, if Julian Spencer hadn’t already been a total scumbag with whom he had a prior grudge, then to Aurora Donovan, the man would have just been an irrelevant freeloader who came to the lab to leech off their results.
Furthermore, since Deputy Director Kendrick had asked him to personally greet Julian Spencer, he must have informed him of Julian’s identity and surely warned him not to broadcast it.
But what did he do? The moment they met, he exposed Julian Spencer’s status as someone with connections. He kept saying things like "don’t mind it," which sounded like words of comfort, but in reality, wasn’t he just secretly goading Aurora Donovan into sticking his neck out and clashing with Julian?
One of them was backed by Elder Lyons, while the other was a relative of the dean. If they really fought, it would inevitably lead to mutual destruction. If things escalated, they might both even be kicked out of the lab. Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?
Realizing this, Aurora Donovan’s heart sank. ’No wonder Serena said he was a deep schemer who never focused on proper work and spent all his time on crooked schemes. Sooner or later, he’s going to be a disaster!’
’Huh? So my third brother didn’t actually die by suicide due to public pressure—he was murdered. Oh, man, my temper is flaring up now. I’m counting every last one of you, and none of you are getting away. If I don’t send all of you to prison to eat state-sponsored meals, then my surname isn’t Donovan!’
At first, Aurora Donovan’s expression was grim when he heard the first part, but by the end, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift into a smile.
’Sisters really are the best, a true sweetheart,’ he thought. ’As for these other troublesome pests...’
Aurora Donovan glanced at Derek Kensington and Julian Spencer. It was better for him to handle them, lest his precious sister have to dirty her hands.
According to the plot, Julian Spencer, with the help of Terence Lewis and a few other researchers from the lab, successfully pinned the crime of plagiarism on Dr. Donovan. They used public opinion to force the university to take action, temporarily revoking his access to the campus and the research institute until the matter could be investigated and dealt with.
Seeing Dr. Donovan driven away, Julian Spencer thought his scheme to seize the research results had succeeded and was so excited that he held a celebration banquet that very night.
He never expected that when he submitted the so-called finished thesis to some bigwigs in charge of pharmaceutical research, he would be told that in their line of work, a paper and the actual finished research product were two completely different things.
To prevent the final product from being stolen by rival companies before a patent could be filed, the paper mostly contained theoretical findings. The specific data and measurements were known only to the person who had actually developed them.
Without that information, the thesis was just a "useless piece of paper" that merely pointed out a research direction.
When Julian Spencer learned the truth, he went ballistic. He grabbed a weapon and stormed over to Dr. Donovan’s home to force him to hand over the finished drug.
The result was predictable. The two had a fierce argument and a physical altercation. Afterward, for some unknown reason, there was a sudden explosion inside the room.
Realizing things had gone wrong, Julian Spencer fled at the first opportunity.
Dr. Donovan, however, was pinned under an overturned bookcase, unable to move or save himself.
The last person he saw before he died was the female lead, Summer Vance, who had rushed over after hearing that Julian Spencer had gone to cause trouble for Dr. Donovan.
At that moment, Dr. Donovan, completely unaware of the relationship between the two, acted out of trust for his assistant. Unwilling to let his research gather dust, and more importantly, wanting to save the poor souls suffering from cancer, he voluntarily gave all his experimental data and the finished drug to the female lead. He asked her to take it all, hand it over to the state, and help clear his name.
Aurora Donovan’s mouth twitched. ’So, regardless of whether she’s been reborn or not, I can’t escape the fate of getting offed, can I?’
But more than the prospect of getting offed, Aurora Donovan was concerned about his research. Hearing Arabella say that he had been foolish enough to hand everything over to Summer Vance, he suddenly had a terrible premonition.
And sure enough, the next second, he heard his sister let out a long sigh in his mind.
’This must be the so-called protagonist halo, right? Third Brother, you could have given that stuff to anyone, but you just had to give it to this female lead who’s been completely brainwashed and is obsessed with love. That’s like throwing a meat bun at a dog—it’s never coming back! The greater good? Human lives? In her eyes, what’s more important than the life and future of her darling boyfriend?’
Between her duty to her country and her personal feelings, the female lead ultimately chose her personal feelings.
She handed over all the experimental data and research results to the male lead, cementing Dr. Donovan’s reputation as a plagiarist. While he died with his name uncleared, the male lead reaped both fame and fortune.
Aurora Donovan: "..." ’And to think I felt sorry for you before. I was too naive!’