It was a vicious cycle. Seth was silent for a couple of seconds before replying, "I'm overseas right now. I'll have someone from my team connect with you to handle it."

"Okay," Noreen said. As long as he was willing to solve the problem, that was all that mattered.

Seth was remarkably efficient. Less than half an hour after their call, a team from Ascendancy Group arrived at InnoCore. They presented a solution: they would recall all the faulty chips and provide new, quality-assured ones free of charge. In addition, they offered triple the amount in damages.

The offer was far beyond what Noreen had expected. According to their contract, they were only liable for 1.3 times the amount as a penalty. Seth's generosity could only mean one thing: he was cleaning up Bianca's mess. With the PerseTech IPO just around the corner, any scandal involving Ascendancy Group would inevitably tarnish Bianca's reputation and, by extension, jeopardize his plans to marry her. He really had thought of everything to protect her.

This was the third time Seth had thrown money at a problem to make it go away. Noreen was reminded of when she had helped Claire Chase resolve her contract issue. Seth's mindset was identical to hers at the time. She cared about Claire, so she was willing to spend whatever it took to eliminate her troubles. By the same logic, Seth felt the same way about Bianca.

Noreen accepted the offer without argument. She was a businesswoman, and there was no sense in turning down a favorable deal.

A few days later, Noreen saw Bianca at the City Business Council meeting. As usual, Bianca was making her rounds, greeting other entrepreneurs with an air of superiority. But the moment she saw Noreen, her expression froze, and her eyes turned cold.

Noreen couldn't care less about Bianca's attitude. She walked right past her, found her assigned seat, and sat down. Bianca then turned to find her own place, her eyes instinctively scanning the front row. After sweeping her gaze back and forth twice and not seeing her nameplate, she finally located it in the second row. Her heart sank, but she maintained a composed and elegant facade as she took her seat. She glanced over at Noreen, who was now just a silhouette from her vantage point. An unsettling sense of a widening gap between them settled over her.

The meeting was presided over by Padgett Novak, who publicly commended ten entrepreneurs, Noreen among them. He made a special point of highlighting Winrich

as the top tax contributor in Rivercrest City for the year.

It was then that Bianca understood: the seating had been arranged according to each company's tax contribution. This clear, hierarchical arrangement made her realize just how far ahead of her Noreen had become Just six months ago Bianca had been in the front row, with Noreen seated behind her.

As she was processing this, Padgett Novak mentioned Winrich again, praising their

new gaming project for filling a significant gap in Rivercrest City's industry portfolio.

A younger entrepreneur sitting next

to Bianca leaned over to his companion: "I saw the trailer for that game. It looks incredible! It's a

masterful blend of cultural heritage and modern gaming technology t going to be a huge hit."

"I don't know much about the gaming industry," his friend replied, "but I do remember another game, something called Aetheria, that caused a huge scandal. The person in charge almost faced public prosecution, right?"

"Oh, I remember that! The person in charge was a Lowell, what was her name again?" The man was about to say the name when he glanced down and saw Bianca's nameplate. He froze, cutting himself off awkwardly.

A flash of humiliation crossed Bianca's face. She subtly moved her handbag to cover her name.