Chapter 12
437words
Public outrage exploded faster than I'd anticipated.
Three days later, the Sports Administration launched an investigation.
Seven days after that, they released their official findings.
Starlight Club was exposed for systematic violations: match-fixing, athlete suppression, referee bribery. The executives received lifetime bans from sports.
The person who bribed the doping official was identified.
A major Starlight shareholder with significant influence in skating circles.
Now he sat behind bars.
As for Lucas…
He issued a statement the day after the recording surfaced, admitting everything and publicly apologizing to my father and me.
He announced he would donate all his prize money to establish a foundation for struggling athletes.
His championship title remained intact.
After all, he had earned that gold through his own skill.
But public opinion showed no mercy.
His endorsements vanished overnight, his social accounts flooded with hate, strangers pointing and whispering wherever he went.
The higher he had climbed, the harder he fell.
Someone snapped a photo of him sitting alone at rinkside, staring vacantly at the empty ice.
Looking at that image, I felt neither satisfaction nor vindication.
Just emptiness.
That night, I dreamed.
In my dream, I was seventeen again, standing on World Championship ice, spotlights blazing, the arena chanting my name.
I nailed that quad jump, landing rock-solid on the ice.
As the music ended, I smiled and bowed deeply, my blades gleaming beneath me.
I woke to find my pillow soaked with tears.
Outside, daylight had broken—a rare, clear morning.
I lay there briefly before rising to prepare for morning class.
With Lucas's compensation money, I could finally open my own studio.
Today marked my final class at this studio.
After class, a regular client took my hand, her eyes rimmed with red.
"Sophia, I've seen everything online. I had no idea what you've been through… it just seems such a waste."
A waste?
I asked myself silently.
Then I smiled, gazing at the hazy sky.
"In this world, perfection is the most dangerous illusion."
"The full moon must always wane."
"The ripest fruit must fall from the branch."
"Regret is simply life's natural state."
I rolled up my mat, pushed open the door, and let the winter wind strike my face.
In this barren winter, I had finally regrown my flesh and blood.
Shattered, rebuilt, reborn, determined, resilient, victorious.
Regrets or no regrets—it didn't matter.
Because I knew that no matter where fate pushed me, I would save myself a thousand times over.
