Mom's words were met with nods of agreement from everyone there. The judge looked at me sternly.

"Yara, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

When I remained silent, my younger brother, Andrew Guthrie, immediately jumped in to accuse me.

"Hmph, nothing to say, huh? Feeling guilty now? Let's see how you argue your way out of this now that we have witnessed and supporting evidence!"

I let out a chuckle. "Nothing to say? Andrew, you should know better than anyone who actually took Jocelyn's money!"

A flicker of unease passed through his eyes, but he quickly stiffened and shot back,

"What nonsense are you spouting? Jocelyn sacrificed her health and money for your college tuition. Now, she's just trying to get justice for herself!"

I sneered.

"Fine. Since you're so sure I went to college, why don't you tell everyone which college I attended? What major did I study?"

He clearly had not expected that question.

After a brief pause, he blurted out, "You've always resented Mom for favoring me, so we're not close. How would I know which college you went to? All I know is, without a prestigious degree, how could a multinational company hire you, let alone give you an important position?"

Before he could finish, Mom hurried to add, "Andrew is the youngest. Of course I gave him more care... That's only natural, but you're too jealous, too petty. You could never tolerate him. That's why I asked Jocelyn to take better care of you."

"As for the college? I know. You studied at Jargath College and majored in new media."

I let out a quiet snort. They had clearly done their homework.

The chairman of the company I work for graduated from Jargath College, and to give back to his alma mater, he returned every year for campus recruitment.

The moment she named the university, whispers spread through the courtroom. The looks directed at me were filled with undisguised contempt.

I calmly pulled out my phone, went to the university's website, and brought up the graduation photo for the Class of 2018, new media major.

"Take a look. If I really graduated from here, why am I not in the group photo?"

Jocelyn turned to look at Mom in confusion.

A flicker of panic crossed Mom's face, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Whose fault is that? Yours, of course. To celebrate graduation, you went out drinking with friends. You drank to the extent that you had a gastric hemorrhage and ended up hospitalized for five days."

To make her story more convincing, she threw out a hospital certificate, her tone full of bitter disappointment.

"I told you to be considerate of Jocelyn and not to waste her hard-earned money, but you never listened. That one night alone, you spent thousands of dollars on alcohol."

A collective gasp rippled through the room.

"Spending thousands? Her sister worked herself to the bone to support her, and she just wastes it like that? Utterly shameless."

"Some people don't even earn a few thousand a month, and she blew it all in one night? That's outrageous."

Jocelyn's eyes widened in fury.

"What? If you asked me for money and used it properly, I could accept it, but to think you spent it on drinking and partying… Do you think my money comes easily? What kind of sins did I commit in my past life to end up with a sister like you?"

Her chest heaved violently, her face turning ashen with rage. She looked at me as if she wanted to tear me apart.

"Yara, I've changed my mind. I don't want just those three hundred thousand dollars anymore. I want every single cent I ever gave to you back! Principal and interest, plus two hundred thousand dollars for emotional damages. Six hundred thousand dollars in total, and I won't accept a single cent less!"

When Jocelyn raised the compensation amount, Andrew looked positively gleeful.

"That's right. A heartless ingrate like her deserves a proper lesson. We can't let her off easy!"

Mom nodded solemnly.

"Jocelyn, you're doing the right thing. Otherwise, who knows what worse things she might do in the future?"

My sister looked at me, her eyes filled with sorrow, her emotions spiraling out of control.

"Yara, the way you've squandered my hard-earned money… You might as well have stabbed me with a knife. Didn't you always say you wanted to cut ties with this family? Fine. I'll cut ties with you!"

No matter how much I tried to explain, she refused to believe me.

In the end, I let out a weary sigh.

"Jocelyn, I'll say it one more time. I never went to college. When I said I wanted to cut ties, I meant with this family. Not with you."

Andrew sneered, his tone dripping with mockery. "Of course. How could you ever bear to cut ties with Jocelyn, someone you see as a walking ATM?"

Seeing that I was still denying it, Mom's face turned frosty as she scolded me.

"Debts must be repaid! It's only right and proper! Yara, where's your conscience? Stop agitating your sister. She's sacrificed far too much for you in this lifetime."

Looking at my own mother's hypocritical expression, I no longer wanted to waste another second.

I took out my ID card and handed it to the judge.

"Please log into the Ministry of Education's student registry system and check. The truth will be revealed."

Mom suddenly cried out, stopping him.

"No! Your Honor, who hasn't made mistakes in their youth? As a mother, I admit I have my faults too. As long as my daughter is willing to admit she lied, I can mediate between the sisters. However, once it's proven she lied, she'll carry that stigma for life. She'll lose her job, and her reputation will be ruined forever."

Jocelyn looked at her in surprise. "Mom, are you sure you want to do this?"

She replied firmly, "Yes. Both of you are my children. I don't want to see you standing against each other in court, and I certainly don't want Yara to continue down this selfish, destructive path."

Her words immediately stirred sympathy among many in the courtroom.

"In the end, a mother's heart is still soft. There's no love like a parent's."

"Exactly, yet she still claims her mother is biased? Seems to me she's the one who doesn't understand."

Even the judge seemed moved. He turned to me and spoke gently.

"Yara, don't waste your mother's good intentions. Apologize to your sister. You're still young and have a bright future ahead. Don't ruin it over a moment of stubbornness."

I replied firmly, without hesitation, "No. You must verify this."

My words hit the room like a pebble dropped into still water, sending ripples everywhere.

"I've never seen someone so ungrateful, so clueless."

"Where does she get the confidence? Fine. Let her get exactly what she's asking for!"

By then, the clerk in the courtroom had already logged into the student registry system.

However, as the clerk read through the query, her brows slowly knit together. She leaned closer to the screen, double-checking what she was seeing.

A few seconds later, her voice rang out, quiet, yet unmistakably clear across the courtroom.

"Your Honor… There is no record of Yara in the university system. No major, no academic history, no enrollment, no thesis. On top of that… I've also found that she never even sat for the SAT exams."