Chapter 21 — Guess, MVP Heiress Has Returned

Nineteen minutes after leaving the press conference room, Yen Chi walked onto the main stage amid thunderous cheers from the entire audience. No one among the tens of thousands of spectators present knew that just minutes before, she had just experienced one of the most tense confrontations of her life. But as soon as she sat in the competition position, her hands on the keyboard, Yen Chi felt a strange calmness covering her mind - as if all the recent turbulence had been washed away, leaving only the arena map in front of her eyes and the desire to win that she had cherished for two lifetimes.

News of the shocking press conference spread at breakneck speed right as the final match was taking place. Across social media platforms, the video recording the entire confrontation between the two sisters, along with the evidence shown, became the most discussed topic of the day.

The VCC tournament organizers, immediately after the final match ended, held an emergency meeting with the technical council to formalize the entire investigation conclusion. The results were widely announced just two days later: Luc Y Nhi and Bui Dac Long were determined to have colluded to edit match log data to stage fake evidence of cheating, seriously violating the tournament's competition regulations. Y Nhi was permanently banned from competing in all professional tournaments in the domestic system, and the case file was transferred to the authorities to consider criminal liability for data falsification and slander.

Lam Dac Uy, as the mastermind behind the entire plan, faced much more severe consequences. Anh Kim Group had its sponsorship contract officially terminated by the tournament Organizing Committee ahead of time, and was also blacklisted and banned from sponsoring any team in the tournament system within the next ten years. Authorities also investigated signs of crime related to threatening behavior, coercion and illegal interference in the competition data system.

Yen Chi, when hearing the news that the official conclusion was announced, did not feel as gloating as she had imagined when dreaming of the moment of vindication during the long nights of her previous life. Instead, she felt a deep relief, mixed with a sadness that was difficult to name when thinking about her sister — who now had to face the consequences of the wrong choices accumulated from a traumatic childhood.

"Do you have any regrets?" Trinh Gia Linh asked, as the two sat together in a private room a few days later, reviewing the news reports that continued to report on the incident.

"No regrets about standing up for the truth," Yen Chi replied, her voice thoughtful. "But I have some regrets, because if only my family had recognized the problem sooner, if only I had understood sooner that unconditional concession is not love, perhaps Y Nhi would not have had to go down this path."

"You can't blame yourself for other people's choices," Gia Linh said, her voice sincere. "You gave her enough chances to choose the right path. She chose the wrong path herself."

Yen Chi nodded, even though there was still a void in her heart that was difficult to completely fill. She received a text message from the family's lawyer, informing her that Y Nhi had been released on bail pending trial with the sponsorship of her parents, and that the whole family was in the process of finding a private lawyer for her.

A few days later, Yen Chi received a call from her mother, her voice choked with regret. "Yen Chi, mom... I'm sorry for everything that happened. Mom and dad were wrong, wrong for a long time, not only in this incident, but in the way they raised you and me over the years."

"I know, mom," Yen Chi replied, her voice gentle but not avoiding the truth. "I don't blame my parents completely, because I know they are just trying to do what they think is best in the way they understand. But I hope, from now on, my parents will be more fair, not only to me, but to Y Nhi herself. Perhaps what she needs is not to be protected, but to be taught how to stand on her own feet."

Hoang Thi Nga was silent for a moment, then softly replied: "I understand. I will try to learn how to do it better."

The call ended, Yen Chi sat quietly in the room, looking out the window. The afternoon sunlight dyed the high-rise buildings in the distance yellow. She thought about the journey she had gone through since that fateful night of rebirth - from a girl who was doomed to die unjustly, now standing firm against all conspiracies, all slander, and finally, completely vindicated before the entire public.

Bach Khang walked into the room, carrying a cup of hot tea like the habit he had formed over the past few days. "Are you okay?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm fine," Yen Chi replied, accepting the cup of tea. "There are just so many mixed emotions. Relief, sadness, and a little bit of... freedom, for the first time in my life."

"You deserve that feeling of freedom," Bach Khang said, his eyes looking at her filled with respect. "You went through a journey that was not easy, but you never lost yourself along the way."

Yen Chi smiled, took a sip of warm tea, feeling the rare peace gradually spreading throughout her body. Ahead, although there are still many things that need to be resolved - Y Nhi's trial, the relationship with her family needs to be rebuilt on a new foundation - but at least, the biggest burden has been lifted. She proved the truth, protected herself, and most importantly, she learned how to love with limits, no longer unconditionally sacrificing herself for anyone else.

At the team's practice room, the atmosphere also changed markedly. Dinh Quoc Bao, who courageously testified, was viewed by the whole team as an unsung hero. He was somewhat embarrassed by that attention. "I'm just saying what I see," he said when Gia Linh teasingly called him "the golden witness of the season".

Head coach Tong Viet Hung, in the first team meeting after everything calmed down, spent some time talking about lessons learned from the entire incident. "I have given in to pressure outside my expertise many times in the past, and the price to pay is always more expensive than imagined," he said, looking around at the young players in the room. "From now on, I hope our team will always uphold the principle: all professional decisions must be based on strength, not relationships, not pressure, not anything else."

The whole team nodded in agreement, many people's eyes unintentionally turned to Yen Chi and Bach Khang - two people who had steadfastly defended that principle from the first turbulent days.

That evening, Yen Chi received another call, this time from Y Nhi herself, calling from her lawyer's phone number because her personal phone had been seized for investigation. Y Nhi's voice on the phone was small and tired, different from her previous sharp, calculating look.

"Miss Yen Chi," she said, her voice hesitant, "I don't expect your forgiveness. I just want to say, I'm sorry. Not because I was arrested, but because... because I can finally look back at what kind of person I've become."

Yen Chi was silent for a long time, the emotions in her heart were more complicated than anything she had ever experienced. "I can't say I've completely forgiven right now, Y Nhi," she replied, her voice sincere. "But I hope, no matter what the outcome of the trial is, you will use the next time to really look back at yourself, not to punish yourself, but to learn how to build your value with your true abilities, not by destroying others."

The call ended in heavy silence but no longer filled with hatred as Yen Chi had imagined. She put down the phone, looked out the darkening window, feeling a little more relieved — not because all the wounds had healed, but because she knew she had done everything she could, with both reason and compassion, to close a painful chapter for both sisters.

That night, before falling asleep, Yen Chi reopened her old notebook, turned to the page she wrote right after her birthday, and reread the words she had written: "Loving does not mean having to silently suffer losses." She smiled, closed the notebook, feeling like she had just closed a circle that had lasted for two lifetimes. Tomorrow, a whole new chapter will begin — no longer a chapter of battles to protect herself, but a chapter of what she truly aspires to build for herself.