Ready to Rule: The Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 1077

Lydia knew her body wasn’t what it used to be. She couldn’t handle fights anymore, but other than that, she felt fine. It wasn’t until that trip to Las Vegas, when she’d gone after Greg and Sandy, that she realized just how serious things had gotten. Any kind of intense activity and her body would crash fast. Sometimes, she’d even end up coughing up blood and blacking out.

So lately, she’d been following the rules. No late nights, no fights. As for the international medical competition, though, she figured she could still handle that just fine.

Connor didn’t say anything at first. Even over the phone, Lydia could sense the frustration on his end, so she switched gears. “What about you? Why aren’t you sleeping?”

She did a quick calculation. With the time difference, it had to be close to eleven at night for him.

Connor knew Lydia too well. He could tell she’d made up her mind, and arguing more wouldn’t help. “Just finished work,” he answered.

“Oh? When are you coming back?” she asked.

Connor smiled, just a little. “Miss me already?”

Lydia arched an eyebrow. “I’m just worried you and a certain someone will end up fighting over there.”

It was honestly a miracle that Connor and Iceblade had managed to keep the peace for this long.

Connor caught what she meant, and his face fell. “That guy told you everything?” Jay really couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Lydia let out a laugh. “Yeah.”

Connor had actually asked Aiden to look into Iceblade’s real background, but the only info they’d ever dug up was what Jay wanted people to know. Connor was sure there was more to it. Especially after what happened in Country D, when they’d taken down those two labs together. Jay’s skills were on another level.

Lydia could practically feel Connor overthinking things again.

She checked the group chat. The competition training group was full of professors—Dr. Tomlinson, Mr. Russo, Dr. Schneider, and a few others she didn’t bother to read. She’d forgotten to tell Grandpa Kevin she didn’t want to do these training sessions.

Whatever. She’d just tell them herself.

Dr. Tomlinson had just finished a four-hour surgery and messaged Lydia right away, asking her to wait in his office. He wouldn’t be alone either—the other professors would be there too. He wanted to see for himself what Lydia was really capable of.

Everyone in the group chat could see the messages. Yara and Marilyn were both eager to see Lydia get put in her place. Collin wasn’t the nosy type, but when Marilyn and Yara mentioned they had questions for Dr. Tomlinson, he just said, “You should all come to the office. Since everyone’s here, let’s have a proper meeting about the competition.”

They hadn’t actually had a real meeting since the whole thing started.

Yara and Marilyn were thrilled. Now they’d get to watch Dr. Tomlinson take Lydia down a notch. “Sounds good, Dr. Tomlinson. I think we should have a meeting, too. If Lydia keeps skipping training, it’s going to mess up our scores for sure.”