The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 506

Her gaze was searching and inquisitive. "If you'd care to explain, I'm all ears."

"If I've done something wrong, I can correct it."

Nora purposely took a submissive stance.

Not because he was a medical titan whose status dwarfed hers.

She never bowed to rank or prestige.

She did it entirely because he was Valerie's blind date, and she refused to be the reason their evening crashed and burned.

"You've done plenty wrong."

Julian fired back. The floodgates opened, transforming the aloof, brooding genius into a relentless critic.

"I reviewed your university transcripts. If you had pursued clinical medicine, you would undoubtedly be a top-tier cardiologist by now. Why on earth did you abandon saving lives to become a forensic examiner?"

"I heard you even slept in the morgue to build your nerve?"

"Women shouldn't be subjecting themselves to that. Nora, you are wasting an extraordinary gift. The universe handed you immense talent, and instead of pulling people back from the brink of death, you spend your days obsessing over corpses. Do you have any idea what you're throwing away?"

Nora was stunned. She never expected this to be his grievance.

If it were anything else, she might have let it slide.

But when it came to her career, she refused to yield a single inch.

"Whether it's healing the living or examining the dead, they are both vital professions."

"Choosing to be a doctor doesn't make you inherently nobler, and choosing forensics doesn't make me lesser."

"I have no idea how you arrived at such an absurd, frankly laughable conclusion."

"It's the twenty-first century, and you're still carrying around this archaic professional superiority complex?"

"Do only the living deserve a voice? Are the brutally murdered supposed to just rot in silence without anyone to demand justice for them?"

"The families of the victims need the truth, and that is exactly what Nora gives them."

"Forensics is a noble calling. She speaks for the dead and tracks down killers."

"You can't expect everyone to walk the exact same path just because you think your job is the best. We all have different ambitions, don't we?"

If Valerie hadn't spoken up, Julian might have let it drop. But the moment she chimed in, his unfiltered bluntness pivoted directly toward her.

"Miss Cruz, I understand you majored in journalism?"

Valerie felt a pit form in her stomach.

She had a terrible feeling about whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

Before she could deflect, Julian delivered his brutal assessment. "You wanted to be in the entertainment industry, faced pushback from your family, and settled for journalism as a compromise. But you lacked the courage to actually go out and report from the field, so you retreated to the safety of a television studio to be a host."

"Do you truly believe your current career aligns with your original dreams? Do you not feel a profound sense of regret?"