Chapter 527: Questioning the Judging Panel

Chapter 527: Chapter 527: Questioning the Judging Panel

"Oh, by the way, Old Mr. Yeats," Estelle Lockwood said, pausing on her way to the stage to slowly turn around. "Are you disappointed?"

Her previous conversation with the Yeats family had been strictly private, away from microphones and cameras. Now, however, everyone heard her openly question him.

"Old Mr. Yeats, you said you were disappointed in me for failing to make the top three, while Claire Yeats is your pride and joy..." Estelle tilted her head. "Shouldn’t you be disappointed in Claire now?"

"As if, Miss Lockwood! Don’t you know about the Yeats family’s double standards?" a former contestant sneered coldly from the audience. They had heard everything earlier. "With their level of favoritism, they’d defend Claire even if she committed arson or murder. If you don’t make the top three, you’re the Sinner of the Yeats family. But if Claire doesn’t even make the top eight, well, then the whole world is just conspiring against her."

Zion Yeats’s face turned beet red. He didn’t dare meet Estelle’s gaze. He frantically wondered what he had just said and how things had ended up like this.

[Hahahahahaha!]

[That makes so much sense. Isn’t it true? We’re really seeing the Yeats family’s double standards today.]

[Why would the head of a wealthy family act like this?]

[I just want to say, this is absolutely shocking. I can’t believe Claire Yeats isn’t the champion...]

[I don’t believe it! It’s one thing if our Claire isn’t the champion, but she didn’t even make the top eight?! Is there a mistake?! Claire is Ember!]

[There shouldn’t be a mistake. The scoring this time was cross-evaluated by over thirty judges, dropping the highest and lowest scores... Plus, with Ms. Foster and Mr. Lynch overseeing everything, no one would be bold enough to tamper with the scores right under their noses.]

[Uh... which means there’s only one possibility now, and that is...]

[Right, that is Claire Yeats really didn’t win, and the champion is Estelle Lockwood, the one nobody thought highly of at the start.]

[...Mind-blowing...]

[Wait a minute??] Since this live-streamed award ceremony had a large audience—mostly people from the design circle—some naturally began to raise questions.

[If Claire Yeats isn’t the champion, then what was that speech she gave just now all about?]

[A fake champion educating Estelle, the real champion, telling her not to be discouraged and to keep working hard? While she acts like she’s already conquered the world?]

[Oh my god... that is so humiliating. Just thinking about it gives me massive secondhand embarrassment. I’d want to crawl into a hole and die. How can Claire even smile right now...]

Claire rigidly gritted her teeth, cold sweat dripping down her temples. She frantically wondered where things had gone wrong. Hadn’t they promised her that this championship was guaranteed to be hers? What was going on now? Not only was she not the champion, but she hadn’t even placed in the top eight.

Wait, not in the top eight?

Claire’s eyes suddenly lit up. Even if she made a mistake and didn’t win the championship, she should have at least made the top three! The design she used was left behind by the previous champion, Ember. How could it possibly rank so poorly? Therefore, there had to be a mistake!

Old Mrs. Yeats abruptly stood up at that moment, her face flushed with anger. "I don’t believe this!"

Everyone turned to look at her.

Glaring furiously, Old Mrs. Yeats shrieked, "How could our Claire not make the top eight! This is rigged! You’re rigging the results! You must give the Yeats family an explanation! Otherwise, don’t even think about continuing the XM Design Competition!"

Her domineering and unreasonable demeanor made the expressions of everyone present turn sour.

Evan Yeats chimed in, "The Yeats family won’t interfere with the judges’ scoring, but we also won’t just stand by and let Claire be bullied! Estelle, you know very well what you did. Don’t go too far!"

Zion suddenly came to a realization. He thought, "So that’s why Claire didn’t get the championship. It turns out Estelle tampered with the results. This child is really..."

"Estelle, stop this right now," Zion said. "Don’t compound your mistakes. Return the championship to Claire, and the Yeats family can still accept you. Otherwise... otherwise, the Yeats family will never want a daughter with such a petty heart!"

Estelle curled her lips into a smirk, not angry in the slightest. She had completely anticipated this reaction from the Yeats family. "Are you all implying that I tampered with the championship rankings, which led to Claire being eliminated?" she asked lightly.

"Of course!" Old Mrs. Yeats’s face twisted into a vicious scowl. "Who else but you would be so bitter about Claire’s success!"

Claire stood on the stage, looking wronged and incredibly pitiful with her red, teary eyes. The crowd fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Since the Yeats family was so absolutely certain, could it really be Estelle’s doing? They had indeed heard that Estelle was on good terms with Mr. Lynch, but still...

"Miss Yeats, do you also believe your championship was stolen?" Ms. Foster asked calmly.

Claire’s eyes shifted, maintaining her frail and pitiful facade. "Before the truth is known, it’s not my place to comment," she said with practiced endurance. Then, she abruptly looked up, appearing as resilient as a delicate white flower swaying in the wind. "However, I know my own skill level. There is no way I wouldn’t even make the top eight. If possible, I hope the judges’ scoring process can be made public to give me justice!"

A collective gasp echoed through the crowd. Claire was so audacious, actually daring to question the judging panel in public!

[Support Claire!! Anyone with eyes can see there’s something fishy going on. Why shouldn’t Claire be allowed to check!]

[Support! We could check the scoring during the preliminaries, so why not now?]

[If the judging panel refuses, then it’s one hundred percent guaranteed that Estelle Lockwood tampered with it. Heh, pretty impressive to buy off so many judges at once. Must have cost a fortune, huh?]

[Tsk, tsk. Who says she spent money? What if she just slept her way to the top? I’m getting more and more suspicious about whether that Benjamin Carter incident was true. Our Claire is still taking the blame for that!]

[Claire Yeats’s fans can’t even come up with a decent excuse to smear someone... There are female judges too, and Ms. Foster is right there.]

No matter how fast the live chat scrolled, the people at the venue couldn’t see it. However, the live audience harbored their own doubts. Claire was Ember. Even if Ember’s skill had drastically plummeted, it shouldn’t be so bad that she couldn’t even make the top eight, right? Although Claire’s usual designs were indeed not particularly... outstanding.

But the Yeats family had also claimed that Ember was a competitive designer who excelled under pressure, producing her most brilliant works when the stakes were high. So, for the previous champion to only rank tenth this time... was that even possible?

"It seems this award ceremony cannot continue," Ms. Foster said, nodding with a light chuckle. "No matter. Miss Yeats, you are free to raise any objections you have. We can pause the ceremony and uncover the truth for you.

"However... are you absolutely sure, Miss Yeats, that uncovering the truth won’t humiliate you even further?"

Claire’s expression stiffened, her mind descending into chaos.

Would it humiliate her further?

No, it wouldn’t.

If she didn’t get the championship, it had to be rigged! She had already bribed a few of the judges, so they definitely gave her high scores. Why hadn’t she even made the top eight then? Someone must have deliberately dragged her score down!