Chapter 530: Claire Yeats, You’re Impersonating Ember!

Chapter 530: Chapter 530: Claire Yeats, You’re Impersonating Ember!

"As a designer, steering your work in this direction means you initially knew what you wanted to create. Yet, the final result runs completely contrary to that, and you don’t even realize where the error lies..." Ms. Foster smiled coldly. "Miss Yeats, I’m very curious. Is this truly your work?

"You could argue that your concept wasn’t Stepping on Snow and Seeking Plum Blossoms, and that your focus was simply the plum blossoms. That would be fine, but your work tells everyone you wanted to present an atmosphere of plum blossoms hidden in the wind and snow, faintly revealing their hidden fragrance.

"Why on earth is the final presentation of the work completely different from the designer’s original intention?"

Estelle Lockwood thought absentmindedly that it was simply because Claire Yeats hadn’t designed this piece at all.

Claire trembled all over, her brain working frantically. "Because designers follow their hearts when..."

"Following your heart during the design process after confirming a theme—is Miss Yeats truly a mature designer? If a client customizes a theme in the future, will you also just develop it however you please?" Ms. Foster sneered.

Claire choked on her words. Why was she wrong no matter what she said!

"Ms. Foster." Zion Yeats took a deep breath and stood up. "Yes, Claire did make some mistakes during the design process. Her design process was muddled, and she failed to present the most perfect side of it to everyone.

"But no matter what, this piece shouldn’t only get a 4.9. After all, if we ignore the theme of Stepping on Snow and Seeking Plum Blossoms, its level of completion isn’t low."

The judges had given it a mere 4.9 because they felt it was an unfinished work. But Claire had submitted the sketches, the revisions, the design concepts, and the design process. Wasn’t that complete enough? Why were they treating Claire like this!

Ms. Foster swept her gaze over them and found that several members of the Yeats family were glaring at her furiously. She couldn’t help but find it amusing. Were the Yeats truly ignorant or just feigning it? If it was true... then they were too stupid. If it was fake, weren’t they afraid of getting slapped in the face?

Tears covered Claire’s small face. "Ms. Foster, you say my design concept was biased, and I accept that.

"But you say this is an unfinished work and that it only got a 4.9 because of its low completion rate, and I do not accept that!

"You can post my work on the official website and have other designers vote and rate me. I don’t believe I’d only get a 4.9!"

"So," Ms. Foster said, "Miss Yeats thinks the judging panel is targeting you?"

Claire stood like a fragile white flower in the wind, unyielding. "I don’t mean that, but I do feel it’s unfair!"

"Miss Yeats..." Ms. Foster chuckled softly. "Have you ever considered that when we call this an unfinished work, it’s not just empty talk, but that we have actual evidence?"

Claire’s expression froze. "..."

Evidence? What evidence could they possibly have?!

Wait, why were they so sure her work was ’unfinished’? No matter what angle one looked at it from, this design blueprint was complete—

Her thoughts were abruptly cut short. Another design blueprint flashed onto the screen!

The creator’s brushwork and style were different from Claire’s, but it was clear that both blueprints depicted the same set of jewelry. And this new design blueprint... had two pages. Claire’s blueprint was only half of this new one!

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

"What? So that’s how the bracelet is supposed to look..."

"The original design has two bracelets stacked together! The other bracelet represents white snow! White snow falling on the plum blossoms at the tips of the branches—doesn’t this perfectly embody plum blossoms in the snow?"

"God, the ring too. So that part is a clasp! I was wondering why there was such a weird hook on the ring in the first blueprint."

"Wow... looking at it this way, it’s truly stunning. All the jewelry pieces are actually two-piece sets?!"

"Yes, combining the two-piece sets forms the true Stepping on Snow and Seeking Plum Blossoms."

"So this must be the complete design blueprint, right? Then Claire’s blueprint really is only half of it. It’s an unfinished work, so they weren’t wrong."

"Uh, wait, I’ve noticed a problem..." One of the contestants frowned. "Since Claire is the designer, where did this blueprint come from? It couldn’t be that someone saw Claire’s blueprint and designed it overnight, right? That’s impossible. The small clasp on the ring proves that the initial design concept was for stacked, matching sets of jewelry.

"So... as the designer, Claire herself didn’t even know there was another half to the blueprint?"

Ms. Foster also asked with a smile, "Miss Yeats, I’d also like to know—as the designer of Stepping on Snow and Seeking Plum Blossoms, how do you... completely not know about the existence of the other half?"

Under what circumstances would a designer not know about the matching set design of their own work, nor know that there was another half to their blueprint?

That would be... plagiarism! And she hadn’t even copied it completely! When Claire plagiarized it, she definitely hadn’t seen the second blueprint, so she only copied half!

[Holy crap!!!]

[Ember plagiarized?]

[Oh my god, does that mean Ember plagiarized in the last competition too?]

[This is undeniable proof. We don’t even need any other evidence. What kind of designer doesn’t know there’s a second half to their own blueprint!]

Zion’s face suddenly turned pale as if he had been struck over the head. The word "plagiarism" was like a bolt from the blue, smashing heavily onto his head. No, it was impossible... Claire wasn’t that kind of person...

Claire’s vision went dark, and waves of dizziness washed over her. Plagiarism... plagiarism?! No, she couldn’t shoulder such an accusation! She instinctively explained, "I didn’t..."

"Miss Yeats, you want to say you didn’t plagiarize?" Ms. Foster let out a light chuckle and said slowly, "That’s fine. You can claim that you designed the other half in a dream and posted it on a private overseas blog three years ago, and then you completely forgot about it all... Otherwise, there’s really no way to explain this. Don’t you agree?"

Three years ago?! A private overseas blog—

The next moment, the blog page was displayed on the screen! It was a blog post set to private. The last edited time was September of three years ago, and it was visible that the blogger’s last login time was also three years ago. In other words, the blogger hadn’t logged in since posting, so there was naturally no possibility that they had stolen Claire’s blueprint and altered it at the last minute!

This could only mean one thing—this blueprint first appeared three years ago, and the complete design process had been published with it. Claire had completely and utterly stolen someone else’s work! She was a thief, a plagiarist!

"Oh my god, how shameless! She didn’t even copy it completely!"

"No wonder they only gave her a 4.9. If you ask me, the original 9.9 was meant for the original creator, and the 5 points deducted were for Claire."

"Heh, then Claire deserves a negative 5. What 4.9? They flattered her."

Claire swayed on her feet, her legs turning to jelly as cold sweat poured down her face. What did this mean? No, no, no, why were they looking at her like that? She hadn’t done it! She hadn’t! What should she do now? What should she do... She couldn’t let this go on...

"By the way, does Miss Yeats know whose blog this is?" Ms. Foster suddenly curved her lips into a smile.

Claire gritted her teeth fiercely. Where did she have the time to think about this right now?! Which bitch just had to post their blueprint on a blog—

"It’s Ember’s." Ms. Foster smiled again, her expression profound. "Miss Yeats, wouldn’t you say it’s strange? You claim that you are Ember, yet you know absolutely nothing about this blog post.

"Like I said before... Miss Yeats, unless you can explain all of this with amnesia, otherwise—"

Ms. Foster’s words suddenly turned icy. "I will sue you for impersonating the identity of Miss Ember, the champion of the previous XM Design Competition!"