Chapter 533: Estelle Lockwood Is the Real Designer Ember

Chapter 533: Chapter 533: Estelle Lockwood Is the Real Designer Ember

The venue fell silent for a moment.

Estelle Lockwood looked intrigued. "So Miss Yeats and Ember really are mentor and apprentice..."

"Of course!" Claire Yeats insisted, feigning strength.

Estelle blinked. "In that case, does that mean you’ve met Ember in person? After all, Ember gave you her own design to use. If you hadn’t even met face-to-face, it wouldn’t make much sense, would it?"

Claire’s eyes darted slightly. "Of course! Ember and I have obviously met!"

"Oh, then that makes things easy." Estelle nodded. "Just ask Ember to come out and clarify. Even though your qualification for this competition has been revoked, Miss Yeats, as long as you can prove you’re Ember’s apprentice, you’ll at least clear your name of the plagiarism and theft scandal. You understand this logic, right?"

Of course Claire understood!

But where on earth was Ember?!

It didn’t matter, though. A lowly designer wouldn’t dare offend the Yeats family. As long as the Yeats family could help her...

Old Mrs. Yeats’s eyes darted around shiftily as she secretly contacted several people.

Taking a deep breath, Claire said, "My mentor will definitely contact the organizing committee later. Everyone shouldn’t waste time because of me right now—"

"How is it a waste of time? Can’t you just give her a call?" Estelle asked curiously. "Since you two are so close as mentor and apprentice, don’t tell me you don’t have her contact info?"

Claire’s mouth twitched, cold sweat dripping down her forehead.

She took another deep breath, pretended to suddenly realize this option, and took her phone aside to make a call. However, it rang endlessly with no answer.

"Estelle, you saw it too... My mentor must be busy, which is why she didn’t answer," Claire said. "Waiting for her now is truly a waste of everyone’s time. Why don’t we proceed with the award ceremony?"

"Can you really not get through?" Estelle asked with a smile. "Is the call not connecting, or did you never plan to call Ember in the first place?"

"What do you mean by that, Estelle Lockwood?!" Old Mrs. Yeats stood up angrily. "Why would our Claire lie?! Naturally, Ember is busy with something!"

"Oh..." Estelle nodded and looked at the Yeats. "Are you and Old Mr. Yeats also certain that Ember is Miss Yeats’s mentor? Have you met her?"

Naturally, these members of the Yeats family had never met her.

However, Zion Yeats didn’t believe Claire would lie. If Claire said Ember was her mentor, then it had to be true. Therefore, he nodded firmly. "Yes. Ember has visited the Yeats’ home numerous times. We’ve all seen her."

Evan Yeats sneered, "Ember sincerely took Claire as her apprentice and genuinely wants what’s best for her. If Ember finds out that you’re using her name to make things difficult for her one and only apprentice, you’d better watch out—she’ll come after you!"

Old Mrs. Yeats raised her chin haughtily. "How our Yeats family conducts our affairs requires no explanation to you. But since you have your doubts, I’ll put it plainly.

"Yes! Ember is a frequent guest of the Yeats family. Estelle, I know what you’re trying to do, so you can just give up!"

Claire sighed and bowed deeply. "I know it was wrong of me to use my mentor’s work to enter the competition, but to accuse me of theft and plagiarism is going too far, Estelle... Whatever happens to me is up to the competition’s penalties, but my mentor is innocent. Estelle, I hope you will apologize to Ms. Ember."

A faint smirk tugged at Claire’s lips. She thought, "Sure enough, heaven is on my side."

Ember had sent an email to the competition yesterday, but despite so much time passing today, she still hadn’t shown up. Wasn’t that just because she was afraid of the Yeats family’s power?

As long as Ember kept her mouth shut, no one would ever discover the truth. Even if she wasn’t Ember, she could still bear the title of Ember’s apprentice.

What could anyone else say? Accuse her of impersonating Ember? That was Ember’s own "willingness"—what business was it of outsiders?

"How strange, Miss Yeats."

Estelle tapped her temple, feigning helplessness. "Why do I feel like I have amnesia? Why is it that in my memory... I’ve never visited the Yeats’ home, nor have I ever taken on a student?"

Claire wanted to burst out laughing. Was Estelle crazy? What on earth was she talking about? She was spouting utter nonsense. Did she think playing dumb would work—

"After winning the championship three years ago, I stopped using that moniker."

With a smile, Estelle shattered Claire’s sweet dream word by word.

"As Ember herself, how come I didn’t know you were my student?"

Claire’s eyes widened in horror!

The entire venue plunged into dead silence at Estelle’s declaration. People exchanged bewildered glances, completely dumbfounded.

What... what did she mean?!

"Estelle Lockwood, have you gone mad just to frame Claire?!" Old Mrs. Yeats cursed loudly. "To think you’d actually impersonate Ember! Ms. Foster, Estelle is disrespecting your champion—aren’t you going to throw her out?!"

Zion also shot to his feet, his face ashen. "Estelle, stop this nonsense! Your conflict with Claire is a family matter. For you to... to impersonate Ember for your own selfish desires—I am so disappointed in you!"

Taking a deep breath, Claire said, "Estelle, I don’t know why you’ve become like this. But as Ms. Ember’s student, I have the right to demand an apology from anyone who disrespects her."

She then turned to Ms. Foster, her eyes burning with fervor. "Ms. Foster, my grandmother is right! Estelle is disrespecting Ember. Is this how the design competition treats my mentor?!"

Her impassioned speech left the livestream audience thoroughly bewildered by the sudden twist.

[What does this mean... At first, they said Claire Yeats stole Ember’s work and impersonated her.]

[Then it changed to Claire being Ember’s student.]

[Now, Estelle Lockwood is claiming she’s Ember?! That’s got to be fake!]

[It’s definitely fake. Estelle is just jealous of our Claire and is trying to clout-chase using Ember’s name.]

[Haha, does she think anyone will believe her just because she says it? This is hilarious. Claire and Ember are mentor and student. What the hell is she?]

The Yeats family and Claire’s fans eagerly waited for Ms. Foster to reprimand Estelle and kick her out.

However, a long time passed after Claire spoke, and Ms. Foster remained completely silent.

Unable to wait any longer, Old Mrs. Yeats snapped, her expression contorting viciously. "Ms. Foster, you can’t have double standards! Our Claire is Ember’s student, and this woman is blatantly impersonating Ember! How can you just—"

"Old Mrs. Yeats," Ms. Foster interrupted flatly. With a light chuckle, she countered, "Has it never crossed your mind why I haven’t said anything?"

Claire clenched her fists, a sudden wave of dread washing over her.

Furious, Old Mrs. Yeats spat, "Why else could it be?! It’s because this wretch—"

"Because Ember herself stated that she doesn’t know Miss Claire Yeats."

Ms. Foster smiled softly. "I just wanted to see exactly how utterly shameless the Yeats family and Claire could be. After having your theft of Ember’s identity exposed, you then resorted to impersonating her student.

"And finally, you stand right in front of Ember herself, spouting endless lies while showing off your fake mentor-student bond with her.

"I was simply stunned watching this play out... I never imagined a person could reach such depths of shamelessness. I was a bit dazed, which is why I didn’t speak. I truly apologize for that."