Chapter 495: Recording Exposed Again

Chapter 495: Chapter 495: Recording Exposed Again

"Currying favor?"

Estelle Lockwood feigned surprise. "Oh... so this isn’t Claire’s fault?"

Zion Yeats’s heart ached for her. "Of course not! How could Claire do such a thing? Estelle, stop making a scene! Those so-called proofs are definitely just people spouting nonsense. Claire is your sister. Would you rather believe outsiders than your own sister?!"

"I want to be in a group with Estelle Lockwood."

A woman’s voice rang from the device. Estelle unhurriedly waved her phone as the recording continued.

"After the preliminary round pairs people up, one side is guaranteed to be eliminated. This Miss Lockwood is also a well-known designer, what if..."

"Are you implying that I would lose to her?" Claire’s voice interjected.

"No, no, no, that’s not what I meant..."

"If that’s not what you meant, then just do as I say!"

Claire’s face turned pale!

Estelle asked unhurriedly, "That’s definitely Miss Yeats’s voice, isn’t it? Or perhaps Miss Yeats wants to claim this recording is a forgery. That’s fine, I fully support having it examined."

Claire gritted her teeth fiercely.

Evan Yeats couldn’t stand to watch any longer. His face livid, he snapped, "Haven’t you done enough, Estelle Lockwood—"

Evan’s voice sounded next. "My sister just likes to play around with these designs. I think you know exactly what I mean.

"The Yeats family will ensure her safe passage.

"My father, the Head of the Yeats, has always treated Claire like his own daughter. You understand what I’m getting at.

"Her opponent’s work is good? Good enough to win the championship?

"Then just swap the opponent’s name for Claire’s. Do I really need to spell it out for you?

"Yes, Claire’s preliminary submission might not be as good as her opponent’s, but so what? She’s the reigning champion. If you dare to eliminate her, are you asking for a death wish?

"Should you eliminate a champion, or an unknown nobody? You know what to do.

"What a joke! ’Stealing someone else’s work’? It’s a blessing that Claire even took a fancy to it!"

Evan’s voice echoed crystal clear into everyone’s ears. Everyone in Veridian Retreat was stunned.

They wondered how Evan could be so incredibly arrogant!

Claire’s face instantly turned ashen, while Zion stood in disbelief, his lips trembling.

Liam Sloan scoffed. "Look at this. This is Mr. Yeats. Just a moment ago, he was speaking so righteously, claiming that Estelle was jealous of Claire, that Estelle was just making a scene, that Claire was innocent and perfect in every way.

"And the result? Seizing someone else’s work, deliberately sabotaging them to get them eliminated—there’s a recording for every single offense. Young Mr. Yeats, care to explain?

"Right, Claire is the daughter of the Yeats family, so the person whose work she stole isn’t allowed to fight back, because it’s her ’honor’! Bullshit! Is the Yeats family a bunch of bandits? Old Mr. Yeats, take a look at what your precious son and ’daughter’ have done. Who is the real disgrace here? Estelle, the victim, or these two abusers of power?

"Oh, Old Mr. Yeats, you’re not going to say that Estelle is at fault for blowing this out of proportion, are you? That she deserved to have everything stolen by Claire, and that she should have just accepted it?

"Claire stepped on Estelle’s hard work to advance, and then turned around to mock her for lacking self-awareness. It’s hilarious! Do you people even deserve it?!

"Mr. Yeats destroyed Estelle’s hard work from his high horse. Let’s set aside Claire hiring a hitman for now—at the very least, she mocked Estelle online. And you, Zion, knew all about this but still allowed them to insult her. After all that, you still have the nerve to say the Yeats family hasn’t mistreated Estelle?"

Zion was trembling all over. "I didn’t... I had no idea..."

He truly didn’t know. If he had known that Estelle was suffering such grievances, he definitely would have made it up to her!

"Then you’re a pretty massive failure as the Family Head," Liam said bluntly.

The crowd around them fell silent. Some were shocked, some were disdainful, some were contemptuous, and some even recorded the scene on their phones to post on social media.

What kind of mess was this? The Yeats family was simply too shameless! They had stolen someone else’s work, eliminated her, and then had the audacity to mock Estelle Lockwood for lacking family backing. Just look at Claire—she had family backing, so even if she stole your design, what could you do about it?

"This is outrageous!" Ms. Foster was so furious that she felt dizzy, barely managing to steady herself by leaning on a table.

Claire gently bit her lip.

Evan frowned instinctively. "That’s enough, Estelle. Look how upset you’ve made Ms. Foster. How far are you going to take this—"

"Shut your mouth!" Ms. Foster roared. "Evan Yeats, who do you think you are? How dare you interfere in our XM Design Competition! Just because Claire has family backing, she gets to steal other people’s work as she pleases? Then we shouldn’t even call this a design competition anymore—just call it a family backing competition!"

Evan was stunned by the yelling. As Mr. Yeats, he had grown used to throwing his weight around over the years. He instinctively opened his mouth to retort, but Claire discreetly tugged at his sleeve.

Claire’s expression was stiff.

"As for you..." Ms. Foster took a deep breath. "You may be the former champion, but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want! Just because you won last year doesn’t mean you’re immune to elimination this year! What kind of logic is that? If that were the case, then there would only ever be one champion across all the years of the competition! The whole point of hosting this design competition is to discover new talent. But you...

"Seizing someone else’s work, altering the process, arbitrarily eliminating people... You’ve truly insulted the title of champion! I’m honestly starting to doubt if you really were the Ember from back then!"

Claire gritted her teeth fiercely. "Ms. Foster, please listen to me..."

"Ms. Foster," Nathaniel Sloan said calmly. "I trust you will give Estelle a reasonable explanation, yes?"

Ms. Foster knew this man was Mr. Sloan. She nodded. "Rest assured, I will make this matter public. Both of their works will be posted on the official website, with the full context clearly explained. I will also invite Miss Lockwood to return to the competition. At the same time..."

Her tone turned severe. "I will revoke Miss Claire’s eligibility to compete! Whether she is a champion or not, since she cheated, she has no right to continue in this competition!"

"No!"

"Please, Ms. Foster, don’t..."

"Ms. Foster, you absolutely cannot do that!"

The three members of the Yeats family shouted out at the exact same time.

Claire cried, shaking her head desperately. If this really went public, what would happen to her? What would happen to her reputation?

Evan was seething with anger. Couldn’t Estelle just behave herself?!

Zion hesitated for a few seconds. Estelle was also a member of the Yeats family, and it broke his heart to see her suffer such injustice. But... but Claire...

Claire had always loved designing. She had prepared for this competition for a very long time, and the only reason her design wasn’t as outstanding was because she had been sick recently. If Claire got serious, she would undoubtedly be the champion. To force her to withdraw from the competition now... it just wasn’t fair to Claire...

After his hesitation, Zion humbled himself and pleaded, "Ms. Foster, please reconsider. Claire’s skill level speaks for itself. Although there was a slight mishap during the preliminary round, she would have undoubtedly passed if she competed normally. Please give her one more chance..."