Chapter 141 The Players' Protest
The stares from the onlookers felt scorching hot, each one burning into Isadora's skin.
Her prized beauty, her carefully maintained image as chief designer—all of it was shattered in that moment by that crisp slap and her crooked nose, leaving only her most pathetic self exposed for everyone to see.
Shame and rage crashed violently in her chest, nearly suffocating her.
Yet beneath this extreme humiliation, Isadora's mind began racing.
She couldn't just let this go!
Since she'd lost professionally and lost the fight too, her only option was to claim the moral high ground!
Isadora's body swayed slightly. Her hand covering her face trembled, her eyes instantly reddened, and large tears rolled down perfectly on cue.
She looked fragile and wronged now—completely different from the out-of-control woman who'd been lashing out moments ago.
"How, how could you do this?" Her voice carried a sob, full of helpless victimhood. "I just wanted to ask if you'd prepared your design inspiration beforehand, and you, you just hit me!"
She cleverly avoided the fact that she'd struck first, painting herself as an innocent victim who got beaten just for asking a curious question.
Cecilia watched her clumsy performance coldly, not even raising an eyebrow.
Seeing her silence, Isadora cried even harder, her gaze sweeping over the surrounding contestants, successfully winning everyone's sympathy.
"I know," Isadora choked out, "you're close with Mr. Hensley. Those of us without connections—whatever we say is wrong in your eyes."
"I just wanted to ask about fairness in the competition, and you hit me. Do you think that with Mr. Hensley backing you, people like us deserve to be bullied by you?"
Isadora's tearful accusations were highly inflammatory, every sentence implying that Cecilia was abusing her power and that the competition was rigged.
Isadora's performance worked immediately.
The watching contestants were already jealous of Cecilia's stunning work and had been influenced by online rumors. Now, seeing Isadora as this "victim" in such a state, they immediately sided with her.
"That's too much! Even if there's a disagreement, you can't just hit someone!"
"Isadora's a design master who came back from abroad, and she's being humiliated like this!"
"I knew the competition was rigged! Amelia's backed by the biggest investor—what are we? Just here to make up the numbers!"
"Right, look at her face, so red and swollen, and her nose—her nose looks crooked! That's way too brutal!"
Sympathy quickly fermented into collective outrage.
Watching the anger on everyone's faces, a twisted satisfaction rose in Isadora's heart.
This was exactly the effect she wanted.
Amelia, aren't you so high and mighty? Don't you think you're so talented?
Well, now I'm going to turn you into every designer's public enemy!
"Everyone!" Isadora seized the moment, shouting in a voice that carried a sob but was loud enough, "We can't let this go! Today she can hit me, tomorrow she can bully any one of you!"
"With her here, this competition will never be fair! No matter how good our designs are, the champion will always be someone who got there through connections!"
"She even threatened me just now, saying she'd get her lawyer to sue me! Everyone, listen—what is this? This is the power of capital! She's using money and influence to silence all of us!"
Isadora grew more agitated as she spoke, tears flowing harder, perfectly embodying a weak person oppressed by power.
"We must unite and make the production team give us an explanation! Kick her out of the competition!"
One voice rang out, and soon all the emotionally charged contestants joined in shouting.
"Right! Make her leave!"
"Her qualification must be revoked!"
"Give us a fair competition!"
Among these people, some were genuinely indignant, while others were motivated by jealousy, wanting to use this opportunity to eliminate their strongest competitor.
But regardless of their motives, at this moment, they'd formed a united force, all targeting Cecilia.
Led by Isadora, this group of angry contestants marched toward the organizers' office.
Leaving Cecilia standing alone.
In the organizers' office, several people in charge were praising Cecilia's design, discussing how to promote this genius designer as the biggest highlight of the competition.
Outside the door, a deafening commotion suddenly erupted.
"Open up! We want to see the people in charge!"
"Protest the rigging! Give us fairness!"
The person in charge named Kirk Gutierrez frowned, got up and opened the door, instantly startled by the agitated contestants outside.
"What, what's going on? Everyone calm down, let's talk about whatever it is."
Isadora stepped out from the crowd.
Covering her crooked nose and swollen face, she pointed miserably at Cecilia in the distance.
"Director Zhang, we demand that the organizers immediately revoke contestant number 108 Amelia's competition qualification!"
The organizers looked at each other, all wearing troubled expressions.
Revoke Amelia's qualification?
What a joke! This brilliant new star they'd just discovered, ready to shock the entire design world—how could they give her up over some dispute between contestants?
"Designer Wen, and all the contestants," organizer Aubrey Hagen quickly stepped forward to ease the tension, "is there some misunderstanding here? Everyone saw Amelia's work—her ability was unanimously recognized by all the judges."
Kirk also stepped forward, his brow furrowed, his voice steady yet authoritative: "That's right. We respect every contestant, but we respect the competition's professionalism and the judging panel's assessment even more. Amelia's work passed the blind review with an unprecedented number of votes. Her talent is a treasure of this competition. As for personal conflicts between contestants, we'll investigate, but we absolutely won't rashly deny a top genius's qualification based on one-sided accusations and incitement. That would be an insult to the competition and to all the judges' professionalism!"
Isadora laughed coldly, tears welling up again: "Ability? Her ability is using Mr. Hensley's protection to openly assault other contestants backstage? Look at my face!"
Isadora deliberately turned her face to the side, letting everyone clearly see her crooked nose.
"Everyone can testify! I just questioned her once, and she hit me! A contestant with such corrupt character doesn't deserve to be here at all! If the production team protects her, then all of us will withdraw from the competition together!"
"Right! Withdraw!"
"Withdraw!"
"Withdraw!"
The crowd's emotions were completely ignited by the word "withdraw," the waves of sound growing louder and louder, the scene nearly out of control.
All the people in charge felt a headache coming on.
If this really turned into a mass withdrawal scandal, this year's competition would be completely ruined.