"Someone with your limitations could never be the original creator of those breathtaking sketches."
Daphne laughed coldly. "I tolerate zero fraud in my competitions. Therefore... I've called the police."
"The police?"
Hailey went ghostly pale, screaming. "I didn't plagiarize! On what grounds are you calling the cops?"
They had no proof.
What right did they have?
Daphne remained expressionless. "Provoking a disturbance, slandering the judges, and malicious defamation. The live broadcast has captured all the evidence we need."
She paused briefly before adding. "Furthermore, as the authorized representative of the Queen brand, I will be filing a lawsuit against you for plagiarizing my mentor's designs."
Hailey swayed, losing her footing entirely, and collapsed onto the floor once more.
The intense pain from Serena throwing her earlier only deepened her deathly pallor. "No... no, I didn't copy... I didn't... You're framing me! You're just jealous that I can mimic Queen's style! You're terrified I'll surpass her! You're doing this on purpose... on purpose..."
Uniformed security personnel marched over and hoisted Hailey to her feet.
She tried to thrash against them, but the excruciating pain in her shattered wrist paralyzed her. All she could do was scream like a lunatic. "You all took bribes from that bitch! You have no proof! You're falsely arresting me! I'll sue all of you! I'll expose this rigged competition! You're jealous of a genius, so you're trying to destroy me!"
Daphne looked down at her manic, struggling form with utter contempt.
"You did get one thing right just now."
She offered a chilling smile. "Miss Serena's design skills are unmatched anywhere
in the world. And that is because... she is Queen."
She is Queen.
She is Queen.
She is Queen.
...
Those words echoed endlessly in Hailey's mind.
They exploded in her head like a deafening thunderclap.
She stopped struggling. Every last drop of blood drained from her face, and her lips trembled uncontrollably.
"How... how could you possibly be... Queen?"
She stared at Serena, utterly bewildered and deeply horrified.
It felt as if her entire world had just shattered into pieces.
Queen... the world's most elite jewelry designer. An absolute legend that no one could surpass.
But... Queen made a name for herself years ago!
The Queen brand gained global recognition five whole years ago.
Back then, even a single sketch by Queen auctioned for astronomical sums!
Yet Serena was only twenty!
How old could she have possibly been back then?
Impossible!
It was absolutely impossible!
If Serena actually possessed that kind of power, knowing how status-obsessed the Wynn family was, wouldn't she have rushed to flaunt it? Wouldn't she have usedite to beg for her parents affection?
"No way! Daphne, you're lying to me!" Hailey suddenly burst into a piercing, hysterical fit of laughter. "You're all liars There is no way she's Queen! She can't be!"
With bloodshot eyes, Hailey desperately searched the room for someone, anyone, to agree with her.
Her gaze darted frantically through
the audience before locking onto Marianne Wynn. Her voice grew shrill and panicked Mom, tell them Tell them Serena is just a country
bumpkin! She grew up in the dirt! She's a useless high school dropout!"