Chapter 181 Competition
+15 BONUS
Ashton squeezed my fingers. “Take it easy. I’ll come sit in on the presentation later if I’m free.
I walked in alone.
The registration staff scanned my badge and made me dump my phone, smartwatch, even the fitness tracker I never used.
No contact with the outside world for the next eight hours.
My room was a box, maybe twelve square meters, walls painted off–white, no windows.
One metal chair, one worktable, a stylus tablet bolted to the surface.
In the corner, there was a toilet tucked behind a sliding door.
At exactly nine, the screen lit up.
Three sets of words appeared in block text:
[Evening gala. Gemstones. Composure.]
We had to design four matching pieces–ring, necklace, earrings, bracelet.
I stared at those words for a few seconds
Then I smiled.
I’d thought of this theme before.
Not the exact combination, but close.
Lucky guess.
Or maybe my instincts weren’t total crap.
Either way, I already had two concepts ready in my head.
I picked the first.
The necklace came out fast.
I drew a structured Y–shaped drop collar with a hidden clasp and a graduated layout of baguette–cut aquamarines tapering into a central pendant.
Platinum base, tension–set frame, negative space along the collarbones for balance.
No curves. Everything sharp, symmetrical.
When I looked up at the timestamp in the corner of the screen, it said ten o’clock.
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Chapter 181 Competition
I leaned back, stretched my arms behind my head.
Felt smug for maybe half a second–until something started nagging at me.
That necklace should’ve taken two hours.
Always did.
It was the slowest part of my process.
I never finished it first. Never that quickly.
I looked around the room again.
There was no clock. No way to double–check anything.
The tablet wasn’t connected to the internet.
I couldn’t even pull up a browser.
And if the tablet was wrong–if the time was off–then I had no way of pacing the rest of my designs.
I’d be flying blind for the next several hours.
I got up and tried the door.
It didn’t budge.
The lock clicked from the outside, standard for this type of competition.
No coming or going once the round started.
I knocked.
Then I raised my voice.
No one answered.
The ceiling had a tiny camera wedged into the corner above the doorframe, blinking red at regular intervals.
I looked straight into the lens. “Hey. I need someone out here. Something’s wrong with the
clock.”
Nothing.
I sat back down, shut my eyes for a second, and took three deep breaths, trying to shake the twitchy feeling out of my hands.
The tablet said noon.
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Chapter 181 Competition
I didn’t believe it.
It had to be closer to one. Maybe two.
I picked up the stylus and pushed forward, scribbling fast.
I couldn’t afford to stop.
+15 BONUS
By the time the clock on the screen ticked over to 12:00, I’d finished rough drafts for all four pieces.
Line weights were uneven, detailing half–finished, but the base structures were solid enough
to refine.
Then I heard footsteps outside.
The lock turned.
Octavia Grey walked in and grinned.
“Hey, darling. The organizers sent me to do a little judge–and–greet. How’s the sketching going?”
I stood up so fast my chair scraped against the floor. “Octavia. Thank god. What time is it?”
She checked her watch. “Quarter to two. Why?”
I stared at her. “It says noon on my screen.
She blinked once, then strode over and squinted at the corner of the tablet. “Shit. You’re right. Has no one come in to give you lunch? They should’ve done that around half past twelve.”
I shook my head. “No one.”
Our eyes met.
Hers narrowed.
If the clock was wrong and lunch never came, someone was deliberately messing with my time cues–slowing me down, throwing off my pace, pushing me to misjudge how much work I had
left.
Most designers get so locked in during sketching they don’t pay attention to the clock.
Someone had been counting on that.
“Sabotage,” Octavia said.
I nodded.
She stormed out, slamming the door behind her. ‘I’m going to find out which petty bastard
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Chapter 181 Competition
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thought this was a good idea.”
Ten minutes later, she came back with a small crowd.
The one leading them was tall, blonde, and clearly in charge.
Sharp grey suit, narrow heels, hard stare.
She stood a full head taller than Octavia and introduced herself with a clipped accent.
“I’m Dr Aliénor Dubois, one of the directors in charge of the competition. Let me take a look.”
She grabbed the tablet off my desk, scanned the display, tapped through a few settings.
Her brows lifted.
“There’s definitely a problem with the time sync.
A guy in the back, maybe mid–twenties, short hair and a laminated badge, stepped forward.
“Our group handled the equipment orders. Everything was working fine when we brought it in. I don’t know how this could’ve happened.”
I stared at him. “You’re saying I tampered with it myself? Why the hell would I do that?”
He stammered a bit. “Um, no, I didn’t mean that. Maybe it was a faulty batch. Or a manufacturer defect-”
I just stared until he shut up.
The room went quiet.
Dr Dubois cleared her throat. “It appears to have been an oversight. We’ll get Miss Vance a new tablet immediately.”
Octavia cut in, “This wasn’t a bloody oversight. I’ve never seen a tablet glitch in just the clock function. Everything else working fine? And if they were all from the same shipment, why was hers the only one acting up?”
Dr Dubois looked her straight in the eye. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
“That someone tampered with it. Intentionally. And if Mirabelle hadn’t caught it, she’d have missed the deadline. Who’s going to take responsibility for that?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “And where the hell was the lunch delivery at half past twelve? No one came to this room.”
A girl near the back stepped forward.
Skinny, nervous, barely old enough to rent a car.
“That was my fault, sorry. I was supposed to deliver it. This room’s tucked way in the corner
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Chapter 181 Competition
and I just… forgot.”
Her eyes were already red.
“Absolutely not. That’s not an acceptable explanation,” Octavia said sharply.
+15 BONUS
5/5
Chapter 182 Suspicion
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
