Lina narrowed her eyes and asked, “Are you sure you don't want to forfeit?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes, I'm sure.”
“All right, then. You may take your seat and carry on. I just hope you won't regret this choice later on,” Lina said
with a shrug and placed her microphone down.
Lucy's heart was racing as she sat down in her chair.
I have a really bad feeling about this... Why would Ms. Cohen say that? What is she implying? For some reason, I
think she's either trying to give me a hint or mock me.
Lucy decided to dismiss those thoughts when she looked at the judges' panel and saw Lina scribbling on a piece of
paper.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtYeah, I'm probably just overthinking it. Ms. Cohen was just concerned that I wouldn't be able to perform at my full
potential when she saw how nervous I looked.
With that in mind, Lucy lowered her head and continued racking her brain to come up with a design that would fit
the theme.
Lina leaned toward Natalie and whispered, “Hey, Nat. Is Lucy actually stupid? I just gave her an opportunity to
forfeit and save her reputation, but she chose to throw it away!”
Natalie rolled her eyes at Lina. “You didn't make it clear enough, so there's no way she'd have taken the hint!
Instead of giving her an opportunity, you've planted a seed of doubt in her heart. All that's left to do is wait until she
exposes herself in the upcoming rounds.”
“Haha! You know me so well, Nat!” Lina exclaimed with a chuckle.
Natalie's expression grew serious as she said, “All right, let's stop talking about Lucy and observe the other
designers. See if we can find any issues with the rest of the participants.”
A few days ago, the two of them had been going through the profiles of the participants. Due to the overly basic
information provided and the participants' lack of popularity, they couldn't really gauge their skill level to see if they
had cheated their way into the competition as Lucy did.
Lina put her game face on after hearing that and began analyzing the participants seriously.
The first round of the competition came to an end after two hours.
The staff collected their designs and handed them over to the judges.
Lucy anxiously clasped her hands as she sat there waiting for the results.
One of the participants who was close to her leaned over and asked, “What do you think of your design, Lucy?”
“I-It's all right, I guess...” Lucy replied with a forced smile.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
I actually have zero confidence in my design, as I don't know what the theme “Night” means. I tried combining a
few of the designs I memorized, but a black skirt was all I managed to come up with. I'm really lucky that no
participants will get eliminated during the first round of the competition. Otherwise, I'd probably get eliminated right
away! It seems my success depends entirely on the themes that they choose. Once I head back tonight, I'll review
the commonly used themes in past competitions and try to prepare myself for the upcoming rounds!
“You sure are confident in your abilities, huh? Well, I suppose that's fair. Your designs are quite creative, so I'm sure
you'll get assigned to a great judge. I hear the top ten participants get to choose their mentors! If you don't like the
mentor who chose you, you can object to that decision and go with the mentor you prefer!” the participant said
with a smile after hearing her response.
She then let out a sigh as she continued, “I don't feel that confident in my abilities, so I doubt I'll make it into the top
ten. Right now, I just hope I'll get assigned to Ms. Smith and Ms. Cohen's team. We'll encounter participants who
specialize in designing jewelry when we get to the later rounds of the competition. I'm sure Ms. Cohen will be able
to help me pick the most ideal partner!”