Thorns Grow After Betrayal (Celeste and Chester) novel Chapter 263

Seeing the tension mounting, the manager of Zephyrus Atelier hurried over to smooth things over.

Lisa’s smile was cool and noncommittal, betraying nothing.

She returned to the stage and brought up Celestine’s sketches on the projector.

Celestine’s work analyzed the product from six different perspectives, diving into market positioning, styling options, and target demographics. It was far beyond the scope of an ordinary design draft—it was so thorough, one could have taken the document straight to the studio and begun production.

The room fell silent. The doubts that had been whispered about Celestine began to fade away.

Because of this unexpected incident, the first round of the competition was postponed.

During the break, Lisa took Celestine aside to offer a private apology.

Celestine responded graciously, “Really, I should be thanking you, Lisa, for still giving me this opportunity.”

At some other companies, she might have been written off without a second thought. There might not even have been an investigation into the submission at all.

This time, she was simply lucky. Lisa was a meticulous director—thorough and principled, especially where design work was concerned.

Lisa nodded, her smile gaining a hint of genuine warmth. “Keep it up. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do next.”

Celestine smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

The first round’s theme was “blue”—contestants were to improvise on the spot.

There were twenty finalists present, a mix of company teams and independent designers. This round would cut the field in half for the next stage.

Calm and collected, Celestine crafted an extraordinary blue evening gown. Surrounded by a sea of generic denim looks, her design stood out instantly.

Now, any lingering skepticism in the room vanished completely.

Carmen watched, green with envy, as Celestine’s design racked up praise.

What’s the big deal? She probably got the test theme ahead of time too, just like I did. There’s no way all these people are playing fair—especially Celestine.

Thanks to her own advance knowledge of the theme, Carmen made it through to the next round as well, with a pale blue gown of her own.

“For the next round, we’ll be doing a live broadcast. Everyone’s creative process will be recorded. Each contestant will be assigned a different task, and final scores will be split evenly between online viewers and the judges. If anyone has concerns, this is the time to speak up.”

After announcing the advancing contestants, Lisa continued straight into the rules for the second round.

After this, only six company representatives and four independents would remain.

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