Chapter 216

216 Ungrounded Cheating Accusation

The one who shouted was a bespectacled young woman with long brown curly hair and a pair of dark brown eyes. At that moment, her facial expression was distorted in fury.

She raised a finger that stabbed in Maya’s direction.

“I know for a fact that this girl is a cousin of the art gallery’s designer! If this art gallery does not plan on being impartial with its judgment, then your flowery speech about wanting to support the art community is nothing but a big fat lie!”

An audible gasp went through the crowd.

The art gallery staff were so shocked by the young woman’s statement. They were completely oblivious.

“What?”

“That girl is Mr. Alistair Greenwood’s cousin?”

Alistair wanted to speak up on Maya’s behalf, but the fuming young woman stopped him.

“I can speak for myself,” Maya muttered.

.....

Her cheeks red from a mix of anger and humiliation, Maya faced the other young woman and shouted, “I did not cheat! I registered my artwork the same way everyone did!”

“You are a liar!”

“I am not!!!”

The crowd parted and rearranged itself. The various visitors ended up surrounding the two young women and observed their exchanges.

After enduring the two young women that were shouting at each other without any conclusion, Mr. Boyd decided to take the lead and clear the misunderstanding. Holding his hands up, he tried to explain, “Miss, for your information, the panel of judges decided the winning artworks without knowing the names of the creators. I can assure you that no cheating took place.”

The young woman broke into a hysterical fit of laughter.

“Well, who can assure that you are not lying out of convenience?”

“I can let you meet our judges if you insist that much...”

Mr. Boyd was slowly losing his patience, but he still maintained his professional attitude. Lucien, on the other side, could not tolerate the young woman’s behavior any longer.

It was supposed to be a day to celebrate three wonderful creations by three talented artists. It must not be ruined by one person who threw a tantrum just because her creation failed to rise above the others.

Lucien was not going to let this one person cause discomfort to the other judges.

“No need,” the red-blonde man intervened. “Miss, I am one of the judges. Mr. Boyd did not lie. Judges only get to see the artworks minus the names of the creators. No artwork was treated preferentially and thus bypassed the judgment criteria.”

The young woman stared at Lucien with a slight frown between her brows.

“I don’t even know you. Who the hell are you? Is this art gallery recruiting laymen to judge serious artworks???

I demand to know who all the judges are. Maybe there is something wrong with your eyes if you think that mine is inferior to these... these three so-called winning artworks!”

The young woman pointed at the paintings and sculpture in rage.

This time it was not only Maya who launched a protest. The other two winners, both of them men, also started to raise their voices at the bespectacled young woman.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Excuse me, little missy,” one of them pushed his way through the crowd. “What makes you think that your creation is above the others? Maybe you didn’t win because it was crap!”

The young woman gasped and pushed at the young man.

“Asshole!!! Mine was so glorious that the Grinch would work for Santa once he sees it!”

The other young man sneered while pushing his glasses up his nose.

“The way I see it, if Christmas is all you can think of when you read ‘Winter Wonderland’, then no wonder you lost. Just what did you make? A painting of the Grinch decorating a Christmas tree?”

The young woman roared and pounced on the young man as soon as he was done with his mockery.

The crowd broke into chaos.

Lucien, Alistair, and Mr. Boyd all jumped in to separate the three bickering artists.

“Stop it! STOP IT!!!” Lucien roared.

He hissed from pain when the young woman accidentally scratched his face.

“Mr. Clearwater!!!” Maya shouted in horror. “Are you alright???”

“I am fine,” Lucien answered.

While they were busy trying to end the petty fight, someone spoke up from the watching crowd.

“Hey wait,” the woman in a tweed jacket said. “I know you. You are Lucien Clearwater!”

The fight stopped abruptly as the three people stared at Lucien with their mouths wide open.

Silence fell upon the crowd. More than two hundred pairs of eyes stared at Lucien as if he were an alien that hailed from outer space.

All of a sudden, the focus shifted from the enraged event participants to Lucien.

“Homewrecker!” Someone shouted from the crowd.

“Man-stealer!!!”

Before Lucien knew it, tens of people flung all kinds of curses at him. Most of them were women, both old and young. They were all angry, very angry. Even more than the hysterical young woman whose voice was no longer heard. Her complaints drowned in a sea of shouting mass.

Lucien’s lips were open in shock as he stared back at the many people who had to be held back by security guards when they tried to approach Lucien. Their claws were extended in Lucien’s direction, their eyes were burning with inexplicable bloodlust.

In a daze, Lucien’s ears automatically filtered out all the hateful noises. His consciousness withdrew itself to a safe place beneath the surface, far from external influences that he did not wish to come into contact with.

“MR. CLEARWATER!!!”

It was Noah’s voice. He was warding off a woman who managed to break through the security guards.

Lucien looked up. He saw the stone in the woman’s hand, but he was unable to dodge it entirely. It ended up smashing the side of his head.

“...!!!”

The burning pain blinded Lucien temporarily.

The man lost his balance and stumbled to the side. A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around him and prevented him from falling.

Although the feeling was familiar, it was the scent that betrayed the person’s identity. Contrary to the salty sandalwood scent that had a calming effect on Lucien, this time the scent was concentrated and corrosive. A malicious aura radiated from the Alpha.

Ronan Silverback was boiling with intense rage.