Chapter 635
Chapter 635:
Spinning on her heel, Mariana looked over at her servants. “You there, gather all these outfits and take them outside. Burn every last piece p>
They traded uneasy looks but moved to follow her command. Some of those clothes could pay their wages for years, yet Mariana’s unpredictable moods were nothing new.
Anyone who disobeyed would pay the price, and it wouldn’t just be the garments at risk.
In no time, a fire blazed in the courtyard, devouring the luxury clothes. Pulling out her phone, Mariana captured the scene and proudly uploaded the photo to Instagram and Twitter.
She added a sharp caption, aiming at Maia. “Plagiarized clothes are beneath me. So are the people who steal them.” The post racked up likes almost instantly.
Mariana’s lips curled into a sly smile as she remembered how much more compliant Claudius had become after their father’s stern talk. With Maia’s reputation now in ruins, she figured that Claudius would finally lose his infatuation.
A playful glint in her eyes, Mariana fired off a message to Claudius.
“Claudius, are you still holding out hope for Maia, even after seeing her true colors? She’s not the perfect woman you imagined her to be,” Mariana typed quickly.
As soon as the message was sent, she switched gears, pulled out her phone, and began flooding Twitter with reposts — stoking the fire, drawing eyes, and buying traction to fuel the growing buzz.
Meanwhile, Claudius finally managed to connect with the elusive designer far away in Otruitho, Alice.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, he couldn’t hold back the question that had been gnawing at him. “Ms. Byrd, I’ve long admired the fashion line you created three years ago. Could you share what sparked your inspiration? Was it based on any existing work p>
Without so much as a pause, the middle-aged voice on the other end answered firmly, “Mr. Cooper, I’ve never borrowed from another’s vision. Those pieces came straight from my dreams — literally. I dreamt of my grandmother, walking a runway filled with garments unlike any I’d ever seen. I woke up and captured every detail before they faded p>
When the call ended, Claudius dropped his phone on the table and leaned back, as if an unseen weight had collapsed onto his shoulders. He felt hollow, like the wind had been knocked from his spirit — hope slipping through his fingers like sand.
He didn’t want to believe it.
And then, Mariana’s message lit up his screen. With a grimace, he read it, then hurled the phone aside, frustration bursting like a dam.
Back in Otruitho, Alice stared at her phone with a furrowed brow. This wasn’t the first time today someone had called asking similar questions. Earlier, a man calling himself Mr. M had asked nearly the same thing. Something was stirring beneath the surface — something Alice hadn’t been let in on. And for someone with a tendency to fret, that uncertainty sat uncomfortably.
At six o’clock sharp, the campus of Wront University hummed with whispers.