Chapter 553: Revealing the Results
The Country Y perfumers immediately relaxed.
Of course—Ronald said Piper wouldn’t come. Who was Selina, and why should they believe her over him?
Most likely, Selina knew she was doomed to lose, so she was just putting on a show!
Besides, even if Piper did come, he would only ever support Country Y’s perfumers.
...
Selina ignored the mocking and disdainful stares aimed at her as she walked straight to the contestants’ seats.
She glanced around.
The Country M contestants had all been placed at the far edge. The hall was enormous—with only fifty contestants, it was impossible to fill. Yet Country M had still been shoved to the sidelines.
Selina let out a cold laugh, her eyes falling on Ronald, who was chatting not far away.
They really went out of their way to suppress the Country M contestants. Even something as petty as seating arrangements had been twisted. Selina didn’t believe Reid Group would deliberately favor one side. No—the decision had Ronald’s fingerprints all over it.
As long as Logan wasn’t present, Ronald had the final say. And even if Logan did arrive, Ronald could easily shrug and say, "The judging is about to begin, moving people now would disrupt the schedule."
Selina’s lips curved faintly. She turned to the nineteen-year-old perfumer beside her. "Do you mind sitting here?"
The girl shook her head, her expression now carrying a trace of resolve. "Putting us at the edge to make it seem like we’re not favored—it doesn’t matter. Once the results come out, it’ll slap Ronald in the face."
"Exactly," another chimed in. "If half the top ten come from us, watching half the winners rise from the back row will only disgrace Ronald, not us."
Selina pressed down the laughter in her eyes. "Alright then, we’ll sit right here."
They were right. In the end, the one humiliated wouldn’t be them—it would be Ronald.
...
Logan entered the venue. At first, he didn’t see Selina. Then his gaze shifted to a remote corner—where the eight Country M contestants sat.
His expression darkened instantly.
But in the next moment, his eyes locked with Selina’s.
From across dozens of meters, Logan arched a brow as if to ask: Are you sure?
Selina nodded firmly.
Ronald came forward with a smile. "Mr. Reid! You’re finally here. Please, take your seat. Though you won’t be judging today, we’ve still reserved the main seat for you. Please."
Logan gave Ronald a cool glance before taking his place without a word.
Ronald, aware the livestream had already begun and countless people were watching, deliberately raised his voice:
"Mr. Reid was just looking over at the Country M contestants. Ah, I must apologize—their seating wasn’t intentional. My staff mistakenly put them there."
Though he said "apologize," his face showed not a trace of remorse. Instead, he smirked and added:
"After all, there are so few of them—just eight. They can fit anywhere. My staff simply didn’t notice that you had already arranged seats for them, and let the Country Y perfumers sit first."
"Really, it makes no sense to disrupt the schedule over just eight people. We can’t possibly ask the Country Y perfumers to stand up and shuffle around again, wasting everyone’s time and delaying the judging, can we? Don’t you agree, Mr. Reid?"
The hall seemed to go silent for several seconds.
The livestream was already filling with viewers—both from Country Y and Country M.
And since Country M’s language was also widely understood in Country Y, everyone could understand every word Ronald had just said.
Hearing it, the Country M audience could barely hold back their outrage.
[No way, this is too much! The seats were arranged in advance—how can they just change them like that? Are they looking down on Country M people?]
Someone from Country Y shot back: [We already told you—there are only eight of you. Ever heard of majority rule? You expect us to make our contestants stand up and move just for you? What a fuss!]
[Exactly. In the end, none of the Country M contestants will even make the top ten. You won’t be going on stage anyway. So what’s the problem with sitting in the corner?]
The Country M viewers were still indignant, but one voice typed hesitantly: [Everyone, calm down... honestly, we really aren’t as good as Country Y. Just let it go.]
That bitter resignation stuck in everyone’s throat—including the Reid Group staff at the venue. Their faces looked awful.
Ronald was waiting for Logan to explode—so that he could spread the story of Country M being "unreasonable."
But instead...
Logan merely gave him a calm glance. "Are there cameras filming that corner?"
Ronald blinked, then instinctively answered seriously: "No."
After all, they were just Country M contestants. They wouldn’t win, they wouldn’t reach the top ten—what was the point of filming them?
Logan’s eyes flickered strangely. He spoke with layered meaning: "Send two cameramen over there to film."
Then he ignored Ronald completely, turning his gaze back to the stage.
Ronald dismissed it with a smirk. Film them? Hah. Film what? He had no intention of arranging anything.
But the livestream audience had heard Logan’s words.
[Mr. Reid clearly believes in our Country M contestants. If he hasn’t given up, why should we?]
Still, the mockery outweighed the encouragement. Almost no one truly believed Country M’s contestants could win.
...
Ten minutes later, the judging officially began.
Fifty perfumes was a lot. After smelling one, the judges had to reset their senses before moving on—otherwise their noses would go numb.
So the judging panel was divided into five groups, each group with five people, each group handling ten perfumes and scoring them.
It was already a very fair system. After all, one perfume evaluated by five judges couldn’t possibly be outstanding yet disliked by all five at the same time.
Meanwhile, the one hundred perfumers, tasters, and experts from around the world sitting in the audience also began scoring.
After selecting the higher-scoring works, the groups swapped to rescore them, ensuring fairness.
During the scoring, the hall was silent. The atmosphere was tense.
Even the most confident Country Y contestants were starting to sweat.
Only Selina remained calm and unbothered. Her elbow rested lazily on the armrest, her head leaning against her hand. With the long wait dragging on, she even yawned.
Two and a half hours later, the higher-scoring works were chosen and swapped again for evaluation.
Three hours in, one high-scoring perfume drew objections. It was passed to the one hundred-member audience jury for re-scoring. The score was adjusted from 8.6 to 7.9—knocking it out of the top ten.
Four hours later...
Selina had even woken from a nap when the host finally announced:
"Now, the ten highest-scoring perfumes have been ranked! The final results were determined by the judges’ initial scores, followed by two rounds of score swapping, the judges’ confirmed scores, and the combined results with the one hundred-member audience jury."
"For the top three, Mr. Ronald will provide commentary."
"And now—I will announce the winner of tenth place—"
Everyone sat up straight.