Bride To Be Not Me (Janice and Simon)

"Did Refined Threads Co. make the shortlist?" Heidi asked. "No problem. As a judge, I can definitely help you out."

"Really?" Simon's face lit up with excitement.

If he could secure a spot in the competition, he'd finally be able to defeat Janice.

She had frozen his personal account, causing him a major setback. He hadn't forgotten that.

What made it worse was the thought of having to blackmail Janice every month for the money, which made his blood boil.

"As long as Refined Threads Co.'s crochet design makes the shortlist—even if it's just for the international championship—I'll be in your debt forever. From now on, I'll follow your lead!" Simon said, his tone changing instantly.

"Alright, I got it," Heidi replied, her voice dismissive.

Simon had no choice but to smile and take his leave. However, the moment he stepped out of the lounge, his expression darkened. What gave a woman the right to be so arrogant? In the end, they all had to marry, have children, and become obedient wives and mothers.

He couldn't stand women who acted so high and mighty. In his eyes, a woman's role was to be submissive, and her husband's word was the law.

Any woman who insisted on living life on her own terms was nothing but trouble.

As Simon made his way to his seat and settled in, he couldn't help but notice Janice sitting next to Edward in the row ahead. She was talking, and to his surprise, Edward was actually leaning in, hanging on to every word she said.

What had Janice done to deserve this kind of attention?

He remembered the intel his team had gathered recently—Janice had even gone as far as visiting the elders of Edward's family. It only confirmed his suspicions—she had been cozying up to Edward all along.

Alright then.

Very well.

"The Winter Tournament will include an external audience vote. There are many participants, and the voting will be anonymous," Edward remarked.

Calvin spoke up. "So, there's still a risk of buying votes."

"The final score will be calculated as an average, much like the Olympic diving system. The result is determined by averaging all the votes," Janice explained.

"Have you competed in the finals before?" Calvin asked.

Janice replied, "I've only watched."

Up until now, everyone had assumed this was her first time competing in such a high-profile event. Meanwhile, the event organizers had finished the final preparations, and the judges had taken their seats. When news of the finals spread, the focus wasn't on the crochet designs from various companies but on Janice herself, who had become a social media sensation.

A video had been edited, featuring an interview with a passerby from Simon's and Amelia's chance encounter. It had been distorted to suggest that Janice had inserted herself into their relationship.

The manipulated video portrayed her as an opportunist, someone who had used Simon to gain access to high society, only to later attach herself to the powerful chairman of Prosper Stitch Group.

People who didn't know the full story eagerly piled on, flooding social media with insults aimed at Janice.

She was labeled a gold digger, a cold-hearted social climber, and a deceitful schemer with no principles.

By this morning, the attacks had reached a fever pitch, all focused squarely on her.

Edward and Calvin had already directed their teams to suppress the trending topic. But someone was pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Despite their best efforts to bury it, the hashtag attacking Janice stubbornly held its position in the top three trending topics.

Through it all, Janice acted as if she hadn't seen a thing, letting the storm rage on.

It wasn't hard to figure out who was behind it.

It was either Simon, Heidi, or Melody & Loops Creations.

It had to be one of them.

For a competitor like Melody & Loops Creations, resorting to underhanded tactics in a business rivalry was nothing new.

Just then, a voice nearby announced, "The voting has begun."