It was rude to talk without permission in an event like this.
"Yes. I'm her mother, but she does have something to ask." Thea's tone made it clear that she would brook no argument about Tilly voicing her opinions, and everyone was surprised that she was being so stubborn.
What can a kid say in a situation like this?
Zephyr turned his sights to Tilly. His attention meant that he was giving her the chance to speak her mind.
Tilly turned her attention to the crowd and said, "There's no age restriction for the competition. I have a right to speak."
It was the first time everyone had seen a child being so forceful about something. Naturally, they were interested in what she had to say.
"You have your chance now," Zephyr said calmly.
Tilly confidently answered, "I'm the designer of Crystal Amoris."
The crowd was shocked. What? A five-year-old is that submission's designer? Impossible. This one made it to the final selection. The designer must be very talented, and it's beautiful too. A five-year-old did this? But Zephyr said this is plagiarized content.
"You're Melania, aren't you?" Zephyr adjusted his glasses.
"Yes. I'm Melania, the designer."
"Don't call yourself that. We've confirmed that this is plagiarized work," Zephyr scoffed. From his point of view, stealing someone's fruit of labor was shameful, and to make matters worse, she even claimed to be a designer.
"You need to show us proof for that. Calling my design a work of plagiarism without proof makes me think that there must be something going on behind the scenes," Tilly retorted. She wanted to spook them, but she had forgotten that she was only five. She couldn't scare anyone with how small she was, let alone veteran designers.
Zephyr looked at her like she was a joke. "Anything else you wanna say?" He would explain everything once she had said her fill.
Tilly looked at the other designers. "Threeday is here, aren't they? Tell them to face me." Threeday's work was also one of the top ten pieces, but they didn't announce their real name. A sense of mystery was essential to their pieces. Tilly actually issued a challenge without even knowing who Threeday was. If Zephyr didn't know better, he would have also thought this was a false accusation.
However, he had evidence. He looked at the file he was holding and told Tilly, "We've reported this to the higher-ups. They'll handle this after the competition is over." She's still young. I'd like to give her a chance.
Tilly didn't realize that Zephyr was showing mercy, so she kept prodding, "Why can't you call them out right now?"
Zephyr shook his head. Yep, she's stupid, alright. He said, "We have a two-hour charity banquet after this. Please stop wasting everyone's time."
"Scared, are you?" Thea stood up in her daughter's defense. "Tilly's my daughter. I know her more than you do. She spent more than a year on that project just for this competition. You can't call her a plagiarizer without any proof."
God, these women are dumb as bricks. Fine. I gave you a chance, and you busted it. Since you want to learn this the hard way? We'll do it the hard way.
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