Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom novel Chapter 224

224 Hateful Judge 

In the audition room, the judges accessed the petite Jeslyn for a while with satisfaction. Her face is remarkable and would certainly help her in the industry. All they need now is just a little bit of talent from her and her beauty will do the rest. 1 

“Jeslyn Lee, that name rings a bell.” The only female judge in the room said with doubt and a tinge of malice. She couldn’t remember where she heard that name from. 

“She probably got into a scandal due to her face, I’m sure.” One of the male judges replied. 

Another male judge nodded: “The face is indeed enough to cause controversy. So, it’s understandable. But then, if she uses it well, she’ll be an A–lister in a year. After all, talents don’t matter these days.” 

The judges spoke amongst themselves in low voices. Although Jeslyn couldn’t hear them, she was sure it was about her. She sighed and hoped that she wouldn’t get disqualified before her plans even began. 

“Jeslyn Lee, you can start-” 

The door burst open at that moment and the female Judge’s Assistant, a lady, hurried in and proclaimed loudly: “I’m sorry, you can’t allow her to join the audition.” She said, almost out of breath. 

“Why?” 

“Because Jeslyn has a bad record. She was involved in the case that stirred the world… case of murdering her grandfather and almost killing her sister.” The Assistant concluded. 

“Oh, so it’s her? No wonder the name sounded familiar.” The female judge looked disdainfully at Jeslyn/ and snorted. 

Jeslyn sighed. How huge was the impact of her ‘crime? This is absurd! 

“Well, she didn’t kill her sister and the Supreme Court found her not guilty of the crime of killing her grandfather, so…” one of the male judges said. 

“That doesn’t change anything. If she hadn’t tried to kill her sister in broad daylight, she would have been able to manage the crime of killing her grandfather.” The woman judge who seemed to have something against Jeslyn refuted. 

“Ma’am, how did you know I tried to kill Christine? Were you there?…” 

“You-” 

“You saw the video from the angle the cameraman wanted you to see it from. I wasn’t even the one in the driver’s seat, so how did I become what you accuse me of? Mind you, before you lay claims like those brainless people that I made my boyfriend, the driver, do it, you shouldn’t forget that he’s a Tawyer. Also, if the lawyer was my boyfriend, then would he have allowed me to go to prison for a few weeks and get my image tarnished?” 

“Insolence! How dare you disrespect me! You are canceled!” The woman roared and struck Jeslyn’s name off her list. 

You are only this angry because you don’t have a comeback. You know I’m right” She sighed and 

shook her head. “Ma’am, I don’t understand why you seem to hate me but you are high above others, both in age and experience. I’m sure you are an indigene of Country M and had seen families betray each other. I’m sure someone in your family had backstabbed another, so you should know how these things work. For the fact that I’m not trying to defend myself and even had to hide away for one year and allow those who were after me to have a good life should tell you how good of a person I am” Her eyes slowly started to gather salty water. 

“If your claims are right, you were framed, why haven’t you come out all this while? Why aren’t you seeking revenge? I saw you exhausted the inheritance you stole!” The woman chuckled. 

“You might think I didn’t seek revenge on them because I’ve exhausted my stolen inheritance. While you are entitled to think that way, you should also know that a person who has nothing to lose is not scared of fighting to the death with their enemies. My grandfather was the most beloved person to me, but I lost him, thanks to people’s schemes. If you were able to find out my ‘crimes, shouldn’t you have dug a little further to know the relationship between my grandfather and me? Do you think that such a man wouldn’t leave a dime for me that I’d have to steal the inheritance?” 

“Ok, let’s assume what the people and you said about me was true. I pushed my grandfather because he slapped me for disgracing my ex–fiance on the altar. My grandfather does not know that I’d be doing something like that, right, and I’m his only granddaughter- sorry, first and most beloved granddaughter of his. That should mean that I was mandated to have an inheritance from him but why am I this poor and I couldn’t even hire a lawyer and had to stick with a worthless one that was given to me when I ‘stole‘ my inheritance already? 

Do you think as a Miss of the Lee family, I wouldn’t be able to afford the best lawyer in Country A with my own money? Shouldn’t you be thinking of why I suddenly became helpless and didn’t get a lawyer? Do you think I wanted to take a tour around the prison and experience how life there was? No, my accounts were frozen and my grandfather’s inheritance wasn’t ‘stolen‘. 

Do you still want to know who did it? I don’t even know, so I can’t tell you. As for my grandfather’s properties, instead of thinking I stole them and still ended up like this, you should be rather concerned about who you think they went to. Point to note, my mother willed all her properties to me and the papers stated that I could only get access to them if I got married before my 26th birthday. 

The day I got married was a day before my birthday, so shouldn’t I have gotten my mother’s properties by now, since I fulfilled the requirement? But do I look like some rich girl right now?…”