Chapter 126
Friday.
Cloudcrest High School auditorium.
Today was the scheduled day for Vivienne and Elijah''s fragrance blendingpetition. News about
Vivienne, Percival''s fiancée, challenging the renowned Perfume Prince, Elijah, had spread across the
inte since his talk at Cloudcrest High.
Guests had flocked to the school, many drawn by the prospect of witnessing this uniquepetition.
"Ms. Hawthorn."
Vivienne had just arrived at the auditorium when she was met with a face full of malicious glee.
"And you are?" Vivienne asked, her brow knitting slightly. She couldn''t quite ce the heavily made-up
woman in front of her.
Ste forced a smile. "We met at Percival''s ce."
"Oh." Vivienne remembered now, but dismissed the woman as insignificant. She was just about to step
into the auditorium when Ste stopped her.
Ste''s face contorted for a moment, but she quickly regained her smugness. "Ms. Hawthorn, have you
seen Cecilia? She invited me to apany her today."
She covered her mouth with her hand, feigning concern. "You really mustn''t lose too badly today.
Cecilia doesn''t like you much as it is, and if you embarrass the Ellington family..."
"Vivienne!"
Ste was cut off as Cecilia spotted Vivienne from afar and hurried over.
She would have run if not for the need to maintain herdylike demeanor. So she quickened her pace
instead.
Much to Ste''s shock, Cecilia briskly approached, took Vivienne''s hand, and warmly greeted her. "You
finally arrived. Where''s Percival?"
"Mom." Percival had been dyed by a few elder acquaintances.
"Ah." Cecilia nodded at Percival in greeting and then turned her attention back to Vivienne. "May I
Percival watched Cecilia with a touch of helplessness in his eyes. He knew that she loved antique
perfumes, but he hadn''t realized that she was a perfume fanatic.
Recently, she had been pestering Vivienne every day, asking her to disy her mother Evelyn''s
collection at a small antique perfume exhibition in Rivenwood whenever Vivienne had spare time.
The trio continued towards the auditorium,pletely ignoring Ste.
Ste felt her cheeks burn with humiliation as she remembered her earlier boast that Cecilia disliked
Vivienne.
"Mrs. Ellington!" She called out, unwilling to give up.
Cecilia turned to look at her with a frown on her face. "Ste? What are you doing here?"
Ste''s face turned pale, then red out of embarrassment. She turned and fled.
"What''s her problem?" Cecilia asked but didn''t dwell on it.
Percival didn''t even nce at Ste from the corner of his eye.
They apanied Vivienne into the auditorium, greeting many familiar faces.
Among the spectators were some genuine perfume enthusiasts, some Elijah''s fans, and a few drawn
by the allure of the Ellington family name. None were there for Vivienne.
Elijah was a well-established figure in the industry, whereas Vivienne was an unknown entity. Many
believed that if it weren''t for her engagement to Percival, Elijah wouldn''t have even given her the
chance to challenge him.
The only people supporting Vivienne were Percival, Cecilia, and the students from ss Eighteen.
Despite the heavy academic load for seniors and thepetition being held during school hours, ss
Eighteen was granted permission to attend and cheer for their beloved teacher.
"Go, Ms. Vivienne!"
As Vivienne ascended the stage under Elijah''s disdainful gaze, cheers emerged from the crowd.
She nced down to see Logan, Charlotte, Faye, and Oberon, all from ss Eighteen, waving at her
enthusiastically from the front row.
Beside them sat a grim-looking Arabe, Elijah''s newly appointed apprentice. Arabe had been
granted special permission to attend.
Arabe''s hostile gaze met Vivienne''s, and she mouthed, "Sis, you''re going to lose."
In the few days since bing Elijah''s apprentice, Arabe had once again be the center of
attention. Many students sought to please her in hopes of getting close to Elijah.
Nobody dared bring up her past misdeeds, as those trying to curry favor with her would immediately
defend her.
Arabe, on the other hand, took it all in stride, bossing everyone around as if they were her servants.
But the memory of her past indiscretions still left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Every time she walked by and heard whispers, she wondered if they were discussing that
embarrassing scene of her kneeling before Vivienne and how she ended up in jail.
Things were definitely different now. This only fueled her hatred for Vivienne.
Vivienne casually withdrew her gaze and walked over to her assigned perfume station.
It was hard to deny that the perfumepetition was professionally organized. To prevent the scents
from blending and interfering with each other, two clear acrylic booths were used to separate the
perfume stations.
In addition to Mrs. Dunhill and Henry White, who were rmended by Percival, three other
internationally known perfumers were also part of the judging panel.
"Ms. Hawthorn."
Before thepetition started, Elijah suddenly said, "Everypetition needs a wager, right?"
"What do you want?" Vivienne asked, her expression calm.
"I''m quite interested in the perfume form your mother left behind." Elijah looked supremely confident.
N?velDrama.Org is the owner.
"If I win, I''m willing to trade it with one of my vintage forms."
He was confident about his victory.
He didn''t believe that Vivienne knew anything about perfume-making. He thought she was only
challenging him because she had the perfume form her mother left behind.
But this time, under his pressure, the perfume Riley Fairfax had concocted was far superior to anything
he had made before. It was even better than Evelyn''s nine perfumes.
So he was extremely confident. Even if Vivienne used Evelyn''s perfume form, he would still win.
"I''m not interested in your form." Vivienne''s response was within Elijah''s expectations. She knew he
and his backers were after her mother''s form.
She wondered if it had anything to do with the elixir. If so, who was Elijah associated with?
GTO?
Or some other unknown group?
"Ms. Hawthorn, regardless of how precious your mother''s form is, most of the ones in my collection
are long-lost recipes." Elijah''s face fell. "Are you sure you won''t reconsider?"
"No need." Vivienne replied definitively, "You won''t win."
The crowd in the hall gasped when they heard Vivienne. Many thought she was too arrogant. Some
even started predicting her downfall, saying that the higher she stood, the harder she would fall.