Free Web NovelChapter 75: Chapter 75: Who Plagiarized?
At the mention of the Lockwood Group, a flicker of disgust crossed Estelle Lockwood’s face. She hadn’t forgotten how many of her perfume formulas they had stolen, giving all the credit to Noelle Lockwood.
In fact, all of Noelle Lockwood’s currently famous perfumes were actually her creations. But without any proof, it was a score that would have to be settled slowly. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Estelle Lockwood shook off her thoughts. "Don’t worry about the Lockwood Group. Our perfume will launch on schedule."
Her assistant’s eyes darted around. "Understood, Miss Lockwood."
「An hour later.」
The perfume jointly launched by the Star Group and Evernight International sold out almost instantly upon release, an impressive result.
The assistant let out a sigh of relief and remarked, as if in passing, "Looks like the Lockwood Group launching their perfume today didn’t affect our sales at all."
After speaking, the assistant tapped Estelle Lockwood’s phone before handing it to her.
Estelle Lockwood’s gaze sharpened, and she felt a flicker of doubt. ’Why would my assistant touch my phone for no reason?’ But she didn’t dwell on it.
The sales department quickly processed the orders and shipped the perfumes, and all departments proceeded with their work in an orderly fashion.
As the workday was ending, Estelle Lockwood was about to leave when she saw Rose Lowell and Noelle Lockwood approaching, arm in arm.
Noelle Lockwood stepped forward. "Miss Yara Lockwood!"
Estelle shot her a sidelong glance. "What is it?"
"It’s so late. Is Dr. Lockwood going home by herself? Would you like my mother and me to give you a ride?"
Noelle Lockwood smiled sweetly. Her words sounded like a complaint, but they were actually meant to flaunt her closeness with Nathaniel Sloan:
"Honestly, Nathaniel... Dr. Lockwood is an honored guest of Evernight International, and he just leaves you here all alone. I’ll definitely have a word with him next time."
Estelle knew, of course, that Nathaniel Sloan had revoked Noelle Lockwood’s special privileges.
She picked up her bag without turning back. "No, thank you. Instead of wasting time here feigning kindness, Miss Lockwood, you’d be better off going to cry in front of Nathaniel Sloan again. Maybe that would be more effective."
Noelle Lockwood’s expression twisted for a moment. Only after Estelle had stepped into the elevator did Noelle put on a dejected look.
"Mom, I really do want to get along with Dr. Lockwood, but she seems to despise me..."
Rose Lowell’s eyes darted about as she said deliberately, "Noelle, stop casting your pearls before swine! Yara Lockwood sees you as a thorn in her side. How could she possibly want to be friends with you?"
Noelle feigned shock. "How could that be... Does Dr. Lockwood really hate me that much? But... she hasn’t actually done anything to hurt me..."
"You can know someone’s face, but you can’t know their heart. Who knows what schemes she’s plotting behind your back? You’ve been too sheltered by your father and me your whole life. You have no idea how malicious people can be!"
The elevator lobby was busy with people coming and going, and many of them were now looking in their direction.
Noelle suppressed the malicious glint in her eyes and smiled. "Mom, you’re worrying too much. I believe Dr. Lockwood is a good person. Please don’t say things like that again."
Some people nearby nodded discreetly. Those unfamiliar with Noelle Lockwood found her to be quite kind-hearted.
...
After the perfume’s release, there were two types of home delivery.
Same-day delivery was available for local orders, while other locations would receive their packages via courier within three days at most.
The perfume sold out by 10 AM, and by that evening, many customers had already received their orders.
Reviews began to trickle in online.
[Star’s perfumer is a genius! You absolutely can’t go wrong with this perfume. Highly recommended!]
[It smells incredible. It’s magical! Everyone around me loves this scent—men, women, young, and old, they all can’t stop complimenting it.]
[Star’s Chief Perfumer already has several hit creations under her belt. She’s so talented.]
[The Star Group must be raking it in this time, huh?]
The internet was flooded with rave reviews, but Estelle Lockwood paid them little mind. She had been working for three days and nights straight, and she practically passed out the moment she got back to her room.
As a result, she didn’t notice when, around one in the morning, a different kind of comment began to take over—
[Does no one else think the two perfumes launched today smell exactly the same?] freewёbnoνel.com
[I’m a fan of Noelle’s. I bought her perfume and the one from Star. It’s true—they’re identical!]
[What’s going on? Why are they the same? The Lockwood Group says their perfume was independently developed by Noelle, but the Star Group is saying it’s the latest creation of their Chief Perfumer, Yara Lockwood.]
[Someone must have plagiarized. But who copied whom?]
Although some people believed Star’s Chief Perfumer would never plagiarize, Noelle Lockwood was a huge celebrity with a massive, aggressive fanbase capable of turning black into white.
While public opinion was at a stalemate, at six in the morning, the Lockwood Group’s official social media account posted a message that brought the situation to a boiling point.
The post laid out Noelle Lockwood’s entire creative process, from her inspiration and handwritten notes to the detailed ingredient ratios—it was all there in black and white!
Meanwhile, Yara Lockwood’s camp had yet to respond. It seemed obvious who had copied whom.
The next morning, Estelle Lockwood discovered her phone was shut off and wouldn’t turn on at all. She frowned.
’Is my phone broken? It was working perfectly yesterday...’ Nathaniel Sloan wasn’t at Imperial Crest either. She glanced at the alarm clock and decided to head to Evernight International first.
When she got to the office, she immediately felt that the way people were looking at her was off.
In the distance, people were pointing and whispering about her.
"She looks so proper. How could she have the nerve to plagiarize?"
"Some Chief Perfumer. She probably plagiarized her way to that title, too. So shameless."
"Just yesterday, Mrs. Lockwood warned Miss Noelle that faces can be deceiving and told her to stay away from this woman. And Miss Noelle actually defended her! How vicious can you get?"
"Poor Miss Noelle. This is the second time she’s been plagiarized!"
"What? Someone plagiarized her before?"
"Yes! It was that Estelle Lockwood, Miss Noelle’s country bumpkin of a sister. The moment she came back to the Lockwood Family, she tried to compete with Noelle for favor, stole her perfume formula, and passed it off as her own. We were all almost fooled! Thankfully, Mrs. Lockwood put righteousness above family and exposed her. That’s how we learned the truth."
"My god, what has Miss Noelle done to deserve running into these two women!"
Estelle Lockwood stopped in her tracks, her expression slowly turning cold.
Plagiarism...
Heh. ’Back then, she’d developed a formula specifically for Nathaniel Sloan’s headaches, only for Noelle Lockwood to steal it and turn around, falsely accusing *her* of plagiarism.’
’And now, her perfume has become another one of Noelle Lockwood’s "original creations"?!’
Being labeled a plagiarist was a huge deal. Henry Kendrick would have definitely tried to contact her, but because her phone was broken, she’d missed his calls and lost the best window of opportunity to respond.
Estelle Lockwood knew she couldn’t delay. She hurried into her office, only to find someone sitting in her chair.
Laura Jennings was arrogantly ordering other employees to throw Estelle’s belongings out.
Seeing Estelle, Laura Jennings pointed a finger right in her face, her refined demeanor gone. "Yara Lockwood, you still have the nerve to show your face at the company?"
The people around her also glared angrily. After all, if the perfume was branded as a work of plagiarism, all of their hard work would have been for nothing.
Laura Jennings’s face was filled with smug satisfaction. "I said from the start that your kind can’t be trusted. Look what happened! If you have any shame left, you’ll pack your things and get out!"
A folder was tossed out, landing with a smack.
Estelle caught it with one hand and sneered.
"Mrs. Sloan, nothing has been proven yet. Are you really taking the Lockwood Group’s one-sided story as gospel?"
