The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 385

There had already been quite a few groups on stage whose performances left much to be desired.

Some even forgot their lines in the middle of their act, standing there blank and helpless, until the performance had to be awkwardly cut short.

Yet, no matter how poorly anyone did, the lowest possible score was always sixty—a sort of encouragement grade.

No one had ever received a zero.

Now, a wave of shock rippled through the audience, the room buzzing with whispers and incredulous murmurs.

“What’s going on? Why did they get a zero?”

“Does anyone here speak French? Did they make some fatal mistake up there?”

“That can’t be it—even if they slipped up, they still finished the performance. That alone should be worth at least eighty points, right?”

“Wasn’t Marvin’s group actually really good? Honestly, I thought they did better than Keen’s group.”

“I speak French—they didn’t make any mistakes at all.”

On stage, Marvin saw the glaring zero on the scoreboard and couldn’t help but panic a little.

He worried that maybe he’d messed something up and dragged Stella down with him, causing the judge to give them a zero.

Stella glanced down at Marvin, her eyes gentle and reassuring.

Slowly, Marvin managed to steady his nerves.

The judge who had given Stella’s group a zero was a man in his thirties, glasses perched on his nose.

He held up his scorecard and declared bluntly, “Ms. Cameron, I suspect you of cheating!”

“Cheating?!”

A collective gasp swept the room.

Even the other judges sitting beside him looked utterly stunned.

After all, this was a kindergarten competition; cheating in such a setting was unthinkable. What kind of example would that set for the kids? What would they grow up believing if this sort of thing was allowed to slide?

Stella glanced at the nameplate in front of the judge—Franco.