The Inescapable Celibate Heir Chapter 80: The Best Show

Halfway through the show, Victoria suddenly whipped out a Whip Sword from her waist. With a flick of her wrist, the sword's tip shot forward, gleaming coldly under the lights. The audience erupted in cheers and gasps, their applause lingering long after the performance ended. 

Ethan, seated in the middle of the crowd, never took his eyes off Victoria. She was always like this—pouring her heart into everything she did, striving for perfection. She could easily rely on her looks or her family's status, but instead, she chose to rely on her own hard work and talent, which made him admire her even more.

The members of the dance club also witnessed Victoria's stunning performance and the enthusiastic response from the audience. 

Lily's lips turned pale; she hadn't expected Victoria to master the dance to such a level in such a short time, comparable to a professional dancer with over a decade of experience! Could she really be a genius?

Ella, however, was a bit indignant and whispered, "She just looks good. The actual difficulty of her dance can't compare to Lily's ballet. Plus, she's performing solo. The audience should be able to see that our group dance is more technically demanding, and coordinating multiple people is much harder." 

The dance club members agreed with her and looked to Lily for confirmation.

But Lily shook her head. "It's hard to say who will win this competition." She then turned to Ella, frowning. "Didn't you say she had never learned Sword Dance before?"

Ella, feeling accused of providing false information, looked like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry, Lily. But my parents said she really hadn't learned it before. I don't know how she suddenly got so good."

Someone speculated, "Could it be that she really found Diana to be her teacher?"

Everyone fell silent. Before Victoria's performance, they thought it was impossible. But now, they couldn't think of any other explanation.

Vivian's lips trembled as she insisted, "No way. Don't scare yourselves. Besides, the voting results aren't out yet. We might not lose. Her stage just looked better than ours, that's all." She nodded as if trying to reassure herself.

Meanwhile, backstage, Victoria was surrounded by concerned members of the Snooker Club. 

Mira hugged her tightly, asking, "Victoria, what happened earlier? The swing's rope suddenly snapped! Are you hurt?"

Victoria shook her head gently. "No, I noticed it in advance. But the rope's quality shouldn't have caused it to break so easily."

The club member responsible for checking the rope stepped forward, looking guilty. "I'm sorry, I must have missed it during my inspection. I checked the broken part just now and noticed a strange smell. It seems someone used a corrosive substance to weaken the rope. The amount was small, so it wasn't visible, but it broke quickly under weight today."

Victoria comforted him, "It's not your fault. It was hard to detect."

"Who could be so malicious? Thank goodness you're not hurt, Victoria."

In the subsequent voting, Victoria's performance was not only beautiful but also fresh and engaging, winning the support of more than half the audience. She outshone the dance club's performance and earned the title of "Best Show"! 

Many people said that after watching Victoria's dance, they couldn't even remember the previous act; all they could think about was her performance.

When the results were announced, the Snooker Club erupted in cheers. "We won!" 

A group of people surrounded Victoria, clapping and cheering. "This is the first time we've beaten the dance club at the Thanksgiving show! Victoria, you're the most amazing girl in our club!" 

Victoria smiled happily, feeling that all her hard work had paid off.

At that moment, the student council representative approached them. "Regarding the damage to your props, we reviewed the surveillance footage, but it seems someone tampered with it. Some angles are missing, and parts of the footage were deleted. We only have a clip from a corner showing a shadow entering the backstage area at 10 PM last night, but the face is covered, so we can't identify who it is."

Mira said, "Victoria found a hairpin at the scene. It's Ella's. Can it be used as evidence?"

The representative took the hairpin and examined it closely. "Are you sure? Could someone else have the same one?"

"The dance club had the most to gain from sabotaging our performance. They have both motive and evidence! Plus, this hairpin has real pink diamonds and is a limited edition. Not many people would have it."

Victoria suggested, "Why don't we ask Ella to explain on stage while everyone is still here? If it's not hers, it will clear her name in front of everyone. We can investigate further later. I have a friend who's a hacker and might be able to recover the deleted footage."

The representative nodded. "Good idea. I'll talk to Dennis."

Dennis quickly agreed. As the host was announcing the end of the event and people were starting to leave, Dennis signaled to him. The host immediately changed his tone. "Everyone, please wait. Dennis has an important announcement."

Dennis took the microphone, his expression serious. "Tonight's performances were fantastic, but something unfortunate happened. The Snooker Club's props were deliberately damaged before the show. This is a serious matter, and we need to address it. We have some leads and hope the person responsible will come forward and admit their mistake."

The audience buzzed with shock, discussing who could be so malicious as to sabotage the props. It was just a school event, and this was the first time something like this had happened. 

Walter, looking uneasy, thought to himself, 'I had someone delete the footage from last night. Dennis must be bluffing; he can't have any evidence. I'm not dumb enough to fess up.'

Lily, feeling impatient and upset about losing, didn't think it had anything to do with her and just wanted to leave quickly. 

But then a spotlight suddenly shone on her and the dance club members.

"Since no one is admitting it, Lily, can you explain why we found something belonging to one of your members at the scene?"