The Inescapable Celibate Heir Chapter 82: The Consequences of Cheating

Ella's heart pounded. Hadn't Bodhi said the Nexus College voting system was foolproof and couldn't trace his IP address? 

She quickly composed herself, pretending to be surprised. "Elise, I don't get what you're saying. I have no idea how to rig votes. Maybe there's been a mistake?"

Elise sneered, "Still denying it? A week ago, Victoria's votes briefly surpassed yours, but then your votes suddenly shot up, way past hers. A lot of contestants noticed and complained. We looked into it and found that the accounts voting for you were all virtual numbers from the same IP address. Still denying it?"

Ella shook her head firmly. "I don't know anything about this." As long as she didn't admit it, Elise had no solid proof she cheated.

Elise pulled out a USB drive and displayed a map on the screen. The map centered on Nexus College, dotted with numerous red points. 

She smirked, "This is a map created by a hacker we hired, showing the locations of the accounts voting for Ella. You can see that half are on campus and quite scattered. But the other half are concentrated off-campus and mostly overlap."

Seeing the clear map, Ella's eyes widened in disbelief, her nails digging into her palms under her sleeves.

The audience began to murmur, "I can't believe it. I thought she was really innocent. Turns out she was secretly boosting her own votes. No wonder I thought she wasn't that pretty but was still leading the Campus Queen contest. I thought it was just my unique taste."

"Yeah, all my friends voted for Victoria, but she could never surpass Ella. I thought it was strange. Turns out it was cheating."

Originally, the computer science students Elise had approached couldn't trace the IP address so precisely. Fortunately, Victoria introduced Ryan, who quickly breached Bodhi's simple firewall and pinpointed his IP address.

With the evidence irrefutable, Ella had no choice but to admit, "It does look suspicious. But I didn't do this myself! Look, the method of manipulating votes is so crude and easily discovered. How could I be so stupid? Someone must hate me and manipulated the votes to get me disqualified!"

Walter grabbed the microphone, "Ella is so kind and beautiful. She doesn't need to cheat. Someone must be framing her!"

Members of the dance club also spoke up for her, "We all voted for Ella. She doesn't need to cheat. Someone must be jealous and trying to sabotage her! This is malicious competition! If this continues, anyone can manipulate votes to force others out. It's so unfair!"

Victoria couldn't help but laugh, "So, Ella is so disliked that someone would spend thousands of dollars to cheat for her, just to make her look bad?" She turned to Ella, "If you're so kind, why would anyone hate you so much?"

Ella's face turned pale, and she lowered her head to hide her anger, clenching her fists. It was all Victoria's fault, and that meddling Elise! It was just a Campus Queen vote, and they had to investigate the data! 

She had hoped to cheat her way to the title and then use it to break into the entertainment industry. Now, she wouldn't get the title, and the money was wasted.

With a weak, tearful voice, she said, "I'm sorry, I really didn't know. Elise, why don't you reset my votes? I don't want to ruin the fairness of the competition. Please believe me!"

The dance club members shouted, "No way! If she didn't do it, why should she admit fault? We worked hard to vote for Ella. Why should our votes be reset? We don't agree!"

Elise hadn't expected Ella to be so shameless, denying the evidence right in front of her and blaming others. 

Unfortunately, she had no proof that Ella had orchestrated the cheating unless she could get her chat records, which would invade her privacy. 

Sighing, she said, "Since things have come to this, we'll remove the abnormal data. Don't worry, legitimate votes from both on and off-campus, as long as they're from unique devices, won't be removed. Ella, do you have any objections?"

Ella replied softly, "No objections. Thank you, Elise." 

After her fraudulent votes were removed, Ella dropped to tenth place, barely avoiding elimination, and she never dared to cheat again.

Victoria, on the other hand, saw her votes soar again after her stunning dance performance tonight, leaving the second-place contestant far behind.

As the audience dispersed, they chatted about the night's events. Not only had they seen a fantastic performance, but also a dramatic scandal. It was worth attending!

The snooker club members cheered, surrounding Victoria as they left. They had worked hard and decided to celebrate with a late-night snack. 

Mira, linking arms with Victoria, laughed, "Did you see Ella's face earlier? It was priceless! Let's see how she acts all high and mighty now. The dance club can't beat us in dance or the Campus Queen title! The snooker club is undoubtedly the top club!"

As they chatted happily, Lily and a group of girls approached, scrutinizing Victoria's dance dress and her beautiful face. Lily asked with a hint of hostility, "Victoria, who taught you to dance?"

Victoria raised an eyebrow, looking at her coldly.

Seeing Victoria's disinterested expression, Lily was about to lose her temper when she noticed Ethan approaching. 

Swallowing her irritation, she forced a smile and said, "Although your stage presence was impressive, it's clear your dance foundation isn't strong. You relied on tricks. But to achieve this in a short time, your teacher must be quite reputable. I'm curious."

Her tone softened, and Victoria was about to respond when a clear voice chimed in, "Her teacher is Mrs. Hamilton. Are you not convinced?"

It was Sophie, who had arrived with Willow, standing beside Victoria. Francis followed, watching the scene unfold.

Lily fell silent upon seeing Sophie. She knew Diana had only two students, Sophie and Willow. But she couldn't believe Diana had refused to teach her but agreed to teach the already adult Victoria! Why? Victoria couldn't possibly have more talent than her!

Vivian rolled her eyes, "What a joke! Mrs. Hamilton stopped taking students long ago. Who do you think you are, bragging for Victoria? Do you think winning a school vote proves anything?"

Sophie and Willow laughed, while Lily felt humiliated and hissed, "Shut up! They are Mrs. Hamilton's students. Don't speak if you don't know!" Vivian blushed and fell silent.

Lily looked at Victoria, "Fine, you're lucky to have Mrs. Hamilton's guidance. We'll see you at the Starlight Dance Showdown and find out who the real top young dancer is."