Chapter 861 Part Of Her Plan
So, when everyone saw all the evidence Hera presented, they finally believed her. The fact that she managed to gather all of it in such a short amount of time was something few could have imagined possible. But of course, that’s exactly why she had asked Sasha for help.
The reason Hera began by presenting her earlier design from the IGI Expressions Competition back home wasn’t just to showcase the design’s personality or to highlight its consistent pattern—it was a strategic move. It bought Sasha and Larry more time to prepare the remaining crucial pieces of evidence, which would have been nearly impossible to secure on such short notice, especially with the significant time zone difference between them.
All in all, Hera was taking a gamble—relying on Larry to expedite the patent process and secure an electronic copy, while Sasha worked on retrieving the deleted footage. Fortunately, Zhane had been watching the competition livestream from back home, and the moment he saw Alice present a design that looked familiar, he immediately contacted Hera for confirmation. As soon as she verified it, Zhane didn’t wait for instructions—he personally went to the hospital’s security office and pulled the footage of Hera sketching in the corridor.
Thanks to this, gathering evidence became much more manageable for Sasha, allowing him to focus entirely on recovering the deleted files as quickly as possible.
And because Hera hadn’t received any updates yet, even after finishing her segment on the previous design, she moved on to talk about the current one. Sure, she was accused of trying to manipulate the audience’s emotions to sway public opinion in her favor—but was that really her goal? Not at all. In truth, she was stalling for time—drawing out the moment, prompting criticism, and provoking reporters to start throwing questions at her, all so her team could buy a few more precious minutes behind the scenes.
So, all in all, everything was part of Hera’s plan. Larry and Sasha proved their competence by delivering exactly what she needed, and she won the gamble—the gamble to clear her name with undeniable evidence proving her innocence, while placing Alice firmly on the pillar of shame where Alice had intended to put Hera in.
But of course, unlike the original script of the novel, where Hera would have come clean to Alexi, revealing herself as the true hidden heiress of the Avery Consortium and sharing her inheritance with him so Alice would know exactly who her real enemy was, this time Hera did none of that.
Alice remained completely unaware of Hera’s true identity and could only speculate, but all her guesses missed the mark by a wide margin. She believed Hera was relying solely on men for financial backing, which is why she constantly targeted Hera on that front, unaware that Hera was fully prepared. Because of this, Alice never even realized where she went wrong or how her downfall would come.
Hera’s smile widened as her eyes crinkled with amusement. At that moment, Alice, finally realizing what was happening and she immediately rushed to the edge of the stage, her eyes wide in disbelief. Hera casually glanced over and caught sight of Alice frozen in place, staring at the screen in shock. Her smile only deepened, becoming even more radiant, before she shifted her gaze to the audience and locked eyes with Mindy’s icy glare.
’Another obstacle, huh?’ Hera thought, meeting Mindy’s cold stare without flinching.
But there was nothing Mindy could do now. The entire competition was being broadcast live across the internet, and Hera had just cleared her name with solid legal evidence. If Mindy tried to make things difficult for her now, she’d only be throwing herself into the fire, earning the netizens’ wrath—and worse, being lumped in with Alice as a possible accomplice.