The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 126

Friday.

Cloudcrest High School auditorium.

Today was the scheduled day for Vivienne and Elijah's fragrance blending competition. News about Vivienne, Percival's fiancée, challenging the renowned Perfume Prince, Elijah, had spread across the internet since his talk at Cloudcrest High.

Guests had flocked to the school, many drawn by the prospect of witnessing this unique competition.

"Ms. Hawthorn."

Vivienne had just arrived at the auditorium when she was met with a face full of malicious glee.

"And you are?" Vivienne asked, her brow knitting slightly. She couldn't quite place the heavily made-up woman in front of her.

Stella forced a smile. "We met at Percival's place."

"Oh." Vivienne remembered now, but dismissed the woman as insignificant. She was just about to step into the auditorium when Stella stopped her.

Stella's face contorted for a moment, but she quickly regained her smugness. "Ms. Hawthorn, have you seen Cecilia? She invited me to accompany her today."

She covered her mouth with her hand, feigning concern. "You really mustn't lose too badly today. Cecilia doesn't like you much as it is, and if you embarrass the Ellington family..."

"Vivienne!"

Stella was cut off as Cecilia spotted Vivienne from afar and hurried over.

She would have run if not for the need to maintain her ladylike demeanor. So she quickened her pace instead.

Much to Stella's shock, Cecilia briskly approached, took Vivienne's hand, and warmly greeted her. "You finally arrived. Where's Percival?"

"Mom." Percival had been delayed by a few elder acquaintances.

"Ah." Cecilia nodded at Percival in greeting and then turned her attention back to Vivienne. "May I come closer to the stage to watch your competition later?"

Percival watched Cecilia with a touch of helplessness in his eyes. He knew that she loved antique perfumes, but he hadn't realized that she was a perfume fanatic.

Recently, she had been pestering Vivienne every day, asking her to display her mother Evelyn's collection at a small antique perfume exhibition in Rivenwood whenever Vivienne had spare time. The trio continued towards the auditorium, completely ignoring Stella.

Stella felt her cheeks burn with humiliation as she remembered her earlier boast that Cecilia disliked Vivienne.

"Mrs. Ellington!" She called out, unwilling to give up.

Cecilia turned to look at her with a frown on her face. "Stella? What are you doing here?"

Stella's face turned pale, then red out of embarrassment. She turned and fled.

"What's her problem?" Cecilia asked but didn't dwell on it.

Percival didn't even glance at Stella from the corner of his eye.

They accompanied Vivienne into the auditorium, greeting many familiar faces.

Among the spectators were some genuine perfume enthusiasts, some Elijah's fans, and a few drawn by the allure of the Ellington family name. None were there for Vivienne.

Elijah was a well-established figure in the industry, whereas Vivienne was an unknown entity. Many believed that if it weren't for her engagement to Percival, Elijah wouldn't have even given her the chance to challenge him.

The only people supporting Vivienne were Percival, Cecilia, and the students from Class Eighteen.

Despite the heavy academic load for seniors and the competition being held during school hours, Class Eighteen was granted permission to attend and cheer for their beloved teacher. "Go, Ms. Vivienne!"

As Vivienne ascended the stage under Elijah's disdainful gaze, cheers emerged from the crowd.

She glanced down to see Logan, Charlotte, Faye, and Oberon, all from Class Eighteen, waving at her enthusiastically from the front row.

Beside them sat a grim-looking Arabella, Elijah's newly appointed apprentice. Arabella had been granted special permission to attend.

Arabella's hostile gaze met Vivienne's, and she mouthed, "Sis, you're going to lose."

In the few days since becoming Elijah's apprentice, Arabella had once again become the center of attention. Many students sought to please her in hopes of getting close to Elijah. Nobody dared bring up her past misdeeds, as those trying to curry favor with her would immediately defend her.

Arabella, on the other hand, took it all in stride, bossing everyone around as if they were her servants.

But the memory of her past indiscretions still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Every time she walked by and heard whispers, she wondered if they were discussing that embarrassing scene of her kneeling before Vivienne and how she ended up in jail.

Things were definitely different now. This only fueled her hatred for Vivienne.

Vivienne casually withdrew her gaze and walked over to her assigned perfume station.

It was hard to deny that the perfume competition was professionally organized. To prevent the scents from blending and interfering with each other, two clear acrylic booths were used to separate the perfume stations.

In addition to Mrs. Dunhill and Henry White, who were recommended by Percival, three other internationally known perfumers were also part of the judging panel.

"Ms. Hawthorn."

Before the competition started, Elijah suddenly said, "Every competition needs a wager, right?"

"What do you want?" Vivienne asked, her expression calm.

"I'm quite interested in the perfume formula your mother left behind." Elijah looked supremely confident. "If I win, I'm willing to trade it with one of my vintage formulas." He was confident about his victory.

He didn't believe that Vivienne knew anything about perfume-making. He thought she was only challenging him because she had the perfume formula her mother left behind.

But this time, under his pressure, the perfume Riley Fairfax had concocted was far superior to anything he had made before. It was even better than Evelyn's nine perfumes. So he was extremely confident. Even if Vivienne used Evelyn's perfume formula, he would still win.

"I'm not interested in your formula." Vivienne's response was within Elijah's expectations. She knew he and his backers were after her mother's formula.

She wondered if it had anything to do with the elixir. If so, who was Elijah associated with?

GTO?

Or some other unknown group?

"Ms. Hawthorn, regardless of how precious your mother's formula is, most of the ones in my collection are long-lost recipes." Elijah's face fell. "Are you sure you won't reconsider?" "No need." Vivienne replied definitively, "You won't win."

The crowd in the hall gasped when they heard Vivienne. Many thought she was too arrogant. Some even started predicting her downfall, saying that the higher she stood, the harder she would fall.