Revenge Begins: Reincarnated as a Hated Idol!-Chapter 80: The Masterful Facade
Aren smiled in amusement as he watched the act of the whole Titan Crest Entertainment.
"Put on a big show to leave a lasting impact on the minds. Good tactic," he murmured, praising.
It was a whole skit employed by Neil to seem sincere and make an impact with the dramatic apology.
He needed to show himself as the victim instead of siding with the villain of the incident, Lucian.
He clearly announced his stance on the matter to seem righteous in front of the world.
And whatever little was left was about to be completed by Iris, who took the podium.
Her expression was haggard, her eyes puffy and red.
She remained silent for a few moments as if gathering the courage to speak.
She kept her head lowered, not letting anyone see her expression.
And then, after a while, she raised her head with a resolute expression.
Her eyelashes shook as she pressed her lips, her shoulders trembling.
Slowly, she brought her lips in front of the mic, parting them before beginning to speak.
"I... married Lucian," Her voice cracked, heavy with emotions, "just a month ago."
Her lips pressed together, forming a broken smile.
Then, she continued: "I thought he loved me, and that’s why he married me. But now I understand that all he was after was my father’s agency. He wanted to use Titan Crest Entertainment to fulfill his desires. I gave him all my support, even to the extent of appointing him as the head of the acting department. But how would I have known... sob sob."
She broke into tears, covering her face with both of her palms.
Neil walked over and held her, letting her cry in his embrace.
Everyone could only see her trembling shoulders and her back.
After a short while, Iris calmed down, wiping her tears, and returning to the podium to speak.
"I was a naive girl who fell into Lucian’s love trap." Her face was solemn: "I always wondered why he didn’t stay with me even after our marriage and only stayed at his private mansion. Now, I understand. He was cheating on me. He was ruining the lives of innocents along with mine, and I remained oblivious to all of this like a fool." She clenched her fists.
Her expression became resolute, and she continued: "But no more. I will be divorcing Lucian Valcourt, severing all ties with him."
She paused.
Then, her expression turned soft and somber: "I just hope my father and his company won’t suffer because of my foolishness."
For a short while, she lingered.
Then, her expression changed, turning determined as she looked at the camera, requesting sincerely: "Please. I request everyone to not condemn Titan Crest Entertainment or my father. It is all my fault. You can curse at me if you want, but please..." She pressed her fingers against her forehead, "don’t make my mistake be the cause of my father’s suffering."
With a dizzy expression, she swayed a little, touching her right temple, before—
Thud!
She fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Iris!" Neil yelled, running to her in a matter of seconds.
Aren smiled upon seeing this, praising: "Great move. They are pro at this. I wonder if they rehearsed it before."
Soon, he received a call as Neil’s press conference was ending due to Iris’s unexpected condition.
Ember Sunburn. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
It was her who was calling.
"Did you see the conference?" After Aren picked up the call, Ember asked.
"Yeah. Just saw some award-winning acting." Aren laughed lightly.
"Well, I’m impressed. Everything is going as you predicted. I’m starting to wonder if you can really see the future." Ember joked with a light chuckle.
Aren shook his head: "No, no. Even I didn’t expect this much drama from them."
"Yeah, you are right." Ember laughed lightheartedly.
Then, after a long pause, her voice came back serious: "But this is a great move by Titan Crest Entertainment."
Aren agreed: "Yeah. The brilliance lies in Iris falling unconscious. This way, they won’t have to answer any questions from the reporters while simultaneously achieving their goal of changing the narrative about them in the eyes of the people."
While Titan Crest’s whole press conference idea was genius, Aren felt that Iris falling unconscious took the award.
With a dramatic apology, Neil managed to stir emotions in the hearts of the masses, sowing doubts that maybe Titan Crest Entertainment was innocent in all this.
Moreover, Iris’s dramatic broken smile and weeping was aimed to garner sympathy. She wanted to present herself as the victim instead of being the wife of the criminal who ruined the lives of innocents.
Afterwards, when she felt that the viewers would be on her side, rooting for her, she implored them to blame her instead of Titan Crest Entertainment.
This way, people wouldn’t be able to blame either Iris or Titan Crest Entertainment.
Since she was a victim, people would spare her, and since a victim like her requested for them to spare Titan Crest, they would be conflicted.
The main purpose of this conference wasn’t to bring everyone to their side.
After all, intelligent people would be able to see through their fake acting.
Their main purpose was to divide the unity and sow discord among the opinions of people.
The people fooled by them would defend them from the ones who would blame them.
After all, there were fewer intelligent people in the country, and fooling the masses was as easy as snatching a lollipop from a toddler.
If that wasn’t the case, people wouldn’t vote for wrong people as their leaders, letting them come to power only to be exploited by them later on.
After the majority would be fooled by their act, believing that Titan Crest Entertainment was in the right, even the questions asked by intelligent people would not get any attention.
After all, there was clear evidence that they weren’t as innocent as they claimed to be. It was just that people didn’t have the time to think clearly on the matter.
And lastly, Iris falling unconscious was icing on the cake.
If they allowed reporters to ask questions, they knew they would be exposed.
Thus, what did they do?
They completed their speeches and dramatic acts and then used Iris to end the conference without taking any questions.
Just brilliant!
"So?" Ember asked inquisitively, "When do we begin our counterattack?"
Aren smiled, answering confidently: "Tomorrow."
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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)
