The Trending Topic Herself: The Villainess is the Superstar!-Chapter 200: Mirror Audition

Ryan Spencer smiled lightly, but he didn’t refute her words.

Soon, another assistant returned; she had drawn an audition number: 73.

Ryan nodded: "That’s a relatively early number, so we won’t have to wait so long. But... Maya, how’s your preparation coming along?"

Maya’s eyes paused for a moment before she took a big sip of her milk tea and lifted her eyelids slightly: "Of course, I’m ready."

In fact, she hadn’t even glanced at the script. She only knew a bit of the general story and key points from online classes she took before. However, she had no idea about the specific scenes she needed to perform.

Ryan nodded: "I personally chose the performance piece for you this time. It’s not particularly difficult, but if you perform well, it can still be impressive. I believe you can definitely land this role. Your choice of ’Wandering Beyond the Horizon’ last time was too risky, so let’s be steady and advance this time..."

Maya nodded. She didn’t care what script Ryan chose for her; she had already thought of a backup plan anyway.

"By the way..." Ryan suddenly said, "I remember you used to exchange acting skills with Leo Lancaster often when you were with the crew. I heard he taught you quite a bit, and your acting has improved quickly. For this audition, did you consult him?"

Maya replied dismissively, "I asked him before, a few days ago."

"As the saying goes, ’sharpening your knife before battle; even if it’s not fast, it’ll shine.’ You should quickly review his suggestions to improve a bit. Leo may be young, but his acting skills are top-notch. Since you’ve known each other since childhood, it must be easier to communicate."

Maya’s face stiffened: "...is that necessary?"

Ryan’s eyes widened: "Why not? You should eat less and focus more on the script."

Under Ryan’s intense gaze, Maya had to open her contacts list.

She scrolled through it three times without finding Leo’s name and finally dug him out by recognizing his profile picture—it was likely his online name.

"You don’t give Leo a nickname?" Ryan’s voice was inexplicable.

Maya felt a tingling on her scalp. How was she to know why the original owner hadn’t given Leo a nickname? Since she came into this life, she hadn’t bothered to change those nicknames. Moreover, she rarely replied to people’s messages, so she didn’t notice Leo was missing a nickname.

"Ahem... We’re so familiar, do we need nicknames? See, I recognized him right away by his avatar!"

Maya pointed at the screen, showing Leo’s real-photo avatar, and boasted boldly.

Ryan held his forehead helplessly, doubting the truth of Maya’s words.

Maya tapped open the chat window. The last message wasn’t far back, showing a timestamp two days ago. But the problem was... the chat was filled with messages from Leo, asking variations of "Have you eaten?", at least five times, while Maya maintained a cool image, not responding to him at all.

Maya looked up and saw the Do Not Disturb...

"Well... I chatted with him yesterday. I might have accidentally deleted the chat records when I was groggy in the morning. We talked a lot about acting and I benefited greatly."

Ryan looked at her half-believingly: "Why not ask him again? In terms of acting, Leo could definitely be your teacher."

"I think..." Maya stammered: "It’s not really necessary, is it?"

If she really asked, wouldn’t she be exposed? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Telling lies requires countless more lies to cover up, and for the first time, Maya felt a slight sense of helplessness for her opportunistic tactics.

"It’s just a discussion about acting. Many actors with good relationships exchange ideas. What’s wrong with that?"

After saying that, Ryan took Maya’s phone and sent a message. He was quick, and it was sent in just three seconds.

Maya didn’t intend to struggle any longer. At worst, she’d be scolded by Ryan, which she was used to anyway.

Ryan handed the phone back to Maya: "I don’t know if Leo’s working, so let’s wait... No, you can’t wait, Maya, you should look over the electronic document I sent you. The role of ’Jane Jennings’ is quite challenging. Take a good look at the character analysis."

Maya once again opened the document Ryan sent. Her eyes seemed glued to the screen, but she continued eating snacks without pause.

"Can you really concentrate while eating? You need to focus when you read."

Maya glanced at him briefly: "I’m not an ordinary person."

About ten minutes later, there still wasn’t a reply from Leo.

Ryan said: "Leo’s probably working. You should really go through this material."

Maya felt a sense of relief settling in her heart.

Ryan observed Maya: "The female lead of ’Mirror’ has a dual personality, and the characteristics of these two personalities are completely opposite. This means you need to interpret two different characters and reasonably merge their personalities. The acting is quite demanding."

"Another point is, as I mentioned before, the female lead Jane Jennings in ’Mirror’ is designed to be an average-looking person by appearance. Your appearance contradicts that, which means the score for visuals is not high for you, and the requirement for acting skills will be further increased."

Ryan’s gaze swept over Maya’s exquisitely beautiful face and halted for a second before he continued: "Your looks are too good, which sometimes isn’t a good thing. You must know that visual matching is very important, and being too standout in looks can actually limit your range of roles. In that case, the expectations for acting skills are very high."

Maya barely paid attention, nodding absent-mindedly.

"Perhaps you should put on makeup to make yourself look more like the character."

Maya didn’t want to move, refusing without thinking.

"I don’t want to!"

Ryan was not surprised by this response—after all, Maya was notorious for her love of beauty. She loved wearing jewelry and accessories all the time, and was unlikely to willingly make herself appear unattractive.

"Well, never mind, but you must perform well later. ’Mirror’ is a big-budget production, and Yvonne Hall has put a lot of effort into it. It has a great chance of winning awards."

Awards—this wasn’t the first time Maya heard Ryan say that, but all the awards went to the main character, Kiki Monroe, and what did that have to do with her, a mere side character?

Although she thought this way, Maya obediently nodded on the surface.

Suddenly, a notification sound rang; it was a message from Leo.