Chapter 17: Chapter 17

“What’s wrong… is there a bug?”

After being stunned for a long time, Jeanette finally asked a foolish question.

In her subconscious mind, it was inconceivable for her to have lost to Giselle. Therefore, she was still wallowing in denial despite how obvious the result was.

Hahaha, are you blaming a bug just because you lost?

What kind of excuse is that?

What sort of online streamer are you? Despite being in the top ten, why aren’t you even a little sporting?

Hahaha, this is hilarious.

It’s not a bug. It’s Mr. Simpson’s last-minute counterattack.

At that moment, the comments section was filled with sarcastic remarks, causing Jeanette to be utterly embarrassed. Despite her refusal to believe it, she couldn’t change reality.

“Ahem, I see… It appears that Gigi has won… Haha.”

Feeling humiliated, Jeanette had the urge to flee. She desperately tried to calm herself down.

“All right, what sort of ‘punishment’ do you have in mind for me, Gigi?”

Jeanette put on a pitiful expression as she spoke.

In response, Giselle wavered. She couldn’t bring herself to make life difficult for Jeanette. However, just before she said a word, she suddenly received a private message.

Mr. Simpson: Tell her that you will go with the audience’s opinion. After that, look out for my comment.

No matter what I say, you should just repeat it verbatim.

Hesitating for a split second, she opened her mouth to say something before deciding against it. After that, she typed on the keyboard to reply: Very well, I’ll do whatever you tell me to.

In response to Giselle’s coquettish tone, Casper smiled so widely that his eyes could not be seen.

“Damn it, Casper. What are you watching? Why do you look so lecherous? Let me see.”

Colton’s voice suddenly rang out; he was curious.

“Go away!” Casper glared at him.

“Sheesh, what a brute!” Colton mumbled as he backed off and returned to the game he was playing.

Turning back to the screen, Casper let out a mischievous smile.

I don’t care who you are, Jeanette. How dare you come and disturb Gigi? Prepare to suffer the consequences!

“What about it, Gigi? Have you figured out how to ‘punish’ me yet?” Jeanette asked.

“Hmm… I don’t really have any good ideas,” Giselle remarked, pretending to be deep in thought.

“Why don’t we do this… does the audience have any creative suggestions?”

The moment she asked, the comments section mushroomed with ideas. Some were fresh and strange while others were more conservative and boring.

“Remember to not be too harsh on our guest!”

Giselle cupped her face with her hands and pouted. In her mind, she was cursing Jeanette for how sly she had been.

At that moment, a comment in red sent by Casper appeared on the screen.

It read: I have an idea. Why don’t we get her to live stream without the beauty filter on? What does everyone think?

Hahaha, that’s a wonderful idea.

Sure. That’s Mr. Simpson for you. His idea is really interesting.

Brilliant! I’m all for it.

Turn it off! Turn it off!

Many in the audience liked that suggestion.

Casper asked: It seems everyone likes my idea. What do you think about it, Gigi?

“Erm… I’ll go along with what the majority prefers,” Giselle replied.

Although the losing side of the Popularity Contest had to do what the winner suggested, most winners would choose a harmless “punishment.”

Even if it was ill-intentioned, it wouldn’t impact the online streamer very much. At most, it would just end up being a good laugh for the audience. In certain situations, it might even increase the loser’s popularity.

However, Casper’s proposal would impact Jeanette significantly. It was something that online streamers would usually refrain from doing to each other.

That was why Casper didn’t want to share the idea with Giselle earlier and got her to read out his suggestion instead. He didn’t mind being the “bad guy”, and all Giselle needed to do was move things along.

That way, she could exact her revenge on Jeanette without shouldering the blame of being nasty.

Casper didn’t feel that he was going overboard with his idea. After all, it was Jeanette herself who started it.

“Huh? Why don’t we try something else?”

Feeling nervous, Jeanette’s expression drastically changed.

What? Is she regretting it now?

Come on, Jeanette. You have to be more sporting.

Can’t you take responsibility?

Where are your principles?

The moment she spoke, the comments section was filled with remarks that censured her.

Jeanette was exasperated. After all, she was now trapped between a rock and a hard place.

If she persisted in her refusal, no one could force her but she would forever be labeled as someone who didn’t keep her word.

Despite it being a trivial matter, it had the potential to be blown out of proportion by anyone with ill intentions. The impact on her reputation would then be extremely devastating.

“Very well, then…”

Jeanette agreed meekly after a long while. With her gloomy face on the brink of tears, she was overwhelmed with remorse.

Of all the things she did, she had to cause trouble for Giselle. And now, not only did she fail, but she also had to suffer the consequences.

Quick! Quick!

Stop dilly-dallying. Turn off the beauty filter.

A loser should be sporting. Quick.

Just as she hesitated, the comments section burst into activity with fans, including her own, piling pressure on her mercilessly.

When she saw the flood of comments, Jeanette realized that she had no other choice but to turn off the beauty filter.

At that moment, a face, which was covered with foundation and much larger than the one shown on the screen, emerged in front of everyone.

F*ck…

Damn it…

Disgusting…

Hahaha, who is this?

Ugly as hell.

How dare someone as ugly as you start a live stream and act cute on it?

All sorts of snide remarks crowded the comments section. Red in the face, Jeanette couldn’t help but tremble in anger.

She was especially devastated when she saw her own fans deriding her. Overwhelmed by emotions, tears welled up in her eyes to the extent she was on the brink of crying.

In truth, she wasn’t ugly at all and was even prettier than the average girl. However, given that she had positioned herself as a goddess to her fans, they were utterly disappointed when she lost the halo effect the beauty filter gave her. Hence, they now viewed her differently.

Such is the harsh reality.

Finally, after reading all the nasty comments, Jeanette could no longer contain her emotions. Bursting out in tears, she whimpered before quickly ending her live stream. The next moment, her screen turned black and was replaced by the words “offline.”

At that moment, Casper received a message from Giselle: This isn’t very nice…

He replied: She asked for it by coming over with ill intentions. I’m just giving her a taste of her own medicine.

Casper hated it when people dished out something they themselves could not handle, especially when the person about to be harmed was his precious goddess. There was no way he was going to tolerate it.

Giselle fell silent as she was cognizant that Casper was only exacting revenge on her behalf. However, she was still troubled by what happened to Jeanette.

Giselle: I know… but…

Staring at the screen, Casper sighed slightly. After pondering for a while, he replied to her: Ms. Clauder, I know you’re a kind person, but there’s no need for you to feel bad. Have you considered that her original intention was to humiliate you? Did it occur to you what the consequences would be if you were to lose the Popularity Contest? Ms. Clauder, you may pity her now, but who is going to pity you when you lose?

Giselle fell silent, but Casper wasn’t worried. After all, he knew she wouldn’t be able to put the incident behind her just because of a few words he said.

Their chat stopped at his last message. There was no further response.

After a long wait, he still didn’t get a reply from her.

“It appears I might have upset her,” Casper mumbled to himself.

With a wry smile, he shook his head and wondered if she would resent him for it.

However, he didn’t regret his actions. If he had to do it all over again, he would still have done it the same way.

I can’t just allow Giselle to be bullied, can I?

If I can’t even protect her, how could I have her as my future wife? Anyway, I should probably find an opportunity to apologize.

When he was about to put away his phone, he received a reply.

As if by reflex, Casper sprang up and sat with his back straight. Overjoyed, he quickly checked his phone.

It read: How do you know my surname is Clauder?

“F*ck…”

Breaking out in cold sweat, Casper was so shocked that he began to panic.

Given how excited he was earlier, he had forgotten to mind his words.

“Does she know it’s me? I hope not…” Casper reassured himself desperately.

Gulping incessantly, he kept recomposing his reply. However, no matter how hard he tried, whatever he could come up with just didn’t make sense.

“What am I going to do? Should I just be honest? But, she will kill me. Argh!”

Just as he was hesitating, Casper received another message: Thank you.

After being stunned for a long while, he finally heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

Before Casper could reply, Giselle sent another message: Don’t you want to see how I look like? What if I’m ugly?

By then, Giselle had ended the live stream and was curled up in her bed. Holding her phone, she looked at the latest messages she sent with mixed feelings. Even she found it strange that she would say something like that to someone she had never met before.

Ding Dong!

After a long while, she heard a notification sound and checked her phone.

The incoming message read: Even if you’re ugly, I like you just the same.

Thump… Thump…

Giselle’s eyes widened while her cheeks were flushed red. As her heart pounded furiously, she even felt a shortness of breath.

Suddenly, an indescribable emotion filled her heart.