"Hold on!" Levin Sawyer’s voice rang out. "The child is just nodding and shaking her head, but Miss Sherman won’t translate a single word about *why*. That doesn’t seem right, does it?"
The bodyguard’s leg, which had been moving to strike the back of Sophia Shaw’s knees, froze in place. He looked toward the woman across from him.
The woman shouted, "What else could nodding and shaking her head be for? Anyone with half a brain can figure it out!"
"Stalling for ti is useless!"
Levin Sawyer looked toward Joanna Sherman.
Joanna Sherman kept her lips pressed into a thin line, silent.
To the onlookers, her silence seed like an act of rcy, a way to grant Sophia Shaw one last shred of dignity.
Others ca to persuade Levin Sawyer. "Young Master Sawyer, just drop it. Don’t drag this out and make things even more embarrassing."
"Miss Sherman is kindly trying to spare Miss Shaw so dignity. You should stop pushing for the bottom line."
"If we handle this now, the worst that can happen is Miss Shaw losing her position as director. But if you keep making a scene and the dia gets involved, the entire project will be scrapped. It’s not worth the risk."
Levin Sawyer smiled faintly, ignoring the others’ advice. He gave Joanna Sherman a dismissive look. "If Miss Sherman won’t translate, I will."
He held up his phone, and a conversation between an adult and a child suddenly played from it.
"Little one, would you like so at?"
"Yes."
"Good. As long as you listen carefully and honestly answer whatever I ask, I’ll give you the most delicious at."
"Okay."
"This lady here... she *didn’t* grab you, right?"
The crowd froze, rembering the girl nodding her head.
’So Joanna Sherman asked if she *didn’t* get grabbed?’
"This is a recording I just made. I ran it through a translation app."
Levin Sawyer tapped his screen, revealing the logo of a well-known translation app.
"I guess Miss Sherman forgot that translation software exists. Is that why you dared to pull such a stunt?"
Joanna Sherman’s face instantly froze!
’She just hadn’t expected Levin Sawyer to record it!’
’Is he a mind-reader?’
’How did he know what I was going to do?’
Levin Sawyer played the rest of the recording.
When it ca to the others, Joanna Sherman had changed the question, asking them if *they* had scratched the girl.
"No one lied, and yet soone was frad so thoroughly."
"Brilliant. Miss Sherman, you’re truly brilliant!"
Levin Sawyer gave her an exaggerated thumbs-up.
"I’m so impressed I could bow down and worship you. I suggest you give up on building rockets, Miss Sherman. You should start a masterclass on how to set people up. I guarantee it’ll be far more successful!"
Levin Sawyer was already disgusted with Joanna Sherman. Since she had dared to fra Sophia Shaw, he certainly wasn’t going to let her off the hook.
His words were like slaps, striking Joanna Sherman’s face one after another.
Any other person would have been so humiliated they’d want to find a hole to crawl into.
Yet in a flash, Joanna Sherman recovered her usual cold, aloof expression, as if his words weren’t directed at her at all.
Her lips pursed, she offered not a single word of explanation.
The woman had started to have doubts after hearing Levin Sawyer’s translation.
But Joanna Sherman’s composure made her second-guess herself. She abruptly dismissed her budding suspicion and retorted,
"Who knows if you tampered with it or changed sothing! I only trust what I saw with my own eyes!"
She brandished her phone. "Since she refuses to kneel, I’ll have to call the dia!"
At the ntion of the dia, the color drained from everyone’s faces.
This was big trouble.
Very big trouble.
"Ma’am."
Sophia Shaw, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up, addressing her.
"I won’t stop you from calling the dia. However, you could also try calling a friend who speaks Rovadan and ask this child yourself if I hard her."
Only then did the woman rember that her husband spoke the language. She quickly video-called him.
"Honey, quick, help ask Nannan..."
She quickly explained what had just happened.
"Nannan, co talk to Daddy."
On the video call, the girl began speaking with the man.
Joanna Sherman’s composure finally cracked. Her expression turned ugly as she interjected, "Sir, the child is very young. She doesn’t really know where she fell."
"She doesn’t know? Does that an you do? Did you see her fall?"
Joanna Sherman’s words were cut off.
She turned to see Sophia Shaw looking at her with a smirk.
’She had just spoken in Rovadan, and Sophia...’
Sophia Shaw walked up to the screen and began speaking politely and fluently in Rovadan with the man on the other end.
This sudden developnt left the crowd dumbfounded. No one had expected Sophia Shaw to be so fluent in Rovadan.
The two chattered away, and no one could understand what they were saying.
After a mont, the man began to comfort the little girl.
"Honey, what’s going on?" the woman asked, unable to wait any longer.
The man said, "Nannan was crying because this lady here didn’t give her the fish she wanted, only a stead bun."
"Oh, I see." The woman breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Then what about Nannan’s scrape...?"
"She scraped herself over by the stairs."
’So it happened because I wasn’t watching her carefully...’
The woman’s face flushed crimson with sha.
The man looked at Sophia Shaw through the video feed. "This lady is very knowledgeable about Rovadan customs. She knew our people cannot eat fish, which is why she only gave her the stead bun."
The truth was out!
The video call ended.
A brief silence fell.
"I’m so sorry. I misunderstood you." The woman walked up to Sophia Shaw and bowed deeply.
"It’s not your fault," Levin Sawyer answered for Sophia Shaw, his gaze pointedly on Joanna Sherman. "If anyone’s to bla, it’s certain people with twisted minds who took advantage of you."
His smile was particularly brazen.
He didn’t forget to exchange a aningful look with Sophia Shaw.
Seeing the two of them exchange a smile, Joanna Sherman felt a sharp sting, and her mind suddenly cleared with a jolt of realization!
’They tead up and played !’
’Sophia Shaw knew what I was discussing with the server from the very beginning, but she kept quiet and endured it.’
’While I was busy plotting against her, Sophia Shaw was watching like I was a clown!’
’They led into their trap, step by step, making lose face completely and turning into the biggest joke here!’
Joanna Sherman felt as if a sledgehamr had slamd into her chest, knocking the air from her lungs!
The woman, of course, now knew that Joanna Sherman had been up to no good.
But since Joanna hadn’t said a word throughout the confrontation, it was difficult to hold her accountable. The woman could only consider herself to have been played.
As she was leaving, she couldn’t resist saying, "So ladies look so righteous and glamorous on the outside, but are rotten to the core."
"Using a child like that... you’d better watch out. People like you never co to a good end!"
’If I didn’t say anything, wouldn’t the one who was truly wronged suffer an injustice?’
The woman shot Joanna Sherman a contemptuous look.
After apologizing to Sophia Shaw once more, she hurried away with her child.
The remark was devastating. The gazes of those around her now held a distinct lack of respect.
Those piercing stares tore the facade of nobility Joanna Sherman wore to shreds, leaving nothing behind!
Levin Sawyer intentionally showed off a few phrases in Rovadan, speaking loudly.
"Here’s a piece of advice for people who aren’t fluent in a foreign language: don’t show off, or you’ll just end up embarrassing yourself."
"French, German, Dutch... you na it, our Faye is a master. Her proficiency is at the highest level; you can’t tell them from her native tongue."
Levin Sawyer even pulled up a few international websites with videos of Sophia Shaw giving speeches in those very languages.
Curious, people began to pull up the videos.
Soone even insisted on testing Sophia Shaw’s oral proficiency, opening a special language assessnt app.
And sure enough: she tested at the highest level!
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