Chapter 486: Chapter 486

Ella piped up, “Please return to your seats accordingly. Otherwise, I’ll show you the door.”

As the reporters thought about how important the press conference was, coupled with how fierce the ever-ready security guards looked, they did not dare to raise a ruckus and returned to their seats obediently.

However, a few of them continued to murmur among themselves.

When Rayna walked up the stage, the person in charge of Egret Scents, Marcelo, and the perfumer, Felipe Saunders, stood up immediately and shook her hand.

“Ms. Garland.”

Rayna smiled politely at them and said, “Thank you for making time to attend today’s event.”

“Please don’t mention it. It hasn’t been easy on us too,” Marcelo said. “Someone created an issue out of nothing and slandered us. Egret Scents was clearly the first company to launch the products. How on earth have we become the bad guy? We hope you can clarify the matter today, Ms. Garland.”

“Don’t worry.” Rayna smiled. “The reporters are here for one reason only, which is to reveal the truth as to why our perfume shares an identical scent as yours.”

Marcelo’s heart skipped a beat when he saw how confident Rayna was.

She must have discovered something, or else she wouldn’t have called for a press conference. I bet we’re going to get it rough today.

After sitting down, Marcelo asked Felipe discreetly, “Are you sure you were the one who formulated the perfume? You didn’t steal Glory’s idea?”

Felipe panicked, but he quickly kept calm and answered, “Yes, I formulated it myself.”

“Good.” Marcelo felt more assured upon hearing his reply. “Since we’re the first to launch the perfume, all we need to do is to insist that Glory plagiarized us.”

Felipe nodded. I’ve deleted the recipient records, so it’s impossible for Glory to have dirt on me. I’m sure the press conference is just a show.

Soon, Ella put the items requested by Rayna in front of her.

There were two bottles of perfume samples, several pieces of fragrance tester strips, and a document.

With one hand placed on the document, Rayna looked across the table and fixed her eyes on Felipe.

“Mr. Saunders, if you choose to tell the truth now, we can still reconcile, and Glory won’t pursue the matter any further.”

“What truth are you talking about?” Felipe chuckled. With both his arms folded across his chest, he side-eyed Rayna. “The truth is your company’s perfumer replicated my perfume, and you packaged it into a newly launched product.”

Rayna’s gaze darkened. She asked once more, “Mr. Saunders, aren’t you going to consider what I’ve just said?”

“Ms. Garland,” Marcelo interrupted rudely, “it is your company that stole our product. What do you think you’re doing? Are you forcing our perfumer to admit something he didn’t commit?”

All cameras stationed below the stage focused on the trio at once.

Every single word said was heard loud and clear.

A reporter queried, “Well, Ms. Garland, Egret Scents launched the perfume first. What other truth are you referring to?”

“Don’t tell us that your perfumer had the same idea as Egret Scents’ perfumer, and they both produced the same perfume. We won’t be fooled.”

“What are the odds?”

“Not two of the leaves growing from the same tree are identical. What more about perfumes?”

Once someone started commenting, the others began to chime in.

Instantly, the conference room was in an uproar.

When Rayna realized how stubborn the opposite party was, she was determined not to give in anymore.

With that, she picked up a bottle of perfume sample and sprayed it on the tester strip. Subsequently, she handed it over to Felipe.

“Mr. Saunders, if you were the one who created this bottle of perfume, I’m sure you’d know its ingredients, right?”

Felipe grimaced and scoffed, “What nonsense!”

“If so, please smell the tester strip and tell us what are they,” said Rayna.

Felipe glanced at her, wondering what trick she had up her sleeves.

Anyhow, he accepted the tester strip and lowered his head to sniff it.

A moment later, Felipe listed the ingredients he had identified.

Nodding, Rayna picked up another sample bottle and repeated the same actions.

Infuriated, Felipe bellowed, “Are you fooling me around, Ms. Garland? I created this perfume. How would I not know its ingredients?”

“I know, but I just need you to sniff it one more time.” Rayna smirked. “Please, Mr. Saunders.”

Felipe said nothing and took the strip with a scowl on his face.

He sniffed at it and realized it had a slightly different scent compared to the one he smelled before.

This particular one diffuses fast, and it gives out a very comforting scent. It smells like... the one I received from the delivery! It smells exactly the same!

As the daunting realization dawned on him, Felipe’s hand shook, causing him to nearly chuck the tester strip away.

Rayna noticed his actions and knew that he was able to distinguish the two scents, so he asked on purpose, “Mr. Saunders, do you think that this perfume smells the same as the previous one?”

“Yes. There’s no difference,” he responded.

I doubt Rayna is a perfumer herself. For a non-professional, she won’t be able to tell the difference. Moreover, I’ve only made changes to the base notes. Felipe was full of confidence.

He decided to lead the conversation. “Ms. Garland, theft is a serious crime. As long as Glory makes a sincere apology to me and Egret Scents, as well as retrieves your latest products in the market, we’ll consider the case closed.”

Rayna shook her head and smiled. “You’re a perfumer with an innate olfactory talent, but you couldn’t tell that some ingredients in these two perfume samples have been changed.”

“Ella,” she called upon her assistant. “Take these two perfumes and have the reporters smell them.”

“Sure, Ms. Garland.”

Felipe was startled for a moment before he maintained a calm composure again.

Glory has a professional perfumer. It’s nothing unusual that they could distinguish the differences in two perfumes.

Felipe said, “I knew you wouldn’t have asked me to smell the fragrances for no apparent reason. Actually, I did realize a change in the base notes of the sample perfume. Why do you bother doing all these? Are you trying to tell the reporters that the perfumes were formulated differently and that Glory did not plagiarize our idea?”

Felipe mistook Rayna’s silence for her feeling guilty. He approached her and went on, “I personally created this perfume, but your company stole my idea and replicated my product. Then, you made minimal changes to it and repackaged it as a new product. Come on, Ms. Garland, the noses of the public don’t lie.”

While Felipe was speaking, the reporters were busy comparing the two bottles of perfume.

None of them was a professional perfumer, so they could not tell if the ingredients used were the same. However, they could identify a slight difference between the two.

“The fragrance of the yellow tester strip smells nicer. The scent has a soothing effect.”

“I concur. The one from the blue tester strip isn’t very pleasant. It gives me a tight feeling in the chest.”

“The one from the yellow test strip is a product of our company, whereas the blue one was personally formulated by Mr.

Saunders.” Rayna turned to Felipe and repeated his words slowly. “Indeed, the noses of the public don’t lie.”

“Your company plagiarized—”