58 Won by Default

Beauty was unaware of the events that happened. She didn't even know that Clarence arrived. The latter, who was planning to surprise her, was instead nursing his sick cousin.

The event was scheduled after lunch. Beauty didn't leave her room since it was raining hard that morning, and the weather became colder than the usual. All the participants were wearing thick sweaters and socks as they moved toward the competition hall.

The hall was slightly foggy. The judges started to fire the burners, and the fog dissipated slowly. The show must go on whether the weather would agree with them or not—unless a storm would voluntarily interfere and cause a black-out.

There were eight separate make-shift kitchens in the hall right now, but only a stovetop was seen on each workstation. The ovens and other special types of equipment were placed at the side. All the eight semi-finalists stood in front of the judges. The rest of the participants were sitting in a place intended for them only.