ter 178


    <b>Chapter 178 </b>


    Once she was sure Evangeline had regained her bnce, the robot retracted <b>its </b><b>arm </b>and resumed its ce behind her.


    Plenty of people in the room had witnessed the moment and couldn’t help gasping in surprise.


    Through the robot’s emotionless, ssy eyes, Evangeline caught a glimpse of her own reflection. For a brief instant, she saw herself as she’d been years ago–disheveled, lost, and vulnerable.


    So much time had passed, and yet, in this moment, she felt no different from the Evangeline of back then. Alone, with nobody at her side. Once again, she’d lost what she cared about most.


    The same frantic panic, the same sense of humiliation.


    Her fingers clenched tightly; her breaths came quick and shallow.


    From backstage, Glenn watched as reporters swarmed around her. He stood in silence for a moment, then strode forward without hesitation.


    But before he could reach her, Evangeline took two calm, steady steps toward the reporters. Her voice, cool and unshaken, rang out across the hall.


    “What I mean by ‘noment‘ is that I don’t owe you any answers to these pointless personal questions. This is UME’s new productunch, not a ce for you to pry into someone’s private life. If you really can’te up with anything meaningful to ask, maybe you should let someone else have the chance.”


    Her tone was even, but her wordsnded with undeniable force.


    She might seem unchanged from the Evangeline of years ago, yet everything about her was different now.


    Back then, she had no one to rely on. Now, she no longer needed anyone’s support.


    A hush fell over the crowd.


    Then someone in the audience called out, “Well said!”


    The spell broken, others quickly chimed in to stand up for her.


    “She’s a UME engineer. She’s here to do her job, not answer intrusive questions.”


    “If you’re so obsessed with people’s love lives, maybe you should be a gossip columnist instead of a reporter.”


    <b>21:08 </b>


    “My grandma’s ny and she’s not half as nosy as you. Why <b>do </b><b>you </b><b>have </b><b>to </b><b>keep </b>digging into someone’s personal life?”


    More voices echoed through the hall.


    The reporter who’d been questioning her clearly hadn’t expected the crowd <b>to </b><b>turn </b>on her. Her cheeks flushed as she tried to keep herposure. “These aren’t <b>just </bposure. “These aren’t <b>just </b>my questions–they’re what everyone wants to know.”


    “Nope, not me. I’m only interested in UME’s products,” someone called back.


    “Don’t kid yourself. You don’t speak for everyone. And she already said there’s nothing to talk about. You’re the one who keeps pushing, and now you’re hiding behind ‘the public‘ as an excuse.”


    Others joined in, one after another.


    Unable to save face, the reporter withdrew her microphone and slunk back into her seat, too embarrassed to say another word.


    Evangeline hadn’t expected anyone to defend her. Since marrying Soren, everyone around her knew he didn’t like her. Whenever she was criticized or mocked, most people were happy to pile on.


    After so long, she’d started to believe she really was in the wrong.


    Now, being defended by strangers felt strangely unfamiliar.


    With that reporter properly shut down, the rest of the press quickly backed off as


    well.


    Evangeline fielded a few more technical questions, and then the productunch officially came to a close.


    After leaving the stage, she checked her phone and saw her name trending


    ine.


    She figured it must be because of her sharp response to the reporter.


    Theunch event crowd had been handpicked by UME, but she knew the online audience would be different–there’d be people eager to criticize her and side with the reporter.


    She braced herself for bacsh.


    But when she clicked on the trending topic, she realized it wasn’t her words that had gone viral–it was a photo.