“Are you ready for the surprise?" Lilah inquired with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Absolutely," Gerard replied.

With that, Lilah swung her legs out of bed and positioned herself in front of Gerard. Drawing him close, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

"I'LL make sure you like the surprise," Lilah whispered playfully.

"I trust you," Gerard replied with a smile.

He reciprocated Lilah's kiss, losing himself in the moment until they were on the brink of complete immersion.

Arriving just in the nick of time, Lilah and Gerard nearly missed the commencement of the competition.

Amid the rush, Lilah smoothly handed her invitation to a staff member to register her arrival. As she did so, a familiar and unwelcome voice reached her ears.

"I didn't know you had such an interest in the finals," Karol sneered from not too far away, her voice dripping with disdain. “Heard you've taken on that failure from the perfume world. Why not hire someone actually talented for your company?"

Karol had kept an eye on Lilah's company since their last unpleasant parting.

She had reacted sharply when Lilah hired Trey.

Despite her outward scorn, Karol had been secretly unnerved for days.

Karol was well aware of the underhanded actions Milly had taken in the first round of the competition, even giving tacit approval to Milly's misconduct to drum up publicity for the competition.

She had initially feared that Lilah's decision to bring Trey on board was a strategic move aimed directly at her. However, as time passed without any aggressive moves from Lilah, Karol's anxiety had ebbed away, leading her to lower her guard slightly.

Lilah faced Karol squarely, her voice calm and unwavering. "I recruited Trey because he was misunderstood, and I believed in his potential. As the sponsor, weren't you aware of the controversy surrounding him?"

Karol flicked her hand dismissively, her tone haughty. "I don't have time to concern myself with such trifles."

Her eyes then darted to the invitation Lilah had placed on the tray. The colors distinguished contestants from the spectators, and Lilah's was clearly that of a competitor.

Realizing this, Karol's expression shifted; a contemptuous sneer crept over her face.

"You're a contestant too? Who gave you the invitation? Was it sent to you by mistake?" Karol mocked, her words dripping with disdain.

Despite the real names on the invitations, Karol had insisted on keeping the competition anonymous.

Once the creations were submitted, there was no way to tell which perfumer had crafted which fragrance.

The world of perfumers was cloaked in a certain mystique, with many shrouded in anonymity except for a select few who often appeared in the public eye.

For those like Karol, even participating in the competition offered no clarity on the identities of less visible perfumers such as Windy.

Lilah, known in the perfume circles as Windy, was indifferent about whether her secret identity would be revealed. Whether it came out at the start of the competition or at its conclusion, it held no real consequence for her.