The whole studio seemed frozen in time. Everybody had their heads turned to the girl with the microphone with wide eyes. She was staring at Cyrielle with a triumphant expression.

  ‘Now you’re gonna cry, right bitch ? Do as you always do, curl into a ball and choke ! It would make for some fantastic TV. You can thank me for having the whole world talk about you, even if it’s to say you are a miserable liar who loses her mind when someone raises their voices !’

  But contrary to her expectations, Cyrielle didn’t seem terrified. In fact, her face didn’t show a hint of surprise. She was staring back at her step-sister with her head tilted, as if reflective.

  ‘What’s happening ? Why isn’t she saying anything ?’

  Before she could speak in the microphone again, the security staff took it from her and dragged her towards the door of the studio. The girl couldn’t even fight back or open her mouth, she was shocked at Cyrielle’s expressionlessness. When she was finally gone, the audience seemed to wake up, whispering between themselves. The host was sweating. She didn’t react quickly enough to prevent the incident, and now she needed to say something. They were broadcasted live on TV, if they stopped the segment right now the whole world would go wild with theories and create another scandal. They needed to address this.

  She turned to the ever-so-elegant Cyrielle with a smile crooked by the tension.

  “That was something, right ? Do you know her ?”

  Cyrielle was still looking at the door from which her step-sister had exited, with her head tilted. After a while, she turned to the host.

  “I was wondering that too, since she spoke as if she knew me, but I can’t remember her at all.”

  Her calm demeanor was starting to rex the audience, who stopped whispering. The host too seemed to find her cool again, breaking into a comedic smile.

  “Maybe she wanted to get famous on TV by pretending to know you ? I mean, the part with the chicken poop was ridiculous !”

  But Cyrielle stayed serious, but a confident and elegant smile.

  “Oh, we did have chicken, even though I never went to their pen to step on poop. Fresh eggs free of any chemicals are always better than mass produced ones, right ? You have to be careful about what you eat.”

  She wanted to reveal a bit about herself, admit to being a countryside girl, but for some reason, the audience seemed to misunderstand and cpped. The host nodded.

  “Yes, if you have a big enough property, having chicken is a good idea. Nothing beats having good food ! I bet you had the most sumptuous meals with only local products growing up, right ?”

  Cyrielle raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Sumptuous meals ? No, I just told you that I grew up on a farm ! Well, I guess the part about local products is true…’

  She nodded and quickly changed the topic.

  “It would be too bad to end on a bad note. I brought my guitar, do you want to hear a song ?”

  ***

  On the way back, Cyrielle was looking through the window of the van, deep in thought. Next to her, Julie was grinding her teeth.

  “I can’t believe something like that happened on TV ! I almost had a heart attack when this girl suddenly decided to make a fuss ! Who is she, anyway ?”

  Cyrielle answered without turning her eyes from the ndscape.

  “My step-sister.”

  Julie stopped talking, her mouth agape, and Hugo was so surprised that he pressed the brake, making the vehicle stop violently. Thankfully, they were near Cyrielle’s home and the street was empty. They both turned to her with wide eyes.

  “What do you mean, your step-sister ? You didn’t react at all, I was sure you didn’t know her !”

  “Yes, and what’s up with your own sister calling you a bitch and trying to humiliate you on TV ?”

  Cyrielle took her time, collecting her thoughts while looking at the row of buildings outside. The fact that she wasn’t surprised was a lie. In fact, she almost fainted when she noticed the girl in the audience. But thanks to ‘nerves of steel’ and ‘refinement’, she managed to appear unshaken and reply calmly. The trauma never disappeared, it was simply offset by her gifts and abilities.

  She turned to her managers with a serious face.

  “Do you know the story of Cinderel ? She was happy with her father, but he remarried a woman who already had two children, and they started abusing her.”

  Julie’s eyes were about to pop out of her skull.

  “Wait, are you telling me you are Cinderel ? Your mother is still alive, so I guess they separated and your father remarried ? Is that girl one of the children of the new wife ?”

  Cyrielle slowly nodded. She could have kept all of it secret, as her mother had told her to, but now that this damned family had decided to appear in public, it was too te.

  The nice Hugo was turning red, and Julie became pale with rage.

  “What assholes ! It’s always like that in movies, a woman remarries saying she will be a real mother to the girl, but in fact she is after the money of the father and she abuses the daughter !”

  “Wait, what…?”

  “I know, you don’t need to tell me. They were the ones who brought you to the entertainment industry when you were younger because they wanted to take advantage of you, right ? And now that you escaped their clutches, they are getting jealous and want to bring you down.”

  “That’s not…”

  “Your father is in on it, right ? Otherwise you would be close to each other, but I know you are not. I guess the children copied their mother and hate you too. We won’t let them get to you ! I will start to investigate and prepare a file about them, in case they try something. Don’t worry, we got your back ! You are our beloved Mademoiselle Cyrielle, we will make sure to stop whatever they are plotting !”

  Hugo nodded enthusiastically at Julie’s words, and Cyrielle sighed in resignation. Was it another misunderstanding ? Well another one added to the pile wouldn’t make a difference.

  Once back at home, she id on her couch and looked at her phone. The group ‘Angel’s Horseboys’ was bustling, with new posts every second.

  -Who does this bitch think she is ?????

  ?looking for online fame 101

  -Is being dumb an epidemic, and why is it getting spread on TV ?

  -Did the show even do its job properly ? I can’t believe she was handed the mic, she looked so vicious from the beginning

  ?True, look at [12:47], you can see her smile. It’s creepy…

  -I love how our angel stayed calm in front of that nonsense, I would have spped her

  ?she really is an angel, she already forgave her sins

  -Insulting our angel face too face = 1000% worse than insulting online

  ?True, does someone know how she is ? I want to teach her a lesson…

  ??Stay calm, don’t attack her ! Remember, we must be the nicest community

  ???We need to do something ! It’s not a mean comment, it’s insulting Mademoiselle Cyrielle on a live broadcast and trying to humiliate her ! If she didn’t respond like she did, everybody would have mocked her !!!!!!

  ????+1

  ????+1

  -The whole incident aside, can we talk about how she said she shouldn’t be compared to other people because she has money and time ? I mean, when I see her doing all those awesome things I always feel bad about myself, but it’s nice that she reassures people like that

  ?Angel being an angel

  -I mean, the bitch is one thing, but am I the only one excited for the Neytlix deal????

  ?No, me too !!!! I speak french so I could watch it on MyTube, but it would be better if I could have subtitles in my own nguage !

  Thankfully, the initial shock was fading away and people seemed to focus more on the interview and her projects. Cyrielle sighed and put her phone in her pocket. Her hands were still slightly shaking, but she tried to ignore it.

  [You worked hard today, you should rest.]

  ‘Yes. The song with Manon Sarmer is coming along great, now she just sends me updates, I don’t have to go all the way to her studio except for the final recording. I don’t have anything urgent to do, I should rex.’

  She covered herself with a pid and turned on the TV. She nded on a famous talkshow.

  “I can’t believe that really happened.”

  “I know, right ! Honestly, answering the audience’s questions live is the most risky thing to do on TV. There are some nutcases everywhere !”

  “Do you think they should ban this type of segment ?”

  “I’m sure they will ! The channel will probably bme the host and fire her, or it will fall on the guy who casted the audience, but either way they will try to escape responsibility and apologize by removing this segment.”

  Cyrielle groaned and quickly turned off the TV.

  ‘I hope they won’t do that. The staff was nice, it wasn’t their fault…’

  She sighed again. This day was getting worse and worse. She couldn’t watch TV anymore, the events of today would surely be all over the news, so she put aside her pid and walked to her atelier.

  ‘I need something to distract myself. Got any idea ?’

  [You have the show jumping competition coming soon, don't you want to obtain at least the ‘Galop 3’ diploma ?]

  ‘Oh yeah, there was that ! I went around the rules because of who I am, but I’m supposed to be at least a ‘Rider Galop 2’ graduate to participate. I’m gd those diplomas can be obtained easily without going to school… The instructor can evaluate me, right ?’

  [Yes, according to my research, he needs to register you online to the federation, and note which domains you have mastered. If you complete the curriculum for a Galop, it will be validated and you will obtain the diploma.]

  ‘Nice !’

  She looked at her list of goals. If everything went well, next week she could work on two of them :

  -Win a rosette in horse jumping

  -Having 5 diplomas