Chapter 3

There were three videos in total, and each one was only ten seconds long.

But that was enough.

My face was crystal clear, along with a man on a bed.

The key parts of the footage had been edited, but everyone could still see what was going on.

Next came page after page of hotel records, and every guest name was mine.

The banquet hall exploded.

“What is this?!”

“Oh my God, isn’t that Ava?”

“You’d never tell from the outside. She always acted so pure, but privately she’s actually this wild?”

“Ethan’s getting such a huge green hat!”

My mom shot up from her seat.

“This isn’t real! The video is fake!”

But no one listened.

Everyone was talking.

Everyone was taking photos.

Everyone was looking at me with that kind of gaze.

Disdainful.

Excited.

The kind that loves a scandal.

Lily stood onstage, looking innocent and panicked.

“How could this happen? Ms. Ava, are these from before? I... I didn’t know...”

As she spoke, her eyes turned red.

“I, I don’t know how this turned out like this... Is, is this really you?”

“I really didn’t mean it!”

She covered her mouth, tears falling.

She was acting so well.

Ethan’s face was already dark as thunder.

He turned to look at me.

There was anger, disappointment, and pain in his eyes.

“Ava, explain yourself!”

Exactly the same line as in my last life.

In my last life, I panicked.

I cried and said it wasn’t me, that the videos were fake.

But no one believed me.

Because the videos looked too real.

Because people only believe what they want to believe.

Because Lily cried even more miserably than I did.

This time, I didn’t panic.

“Explain what?”

My voice was very calm.

Ethan froze.

Everyone else froze too.

They probably thought I would cry, break down, and kneel on the floor begging Ethan to believe me.

But I didn’t.

I took the microphone and walked up to Lily.

“Lily, you said these videos weren’t made by you? Then how did they end up on your USB drive?”

“You said you had a surprise for me. Where did it go?”

Lily froze, clearly not expecting me to keep pressing her about the surprise.

“Those weren’t made by me. But Ava, even if it wasn’t me, don’t you still owe everyone an explanation for these videos?”

“Explain what?”

“With AI so advanced now, if you find a few videos and do a face swap, isn’t that just one command in ChatGPT?”

Some of the guests below were already catching on.

“Yeah, face swap AI stuff is everywhere now.”

Lily’s face went white for a second.

“Ms. Ava, what are you talking about? Isn’t that you?”

“Of course,” I said with a smile.

“Even if the original video wasn’t me, since my face was used, I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

“By the way, Lily, I’ve got a gift for you too.”

A flash of panic crossed Lily’s face.

“No need, no need. I, I didn’t help much today, and I even caused trouble for you and Ethan.”

“We can talk about gifts another time.”

As she spoke, she was about to step down from the stage.

But then I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to my side, whispering:

“That won’t do. This gift has to be witnessed by everyone to matter.”

I turned around and looked at everyone.

“Everyone, I want to show you something clearer.”

I took out my phone and tapped the screen-casting button.

The big screen suddenly went black for a second.

Then.

A new image appeared.