Francis' gaze clouded with distress.

He knew in his heart of hearts that Maria was the best candidate to play the role of the heroine.

Other than her superb acting and excellent musical knowledge, she was the author of Female Military Counselor herself. It went without saying that she had a better understanding of the characters and the story than Francis.

As long as Maria was an active part of the project, Francis had nothing to worry about and could sleep with ease after each day of filming.

Sarah's performance might be satisfactory by normal standards, but it was nowhere near as good as Maria's. Even so, Francis was already planning to give her a supporting role.

But before he could even arrange for her second audition, Sarah had gone ahead and made a mess of things.

Francis had been in the showbiz for so long, and could immediately recognize the malice behind the woman's actions.

As things stood, he was never going to give her a single role, for the simple reason that she was so determined to ruin Maria.

Francis made up his mind to never collaborate with Sarah in the future, not on Female Military Counselor, or any other film and television project.

Sarah had never imagined that things would turn out this way.

“Don't worry," Greta spoke up. "She can handle it."

Between Greta and Francis, she was more familiar with Maria.

Francis took comfort in her vote of confidence. After mulling about it some more, he finally nodded.

“Never mind about those matters. Get ready and call Claire back to audition as Princess Cheyenne later."

Meanwhile, Sarah wasn't done making a fuss over at the waiting area. She was hoping that all the commotion would get the judges' attention If they learned of Maria's horrible deeds, she would certainly be disqualified from the audition.

Unfortunately for Sarah, none of the judges seemed to care about her tirade.

With no better option in hand, she demanded a video recording of the audition for the staff.

This was a request that was easily fulfilled.

Soon enough, Sarah received the video file. In it, Maria was playing “Ambush on ALL Sides" with flourish, and the camera took several close-up shots of her face.

“How did I become a bad actress for playing a different version of the piece?"

Maria looked baffled, as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

She stared at Sarah for a couple of seconds before adding, “Are you insane?"

“You! How dare you?"

Sarah didn't expect Maria to remain unfazed.