Chapter 852

Noah often stayed in hotels, indulging in drinking, smoking, and various perfumes and powders. This naturally dulled his sense of smell. Furthermore, his activities extended far beyond perfumery in recent years. He'd noticed the Perfumers' Society veering off course, observing the increasingly critical and accusatory online posts. Their perfume creations had also been lackluster for the past two years, mostly mediocre.

After some reflection, Noah found himself in agreement with Lily. He questioned himself, "Is this the desired outcome, the grand occasion I envisioned?" Regardless, as a member of the Perfumers' Society, he felt responsible for upholding its image. He calmed himself, sitting before his computer.

Opening Twitter, he drafted a statement. It emphasized a deliberate attempt to frame the Society, outlining their intention to pursue legal action to protect their rights and send cease-and-desist letters to individuals and accounts involved in the smear campaign. After proofreading, he emailed a Kingsland contact to print, officially stamp, and scan the statement. The process proved time-consuming.

With his finger poised over the "enter" key, Noah paused, a thought occurring to him. He closed the page and checked the current situation. He was stunned. His fingers froze, sweat beading on his brow. In a few short hours, Twitter was near collapse. The search function was disabled, login nearly impossible. After numerous attempts, he finally logged in, confronted by shocking keywords: "Lawrence Adler," "President of the Perfumers' Society," "Has lost his sense of smell."

Each word was a blow. Trembling, he clicked on a post, the detailed content unfolding before him. Lawrence Adler, the respected president and perfume referee, had lost his sense of smell years ago. He couldn't distinguish pleasant from unpleasant scents, let alone the nuances of individual fragrances. How could a man without a sense of smell judge perfumes professionally, much less lead the Society? He'd even judged several competitions in recent years. The thought, "If he'd lost his sense of smell, weren't those competitions pointless?" immediately trended. Adding fuel to the fire, former competition participants emerged, voicing complaints about past eliminations and their subsequent career impacts.