Someone said helplessly, “Ms. Whitaker, if you were talking about someone else, we’d all accept it, but you’re talking about Alaricka…”

“Frankly speaking, Ms. Whitaker didn’t need to care so much about Alaricka. We all knew what she did to you, so don’t make things hard on yourself.”

Roschelle lowered her eyelids, pressed her lips together and smiled softly. Her voice was low and a bit aggrieved: “I’m not upset, I’m just worried Alaricka would be unhappy.”

“Ms. Whitaker, you are still too kind and too naive.”

Roschelle pressed her lips together and didn’t argue anymore. Instead, she looked at Alarieka and mouthed something.

“Come on.”

Alarieka didn’t even look at her, just kept his eyes on Paloma on the stage.

Roschelle’s face froze, then she turned her head back, looking disappointed.

“I really wanted to ask, what was this Alarieka even showing off for? What was there to show off about?”

“Ms. Whitaker was already being so humble, who was she still putting on this act for?”

At the same time, Paloma’s voice came up.

Chapter 174

“Sixty-fourth place, which was the last one to make it to the finals in this preliminary round.”

“Just watch, it’s definitely not Alaricka, if it is, I’ll–”

Someone else asked excitedly, “About what?”

“I already made it to the semifinals. If Alaricka made it too, then I’d just quit.”

“Wow! Are you that sure?”

“Of course.”

Alarieka glanced at the person who was talking, her eyes light, showing no emotion on her face.

Paloma lifted her chin, gave the audience a sharp, serious look, and said in a deep voice, “What are you all arguing about? Quiet down.”

She put down the list in her hand and picked up the mic from the stand.

“I said many times, the Mcintosh Piano Competition had to make sure it was absolutely fair and just. This time, the preliminary results were also based on fairness and justice, and there wouldn’t be any changes. Same thing, we didn’t care where you came from, whose son or daughter you were, or if you had any connections. None of that worked at the Mcintosh Piano Competition. There was no back door here. But if you had any questions about the results, you already complained to the committee, and the committee and judges would give you a reasonable explanation.”

Alarieka knew the Mcintosh Piano Competition became such a high-level contest because the organizers and judges had never taken bribes. They really made it fair, just, and open.

Paloma sounded firm and confident, and Alarieka kind of had a feeling about the outcome.

The sixty-fourth place still hadn’t been announced, and the audience was getting a bit anxious, waiting in silence. Almost every pair of eyes there was on Paloma.

Paloma looked up and glanced at the last row of the audience.

Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe it was because everyone else just happened to avoid her, but in the end, only Alarieka sat in the last row, with no one else around her.

Paloma remembered the name she just saw on the list and smiled a little.

“Sixty-fourth place…”

Quite a few contestants stuck their heads out in the audience.

“Congrats, Alarieka!”

“Congrats to the players on the list above, the semifinals are coming up the day after tomorrow, so please get ready. For the others who were eliminated, don’t get discouraged, it was just one competition and didn’t represent all of your abilities. Go home and get some rest, you could sign up for the next Mcintosh Piano Competition. I was also looking forward to seeing you at the competition again.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the place went quiet.

Hearing this expected answer, Alarieka immediately felt the heavy weight in her heart lift.

She let out a long sigh of relief, and a relaxed smile appeared on her face.

Luckily, she didn’t mess up this time. Next time, she wouldn’t dare to play the wrong notes on purpose again.

As soon as Alarieka’s name came up, the audience seemed to get even quieter. Some people turned to look at Alaricka in disbelief, looking pretty upset.

Alarieka could tell that the most upset ones were the contestants who didn’t make it to the semifinals. That is, contestants whose overall scores were below hers.

A few seconds later, someone in the audience stood up and shouted angrily, “There must be something fishy going on!”

The man turned sideways, stared at Alarieka with wide eyes, pointed at her, and said angrily and clearly, “How could Alarieka possibly make it to the semifinals? With her level, there’s no way she could get in. I’m obviously better than her. Why did she get in and I didn’t? There must be something fishy going on!”

“I didn’t accept this result.”