Chapter 228

She just stood under the stage for a while listening to Alaricka play, and also watched the judges' expressions. Based on her experience, she could tell that Alaricka didn’t play very well to begin with, and with someone causing trouble, Alaricka’s score was definitely low, so there was no way she could make it to the finals. There was contempt in her eyes, and a bit of sarcasm at the corners of her eyes. She even thought Alarieka could go head-to-head with her in the finals, but now it looked like she had overestimated Alaricka. Alarieka didn’t even have the right to go up against her, no skills, no luck.

Roschelle put her hand on Kieran’s arm. Kieran was holding his phone, looking at work stuff. He noticed Roschelle and turned his head a little.

“Huh?” His voice was low and rich, and this voice sounded even better. Roschelle’s heart skipped a beat again when she heard it, and her cheeks felt a little warm.

She said softly, “Let’s go comfort Alarieka later, okay? Something like this happened, Alaricka must feel bad too.”

Kieran didn’t look up from his phone screen: “Whatever you say.”

Marlene frowned and said, “Why comfort Alaricka? No need, just do…” Marlene grabbed Roschelle, trying to bring herself to not be harsh to her future daughter-in-law. “Did you forget what Alaricka did to you? If you do this, it would only make Alaricka push her luck, and she’d just get worse in the future. There’s no need to comfort her.”

Roschelle pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything, and she seemed a bit reluctant.

Marlene helplessly patted the back of her hand and said in a low voice, “You let Kier go comfort her, aren’t you afraid she’ll cling to Kier again? Don’t you know how Alarieka feels about Kier? You’re just so naive, you won’t even know if someone tricks you in the future.”

Roschelle lowered her head awkwardly, “Mrs. Argent…”

Marlene put her foot down: “Alright, I said that’s enough. None of you go looking for Alarieka. Stay here and leave her alone.”

Roschelle’s eyes flickered and she said softly, “Okay.”

When the discussion among the contestants below stopped and things got quiet again, Roschelle still hadn’t realized anything. Until it got so quiet around her, she heard Alarieka playing the piano.

After just a few seconds of listening, Roschelle’s expression changed a little. She was already recognized as a genius with perfect pitch, and her control and recognition of tones was something most people couldn’t match. It was exactly because of her perfect pitch that she could immediately notice the difference in the Alaricka piano piece.

Did I hear that right?

Roschelle turned her head, started breathing faster, and stared hard at the door to the performance room.

Did they switch someone?

How could Alaricka have that kind of skill?

Even she didn’t reach this level at Alarieka’s age.

Roschelle raised her wrist and glanced at her watch.

I was sure it hadn’t even been three minutes since Alarieka’s performance started, and her expression suddenly turned hard to read. According to the piece Alarieka played, three minutes definitely hadn’t passed yet, so that meant the one still playing now really was Alarieka.

But how was that possible?

How could Alarieka have that kind of skill?

“Rose, are you still not feeling well? Why do you look so pale? Do you want to go upstairs and rest for a bit? Anyway, you still had two or three hours before you went on, so there was enough time.” Suddenly, Marlene’s voice came from beside her ear. Roschelle pulled at the corner of her mouth and forced a smile.

“No, I wasn’t feeling unwell, I was just worried about Alaricka.”

Marlene looked at her with a helpless expression and patted the back of her hand: “You know, you treat her like this, but she won’t treat you the same way. Don’t be silly.”

Roschelle gave a stiff nod, counting it as a response. Actually, she didn’t really catch what Marlene was saying. Her ears were always listening to Alaricka’s playing, and her mind was a mess, so she just couldn’t take in what Marlene said.

Alaricka’s playing was just so good, so good it made her jealous, made her nervous. Roschelle thought in surprise, Alaricka’s talent on the piano might be even higher than mine.

Her hand was on her knee, slowly curling up, gripping the skirt on her knee.

“Still feeling bad?”

Kieran suddenly turned his head, his beautiful dark eyes focused on her cheek and eyes, his voice low and a bit gentle. Roschelle looked up, still a bit dazed.

She watched Kieran raise his hand and gently pat her curled-up hand, patiently repeating, “Still not feeling well?”