?<strong>Chapter 436:</strong>
?? ?? ?? ?? ??
Though Mny knew little about art restoration, that didn’t matter. Her goal was to stir the pot. She had watched Allison, who had barely participated earlier, now poised to take the final steps. Mny was more interested in creating chaos than in the oue of the restoration. Whether Allison seeded or not wasn’t her concern; she just wanted to watch her rival squirm.
Her subtle attacks were carefully crafted: pushing forward meant greed, while stopping short signaled failure. No matter what Allison did, she would be painted as either overconfident or inadequate. That was Mny’s n all along—undermine Allison, making her aplishments seem hollow, as if they were only due to the experts’ help.
As soon as she finished speaking, the other experts couldn’t contain themselves.
“What do you mean? How dare you question Ms. rke’s expertise?!”
“Do you even know who you’re talking about? Ms. rke’s skills leave the rest of us in the dust!”
“Who even let her in here?” a third voice chimed in, followed by augh of disbelief. “Mr. Keanu Stevens hasn’t said a word about this, but here you are, already stirring up nonsense.”
Keanu, standing quietly off to the side, cleared his throat, his voice carrying the weight of authority. “I trust you, Allison. Do what you must. If it weren’t for you, this painting would have been ruined from the start.”
Ken, ever blunt and precise, added his own remark. “Ms. rke, proceed. Only a true professional can judge this work urately. As for some irrelevantmentary from fools…” His eyes flicked to Mny and Colton with a dismissive air. “Ignore it.”
The swift turn of the conversation left Mny and Colton visibly stunned. The room’s sharp rejection of their maniptions stung. Though they were seething on the inside, with Keanu firmly in Allison’s corner, they could do nothing but simmer in silence.
galnoν?ls is your update source
From the far end of the room, Louis watched with a bemused smile. The spectacle was unfolding better than he had hoped.
“Ms. rke,” he called out with anguid drawl, “Why not go ahead and show us what you’ve got? The technique of embedding one painting within another… it’s been lost to us for decades. If you manage to pull it off today, we’ll all be in for a treat.”
He leaned back, his arms crossed,pletely unconcerned. He wasn’t rooting for her sess — quite the opposite. He knew the method was notoriously difficult. Even Roderick, one of the finest restoration teams in the world, had failed to master it. No one had seeded in over ten years. He was betting on her failure.
Then a sudden snicker echoed in the room. “Some people just don’t realize there’s always someone better out there, so they get used to talking big.”
Allison remainedposed. The jabs, the skepticism, none of it fazed her. She scanned the faces in the room, taking in the mockery, the doubt, and even the quiet encouragement from those who had stayed neutral. She didn’t waste her energy on any of them.
She turned her attention solely to her team.
.
.
.