Burn the Marriage, Keep the Crown

The room fell utterly silent.

Everyone seemed taken aback by the sheer confidence radiating from Serena. In their minds, she was supposed to be the cheater-the one who should be nervous, maybe even scared. But that was far from the case.

A tense moment passed.

Finally, a man in his early forties, wearing a crisp dress shirt and glasses, stood up. He looked scholarly and composed.

"Miss Sullivan, I've looked over your answers. You seem to have quite a thorough knowledge of antiques from every era, is that right?"

Serena nodded. "Yes, that's correct."

"In that case, let me ask you something. Are you familiar with the Raven's Eye Templar chalice?"

She nodded again.

"Alright, then tell me how many of these chalices still exist in the world today?"

Serena answered without hesitation, "There's only one remaining. It left the Kingdom of Wessex in the late twelfth century, eventually became a treasure of the Tokugawa shogunate, and now it's housed in the National Museum of Ravenspire."

The man seemed stunned by how quickly she'd replied. His face darkened briefly, and, defeated, he sat back down, avoiding her gaze.

But before long, another audience member rose to her feet.

"That was too easy," she said, her tone challenging. This time it was a woman in

her thirties, eyes bright with determination. "Miss Sullivan, are you willing to take my question?"

Serena gestured politely. "Please, go ahead."

"I heard you work at the Antique Restoration Center. In that case, let me ask you something about restoration techniques." The woman sounded confident as she pressed on. When examining fine scratches on the surface of an antique, how do you accurately determine whether they're the result of natural use, or if they were accidentally left during restoration?"

A ripple of laughter and whispers ran through the crowd-this was a technical

question, not easily answered.

Serena didn't miss a beat. "That's

miss

actually quite simple. Scratches from regular use tend to follow natural patterns. For example, whèn someone wipes an object over the years, the marks usually runup and down, or in circular motions, depending on the movement. The depth and width of these scratches change gradually-usually starting shallow, deepening as pressure increases, then becoming shallow again. It's that subtle

shallow-deep-shallow pattern that gives it away."

The crowd's expressions shifted in unison, a look of sudden realization dawning on their faces.

It took a moment for them to process what had just happened.

Serena had answered two challenging questions in a row, smoothly and without a hint of hesitation. And today's questions were chosen at random-there was no way she could have known them in advance.

Could it be that everything the internet said about her was wrong? Did Serena actually have real knowledge and skill?

As the room hung in silence, an elderly man with snow-white hair slowly rose from his seat.

Though he was well into his seventies, his face bore a humble, gentle expression. "Hello, my name is Abelard Wilkes."

The moment he spoke, every eye in the room turned to him. Even Serena couldn't help looking at him in surprise.

Abelard Wilkes. The very first director of the Northspire Antique Restoration Center. The founding expert in bronze artifact restoration. The man who'd restored the legendary Sword of King Eadric.

No one had expected him to appear tonight.

When people glanced back at Serena, their eyes glimmered with a mix of anticipation and schadenfreude—now the real expert had arrived. The truth would come out.

"Mr. Wilkes," Serena replied, quickly regaining her composure and greeting him politely.noveldrama

He didn't waste time. "Here's my question," Abelard said, his voice steady. "I have an Ancient Roman jade piece made from a regional variety After running an X-ray fluorescence analysis, I discovered that it contains a trace element at a concentration far higher than any other artifact from the same period and material. What do you think could explain this anomaly?"