Chapter 199
Chapter 199:
Her eyes narrowed at the unusually high marks across the board.
Before Paola, contestant No. 33 — Novalee — had played. She had been emotional, but her technique was solid, and her original piece showed promise. Rylie recognized her as the woman she’d seen crying in the restroom earlier. Yet, the judges had given Novalee surprisingly low scores. Rylie, however, gave her the high mark she deserved, which only helped a little.
Paola’s performance, though lacking in both skill and emotion, received top marks from every judge.
This was far from the fair conduct expected at the Wesdown International Piano Competition. It was clear there was something fishy.
Rylie suddenly pushed back her chair. The loud scrape startled everyone, turning their heads her way.
“Mr. X. Aria, is something wrong p>
Through the voice changer in her mask, Rylie’s voice came out low and rough, like a man’s. “If this is how scores are decided, then I have no business judging here. I’m withdrawing from the Eshea division p>
Several judges turned pale and stood quickly. “Please, Mr. X. Aria, we don’t understand p>
Rylie cut them off coldly. “I didn’t expect the Wesdown International Piano Competition in Eshea to fall so far — where money and favors decide winners.” She slammed the scoring sheet onto the table. Her metallic mask glinted coldly under the light.
“For contestant No. 34, the third measure had an awkward transition. She missed three notes in the left-hand octave run and completely ignored the emotional cues on the score.” Her voice sounded icy and mechanical. “And this gets a 9.5? Are your ears broken? Or do you simply not know better? If you can’t recognize quality, how can you call yourselves judges p>
The room went quiet. One elderly judge wiped his forehead and said carefully, “Mr. X. Aria, her arrangement was strong, so p>
Rylie scoffed. “Arrangement? Contestant No. 33 had just as much skill. So why did you drag her score down? Is this how you treat talent? This competition is supposed to be about excellence. If this continues, I’ll have Ron remove the Eshea District from the list entirely next year p>
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Her words struck like thunder, leaving the judges in a panic.
The head of the Eshea division rushed in, sweat covering his face. “Mr. X. Aria! Please, let us explain p>
Rylie leaned against the table, her mask shining coldly. “Explain? Fine.” She pointed at the monitor. “Put up the videos of contestants No. 33 and 34 side by side. We’ll review them together p>
The staff quickly moved to obey. When the two performances played together, the difference was clear — Novalee’s playing was sharp and full of feeling, while Paola’s was messy, with poor rhythm and technique.
“This…” One of the judges who gave high scores turned ghostly pale.
Rylie looked at them, her eyes cold behind the mask. “Anything to say p>
The head of the division wiped his face, his voice shaky. “We’ll re-score both performances and ensure no bias in the next rounds. We promise fairness! Please, don’t withdraw. Don’t report this to Mr. Bentley. The Wesdown International Piano Competition is a hallowed event for all contestants in Eshea, and we cannot let our mistakes take away their opportunity to prove themselves p>