“Celeste! What are you doing! I told you play, do you hear me! Do you want to
lose
to Nina Chen?!”
She didn’t want to… no, she couldn’t! She absolutely could not lose
Chen was meant to be her foil!
Chen!
She
was
born
to
win against Nina Chen! Nina
These strange, extreme thoughts suddenly flooded her mind.
Celeste felt as if her body was no longer her own. She was a puppet, controlled by some strange, external force. Her hands moved
to the piano-
“C–C–G–G–A–A–G…”
As the disjointed notes of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” filled the air, the entire ballroom fell silent.
When Celeste finished playing and her body was her own again, murmurs rippled through the crowd.
“Was that… ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star‘? Well… that’s nice, I guess.”
“For a one–year–old, just being able to read music and play is impressive. Not everyone can be a prodigy like the Chen girl.”
At that last phrase, Celeste’s parents snapped out of their stupor. They looked at their daughter as if they wanted to skin her alive, but they forced smiles onto their faces.
“Celeste was just warming up, right? Now that you’re warmed up, play something proper for everyone. Play that song you played for us the other day, Petrushka.”
On stage, Celeste’s face was as white as a sheet. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. Mrs. Torrence couldn’t bear to watch any longer. She stood up and said coldly to the Thornes, “If the child doesn’t like the piano and doesn’t have the talent for it, why are you forcing her?”
“No, Mom, Celeste really is talented. She played it for us the other day, I swear…”
“Petrushka, was it? Nina played that before she was even a month old. Now do you understand what real talent is?”
“What? She played a piece that difficult before she was a month old? Is she crazy or is the world crazy?”
“Everyone knows Celeste is the Torrences‘ unofficial adopted daughter. Mrs. Torrence has no reason to put down her own family to praise an outsider. So I think she’s telling the truth.”
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Chapter 2
16.00
The crowd continued to whisper, but on stage, Celeste turned to look at me, her eyes filled with a mixture of confusion, disbelief,
and resentment.
She didn’t know what she was confused or resentful about.
But I knew. Her protagonist halo had been stolen by me.
The piece she was supposed to play when she was ten, she had played before she was one, all because of my influence. But she
never dreamed that I would be even more of a grinder, completely blocking her path to musical genius before she was even potty-
trained.
But the most ridiculous part was the author. To create a cheap, impressive scene, the author had given her a one–time–use superp-
ower, and then didn’t even bother to explain it away. That was why she and her parents had such a huge disconnect in their unders-
tanding of her abilities.
They thought she was a real prodigy.
They only found out it was a disposable superpower after they’d used it.
www
www
a
I was the star of the birthday party. The only regret was that my cheap biological father hadn’t shown up, foiling my plan to pluck
few of his hairs for a DNA test.
I was still looking for an opportunity, but soon, Celeste’s mother handed it to me on
H
ww
a
silver platter.
After her humiliation at the party, she was, of course,
ping a close eye on her, and I soon noticed a change.
My mother was in love.
not going to let i
- go. And my mother was my only weakness. I had been kee-
According to her, her new boyfriend was a rich second–generation heir named Chang, whom she had met at the party. He was gent-
le, domineering, and generous, with a good education and family background. And he didn’t mind that she had a child.
I didn’t even need to see the chat logs to know it was a classic romance scam. But instead of exposing it, I asked her a question.
“The Torrence heir or this Mr. Chang. Which one do you choose?”
She didn’t hesitate. “The Torrences, of course.”
Good. At least her brain wasn’t completely fried.
“Then listen to me. Delete this Chang guy. I guarantee you’ll become Mrs. Torrence.”
The next morning, I was uncharacteristically distracted during my piano lesson and made a mistake. Afterwards, Aunt Aria gently
asked if something was on my mind.
I propped my chin on my hand and sighed. “My mom seems to be dating someone. He’s going to be my new dad. And he said that
girls who learn piano have no future, so I have to stop after today’s lesson.”
Aria was about to tell me not to worry about adult matters, but when she heard I had to stop playing, she panicked.
“Don’t listen to him, Nina! A genius like you was born for the piano!”
I knew I wasn’t born for the piano. I was born to take down the protagonist, Celeste,
I lowered my head, pretending to be sad. “But my mom listens to everything he says. She won’t listen to me anymore… unless I can find my real dad.”
Aria, seeing a glimmer of hope, didn’t even ask why I didn’t know who my father was. “That’s easy!” she said, plucking a hair from
1600
Chapter 2
my head.
16.00
“This is the age of big data. Finding a relative is just a matter of a DNA test. As long as your dad isn’t living in a cave or a wanted
criminal, we’ll find him in no time.”
I looked at her with starry, grateful eyes. “Thank you, teacher.”
You Torrences were the ones who took my hair and did the test. Don’t you dare say my mother and I are manipulative schemers
who deliberately got close to you.
That night, the Torrences came for me.
In my past life, I was eight when they found me. They had a daughter already, so their attitude towards me was as if they had cas-
ually brought home a stray cat.
But this time, the entire Torrence clan had turned out. They treated me like a precious treasure.
“I knew I had a connection with this child! The first time I saw her, I thought she looked like a Torrence! And she really is my grand-
daughter!”
“I never thought a musical genius like Nina would be my own niece! It must be my brother’s good genes.”
Alistair, my biological father, though this
our
first meeting since my rebirth, looked at me with a much gentler expression than
in my past life, thanks to the groundwork laid by Mrs. Torrence and Aria. Even the way he looked at my mother was filled with a
tender compassion.
