"Rose, I challenge you. If you’re not good at chess, you can choose another talent," Alma confidently proposed. "I can play the piano, chess, and even do painting and calligraphy."
Alma, being the daughter of a wealthy family, had plenty of opportunities to hone her talents. Many around her secretly admired the shimmering aura she exuded. If they could, they’d love to have the same impressive background and talents—and be the object of others’ envy.
"Fine, chess it is," Rose reluctantly agreed. "One minute."
Alma was secretly delighted. She borrowed a chess set and graciously allowed Rose to make the first move.
"No need, I’ll give you a three-move advantage."
What?
Alma was insulted by Rose’s offer. She smiled and said, "That wouldn’t be fair, would it? Competition is about fairness. I’ll call you sis. Respecting the elders is a traditional virtue in Solterra. So please, make the first move."
Rose didn’t want to waste her breath arguing, so she made the first move.
Alma thought Rose was speechless in the face of her wit and felt even more triumphant. However, her smile didn’t last long as she watched the game progress.
It was supposed to be a simple game, but Rose maneuvered with such ease, leaving Alma at a disadvantage. Her pieces were continuously captured by Rose.
In less than a minute, the outcome was clear. Many of the onlookers who had just arrived saw the end of the game, with Rose as the winner.
Rose maintained her indifferent demeanor, as if winning or losing was a trivial matter to her.
But Alma sat before the chessboard, thunderstruck. She had believed she could maintain a lead for at least a minute. But now, looking at the disastrous state of the board, she was filled with shame and couldn’t utter a word.
How could this be?
How could Rose’s chess skills be so formidable?
It was one thing for her to be good at violin, but to also crush her at chess?
As Rose stood up, someone exclaimed, "It’s Professor Oswald!"
Professor Oswald had somehow appeared amongst the crowd. No one knew how long he’d been standing there watching. His warm smile and approving applause were directed at Rose.
"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I had no idea you were also skilled at chess. Who did you learn from?"
To win over Alma in both violin and chess was impressive.
Alma was equally talented in chess as she was in violin.
But instead of boasting about her mentor, Rose asked, "What brings you here, Professor Oswald?"
Instead of judging the competition, what brought him backstage?
"I wanted to add you on WhatsApp," Professor Oswald replied with a gentlemanly smile.
He had mentioned, while commenting on Rose’s violin performance, that if she ever changed her mind, she was welcome to seek him out at the Violin Association, or he could add her on WhatsApp.
He was serious!
As soon as Rose left the audience area, he followed!
Everyone was stunned by his actions. It was clear he was very fond of Rose and satisfied with her performance. He intended to take her as his student.
In front of so many people, Rose didn’t want to embarrass him. She took out her phone, opened her QR code, and handed it over.
After scanning her contact card, Professor Oswald said, "Added."
After accepting his request, Rose commented, "I have another team to coach for the competition. I won’t keep you, Professor."
"Very well," Professor Oswald nodded. "Feel free to reach out anytime."
As he walked past Alma, he didn’t spare her a glance.
He thought that by pretending not to see her, he could spare her the bruise on her ego.
But Alma misunderstood his good intentions and felt even more jealous and dissatisfied.
She felt that Professor Oswald was ignoring her and repeatedly showing favor to Rose, treating her as invisible.
Everyone else was gathering around Rose.
"Rose, you’re amazing! Not only are you good at violin, but your chess skills are also top-notch!"

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