My Great Escape Led Me to You novel Chapter 197

None of them noticed when Emily Blair quietly lowered her hand, her gaze cool as she watched their retreating backs.

From Emily’s perspective, she saw the young man and woman glance at each other, then suspiciously blow into their own palms, sniffing to check if their breath smelled bad.

A faintly mocking smile played at the corners of Emily’s lips.

Idiots.

A moment later, the judges finished tallying the scores. Arianna George walked on stage with the results in hand and took the microphone.

For both the preliminary and semi-final rounds, the rankings were always announced starting from first place.

As expected, Isabella Austin took first place in this preliminary round.

Emily Blair wasn’t surprised in the least. In her previous life, Isabella had plagiarized her piano piece, but even so, the girl had some genuine talent—just not enough to compose anything truly groundbreaking.

Besides, for this round Isabella had chosen a classic piece—her specialty. There was no way she’d make a mistake.

The moment Isabella’s name was called, the auditorium erupted in a burst of enthusiastic applause.

Isabella stood, her white gown accentuating her slender figure. She looked poised, radiant, every bit the star among her peers. Her smile was dazzling—a true standout.

In front of everyone, Isabella dipped her head and gave Andrew Lane a gentle smile.

She gathered her skirt gracefully and walked up to the stage, accepting the first-place certificate from Arianna George.

The audience responded with another wave of applause.

None of that interested Emily Blair much. What she really cared about was her own ranking.

She watched Isabella step down, then saw contestant after contestant called to the stage, yet her own name hadn’t been mentioned. Emily’s brow gradually knit in concern.

There were over a hundred participants in the Starlight Piano Competition. After this round, only about sixty would advance.

When they got to sixtieth place, Emily still hadn’t heard her name.

Her palms began to sweat.

Arianna George read out the sixty-third name. Still not Emily Blair.

Her face was growing pale.

Sixty-third place—second to last. That meant there was just one slot left for the next round.

Emily sat up straight, her dark eyes fixed calmly on Arianna George, betraying not a hint of nervousness.

Maybe only Emily herself knew just how tense she really was. Her palms were slick with sweat, so much that she could barely keep her hands steady.

People all around were turning to look at her, snickering under their breath.

“I told you, Emily Blair was never going to make it to the next round. Some of you thought she had a chance—well? Was I right or what?”

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