Reborn, She's Back for Revenge novel Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Edith spent the entire morning buried in test papers.

System: [Mission complete.]

[A qualified heiress always has her own little stash. Knowledge is wealth. Reward: $1,000.]

[A qualified heiress always has her own little stash. Knowledge is wealth. Reward: $1,600.J

Edith propped her chin on her hand, musing. ‘So passing gets me $300, scoring over 100 nets $1,000, and breaking 120 carns $1,600. Maybe a perfect score would get her $3,000?

She checked her bank app-$4,800 already, all from acing these tests. At first, just passing had seemed like a big deal. Now, scoring 100 was a walk in the park.

Edith then gathered the stack of finished papers and headed to Dan’s office.

Not bad at all—excellent, even!” Dan nodded, flipping through the papers. “You’ve got the basics down pat. Clearly, you’re putting in the work. These few wrong answers just need a different approach.”

[Host received sincere praise. Reward: Memory +1.]

[Host received sincere encouragement. Reward: Comprehension +1.]

Edith listened quietly as Dan went over the mistakes, and with each System ping, something clicked. When she glanced back at the wrong answers now, the errors jumped out at her like neon signs.

The morning flew by. By noon, Edith and Cathy headed to the cafeteria for lunch. But as soon as they walked in, a wave of strange stares and murmurs hit Edith.

That’s Edith. She’s screwed.”

She trussed with Noreen. She won’t last a week at Sunspire High School.”

4 Reed, and Edith’s a Lovett. Their backgrounds are practically identical.”

“No contest, Noreen’s the Reeds‘ golden girl–head–to–toe in designer labels. Edith? That coat screams clearance rack, and her kicks don’t even have a logo. Guess the Lovetts don’t care much about her.”

Edith acted like she hadn’t heard a word. She slid into a chair at the table, her eyes cold.

Cathy said carefully, “You might want to apologize to Noreen. Otherwise, those guys won’t let this go.”

Edith arched an eyebrow. “So you’re saying this is my fault?”

“Of course not!” Cathy shook her head. “The SAT’s only three months away. School’s getting harder by the day. I just don’t think it’s worth wasting time on Noreen and her crew.”

Edith smiled, “Let’s drop it. You know where the music hall is?”

At Sunspire High School, arts students were everywhere. The school had a whole building just for the arts. On the second floor, a community piano sat in the main hall–free to use if one signed the log.

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8:17 pm DD

Chapter 16

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Edith sat down at the piano. Her fingers hovered over the keys, but she froze. All those pieces she’d been drilled on as a kid had disappeared the moment the pressure lifted.

She stood up and wandered to a corner, where shelves overflowed with sheet music. She grabbed the simplest one she could find: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

“Edith, you gonna try that?” Cathy leaned in. “I know the song, but reading sheet music is a mystery. It’s like trying to read a foreign language.”

Before Cathy could finish, Edith had dropped the sheet music and slid back onto the piano bench. With her eyes shut, her fingers started flying over the keys.

Once more, she was stunned by her recall. She’d only looked at the music once, yet somehow the entire complicated piece. was locked in her mind. Now, a flawless melody flowed effortlessly from her hands.

System: [Mission complete. A proper heiress’s gotta master an instrument. Reward: Basic Piano Skills.]

Edith’s fingers froze. She hadn’t touched a piano since acing her Level 3 exam, and she had no clue what “basic” even meant

here.

System: [Basic Piano covers Levels 1-3. Elementary goes up to 6. Keep at it, and you’ll level up.]

“Whoa, Edith, you’re killing it,” Cathy exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement. “How’d you get so good?”

System: [Host earned genuine praise. Reward: Charm +1.]

Edith smiled. “Thanks. Honestly, I haven’t played in years, and I’m pretty rusty.”

“You can tell you’re a little out of practice, but the feeling is incredible,” Cathy said thoughtfully. “It’s a happy kids‘ song, but you played it… kinda sad. Brought up bad memories?”

Edith stared at the ground, her mind drifting to her mom, who was taken by a tragic accident in her early thirties.

On the Lovett Manor, oft piano music echoed through the halls.

the keys, her eyes shut tight as she worked through a tricky piece. When the final note faded, she lit up, proud as Six months of grind, and she was finally nailing it smoothly.

Juney forehead creased. “Hallie, your technique’s spot–on, but there’s no heart in it, which makes this beautiful piece sound bollow. Think about what the composer felt. Let the sadness and fire in the music hit you”

Hallie’s smile dropped like a stone.

When she was twelve and won the city piano contest, her mom begged June to take her as a student. June had crazy–high standards, and Hallie had practiced nonstop just to keep up. And it paid off: more awards, more attention, more everything.

“Why won’t June let up, insisting my performance lacked feeling? Why does music even need all that mushy stuff, anyway? The composer was some old guy–how’s a teenager like me supposed to get him? Hallic thought.

“This piece is solid for the contest, June said, her brow furrowed “Now drop the mechanical practice. I need you to dig into the music’s emotional core. Write me a report on what you feel every three days”

Hallie opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. She clenched her fists, feeling like June was just picking on

her.

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3:17 pmDD

Chapter 16

June noticed Hallie’s tensed hands and sighed. With no daughters and two sons who had zero interest in music, she was left. with no choice but to invest her musical hopes in Hallie.

Luckily, Hallie had a natural talent for piano and picked things up quickly. However, she struggled to convey genuine feeling through her music.

When she first started playing, technical precision was enough. But as she reached advanced levels, something changed. At national competitions, simply hitting the right notes wasn’t cutting it anymore. What mattered was her ability to make the audience feel something deep and authentic.

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