Burn the Marriage, Keep the Crown

Chapter 221

Serena didn't give it much thought and simply followed Abby into the recording hall.

Inside, aside from the production crew for *Antiquities Gambit*, there were only three others present-the contestants.

There were supposed to be five contestants in total.

Which meant one person hadn't arrived yet.

At Abby's direction, Serena took a seat beside the other three.

The contestants, sizing up Serena-so young, strikingly pretty, and hardly looking

like an antiques expert-immediately seemed less interested in her.

Just then, someone called out, "She's here, she's here! Miss Lynwood just arrived!"

At the sound of "Lynwood," Serena instinctively thought of one person.

She looked up and, sure enough, saw Cynthia Lynwood gliding in from the doorway. Serena's eyes flickered, but her face gave nothing away.

spotted Serena at once and strode over with infectious enthusiasm.

her hand, eager for a

took a step back,

moment grew tense. Awkward silence fell across the room as everyone exchanged

other! Well, let me do a quick introduction. This is Cynthia Lynwood-Miss Lynwood. She's an amateur collector, not exactly an expert in the field, but the

one who asks the questions everyone at

Cynthia's place on the show had been bought by a very generous sponsor. That was why Abby's

they'd wanted to replace Serena-after all, she was the only contestant without any

was only because Abby argued her case that Serena

contestants weren't naïve. Still, nobody minded a well-connected contestant-after all, who in their right mind would

forward

Except for Serena.

push the issue and

round man from the university's

silver-haired, bespectacled gentleman described

Fairchild, director of the

Serena's introduction for