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.

and strode over with infectious enthusiasm.

her hand, eager

step back, politely dodging

grew tense. Awkward silence fell across

unfold, had no idea what kind of history these two shared. Doing her best to smooth things over, she quickly said, "Wow, I had no idea you two actually knew each 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

who asks the questions

very generous sponsor. That was why Abby's boss had come rushing in with last-minute changes the

Serena-after all, she was the

her case that

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

them stepped forward to shake

Except for Serena.

and moved on

Sterling, a short, round

Tobias Hart—a silver-haired, bespectacled gentleman described as

director of

Serena's introduction