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.

infectious

her hand, eager for a

step back, politely

across the room as everyone exchanged

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

asks the questions everyone at home is probably wondering

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

she was the only contestant without any powerful

because Abby argued her case that

weren't naïve. Still, nobody minded a well-connected contestant-after all, who in

forward

Except for Serena.

push the issue and moved on to introduce the

was Julian Sterling, a short, round man from the university's history

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

director of

saved Serena's