CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER 163: TOWER

Seraphina Redgrave surrendered.

Ronan Yates was still jabbering on, but the principal had already started speaking about the previous art department’s final exam.

"Many people think art students are inherently inferior to those in academia, but I’ve never thought that way. Everyone has their strengths, and art students make a living with their own hands. How are they any worse than others?"

The principal’s tone was passionate: "Previously, during our art department’s exam, there appeared an exceptional painting! I can say that this painting is the best that Sovereign University has ever seen. In my view, it’s completely reasonable for it to win an international award!"

This was undoubtedly the highest praise the principal could give to an art student.

Coco, having heard this, was the first to clap, prompting his friends to be ready to applaud.

The principal praised the painting with words as sweet as honey, finally announcing the artist: "This painting is by Serena Lowell from The College of Arts’ art department, titled ’The Tower’!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ronan and his friends chanted the slogan they had prepared for Seraphina: "Sylvia, Sylvia! Master artist! Sylvia..."

After a few chants, they felt something was off.

Serena Lowell?

Ronan and his group’s voices slowly quieted down and they awkwardly sat down under the amused gaze of the crowd.

The students around them laughed gleefully.

Awkward silence.

Seraphina Redgrave looked up to the sky in silent frustration.

When will Ronan Yates ever give up this bizarre support?

"Why not Seraphina?"

Ronan didn’t feel embarrassed at all, only injustice.

In his eyes, Seraphina is the best!

How could Serena Lowell outshine her? It’s unreasonable!

Serena Lowell, sitting in front of Seraphina, was so excited by the principal’s words that she almost jumped up.

No problem.

She had covered her tracks well, Seraphina had no way to get revenge, and with the principal announcing this in front of the school staff and students, she could soon attract rich connections, leaving Seraphina no longer a threat.

Serena swallowed her excitement.

The great hall had a large screen that displayed the painting submitted by Serena.

The hall fell silent.

Not because of anything else, but simply because the painting was so captivating.

The entire painting was in shades of yellow.

And due to the varying depths of yellow, it depicted a lifelike pyramid.

At that moment, the perspective made the pyramid appear unstable, as if it might collapse.

Each layer of the tower featured figures with different expressions.

Some were crying, some laughing.

Some feasting, some eating scraps.

Some barely covered, others adorned in jewels.

Some madly running, some trying to climb the pyramid, while those above held a boulder, grinning maliciously as they aimed to crush them.

There were so many figures, with shared nondescript features, yet each with distinct emotions, shocking at a glance.

Staring at the painting, one could feel endless despair.

It seemed like the artist had poured a wealth of unspoken words into the painting, leading everyone to want to see more, to explore the artist’s thoughts.

Ronan Yates sat in his seat, no longer speaking highly of Seraphina, feeling chills on his arms, marveling: "Wow, Serena Lowell can create such a painting, I really underestimated her."

Even someone like him, who didn’t understand art well, felt shocked, not to mention the experts.

Truly impressive.

Serena Lowell couldn’t have painted this.

This artwork was from Seraphina Redgrave’s hand.

Seraphina looked at Serena standing before her, her smile growing colder. She had given Serena a chance this morning, but she didn’t treasure it.

Since Serena was asking for it, Seraphina would oblige.

The entire school staff and students were applauding Serena, who shyly took the stage.

Sitting in the front row, Selena Quinn looked at Serena and smiled warmly: "Serena, you’re amazing."

"Thank you."

Serena smiled bashfully.

Whether it was because of her joy, she felt dizzy. She had always been a supporting role in others’ lives, whether in front of Mia Redgrave or Selena Quinn, always just a foil.

Standing on stage, Serena took the principal’s handed microphone to discuss the concept behind her painting for the students’ learning.

She had prepared a long time for this.

Serena took a deep breath, wore a sweet smile, and faced the students: "Our topic this time was reflection, and initially, I didn’t know what to paint, so I went on a field trip..."

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but glance at Seraphina, wondering why she was unusually quiet today.

Did she already know there was no evidence and didn’t even dare to speak up?

Just as she was about to elaborate on her inspiration, the large screen’s painting disappeared, replaced by a video.

The video’s location appeared to be a classroom, with Seraphina Redgrave standing there, inspecting a painting identical to the one recently displayed. She placed it in a manila folder used for exams and wrote her name on it.

Suddenly, a noise came from outside, prompting Seraphina to curiously leave the room. That’s when Serena sneaked in, opened the folder where Seraphina stored the painting, seemingly intending to ruin it, but at the sight of it, her expression turned to shock.

The students in the hall erupted into a frenzy.

It felt like déjà vu from the day Jonathan Redgrave stepped down.

The school leaders were stunned, and Serena stiffly turned her head to witness the events from that night play out in the video.

Somehow, Seraphina had captured even Serena’s thrill and excitement with perfect clarity.

Serena was utterly dumbfounded, looking at the large screen, her body suddenly going limp, collapsing on the stage, causing the microphone to crash to the ground with a loud noise.

She had even created a simple replica, intending to use it to rebuff Seraphina’s accusations.

But who could have predicted that everything from that night had been recorded?

Seraphina had deliberately set this up!

Serena turned, desperately trying to see Seraphina, but found the lights were off in the auditorium, unable to see anything.

Seraphina sat in her seat, coldly laughed, thinking how foolish people were not to realize how advanced technology had become; such overt wrongdoing, she had exposed the little thief without much effort.

Ronan turned to Seraphina with a stupid expression of disbelief: "Seraphina, was this your painting?"

"Yes."

Seraphina answered casually.

"I knew it! Serena Lowell could never have this capability, damn it, she dared to steal Seraphina’s work!"

Ronan stood up ready to curse.

"Sit down."

Seraphina looked at Ronan indifferently, indicating this was just the appetizer; the main course was yet to come.

Ronan was still flustered with anger, unwilling to sit down.

The video on the large screen changed again:

"Have you ever been rejected because of your family background?"

"Have you ever been insulted because of your family background?"

"Do you know how others see you?"

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