Chapter 9 Not Your Usual Bumpkin!
Chapter Nine
“Why yes, it really does.” The chairman uttered in astonishment, as his mouth tightened with rage, “Are you saying this painting is fake?! After spending all that money, Eh?!”
Monica was flabbergasted, her poise shattered, “No father, don’t listen to her!” She screeched, her face convulsed with anger, “She’s only trying to make me lose face by saying grand words and twisting things around!”
Nathan stepped forward, holding his wife who was almost on the verge of tears, “Yes Father. Mother. Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet,” he glared at Aria, “It’s very possible that Aria is just making things up to make Monica look bad. A girl who grew up with pigs… how can she know anything about exquisite artworks from Carl Dubois?!”
“Shut up!” The chairman fired back, “How then do you explain all that she had said?”
“I have been interested in art works for a long time,” Aria said coolly, “I always watch TV shows and follow up on the news on the internet concerning things like this.” She glared back at Nathan, “The countryside is not the jungle!”
“You!…” Nathan started then stopped, choked by his own frustration and anger.
Monica was not letting her go so easily though, “So we should believe what you say because you picked up some few things on television, right?!” She screeched once more, “Do you think we are idiots?!”
That was true.
The Chairman and Madam turned to Elara, skepticism making their brows furrow.
Aria also realized that she did not have anything much to back up her claim. These people already view her as a country bumpkin.
If it was Elara Vaughn who was in the room and had declared this painting fake, they would have taken her word for it immediately.
The reason why she had been so adamant that the painting was fake was because she had the original one.
It was back at the Vaughn Mansion.
She sighed inwardly, “I really do wish I was in my original body. Then I would have brought the painting over and showed it to them.”
At that moment, her eye caught sight of the TV mounted on the wall where a live arts program was playing quietly in the background.
As if on cue, the host announced:
“And today, Kurt Eugene, the fiance of the late Elara Vaughn, has decided to release half of her estate to charity. Some of the artworks and antiques treasured by the late Elara Vaughn will be aunctioned off tonight and the proceeds given to charity. This is seen as a very selfless service to society as some of the artworks are very valuable, including the original “Dawn of The Immortal Wood,” painting by Carl Dubois…,”
A high-resolution image flashed on the screen.
The original painting sparkled, the light from the silver mist truly glowing, almost three-dimensional, as though it were alive.
And the signature glinted with the precise upward flick of the letter “D” in Dubois.
The room fell silent.
Everyone compared the screen to Monica’s painting, and back again to the screen.
Monica’s face drained of color.
The Chairman was furious. He pointed a shaky finger at Monica.
“Y…you…you actually bought the fake one!” He yelled in outrage, “All that money…gone for nothing!”
Monica jumped, cowering behind her husband in fear. “I’m so sorry, father!” She uttered, her eyes filling with tears but even at that she still glared at Elara.
“I’m so sorry, father!” She moaned in anguish, “I actually thought it was the original.”
“Yes father, please forgive her,” Nathan chipped in, smiling nervously, “Everyone makes mistakes and this was not even Monica’s fault. She was deceived by those friends of hers.”
“But she was so eager to put Aria down,” Madam Graves spoke up, looking sternly at Monica, “After all that boasting, you are here standing and crying like a coward. Both of you, I don’t want to hear anything from you from now on, do you understand me?”
Nathan and his wife had no choice but to bite their lips in anger, while bidding to Madam Graves command.
Aria looked at her parent in law and felt some kind of warmth spreading through her chest.
The fact that they stood up for her was actually making her touched. Although she could fare very well by herself, Aria was very grateful that she had their backs in the Graves family.
“If everyone in the Graves family had been against me, I really don’t know how I would have fared,” she thought to herself, smiling at the elderly couple. “But with this two by my side, I don’t need to worry about anything.”
The chairman and his wife held the most power in the Graves Empire. Nathan and Monica were just side players who would never become the real things.
“I just have to continue impressing them and making sure they know they’ve gotten a gem of a grand daughter, instead of a ring in a muddy pit,”
Indeed the Chairman and his wife were very much impressed by the way Aria had shut down both Monica and Nathan.
With what she’d just displayed, it would take a long time before Nathan and Monica think to harasss her again.
The Chairman and his wife were very pleased with the way Aria had handled it, and they nodded at each other satisfied, “Perhaps it looks like we’ve gotten ourselves a diamond in the rough.”
Madam Graves turned to Aria, “But how could you have known the real one at just a glance,” she asked in wonder, “That’s really remarkable.”
Aria shrugged, “Its something I have great interest in so I’ve been keeping updates on it,” she said effortlessly, giving Monica a mischievous look.
Her hand rested lightly on the forged canvas. “This one is a good imitation… but still just an imitation.”
Monica’s face paled with rage all the more and she felt like lunging at Aria.
“That’s enough,” she uttered through gritted teeth.
“Yes That’s enough.” Nathan chipped in, “What you had was just mere luck. Do not try to show off.”
But of course, she now had the Chairman and the Madam Graves at her back who were watching her with satisfaction.
Elara tilted her head compassionately, the perfect picture of grace.
“That’s the tragedy of the art world. Value isn’t in the price you pay,” Her eyes glimmered as she sighed wistfully but cruelly, “it’s in knowing what you’re looking at.”
Monica trembled but not a word escaped her.
In that moment, Aria appeared in a different light to them. The country bumpkin who stood before them with plain clothes, now had the devastating, quiet aura of the heiress that she truly was.