The Scorned Heiress's Hidden Empire (by Jade Quinn) novel Chapter 61

“Eighteen.” Edward nodded, with a touch of nostalgia in his voice. “When I was eighteen, I was still arguing with my professors at the music academy, thought I ruled the world and wouldn’t listen to anyone.”

He paused, his gaze softening. “At eighteen, you already know what you don’t want in life. That’s something special.”

Nora looked at him in a daze, her eyes growing misty again.

“I don’t think you take things lightly,” Edward said. “In fact, I think you care so much about it that it weighs heavily on you. With that kind of mindset, I believe the choice I just made was the right one.”

Meanwhile, Natalie sat in the audience, her phone screen long since gone dark. She watched the stage with an indifferent

look, her face betraying no emotion.

Nora looked a little surprised at Edward’s words. “T–Thank you, Mr. Lopez.”

Edward clicked his tongue. “Still calling me that?”

Evelyn quickly jumped in. “Nora.”

Nora froze for a second and then corrected herself. “Thank you, Edward.”

Edward nodded, clearly pleased, saying, “That’s.better. We’ll make it official after my concert.”

“For now, just work on what I told you earlier, especially the improvisation. Every day, spend at least twenty minutes just messing around on the keys. Don’t worry about how it sounds. The goal is to break out of all those mental boxes,” he

noted.

“As for those four notes, next time I see you, I want to see at least eight different ways you can play with them.”

Nora nodded with determination. “Got it. I’ll practice like crazy. I won’t let you down, I promise.” Nora’s curiosity got the better of her. “By the way, Edward, what was that piece you played earlier?”

Edward paused for a moment, and then a gentle smile spread across his face.

“You mean ‘Tides‘? That was Natalie’s birthday present to me last month. She wrote it, and she even came up with the

title.”

Mora froze for a second. She instinctively turned to look at Natalie, and her admiration for Natalie grew even stronger inside her. ‘Natalie is amazing. No wonder Leonard publicly called her a once–in–a–century musical prodigy.‘

Natalie had already put her phone away and was walking up to the stage. “Is it over?”

Edward nodded, flashing a big, toothy grin. “My business with Nora is done. Now it’s time to talk about what piece you’re going to play for me during the concert intermission.”

Natalie gave a small smile and got straight to the point. “How many pieces do you want?”

Seeing how straightforward she was this time, Edward cleared his throat. “I’m not greedy. Just one piece for the intermission will do. Having such a mysterious musical prodigy as my guest will make my concert truly legendary”

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Edward grinned at her, his eyes twinkling with smug delight. “So, is that a yes?”

Natalie didn’t answer right away. She walked over to the piano and let her fingers glide lightly over the keys, producing a

few scattered notes.

Nora held her breath, her eyes fixed on Natalie’s back.

“So, what’s the theme?” Natalie asked.

Edward thought it over. “The second half is Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony. It’s pretty intense. We need something during the intermission to let everyone catch their breath, but it can’t be too light.”

He paused. “Why don’t you play something you wrote? Besides ‘Tides,‘ you’ve got other pieces.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

79%

65 vouchers

Since Natalie stayed silent, James quickly added, “One of our top plant scientists is in serious trouble. We need to find The Gardener, fast. No one’s been able to track them down. Not even us. Right now, you’re the only person we can ask.”

He paused briefly before continuing, “The patient is sixty–seven. She’s spent her entire career building one of the most comprehensive medicinal plant archives we have. Her team has identified seventeen previously undocumented species. Three of them are named after her.”

He added, “She’s not someone we can afford to lose.”

Natalie paused for a couple of seconds. “I can do it.”

James lit up with excitement. Now that Natalie had agreed, he was sure she’d find The Gardener. “Thank you. How much do you want? I’ll send it over right away.”

“No payment needed. I’m hanging up.

Natalie hung up and went straight to her keyboard, her fingers moving in a blur. Within seconds, she had pinpointed the source of the anonymous message, and it led straight to St. Alden Medical Center.

‘So it’s the same person James mentioned, Natalie realized. She quickly scanned through the message they’d sent.

Eleanor Whitmore was a sixty–seven–year–old plant scientist. While conducting field research near the southwestern border, she had contracted a rare fungal infection. The local hospital had been unable to treat her, and she had been transferred to St. Alden Medical Center.

After consulting with multiple specialists, the team had concluded that there had been only one known formulation that could potentially treat her condition. However, that formulation had been lost for years, and even if it could be reconstructed, the required materials would have been extremely difficult to obtain.

They had been aware that Evergarden possessed access to rare botanical materials and preserved formulations unavailable elsewhere, and that The Gardener was known for exceptional expertise in this field. For that reason, they had sought her involvement in the case.

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Chapter 62