The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 382

This year’s foreign language showcase was truly a dazzling display—there were kids performing in just about every language you could imagine.

Some of the children even chose rare, obscure tongues that barely anyone had heard of.

Still, German, French, and Spanish remained the perennial favorites among the crowd.

Language competitions are a different beast compared to the talent-heavy world of music contests. With enough time and sheer determination, even rote memorization could earn you a decent score.

If music competitions are a test of raw talent, then language contests are all about hard work.

Stella had to admit, the activities and courses organized by this elite private preschool were genuinely impressive. No wonder all these high-powered families fought to get their kids enrolled here.

That said, no matter how much effort went into preparing for a language competition, these children were still so young. Skill levels varied wildly, even among those who had clearly practiced. And then there was the stage fright—nerves could easily wipe a carefully memorized vocabulary list right out of a child’s mind.

To make matters worse, some of the parents coaching their kids didn’t have the best pronunciation themselves.

As a result, even the highest score among the earlier groups barely scraped an eighty-five.

Abby leaned over and whispered, “Star, do they always have this many judges for every event? Wow, more than half of them are foreigners!”

She made a quick headcount—there were over twenty judges sitting at the long table. Only five of them were actually responsible for scoring, but even those five were expected to listen to the opinions of the rest.

Stella remembered her days at Solmaris, watching privileged classmates mock the accents of students from other countries.

But today, Rachel and Keen’s flawless delivery and seamless recitation earned them a near-perfect score of ninety-eight. The only points they lost were for Keen’s slightly stiff stage presence—he’d never studied acting before, and this was more than just reading lines; they had to perform a short dramatic scene together.

The competition rolled on, and a few other pairs did stand out, but none came close—ninety-two was the next highest score, still far behind Rachel and Keen.

Mr. Burton stroked his beard and said, “Rachel’s really something, isn’t she? No one’s topped their score yet.”

Abby grinned. “Let her enjoy the spotlight for a few more minutes. She’s about to get knocked off her throne.”