The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Chapter 389

Chapter 388

"But your pronunciation just now was quite off. The correct way to say it is like this..."

Stella paused, then calmly repeated-in flawless French-the very words Franco had used moments ago to mock

her education.

Her voice was light and clear, every syllable crisp and precise, each word pronounced with textbook accuracy.

The entire room froze.

A second earlier, the crowd had been snickering along with Franco, treating Stella as the punchline of his joke.

Now, their laughter died on their lips, replaced by stunned silence and awkward, fixed expressions.

Franco's jaw twitched involuntarily, his face cycling rapidly from red to pale. No one had slapped him, yet his

cheeks burned as if he'd been struck.

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He'd spent his life immersed in languages, built his reputation as one of the most respected professors in the

field. Wherever he went, people addressed him as Dr. Franco without hesitation.

When it cto translating texts or academic research, he was second to none. Spoken language, however, was

a different story-his accent was always a bit rough around the edges. Still, among non-specialists and complete

beginners, he could easily hold his own.

Yet here he was, publicly humiliated by a housewife who hadn't worked in five years.

Franco desperately wanted to find sflaw in her grammar, sslip in her accent. But no matter how many

times he replayed her words in his mind, he couldn't find a single fault.

Wasn't this woman supposed to have barely finished secondary school? Wasn't she just a stay-at-hmom all

these years? How could her grammar be so refined, her accent so perfect? There was simply no way someone

with her background could speak French like that.

Down below, Keen stared up at his mother in disbelief, his eyes wide with shock.

He spoke three languages himself, French among them. He'd understood every word of the exchange between

Franco and his mom. When the judges started whispering about cheating, even Keen had begun to doubt her.

He'd never imagined his mother-who, as far as he knew, had never learned French could speak it at all, let alone

with such natural fluency. In fact, her French was smoother than that of the teacher hired to tutor him.

Rachel and Jasper were just as stunned.

Jasper frowned, grasping at straws. "She must be cheating-maybe someone's feeding her lines through an

earpiece or something."

For once, Callie spoke up on Stella's behalf. "Even if someone's prompting her, if she didn't know any French,

she'd never sound that natural. You can't fake that level of fluency just by repeating what you hear."

Rachel glanced at Haynes, lowering her voice. "Haynes, did you know Ms. Cameron could speak French?"

Haynes didn't answer. He just stared at his wife on stage, his expression unreadable.

He hadn't known she could play the violin. He hadn't known she could speak French, either.

Jasper tried another theory. "Maybe Stella picked it up in secret when the family hired Keen's French tutor?"

After Keen started talking, the O'Briens had brought in private teachers for him— multiple languages at once.

Haynes shrugged, his voice even. "Maybe."

It was the only explanation that made any sense.

Then, Keen spoke up, his voice small but insistent. "What if... Mom always knew French?"

Everyone turned toward him.

Jasper rolled his eyes, scoffing. "How could she? She barely finished high school there's no way she could know

French."