Chapter 61: Nathaniel to Noelle: Get Lost

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Nathaniel to Noelle: Get Lost

Hearing the piano teacher’s words, Chapman was already furious. However, since this was the instructor the master had hired for the young master, it wasn’t his place as a butler to say anything.

Just then, a soft, sweet voice rang out from the staircase. "Grandpa Chapman, is the piano teacher here? Please let him in."

Chapman recognized Young Mr. Sloan’s voice. No matter how indignant he felt, he could only turn to the piano teacher and say, "Please come in."

The piano teacher gave a cold harrumph. Walking into the piano room, he saw ’Christian’ already sitting obediently at the piano with his head bowed. At first glance, the boy looked incredibly easy to manipulate.

The piano teacher couldn’t help but feel that Noelle Lockwood had made a mountain out of a molehill. Still, seeing the young master of the Sloan family acting so respectfully toward him put the teacher in an excellent mood. After all, being the private tutor for Nathaniel Sloan’s only son was a huge bragging right.

The piano teacher puffed out his chest arrogantly. "Play the piece I taught you last month."

Zachery feigned obedience. "Okay, Mr. Miller."

The piano teacher immediately furrowed his brows, looking thoroughly displeased. "My last name is Young! How could you even get your teacher’s name wrong?!"

Zachery feigned astonishment. "Oh, did I remember it wrong? I’m so sorry, Mr. Young. But you can’t really blame me. After all, I was just born so~ stu~pid~"

A dead, awkward silence fell over the piano room. The piano teacher choked on his words. "You... you..."

"Don’t be mad, sir. I’ll play for you right now." Zachery closed his eyes and began mashing the keys at random. The resulting noise was completely tuneless and jarring to the ears. Let alone someone who had studied piano, even a complete beginner couldn’t have played something so atrocious.

The piano teacher once again struggled to catch his breath. "Christian Sloan! I told you to play properly! Are you trying to piss me off on purpose?!"

The only reason he had been allowed to stay at Imperial Crest and teach the young master was because Christian’s piano skills had previously shown improvement. Yet now, the boy was refusing to cooperate. What if Nathaniel Sloan thought he wasn’t teaching properly?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Terrified of losing this lucrative job, the piano teacher’s face contorted fiercely. "So young, yet so poorly behaved!"

Zachery blinked his eyes and threw his hands up in a helpless gesture. With an incredibly infuriating, sarcastic tone, he began to mock him:

"Sir, it’s really not that I’m not trying. I just can’t learn it. After all, you know I’m naturally stupid~

"Mr. Young, it must be so hard on you to teach such a dumb child. We really can’t afford a hotshot like you here. Why don’t you go find Chapman and settle your final paycheck?"

"You... have no respect for your teachers..." The piano teacher was practically dying of anger, his chest heaving violently.

Just then, a woman’s voice rang out from outside the piano room. Noelle Lockwood rushed in anxiously. "Mr. Young, please don’t be angry. Christian is just a bit mischievous. He has a rather eccentric temper, so please bear with him."

Feeling like he now had someone backing him up, the piano teacher’s tone grew tough. "Miss Noelle, I never wanted to take on this student in the first place. I only agreed to teach him a little because you begged me. But I never expected Young Mr. Sloan to be so hopelessly stubborn!"

Noelle bit her lip and said frantically, "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. It’s all my child’s fault. It’s not your fault that he can’t be taught."

After saying that, she turned her head, putting on a face that made it look like she was only acting in Christian’s best interest. "Christian, hurry over and apologize. You can’t keep being so willful. If you anger this teacher until he leaves, who else will be willing to teach you in the future?"

Only then did the piano teacher feel his mood lift. "Miss Noelle, you are the only reasonable one here."

Zachery narrowed his eyes.

"Is she the grandmaster of gaslighting?" he wondered. "She opens her mouth and immediately demands an apology. She hasn’t even figured out what happened, yet she wants the young master to apologize. How much injustice has the young master suffered in the past?"

Laura Jennings was following behind Noelle. So that was why she had a backer now. However, while the young master might have been bullied before, he, Zachery Lockwood, certainly wouldn’t be.

Zachery let out a cold chuckle. "Aunt Noelle, I don’t quite understand what you mean. Mr. Young can leave if he wants to. What do you mean by saying that no one else but him would be willing to come to Imperial Crest to teach me? How about I have Daddy go out and ask around?"

Noelle choked on her words. She thought to herself, "This little brat actually knows how to talk back now!"

"Christian, even if you can find another teacher, they won’t be as dedicated and devoted to you as Mr. Young..."

Zachery cut her off unceremoniously. "Dedicated and devoted to me? Does ’dedicated and devoted’ mean Mr. Young taking a six-figure salary from Daddy just to come to the house and teach me once a month? That’s way too easy of a buck to make!"

He had asked Chapman earlier and seen the payroll, which had instantly made him explode with anger. He wondered if his scumbag dad had a hole in his brain. Even if a hundred grand was just pocket change to him, giving it to a piano teacher with zero professional ethics who only worked two hours a month was simply not how money should be spent. And then there was this piano teacher. Taking the money without doing the work was bad enough, but he even had the nerve to constantly gaslight the young master!

Hearing this, the piano teacher was enraged beyond belief. "Miss Noelle, you heard him! Christian has had this attitude the whole time—how am I supposed to teach him?! As his teacher, it’s not asking too much for me to demand an apology, is it?!"

Noelle hurriedly placated him, her every word implicitly and explicitly blaming Christian. "Of course it’s not too much. Christian is in the wrong here, and I’ll definitely make him apologize to you. Auntie, wouldn’t you agree?"

Laura Jennings had arrived late and only heard Noelle apologizing profusely. Following normal logic, she assumed Christian had done something wrong—otherwise, why would Noelle act so submissive and humble? Thus, Laura also chimed in, "Christian, apologize. How can you be so disrespectful to your teacher?"

Zachery felt like his lungs were going to explode from rage.

He didn’t understand. Christian Sloan was clearly a young master born with a silver spoon in his mouth. So why did Noelle, as his biological mother, treat him this way? His status was noble and prestigious, yet in places no one could see, he suffered such grievances.

Zachery sneered, "No."

A flash of irritation crossed Noelle’s heart. Why was this little beast being so disobedient?! If he didn’t apologize, how was she supposed to spread the word about this incident and show off her ’hard work and great contributions’?

Noelle took a step forward and viciously pinched Zachery’s wrist. "Apologize this instant..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the door.

Noelle could tell that these were Nathaniel’s footsteps. She immediately put on a wronged expression, but Zachery wasn’t about to give her the chance to perform!

Zachery immediately threw himself onto the floor and began to wail at the top of his lungs, though without shedding a single genuine tear.

This sudden outburst of crying completely dumbfounded Noelle and Laura. For a long while, neither of them could process what was happening.

Nathaniel rushed into the piano room and scooped Zachery up into his arms, his heart trembling. "Christian!"

"WAAAH! Daddy! They’re all bullying me! Noelle even pinched me—it hurts so much!"

Zachery had used all his might to pinch his own wrist until it was red. Then, with teary eyes, he held it up to Nathaniel, not feeling the slightest bit guilty about framing her.

"Look, Daddy! Aunt Noelle pinched me here! She’s so mean!"

Nathaniel’s eyes were icy. "Didn’t I tell you to get the hell out?"

Noelle bit her lower lip and wept in grievance. "Nathaniel, I didn’t. Why would I pinch Christian? I just wanted him to stop being so mischievous and apologize to his teacher. And then... then he..."

"Were you just asking me to apologize? You were forcing me to admit that I’m naturally inferior!" Zachery said in disgust. "You’re the one who brought this piano teacher here. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re plotting!"