Neville exined, "The announcement for this exhibition was only made two or


    three days ago, right after you decided toe to Aetheria. I thought it was strange, so I had my assistant look into it. He confirmed that everything was legitimate—all original works by famous artists. Since you rarely get to visit and you love art so much, I thought I''d bring you to see it."


    Ste moved to another painting. "The original of this piece is actually here... It was rumored to have been destroyed during a war and was never seen on the market. To think it''s been in a private collection all this time..."


    Ste continued to look at several other priceless, one-of-a-kind works.


    From what she could tell, every single painting was authentic.


    Many of them were masterpieces so valuable they couldn''t even be priced.


    No wonder that painting worth tens of billions was just sitting in a corner.


    Ste couldn''t help but ask, "Who on earth organized this exhibition? Where did they get so many priceless works? And... are they really willing to disy such valuable paintings? Aren''t they worried about theft?"


    Although Neville wasn''t an artist, he had a good eye for art.


    Looking at the paintings, he said, "To be able to disy so many valuable pieces at once... I''m afraid only the Gardner family could pull this off."


    Ste nced at him. "The Gardner family?"


    "Yes," Neville said. "Their wealth is beyond ordinary imagination. Even a top-tier family like the Williamses pales inparison. To the Gardners, money is just a number, the most meaningless thing."


    Ste subtly nced at Joshua and murmured, "If the Gardners are that wealthy,


    why have I so rarely heard of them?"


    was low. "Because


    Neville''s voice wa


    few people or families who get involved with the Gardnerse a good end. Unless a family is desperate, most would never


    willingly associate with theGel.not


    Of


    course, there are plenty of people who would risk their lives for money. So, the Gardners neverck for suitable candidates for husbands and wives."


    When Neville mentioned "husbands," Ste caught on to something.


    Ste asked, "Is it the same for the women in the Gardner family?"


    Neville nodded. "The Gardner women don''t marry out; their husbands marry into the family, just like the men. The women are also eligible topete for the headship, but due to physical limitations, there has only ever been one female head in the family''s history. That particr Gardner woman was brilliant in both skill and intellect. But in the end, her emotions were her downfall. She entrusted the other half of the family''s power to her husband. But her husband was an ambitious man who nearly seized control of the entire family. She ended up killing him with her own hands, but the whole affair left her severely weakened. Eventually, the next head of the family sessfully usurped her power."


    After hearing the story, Ste couldn''t help butment, "The Gardner family stories all sound so melodramatic."


    Neville agreed. "When you have that many people, you''re bound to have all sorts of strange incidents. You could easily publish a storybook about them."


    Ste asked quietly, "I heard from Grandma Connolly that the Gardners live short lives. Is it because they''re naturally short-lived, or... is it because of some inherent gic defect?"


    Neville replied, "There''s nothing particrly wrong with their bodies. The problem is with their minds. They''re all too brilliant. As the saying goes, there''s a fine line between genius and madness."