?Chapter 823:


    Time went by, and Mariana was almost through with her sketch. She smiled victoriously as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. She then turned to look at Maia.


    Maia had stopped painting again and had her eyes closed.<fn1181> Checktest chapters at find·novel</fn1181>


    Mariana, confused, wondered what this woman was doing.


    She wasn’t the only one bewildered by Maia’s actions. The judges, audience, and online viewers were all at a loss. Was Maia about to fall asleep again?


    Soon the murmurs began.


    “I thought this Maia knew her stuff, but now I’m disappointed.”


    “This isughable. Is Maia really the author of Rebirth? The mysterious painter Matias? Surely she’s a fraud.”


    “I think she realized the paint underneath hadn’t dried and just decided to give up.”


    Mariana smiled, feeling vindicated by thesements. She had thought Maia would be a formidable opponent, but it turned out she was just a fraud who didn’t even understand the basics of oil painting.


    What a shameless woman, iming to be Matias. Maia had even dared to make a bet with her!


    Mariana returned to her painting, a satisfied smile on her face. She had given thispetition her all. Her drawing of Kiley was very lifelike, with every detail perfectly executed. Mariana decided within herself to use the momentum from this painting duel to pave a new path for the Cooper family.


    Although her painting wasn’t yetplete, everyone waited with bated breath for its final touches. They all believed Mariana to be the best artist of their time.


    It was at this moment that Maia began to paint again. The din of the audience around her didn’t seem to bother her as she made her strokes. Maia’s steady hand continued to refine the portrait of the faceless woman’s features. It was as though, when she had her eyes closed, she had been trying to recall the details of the woman’s face.


    With each stroke, the ethereal beauty of the faceless woman gradually emerged. Though the portrait had a dreamlike quality, it still maintained its element of reality.


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    Maia then took out a t brush and began sweeping side to side. Within a few strokes, a veil materialized. The appearance of this veil transformed the previously blurred areas of the painting, turning its imperfections into perfection. The intery of light and shadows looked incredibly real.


    The painting revealed a beautiful woman dressed in silk and wearing a veil.


    When Maia applied her final touches, it looked like a real photograph. The way she painted the semi-transparent veil was so lifelike that it seemed as if a real piece of fabric had beenid across the canvas.


    One of the judges, amazed, rushed forward. He moved his hand over the surface of the painting with childlike awe.


    “How… how did you do it?”


    In all his years as an art judge, he had never seen anyone produce a work this realistic. The painting even rivaled the realism of the master painter Jordan Estrada, who was renowned for the extraordinary detail in his work.


    The crowd, too, looked on in amazement at the painting before them. They stared, dumbfounded, unable to believe that the once blurry image had suddenly transformed into a high-definition masterpiece.


    Maia, however, hadn’t stopped painting during that time. She added a few light strokes, giving the woman’s hair a realistic sheen.


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