I know where he's coming from. He wants nothing but the best for her. While she's happy she scored high. It's not high enough. Not by him. (Not saying she's not good enough, he's saying her ranks not good enough for her)
Bias is a pita and then some.

You've got it exactly! On top of that, he was raised to internalize these kinds of "near miss"es as a kind of...objective measure against his entire worth as a human being--and he desperately, desperately wants to protect Magritte from ever experiencing that feeling. He gets very defensive for her. She has a very joyful, optimistic relationship for her craft(music) that he'd protect with his whole life, if he could haha (his relationship to music has been a very abusive, exploitative thing that has ground him into an exhausted, jaded, anxious dust).

Aw, thank you so much!!

This is the wholesome family dynamic I need more of in my life.

They love each other so much Q vQ💕