Austin was eager to show off his achievement for the past two days and perked up after seeing Lily now.“You’re early today. I thought you didn’t dare to return after succeeding one time by a fluke.” Austin clicked his tongue. “You have no idea, do you? I’m going to pull off what you’ve failed to do after researching for so long. I’ll surpass you in no time!”Lily did not bother to argue with him and was not interested in senseless comparisons like this. “Where’s Professor Thompson?”“It’s still so early. I think Professor Thompson should still be in bed.” Indeed, Austin had not seen the older man. More accurately, there were few people in the research institute so early in the morning. Besides the ones working the night shift, he believed that few were so dedicated and would work overnight like him.He glanced around himself and said, “Don’t change the subject! I know you surely don’t believe I can pull it off, but I’m going to show you my true capabilities using facts!”“You did
However, Lily went up and down but could not find Thompson. She stood before the elevator, thought about the secretive top floor that no one could enter, and looked up. The indicator showed that the elevator was moving down floor by floor until it stopped with a ding.The elevator doors opened, and the one inside was not Thompson but Mike. They were stunned to see each other in such a circumstance. Mike recovered first with a smile and greeted her casually, “Good morning.”“Morning.” Lily looked at him. “It’s still so early, Mr. Corden. Have you just come to work, or did you work overnight here?”“I…”Without waiting for his reply, Lily continued, “Either way, as the biggest shareholder, you’re truly dedicated, aren’t you?”The elevator doors started closing, and Mike held them open before stepping out. He looked at her and said, “Lily, we’re old friends. There’s no need to talk to me this way, is there?”“Okay. Since we’re old friends, I’d like to know why you’ve insisted on joi
“Yes, why?” Mike inquired innocently, spreading his arms.Lily was speechless.Balling her hands into fists, Lily curled her lips. “As you said, you’re a businessman, and you only care about if you can make money. I can’t answer this question, and you should consider why La Beauté Group would pull out of the project. Do you truly want to be involved in this?”Looking at her, Mike smiled without a word. His gaze was unfathomable, and his smile was just a front. There was no way to tell what he was thinking.Lily had no idea why he was doing this, but it was clear that he either did not want to tell her or could not.“Since you’ve come from upstairs, can you tell me if Professor Thomson is there?” She took a deep breath and changed the subject. She pointed her chin upward, knowing that the place was out of bounds for her.He followed the direction her chin was pointing, then nodded. “He should be coming down soon. He still has something to attend to.”“Besides Professor Thompson a
Mike was surprised. “As you said, even if I go over there, there is nothing I can do. He has his things to do, and I have mine. Since Professor Thompson is upstairs, he should be coming down soon. I’ll wait for him.” She turned and went downstairs. The grin on his face faded and his expression became serious as he stared after her. Shaking his head, he let out an almost inaudible sigh. Lily was indeed worried about Alexander, but she also knew it was of no use. Besides, she had a lot of work to do. Her son needed her, and if both of his parents were away, he most likely would not get used to it and would become scared. Entering the lab, Lily did not experiment. Instead, she sat down before the laptop to start sorting and compiling the data, starting with the ones she had gathered from her first experiment.She had sorted the data before, but it was a bit messy as she had done it separately for several groups. Now that she had put everything together, she saw that her most r
“Lily, don’t get so worked up. I’m asking you to take a break not because we don’t need you but because you’ve done a lot. With your success, I believe things will get easier from now on. You’ve undoubtedly contributed a great deal, and we’ll never write you off!”Thompson thought she was angry at being kicked out of the project and hurriedly explained. However, Lily just shook her head. “Professor, whether you’re keeping me here or not, you must stop the experiment. If you continue with it, it won’t bring any good to mankind.” “No, it will certainly bring changes!” Although he once doubted himself, Thompson was still hopeful about his initial idea. “I believe it would surely succeed, although we’re still at the experimental stage. Do you know that every success is built on countless failures? You pulled it off, didn’t you? “Did you know that your finished products got an anorexic child to eat something? We've just placed a pot of flowers by his bed, along with a few drops of es
“We’ve all worked hard for this. You have no right to delete the data!” Thompson wanted to grab the laptop from Lily, but he was no match for her. Their fight over the laptop drew others over.“Professor Thompson? What are you doing?”“Hurry, grab the laptop! She’s trying to destroy the lab data!” Thompson hurriedly asked the others to help.The others were hesitant at first, but after hearing what he had said, they charged over to help him. Lily noticed a lot of people swarming over and held up the laptop. Then she smashed it heavily on the floor with a thud.Everyone was stunned when they saw the laptop breaking into pieces. A dead silence ensued. They hardly knew how to react since they did not know what was happening.Everyone in the lab had looked up to Lily since Thompson had always asked them to listen to her. However, the two got into a fight, and Lily even smashed the laptop to destroy the data.“Y-You’re…” After about ten seconds of silence, Thompson sank to his knees a
“Austin, heed my advice. Don’t continue with the experiment.” Lily looked at him and continued, “I know you want to compete with me, but you don’t have to do it here. This experiment shouldn’t…”“Enough!” Austin cut her off and chuckled coldly. “Who do you think you are? Why do I want to compete with you? I think the experiment is meaningful and should continue. If you don’t want to do it, you can leave, and no one will stop you. Why destroy all the data? Who the hell do you think you are?”Lily did not know what to say. ‘It looks like I can’t convince them. Pig-headed people won’t listen to anything we say.’She walked over and stood before them. Staring at the stern-looking Austin and the grieving Thompson, she said blandly, “I’m nobody, but what I’ve destroyed is data I’ve personally gathered through the experiment. Since I created them, so what if I destroyed them myself?”She turned and left while others whispered among themselves, clueless of what happened and why Thompson an
"No, Aunt Tasia…" Galen pointed inside with his little finger."Lily, you're back!" Anastasia exclaimed with a smile. Although she was sitting at the dining table, it seemed she had not touched the food. It was evident that she had not started eating yet.Lily was a little surprised to see that. Usually, Anastasia would have almost finished her food by that time."What's wrong? Is today’s food not to your liking?" Lily was the one who had personally picked these dishes, avoiding the food that Anastasia did not like."No, it's not that!" Anastasia smiled slightly. "I just wanted to wait for you to come back so we can eat together.""Oh?" Lily looked at the different dishes in front of her. There were roasted chicken thighs with sauteed mushroom, steamed egg, steamed sea bass, and some salad. However, they looked a little cold. It was apparent that the maids had served them quite a while ago.Lily had informed the maids about Anastasia's meal time, so they prepared the food accordi
Lily tilted her head up to fight back her tears, saying, “There’s something I find strange.”“What is it?” Mike asked after comforting his son.“Instead of detaining Prince Ross, Her Majesty has sent him back to Yudonia. If so, why couldn’t we reach him?”After some thought, Mike answered, “There are two possibilities. It’s probably due to poor signals, or he doesn’t want us to contact him.”The two shared a look, knowing what each other was wondering.‘Why can’t we contact Ross? Is he planning something?’…Three days later, Lily inserted the last needle into the queen’s leg and looked up at her, saying, “You should start feeling your legs tomorrow. Still, it’ll take some time before you can stand.”Suddenly, Lily chuckled.“Why are you laughing?” Yasmin touched her legs. She had begun to regain sensation in her legs over the last two days. She then began to believe that she could get up. However, the queen was hesitant when the queen heard Lily chuckle.Lily shook her head
Lily straightened up and said without resentment, “Of course, you wouldn’t.”“That’s… quite a pity,” the queen murmured thoughtfully.“Well, there’s a price to pay for everything. That’s how the world balances itself,” Lily continued, “I can’t stop you if you must carry on with R10. Still, I won’t witness whether or not it succeeds. I just wish the outcome isn’t something you’ll regret.”Lily smiled and turned to head out the door.Rick heard their conversation as he stood guard outside. After exchanging looks with Lily as she brushed past him, he entered the room and saw the needles in Yasmin’s legs. “Your Majesty, those needles—”The queen waved dismissively. “It’s okay. Lily will remove them later.”Even so, Rick was wary. “You’re being too careless, Your Majesty. What if that woman—”“She wouldn’t,” Yasmin interjected, shaking her head."Why do you trust her so much?" Rick asked despite himself. The queen fell silent. If Rick had not asked her that, she would not have rea
Lily took out a cloth and unfolded it, revealing a row of silver needles inside. Yasmin was surprised she carried the needles with her.“Tell me. What do you want?” The queen took a deep breath to calm herself. She then reminded herself that she could always say no to Lily’s request. Still, Yasmin was cautious about Lily trying to trick her.Lily casually said, "I left because Prince Ross wanted to help me. I hope you don’t punish him.""That's it?" Yasmin thought she had misheard Lily. 'Is she trying to talk terms with me just so that I won't punish my son?' she wondered in disbelief."Ross is my son. I won't harm him. Don't you think you've wasted an opportunity by making such a request?" The queen shook her head. "I wasn’t sure if you’d blame him, but he did rescue me once. If I don't do anything, it would be ungrateful of me," Lily said gently, "Also, didn’t you already lock him up?"Yasmin was puzzled. "No, I only sent him back to Yudonia. He kept trying to get me to sto
"Three days," Lily replied.“That’s it?!” Yasmin was in disbelief. She thought Lily would try to buy some more time and suspected she would say the process would take several months or even years.‘I haven’t felt my legs for over a decade. I wouldn’t mind waiting for three more days.’“Are you sure I can get up and walk in just three days?” Yasmin pressed her legs hard but felt nothing. She would have treated her legs long ago if it were that easy.The queen had visited many famous doctors from various countries, but they could only stop her legs from getting weaker. However, Lily confidently told Yasmin that she could fix her legs so quickly.Yasmin wanted to believe it.After some consideration, Lily said, “I can’t guarantee that you’ll walk as fast as you once could. After all, you haven’t used your legs for a long time, and your muscles have atrophied. Still, you’ll recover slowly.”Yasmin nodded repeatedly, thinking it was good enough. She never dreamed of walking as well a
“Because only our opinions matter." Lily thought of something and said, "Unless you choose to believe Rhea.""I… don't trust anyone." Yasmin’s expression stiffened as she turned her wheelchair away."Your Majesty, I know you're dedicated to the experiment, but there are other things in life. Have you ever considered letting go of your burden to sightsee? You’ve done enough as a queen over the last few decades. Aren’t you tired of living a lonely life?”Lily gently spoke as she gazed at Yasmin’s back.The older woman caressed her knees with both hands and stared down at her legs, murmuring, “Sightsee, huh? I’ve forgotten what that’s like.”Yasmin had not used her legs for many years. Initially, she could still stand up and sometimes took a few steps. However, she could no longer get to her feet.She had grown accustomed to sitting in a wheelchair, but she felt a pang of sorrow after hearing Lily’s suggestion.Lily asked, “What if I can help you stand again? What if you can walk a
"Yes, I returned not just for him but also for you," Lily said, "I'm sure you were anxious for my return, weren't you?"Yasmin scoffed dismissively. "Why would I be? I have my bargaining chip. Besides, did you honestly think I couldn’t bring you back?""Bargaining chip? Do you mean Nick?" Lily shook her head with a smile. "Don't forget that he's not my son. Do you think he'll be much of a bargaining chip to you if I choose to ignore him for my three children?"She did not wait for Yasmin to reply and continued, "Besides, Nick still has a father who’s willing to die for him. If Mike decides to take drastic action against you— Yes, you're a queen, and you don't care much about an insignificant businessman.“However, don't forget that his business spans worldwide. There's no guarantee what he might do. Who knows, he might spread information that can affect Your Majesty and Yudonia's reputation?""You…" The queen was exasperated but could not retort.Lily noticed it and casually said
Rick could only remain silent at that moment.Yasmin then turned her wheelchair around and blandly said, “Bring Lily over. I’d like to see what excuses that sly woman can come up with.”"Your Majesty?" Rick was puzzled. "You know she'll just lie to you. Why must you—"Yasmin interjected, "I'd like to hear what she has to say."Rick had no choice but to leave and do as she said.As Lily was about to doze off, she heard noises from outside and opened her eyes. Immediately after, the door opened, and Rick appeared. He glared at her and spoke coldly, “Her Majesty wants to see you.”Lily glanced at Rick calmly and stood up as if she had expected his appearance. On the other hand, Mike rose before her and headed out.However, Rick stopped him as he reached the door. “You stay.”"But we came together!" Mike glanced over his shoulder at Lily, signaling her to persuade the man. Rick added, "The queen doesn’t wish to see you. Just stay here!"Lily patted Mike's shoulder and said gentl
Everyone was shocked when Lily returned to the embassy with Mike. One of the staff members quickly left to report the news to Queen Yasmin.Meanwhile, Lily saw people peering at her and Mike from the corner. Afterward, several guarded-looking men appeared. Lilt recognized them as the queen’s attendants. They brought Mike and Lily inside and then gave the duo a thorough search.The men only relaxed after finding nothing suspicious about the duo. Even so, Lily could not see the queen as the men told her to wait in an innermost room instead.After returning to the embassy, Lily felt a sense of strange familiarity. Although she knew the place well, her mindset had changed.She previously hated the embassy and simply wanted to escape. However, she had returned with a critical mission. Not only did she have to complete it, but she also needed to leave the place in one piece.While she was calm, Mike was somewhat anxious. He clasped his hands on his knees and glanced around as he sat dow
"I promise I'll do anything you want, okay?" Mike begged. He was desperate to see his son, so he decided to follow Lily when she insisted on returning to the embassy.Mike continued, “If any of you go with her, they might stop or suspect you. They won’t do that to me. It’s natural for me to want to see and rescue my son. I’m the best candidate because it makes sense for me to sacrifice myself for him.”After a short silence, Lily said, “You’re right.” She then looked at Alexander, who pondered before slowly raising his head and saying, “Me too.”Dominic tapped the table. "So do I."Cameron thought for a moment before saying, "I've no objections."Seeing this, Austin spread his arms and said, "Since you all agree, what else can I say? Let's do it!"It did not matter whether or not he agreed, but he just wanted to support Mike. The latter nodded and became emotional, saying, “Thanks, you guys!”"Why are you thanking us? Just be careful, and don’t be rash like you promised," Aust