Joel and Nora were recognized as siblings in the eyes of the law, but in terms of blood relations, they were actually cousins. Although this meant that Peter and Mia were already a generation apart in blood relations, they were ultimately still second cousins. Therefore, they still couldn’t be together.
He knew that his parents didn’t care about such things. If he and Mia made up their minds to be together, even if they didn’t hold the actual wedding itself, his parents would still give them their blessings.
However, he knew that Mia loved kids, and people in consanguineous marriages easily produced children with deformities.
In that case, he’d rather suppress his feelings than end up causing Mia to regret her decision in the future.
She was only fifteen; she still had many more years ahead of her. Peter didn’t want to hold her back and cause her to have to pay for her folly in her youth after she grew up.
As the group chatted, Nora answered a phone call.
The caller was from the UK. There was faint anger in the Queen’s voice as she said, “Now Black Cat, that’s not quite nice of you. How can you snatch away all of our researchers?!”
Nora answered calmly, “… We didn’t ‘snatch’ them away—they came with me of their own accord.”
“…”
The Queen was well aware of this, of course, but no way was she going to admit to it.
She scoffed and said in a stuck-up manner, “You made me a laughingstock by snatching them away! No, I won’t take this lying down. You have to compensate me for my losses!”
By saying that, she was actually indirectly giving them the green light to leave.
Of course, even if she didn’t, Nora wouldn’t lack ways and means to take the researchers home, either. However, if she did, their journey home would certainly be a lot smoother.
“What kind of compensation do you want?” She asked.
“How about this? Have Alexander come over and keep Lucy company.”
The little princess was extremely fond of Cherry and often flew over to the United States to visit since she was little. The Queen had always turned a blind eye to her actions because she thought that it would be nice if her daughter had a close friend.
She had only brought up Alexander because she knew that Peter would be going home to take over the Hunts’ businesses. However, this meant that Alexander was free, wasn’t he? That was why she wanted him to keep her daughter company. Maybe she would have a chance of luring him to stay in the UK with the title of an earl or something in the future, who knows…?
The more the Queen thought about it, the more she found it a good deal.
After all, Alexander was the next King of the Imperial League!
It would be fantastic if she could get him to stay in the UK!
The Queen asked, “Isn’t he studying overseas right now? Have him come over and tutor Lucy a little and see if he can make her a star student. I’m not asking for too much, am I?”
“Not at all.”
Nora didn’t show the least bit of hesitation in selling her son out. However, she did set a condition. “But this means that you’ll give our organization the green light whenever we save people from the UK in the future, right?”
The Queen: “!!!”
“How many more are you planning to save?!”
Nora said, “Everyone who wants to go back to their homeland.”
The Queen was furious. “Don’t push your luck, Nora!”
Nora coughed and said, “I’m not pushing it that badly, am I? Well, if you’re not agreeable to it, then never mind.”
Even if the Queen didn’t give the green light, she would still be able to save the researchers anymore. Things would be a bit more troublesome and take up more of her sleep time, that’s all.
The Queen: “…”
The lip corners of the Queen, who could tell the underlying meaning of her words, couldn’t help but spasm a little.
A moment later, through gritted teeth, she finally said, “Fine, I agree to your condition! Have Alexander come over immediately!”
Then, she asked, “How’s Justin doing lately?”
When the Queen had first realized that Nora was Black Cat, she felt troubled and was caught in a dilemma for a while. But after that, she decided to accept reality—after all, she had already come to see Black Cat as a close friend.
She had even poured out a lot of her secret woes to Black Cat previously, so she couldn’t bear to suddenly lose her friend.
Therefore, from that point onward, she always went through Nora whenever she wanted to contact Justin.
The Queen had been in love with Justin and pestered him before, after all, so she decided to maintain a respectable distance from him.
Nora was very pleased with this.
Thus, whenever she asked after Justin during their chat, she didn’t mind letting him speak with the Queen. She handed the cell phone to Justin.
“Hello?” Justin said.
“Hello, Justin. How have you been?”
“I’m doing pretty well. Still as loving a couple with my wife as always; no arguments whatsoever.”
“…”
“Do you need anything else? Or do you want to hear about what we have been up to lately?”
“… Beep… beep… beep…”
Did he think that the Queen didn’t have a temper or what? Who would want to listen to him show off how loving a couple he was with his wife?!
Justin raised his brows and returned the cell phone to Nora. Then, he asked, “Can you bear to part with Xander, though?”
“No,” Nora answered, “But it’s not certain who’s ultimately going to go home with who just yet!”
Surprised, Justin asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well, Lucy’s pretty cute. Since her elder sister will be inheriting the throne, there’s not much point in her staying in the UK. She might as well come to the States, then.”
Justin: “????”
—
A few days later, the submarine finally arrived at a coastal area in the United States.
When the submarine emerged from the sea and docked, Morris’ men, whom Nora had contacted beforehand, were already waiting for them onshore. They would be escorting the researchers back to their hometowns.
United with their families, the researchers turned their heads back and gave Nora looks of gratitude.
“Any words for them, Mom?” Peter asked.
Nora: “?”
After a moment’s thought, she straightened her expression and only said one line: “Welcome home.”
