After the woman’s words, the atmosphere in the small balcony seemed to have become darker. Both Lily and Qin Yuanfeng had a solemn look on their face as they listened to Madam Luo.
“Did you try to do something to Lilian?” For some reason, this conversation was making Lily’s mind run rampant. Why does it seem that Madam Luo is showing some signs of fear? The way she described Lilian sounded as if Lilian hurt her. Was it because… Madam Luo was still bitter about her fiance leaving her for Lilian?
“Try?” the older woman reiterated the word. “Let me see… I didn’t actually touch her. If that’s what you wanted to know. But I did things… Embarrassing and sinful things to her. Of course… all of them failed. She had her knight in shining armor.”
“You mean my grandfather?”
“What? No! Fred was too timid. He could not protect Lilian! Plus he was no longer a prince and thus, his social standing was quite low as well.”
“A knight in shining armor other than my grandfather?”
“Yes. Yes… other than Fred.” A sweet smile bloomed in Madam Luo’s face. “What? Did you think that no one else liked your grandmother just because of her dominant personality?”
“…” To be honest, Lily really thought that no one else had liked her grandmother. But now that she thought about it. She really sounded silly and naive. Lilian was beautiful, brilliant and independent. She was headstrong and very motivated. How could men avoid her? Surely, someone out there must have liked her aside from her grandfather.
Bees would always get attracted to flowers.
“How silly.” Madam Luo laughed. “Ah… I never thought that you would actually think like this…” The smile in her face vanished again. “Wait… I have been talking to you for hours now but I can’t remember you introducing yourself. Did I forget your names again?”
“…” Again, Lily was speechless. How could Madam Luo remember everything that happened in the past when she could not even remember Lily? “I am Lilian’s granddaughter. My name is Lily.”
“Hah? Did she pick that name for you?” Madam Luo once again, strayed from the topic before laughing. “Ah… Lilian… how could you name your granddaughter after you?” She let out another laughter. “As always her skills in things like this are quite mediocre. Let me tell you something about Lilian. She looks really confident and reliable but she can’t really do most of the simple things around her. Unlike me… she was not trained in housework. Ahhh… this makes me wonder what Fred liked about her. She was a little pretty but… she was not really useful in the house. She was good at making money and being beautiful but aside from that she was mediocre at best.”
“…” Why did Lily feel as if the old woman was calling her out? Even Qin Yuanfeng cleared his throat when he heard Madam Luo’s words. Wasn’t this… a little too funny? Lilian and Lily were almost the same, ah! “Well… I believe my grandmother always said that there was no use in learning how to drive when she can pay people to drive for her while she thinks about her business.” Lily decided to come into her grandmother’s defense.
How could she let this woman disrespect the dead!?
“That really sounds like something Lilian would say.” Madam Luo nodded. “To be honest… I consider her as my enemy.” She sighed. “But I don’t think she even looked at me that way.”
Lily pursed her lips. Isn’t this one of the reasons why she wanted to talk to Madam Luo? A person who had been stalking you, who considers yourself as your enemy, would surely do their best to know everything about you.
“Aiyo… why am I even talking about this?” Madam Luo said before she hollered. “Claude… my pastries are still in the oven, take them out!”
“…”
“You asked him to get the velvet box.” Qin Yuanfeng said.
“I did?” Madam Luo widened her eyes. “Then don’t mind him. He won’t be able to find something that is not there. So… I am sure he won’t be back anytime soon.” She then shifted her gaze towards Lily. “Where was I? We were talking about Lilian, right?”
“Yes. You said something about a Knight in shining armor.”
“Oh! Yes… I remember… the butler in her mansion. I know he liked Lilian. That man… was not just Lilian’s butler, alright? He is an influential person. What was his name again? Let me think— Arthor? Tor… Tor something…”
“Victor.” Lily interrupted her.
“Yes! Victor! That scary looking man was in love with Lilian too! Back in the days. These men had fiancees and they had all left them for Lilian too! Wait… I know another person… he should be a rich man from France but I can’t seem to remember his name. I remember… he is extremely handsome too.”
Again, Lily was speechless. Why did it sound like they are talking about two different women? Was the old woman only hallucinating?
“You are making it sound like my grandmother loved collecting men.” Qin Yuanfeng chuckled.
“Collecting? No of course, she’s not!” Madam Luo glared at Qin Yuanfeng. “You are making it sound like she was a bad woman!”
Confused, Lily and Qin Yuanfeng eyed each other. Madam Luo was actually the one that was making Lilian look bad. Why was she glaring at them? They were only confused!
“Those men just flocked around her like bees. But she never turned to look at them!” Madam Luo said, her eyes full or passion. “Back then… I asked someone to help me scheme against Lilian.” She widened her eyes when she realized that she accidentally talked about something that could incriminate herself. “Heh, don’t look at me like that… I didn’t succeed alright.” And Lilian was her lifelong rival, it should be normal for them to schemed against each other no?
“So… you schemed against her but it didn’t succeed? Can you tell me more about it?” Lily asked.
“Oh… as long as you promise not to tell my grandson.” Madam Luo mischievously grinned.
