Meanwhile, Lily and Zhou Jingren were not aware of Harringfort’s thoughts. Madam Luo was still unconscious so the couple had decided to keep Claude while waiting for Madam Luo to wake up. The doctor had clearly said that she might not survive the stab but Lily was still hopeful about it. Hence, Lily decided to talk to Claude again.
“What— what do you mean?” he asked, frowning. “You— Are you saying that you lied to me? Everything was a lie?”
Lily pursed her lips in response before she slowly nodded. This reaction was already expected. After all, she had psychologically tortured the young man just to get what she wanted. At the end of the day, Lily was aware that she was in the wrong.
But in her book, the wrong and the right usually depends on the societal norms that each person was used to. What could be wrong in others’ books, could be right in Lily’s book. So she had no reason to justify her actions.
“You— Does that mean you didn’t find her? What is happening? I already told you everything that I know! I didn’t hide anything from you!” He stood, wide eyed as he looked at Lily’s calm expression. “You are indeed a despicable woman.”
“I’ve been called worse.” Again, she smiled. “Your grandmother is alive. We didn’t touch her. That night, she sent me a message. She wanted to see me. Then… some people followed her and tried to kill her.”
“So you— you and Zhou Jingren didn’t come here to kill her?”
Lily shook her head. “Before the banquet, I didn’t even know her.”
“Then… then why did you save her?” After a few hours of deliberation, Claude actually thought that prolonging his grandmother’s life only meant more suffering for her. As much as he wanted to make her happy, Claude was also logical enough to know that his grandmother’s death could end her suffering. To Claude, that was much better than any torture she might suffer in the hands of the people who wanted to obtain whatever information that she had.
Just one look at the young man’s expression and Lily immediately knew what he was thinking. “You think… killing her would solve everything? Aren’t you afraid that they come after you and your family next?”
“They know that my mother and father rarely visited us in the past few months. They might kill me. But that would be the end of everything.” He avoided Lily’s gaze. Why would he care about death? He was originally a bastard. The product of a sin. His life was meaningless. It was full of secrets— something that he was so tired of dealing with. He gulped and lowered his head.
Surprisingly, the conclusion that he had come up after the second time that Lily talked to him, didn’t give him as much heartache as the previous ones. “I think… you should kill my grandmother. Let her die in peace.” His voice trembled. What kind of grandson would even suggest killing their grandparents? The worst one, he answered his own question.
Lily only stared at the young man in response. It was obvious that the manipulation that she done earlier had taken a toll on the young man’s mental health. She didn’t expect this to happen. However, Claude was still young. It was also normal for him to easily get influenced by the people around him. “Your grandmother loves you.” Lily smiled. “She knows that people will try to kill her. So she left the house and decided to gamble, hoping that they would not hurt you once she died. It was a desperate attempt to save you.”
Claude raised his head, tears streamed down his cheeks like an unstoppable river. His lower lips trembled. For a few seconds he remembered his grandmother’s cookies. Then her laughter, when he realized that he actually pranked him into eating some spicy cookies. She was laughing so hard she almost fell on her seat. “How do you know that?”
“Because that is exactly what I would do if I was in her shoes.” A sad smile slithered on to Lily’s lips. “My own grandmother died a few months back. I know you are aware of that. But… we never had the type of relationship that you had with Madam Luo.”
Claude nodded but decided to change the topic. All those memories that started to swirl in his head was enough to drown him with sadness. “Once my grandmother wakes up… what are you planning to do? You know that we can’t run forever.”
“They will not attack this place.” Lily answered. “I am confident of that.” She then let out a long sigh. “Your grandmother… might not survive the stab wound. Even if she does… she will only have a few months to live. The doctors said the knife damaged some internal organs and because of her age, she might not recover from the injury.”
“So… your people…”
“We arrived late because… I was not really sure if we got the correct location. The note that I received said that she wanted to meet me in the park. But… I figured that it would not be possible for her to walk that far given the current weather. So… I thought it should be somewhere near your house. When we spotted some suspicious people in the park, we immediately went to the market. It took me a while to analyze everything. Because of that… I was not able to save her.”
“You don’t have to blame yourself.”
“Oh! I am not blaming myself.” Lily replied. “I only wanted to let you know that I intended to save her from the start, but because of some spies I was delayed. I was blaming those spies.” She added. “So I decided to hunt them down and kill them.”
“You—” Lily’s words were enough to make him speechless. All throughout his life, Claude never encountered someone as decisive as Lily. However, this also meant that Lily was a very dangerous person— someone that could end his life anytime. “If— If my grandmother wakes up. Are you going to let us live?” He managed to ask.
………
More chapters will be released tonight!
The Villain’s Redemption is already contracted! I will start releasing chapters next week. 1-2/ day! I have at least 10 chapter stock so I am confident that I can release chapters for redemption.
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