Unedited
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After a few hours, Yang Mi left Luxembourg to go back to Hong Kong. On the next day, Lily went to Madam Luo’s mansion. Because of the older woman’s words, Lily had been curious about the letter she told her about.
“Beautiful, right?” Lily said she took her first step inside the twelve bedroom mansion that Madam Luo used to own. Apparently, the eye-catching curved veranda that was surrounded by huge columns on the second floor of the house is not the only thing that gave the mansion a majestic vibe. In fact, this was nothing compared to the interior made of perfectly polished wood and bricks, adorned with large paintings and chandeliers. Antique vases can be seen everywhere as a red carpet was laid towards the huge stairs that welcomed them the moment they opened the door.
“Isn’t this a little extravagant?” Zhou Jingren said. In his opinion, the house seemed to be more grandly decorated than the Grand Ducal Palace itself.
“I heard they opened the place to some foreigners who wanted to tour the house.” Qin Yuanfeng added, his eyes also roamed inside the space.
“But it’s not depressing, right?” Lily smiled. For some reason, the house feels bright and happy. Despite the house’s age, it does not feel like someone is watching you all the time. Unlike the enormous mansion that her grandmother Lilian had. “Alright… her study should be on the second floor. I will go while you two just stay here and look around.”
“Are you sure? If you want, I— “
“It’s alright.” Lily smiled. She honestly wanted to read the letter alone first. For some reason, Lily felt that this is something personal that she should do to give her grandmother some closure that she didn’t even know she needed.
Zhou Jingren immediately nodded. His people already checked the place before they arrived here. Moreover, he had at least ten people guarding the outside of the house. “I will accompany you to the second floor. I am curious about that veranda.”
“I will stay here and look around.” Qin Yuanfeng said as he eyed a couple of wooden antique looking puzzles that were on display in a box made of glass near the stairs. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Hmmm.” Lily smiled as she and Zhou Jingren started walking towards the stairs. “I would love to stay in a place like this during winter. Then… I could just snuggle with you near the fireplace. “She giggled.
……..
It didn’t take too long for Lily and Zhou Jingren to arrive at the study. He immediately opened the door, hoping to check the space before allowing Lily alone inside. And what he saw inside immediately made his face dark. “How did you get here?” He asked the older man that was sitting on the leather chair behind the wooden table.
Mr. Neeson gave the two a cordial smile in response. “Sit… I have been waiting for a few minutes now. I even started to wonder if you will really come today.” He said, ignoring Zhou Jingren’s questions. When he saw that Zhou Jingren and Lily didn’t move an inch and just stared at him, Mr. Neeson immediately chuckled. “My apologies. I asked someone to sneak me inside after your men finished checking. I created a minor diversion outside so they won’t notice me go in.” A helpless smile slithered on his face.
It seems that dealing with Lily would be as hard as he thought.
“Please… I mean no harm.” Mr. Neeson stood from the seat and walked towards them. “We have been watching you since you are a child. While I am not sure how much information you possess about us, I am sure that what you know is still lacking. You would want to have this conversation with me right now.” He stood near the couches and gestured to them to go inside. “Please…. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Neeson… but the organization calls me Lord Neeson.” He pursed his lips. “I’m sure you already know what organization I am talking about, right?”
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Lily and Zhou Jingren walked inside the study and sat on the couch. “To be honest, I was already expecting that someone would talk to me about this organization one day. But I was not expecting that it would come this early.” Not when she was still heavily pregnant.
“My apologies. This was not our intention. We wanted to keep you safe. We have no intention of becoming an enemy.” The old man sat on the couch across Lily. He gave her a gentle smile. “We watched you grew up. We thought… we could still protect you from the truth. But… we were not expecting that you would be as smart if not smarter than your grandmother.”
Lily narrowed her eyes at the old man. “You know my grandmother.” She stated, hoping to get more information from him.
“Your grandmother… Well… she is one of us. In fact… she is one of the most important members in the Order.” Mr. Neeson continued. “Your grandmother is one of the most brilliant and twisted women that I knew. She was one of the core members of the organization.”
“But… you killed her. Didn’t you?”
Surprised flashed in the old man’s eyes before he chuckled. “I was not expecting that you have actually known this much information and yet, you still stayed calm and not attacked me… or Harringfort.” Lily frowned at the confirmation in the old man’s words. Seeing this, the old man nodded. “Your grandmother is not the grandmother that you know. Her mind works in a very different way. So different that soon her ideologies became screwed, twisted. After your grandfather’s death… she had become someone else. She did something — something horrible that would have killed millions of people if we didn’t stop her in time.” He made a deliberate pause as he stared into Lily’s eyes. “And so we ended her life.”
“So you ended her life to save people.”
“Precisely.” Mr. Neeson smiled. “Because… that’s what we always do. We save people.”
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