Unedited.
………
Harringfort let out a sigh before he eyed his wristwatch, silently counting the hours before he would meet them again. To be honest, while he was not sure that Lily would show herself tomorrow, he was still excited about meeting her. He honestly could not wait to ask her questions, caught her off guard, and test how much she knows about the Order.
It had been six months of radio silence. Six months of not knowing what Lily was doing or planning.
“Champagne?”
Harringfort nodded as she held the glass in front of him. Then he froze. That voice… He immediately raised his head and almost let go of the glass when he saw Lily smiling at him. For a few seconds, Harringfort froze, unable to utter a word. His mouth opened and closed without saying anything.
“May I?” Lily gestured towards the seat opposite him. She took a seat without waiting for his answer. “Your Highness…” she started. “How have you been?”
Still speechless, Harringfort stared at Lily’s smiling face. He never noticed her before as the pilot and the flight attendant bowed at him when he walked in. “You— “
“Why does it look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Lily smirked. “Are you feeling unwell?”
Harringfort gulped. This… the woman in front of him was of course Lily. Her hair was in a tight bun as she wore the uniform of a flight attendant comfortably. A smile was apparent on her face, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “How did you get here?”
“Wrong question,” Lily said as she put the bottle of champagne in front of them. “Aren’t you going to ask me why am I still alive? Or… how am I doing?”
“You— “
“It seems that Qin Yuanfeng was wrong. You were not looking for me. Are you perhaps watching my brother’s actions because you like him?”
“You— “Until now, Harringfort could not seem to compose the right words that he wanted to say. He stared at Lily as if wondering if this was all a dream. Slowly, he shook his head and downed the champagne in front of him. “How— how are you?”
“Wonderful your highness.”
“And… And… Why are you here? I… I thought you— “
“I thought you wanted to see me before I put myself out there?” Lily snorted as she thought of Qin Yuanfeng’s messages earlier.
Harringfort slowly nodded as he clutched his chest. He then let out a sigh of relief. At least she was here now? He looked at her. “What do you want?”
“I want a lot of things.” Lily started. “Sadly you can’t give any of them to me.” She smiled. “I am here to tell you that I am not going to show up tomorrow. I have some things to do. More important than those people.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Revenge.” Lily smiled. “Zhou Jingren is …. That explosion wounded him. He is still unconscious.” She lied without batting an eyelid. “I think it’s time that I make some people pay. Right, your highness?”
���If… Then why are you here?” Harringfort forced the words out of his mouth. It’s funny how he had planned everything that he wanted to ask this woman. However, now that she was here, he could barely compose his thoughts. How comical. “I’m sure you are not here just to tell me that you are going to destroy someone right?”
“I want you to let them know… that I want to meet every one of them.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone…” Lily said. “Lord Neeson… Lord Naru… everyone.”
“You— How…” His eyes widened. There is no way that Lily would know about Lord Naru. The mention of the name immediately made him frown. Did that man already approach Lily? How would she know the two leaders of the faction inside the council if she was not approached by that old man? “You already know about the council?”
Lily already responded with a knowing smile. “What I know does not concern you. However… I know they needed something from me. Tell them to show up in this address. It’s a public restaurant.”
“A meeting like this cannot happen in any public place.”
“Says who?” she raised an eyebrow. “Ah… you mean they have never met in a public place before?” She smiled. “Then this will be their first.”
“Don’t you understand your demands? That is too dangerous. After what happened six months ago, some people from the UN and the EU are looking into the case. Some intelligence unit had been searching for their identity. They can’t be in a public place at the same time.”
“I don’t think that is my problem your highness,” Lily said. From the diary of her Grandmother Ye, Lily knew that these people were indeed watching her since she was a kid. That could only mean one thing, she was important. They value her. While she does not know what is the reason for this treatment, Lily knew that it didn’t stop just because her grandmother died. Meaning… until six months ago, these people had been watching her. In fact… she believes that this was the reason why her Grandmother Ye was killed just a month after her Grandmother Lilian’s death.
According to the entries that she read, Grandmother Ye actually called Lilian and told her about the people following Lily around when she was in Hong Kong. Lilian must have figured out that the Order knew about Lily and Bec’s location since Bec ran away. If her guess was right, this was the reason why Lilian got killed.
Of course, there should be another variable that Lily was not aware of. Like the bomb that Mr. Neeson told Lily. Surely, that was not just some nonsense, right? While she knew most of that old man’s stories were lies, Lily did not see the point of him talking about some confidential information about some bomb that is more damaging than a nuclear bomb. Because of this, Lily made her research and was able to come up with a theory.
Lilian might be involved in something sinister that made the order get rid of her or she was the one stopping them into doing something sinister. And to be honest, Lily believed that it was the latter. Lilian must have been trying to stop them from making that bomb.
Of course, this was nothing but speculations. However, she was about to find out everything soon.