Meanwhile, Lily was watching as Levi and Eliza were hugging their father as if their lives depended on it. Both were crying tears of sadness and joy as they consoled each other. Seeing this, Lily took a sip of her tea calmly before she flinched and let out a sigh inwardly.
Her breast had been aching.
Another sigh escaped her lips as she thought about Kaen. She missed him. Lily turned her head away from them and shook the thoughts of her son away from her mind. She needed to finish everything as fast as possible so she could see him again. A sad smile slithered on her lips.
“Lily.” The Duke’s voice interrupted her stupor. Lily raised her head to look at him. “Are you— Are you going to see Leandro soon?”
“He will have a press conference tomorrow. We will see him at that time.” She said.
“And… what are you going to do?”
“Nothing.” Lily answered Levi’s questions. “I watch in the corner and act as a reporter. You will do the rest.��� Lily didn’t want to reveal her face as of this moment, at least not in front of the media. All she wanted was to have the satisfaction of watching them fall in front of her.
“But— I mean…” Eliza hesitated for a few seconds. “Aren’t you going to hurt him?
“I am not a very good person Eliza.” Lily answered. “I wanted to hurt him and your sister.” She watched as the three people in front of her flinched at her words. “They wanted to kill my child and me. They should have expected that I would retaliate if I survive.” Lily then rose from her seat. “I will leave you three. I still have some things to attend to. The press conference is at ten in the morning.”
“Lily…” The Duke said the moment she started walking towards the door. “Can I talk to you in private?”
“Father…”
“Please leave us.” The Duke turned towards Levi and Eliza. “Lily and I needed to discuss some important things.” Eliza and Levi didn’t hesitate to leave them.
“Are you going to tell me not to hurt them?” Lily raised an eyebrow at the man opposite her.
However, contrary to her expectations, the Duke shook his head. “No. I won’t tell you to do something. Just because they are my children does not mean that I am taking responsibility for the things that they did to me and my country.”
“You are indeed, a person who is fit to be called a king.”
“You don’t understand.” The Duke shook his head again. “The country… is my family. Leandro and Mikaela are adults. They decided to hurt me and their family. They were also the one who decided to attack you after you saved them.”
Seeing Lily pursed her lips and just stared at him, the Duke added. “I wanted to thank you for coming back, for saving my family.”Of course, Lily knew that the family that he was talking about was his country. “I wanted to thank you for saving Levi and Eliza. Those words…. Those words are not really enough to describe the gratitude that I feel inside.” A flash of embarrassment glinted in the Duke’s eyes.
Lily said nothing. She crossed her arms across her chests and sighed. After six months, the Duke seemed to have aged for five or even ten years. White strands of hair can be seen in the duke’s eyebrows as the wrinkles around his eyes had become visible. She could see his cheekbones protrude. The Duke had become skinnier.
“Then… I would like to apologise for everything that my family did.” The Duke struggled to stand up, his knees shook, his hands trembling as he struggled to kneel in front of Lily.
“Please stop that.” Lily said. “Don’t kneel… I don’t deserve it.”
The Duke paused.
“Please sit down.” Lily said. In response, the Duke took his seat.”It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault.” The Duke said without batting an eyelid. “It was me who raised them wrong.”
“You already said it. They are already adults. They made their bed now, and they are going to lie on it.”
The Duke stared at Lily’s face for a few seconds. “I also discovered something. I wanted to talk to you about something else.” He made a deliberate pause as he studied Lily’s face that was devoid of any expression. “While staying in that room… Leandro would talk to me from time to time as well as Mikaela. I believe the one who instigated the incident was Antone Harringfort and his father.” Lily raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Seeing this, the Duke continued. “There is also… Mr. Neeson, my father in law. That man always wanted to control me since I married his daughter. He thought I would be a fool to associate myself with him. But… But you already know this, right?”
“I know that is not the real thing that you wanted to talk about.” Lily knew that the Duke is smart enough to know that she had already investigated everything. There is no need for him to tell Lily something that she already knew.
“You are still the same.” A wry smile bloomed on the Duke’s face. “It was my father… and your grandfather.”
“What about them?”
“I asked Leandro to at least give me something that I could do. I asked for the records of what happened in the past. It was sealed and only the Duke could access it. That record contains things that the Royalty does not want the public to know.”
“And?”
“And… there are things there that do not make any sense. It was about Lilian and Fred. My grandfather, Fred’s father, does not want Fred to marry Lilian because of the things that he found out about her.”
“What about her?”
“The records were back on the vault, but I could give you access for you to read it.” The Duke said. “It was said that Lilian was part of a group of young scholars who studied biotechnology and nuclear weapons in the US. However, that project was soon demolished as it was dangerous and could potentially harm humanity.”
Lily stilled at the Duke’s words. “Tell me more.” She uttered.
