Al Nadeem was very happy. First, Laila had genuinely accepted his invitation to be with him on her birthday. Now, he could present her with the gift he had prepared for a long time, and compared to before, this way of being together filled him with joy.
Since he returned, he had realized the magnitude of his past mistakes, thanks to reminders from others. Pursuing Western girls and using methods from his own country to woo them was utterly foolish. That's why he had sought advice from many people to select the perfect gift this time.
He believed that such a heartfelt gift would make her understand his true feelings.
"Right here!" He led her to a raised platform, and as they ascended the stage, the voices below fell silent. Everyone was watching from below, their eyes filled with curiosity.
The royal family, unlike commoners, has more exposure to the outside world, and their perspectives are much broader. Therefore, they are not strongly opposed to the idea of having a foreign girlfriend, and, in fact, they may view it as fashionable. However, when it comes to marriage, they still believe that women from their own country are more suitable. Marrying a local woman can ensure her purity and avoid the headache of marrying additional wives in the future.
Roy hadn't expected Laila to be whisked away so quickly. He found himself surrounded by a group of children and couldn't break free, so he watched from a distance. He vowed that if the prince dared to do anything untoward to Laila, he would make sure the guy was unrecognizable to his father!
Covered by a piece of white fabric from the top, the gift appeared quite large from the outside and resembled a rectangular box.
"Laila, I wasn't sure what you liked, so I asked some friends. They all thought American girls liked more unconventional things. And you're a director, you've made many R-rated horror films, so I assumed you must enjoy that kind of stuff. So I've collected these for you, hoping you'll like them!" He said, pinching one corner of the cloth and lifting it to reveal the "gift" underneath.
While he spoke, Laila had a vague sense of foreboding. Unconventional was one thing, but how was her work as a director related to this? Could it be that he was gifting her something that could be used in horror films, like a gruesome prop? Of course, that was just a fleeting thought, and she was merely poking fun at the situation.
However, when the cloth was lifted to reveal what lay beneath, Laila realized she had underestimated the prince's foolishness.
He wasn't just a fool; he was a hopelessly and utterly beyond redemption super-fool.
"Are you... joking?" Laila bit her lip, trying to see some hint of humor on his face, but she was disappointed. All she saw was a face full of expectation like he was asking her to praise him.
"Do you like it? Do you like it?" Al Nadeem started introducing them to her from the beginning. "This is the Emperor Scorpion; see their large pincers? These are really powerful creatures. This is the Golden Python, look at these beautiful colors; I'm almost in love with it. This is..."
"Wait a moment!" Laila felt the need to pause and clenched her teeth, preventing him from continuing, "Your Highness, you've really gone to great lengths." Her goosebumps were about to pop up, seriously.
What were those boxes? How could someone send such things to a girl? Hold on! Specifically, how could he think that she would like these things just because she was a director who had made horror films?
Seeing what was laid out below, the people around were left dumbfounded.
Roy was one of them, and he could hardly believe his eyes. Could someone use such things to pursue a girl? Even if there were a bunch of precious gems below, did he genuinely want to win someone's affection, or did he want the person he liked to keep their distance?
Even though he had never considered him as a significant threat, he should be on guard for any precautions. However, upon seeing these items, he completely let go. Trying to snatch someone away from his side with this level of intelligence and emotional intelligence was simply too laughable.
What he regretted the most now was not having his camera with him. If he had captured this scene, he could have used it as a joke even several decades later when talking to his grandchildren.
Of all the people present, only Faiza had a victorious smile on her face. Yes, it was her idea to send these items.
When Al Nadeem asked people around how to send a birthday gift to a girl, she used their voices to instill some seemingly reasonable but utterly ridiculous ideas into his head. For example, American girls like to keep exotic pets, otherwise, why do they all like to watch horror movies? Or, Laila is a director who has made so many horror films, she must be most interested in things that others find scary, and so on.
When one person said this, Al Nadeem might still consider it. But when he heard it from many people, he had no choice but to believe it. So he went to great lengths to bring these allegedly best-selling pets, many of which were precious breeds sent from abroad, much to the excitement of some fervent scientists.
Unfortunately, Laila, the recipient of the gifts, would only feel a chilling sensation and her scalp tingling upon seeing these items, without any goodwill. She had always thought Al Nadeem was a fool, but for a fool to be at this level, was just too bizarre.
"Don't worry about it! As long as you like it," Al Nadeem happily started to introduce the items below and took the opportunity to show off some knowledge he had recently acquired, hoping to have topics to discuss with her.
Laila sighed and felt utterly powerless, saying, "Your Highness, if someone gives me these, I wouldn't consider it a nice gift; I'd think it's a murder weapon, understand? Just by looking at the items, you can tell that some of them are highly toxic. While she knew that in the future, some people did like to keep these as pets, she couldn't do it!"
Al Nadeem's happy expression froze as he asked in disbelief, "You don't like them?"
"Yes, I don't like them. I also think that not many girls would like these things." Despite her feeling bad about it, she wanted to be honest and prevent him from making the same mistake in the future.
But Al Nadeem refused to believe it. "Aren't American girls supposed to like these things?"
Laila sighed, "I'm not sure where you heard that, but I can assure you, it's a malicious rumor." Even in the future, she hadn't come across many girls who kept poisonous snakes or scorpions as pets, despite her work in the horror genre.
"You're a director of horror films, aren't you? How could you not like scary things?" Al Nadeem looked like he had been struck in the chest with a sledgehammer, feeling like the world was about to end. He had prepared this gift for so long, and she didn't like it—how was that possible?