"This isn't compensation for his feelings for you. It's interest from the shares he received because of you. You deserve it."
Edmond hadn't reclaimed the shares from Royce to remind him constantly that Lily owed him nothing. Lily had insisted on the engagement, but Royce had agreed because of the shares and his greed. Lily didn't owe him anything.
Lily couldn't refuse any further. "Okay."
Fine, she thought. She'd spend the money on Edmond anyway. That wouldn't make her feel guilty.
Edmond waited for her to take the card before returning to their earlier topic. "You said you had something to discuss?"
Lily remembered her main reason for the meeting. "Yes, since I'm still 'confused' about my memories, I plan to make a big deal out of it before the New Year."
Her "memory loss," where she mistook Edmond for Royce, hadn't leaked to the public yet.
Royce likely found it embarrassing and kept it quiet.
Nadia hadn't mentioned it either, not even to Zoya.
If Zoya knew, she would have already confronted her.
---
The only ones who knew about her situation were Aria, Alistair, and Edmond, the person involved. The focus before had been to quietly get the certificate, so they hadn't made any noise about it. Then came the New Year holiday, and she went on a trip.
Now, she was rested and ready.
She was about to go all out.
She needed to chase Edmond publicly, letting everyone know she had lost her mind and mistook Edmond for Royce.
Lily shared her plan with Edmond, not forgetting to give him an escape route.
"When I chase you, I'll do it in front of people, and you must act very impatient. Let everyone think that I'm clinging to you shamelessly and you're helpless."
"When Royce gets married, you can tell everyone that I saved your life, and I insisted on marrying you. This way, no one will criticize you."
Edmond didn't agree with her plan; he had his own ideas.
"After the New Year, I'll chase you." From the moment he agreed to marry her, he planned to pursue her openly, propose publicly, and give her the dignity she deserved.
"No." Lily refused. After years of entanglement with Royce, if Edmond pursued her now, people would mock him. But if she used the pretext of a life-saving grace to cling to him, he would gain sympathy instead of ridicule.
Regardless, there would be a storm once she and Edmond got married. She would weather it alone.
Edmond still disagreed with her self-sacrificing spirit.
"Lily, don't just think about me. Whoever I decide to marry, no one will dare say anything. Even if someone can't hold their tongue, they wouldn't dare gossip in front of me. Think more about yourself."
They finished their steaks, and the waiter brought dessert.
"I'm fine with it. I don't fear what they say. I'm thick-skinned." Lily poked at her cake with a fork, then looked up at Edmond.
"You know about what happened in high school, right?"
He didn't respond, and she smiled knowingly.
"Back then, I was driven to a breakdown and didn't care about the rumors and ridicule. Now, it's nothing. I keep telling myself that people who laugh at me are just jealous."
She smiled with such abandon that it seemed she had made peace with the past.
Edmond's gaze lingered on her face briefly before moving down to her right hand.
Her fair, slender fingers held the fork, but it was clear she had used significant force, as half the cake was now a mess.
Upon closer inspection, her hands were trembling slightly.
In high school... the incident almost ruined Lily.
It caused such a stir that Edmond naturally heard about it, but he was abroad then, and it was too late when he found out.
The initial rumors were malicious speculations about Lily, which he didn't believe. The truth was later revealed by Alistair.
"Aria said that after a huge fight with her parents one night, Lily ran out and was kidnapped. The kidnappers sold her to human traffickers, who then sold her into the mountains."
"Half a month later, she appeared at a county police station, injured so badly that some wounds exposed bone."
"No one knows how she survived those two weeks or how she escaped; she wouldn't talk about it."
"Lily was in a semi-crazed state then, insisting the kidnappers were sent by Zoya. She claimed to have heard them say, before she lost consciousness, that it was Zoya's doing."
The police eventually intervened, and the perpetrators were caught. But they denied knowing Zoya, and even with a ten-year sentence, they insisted Lily was lying.
There was no evidence to prove Zoya's involvement.
Edmond always believed Lily. He wanted to return and help her, but back then, he hadn't taken over the Jingsu Group yet.
He had too many problems himself and couldn't do anything even if he returned. At that time, his every move was watched, and approaching her would only bring her trouble and danger.
So, he had Alistair investigate in secret, but no evidence was found.