Lily's combat skills were a bit lacking, and Royce managed to push her down.
Then, Franklin showed up and, after a brief fight with Royce, took her away.
Why did Lily suddenly shout like that? It was because Nadia had called her and then 'considerately' tried to mediate, attracting a lot of attention with her shrill voice.
Tsk, back then, Nadia had coveted her man and still acted so 'thoughtfully' for her. It was quite touching.
Now, as the elder of the two, she naturally had to help mediate the situation.
She was ready to shout at a volume rivaling Pavarotti's to draw a crowd when Alistair's yell startled her.
Aria? Did something happen to Aria? Lily instinctively looked in the direction of the voice and saw Aria running up the stairs, crying. She was about to chase after her when someone grabbed her arm from behind.
"Lily? What are you doing here?"
Lily was forced to turn around and saw it was Royce. She immediately tried to shake off his hand while pointing in another direction and shouting at him.
"Big nephew, your wife ran that way. Go after her quickly."
Royce glanced back and saw Nadia running off. She must have heard what was said. He could explain it to her later at home.
Right now, he had questions for Lily.
"What's really going on between you and my Uncle Edmond?"
Royce didn't release Lily's arm.
Last night, his mind wasn't clear. This morning, lying in bed and thinking things over, the more he thought about it, the more things didn't add up.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong, but he was sure that Uncle Edmond marrying Lily wasn't just for the reasons he mentioned.
Lily couldn't shake off his hand and was about to stomp on him with her high heel when a cold, calm voice came from behind.
"Royce, let go."
Royce looked up and met Edmond's icy gaze.
"Uncle Edmond."
He called out, and his grip instinctively loosened.
Sensing this, Lily immediately took the opportunity to break free and quickly walked over to Edmond.
Edmond knew what she wanted to say, so he reached out and gently patted her head, speaking softly.
"Go find Aria. She ran toward the entrance."
Lily immediately ran off.
Once she was gone, Edmond's smile vanished, and he turned his cold, dangerous eyes to Royce.
"Didn't I tell you not to touch her?"
His eyes narrowed threateningly, dark and stormy.
"Didn't understand me, or did you understand and just want to defy me?"
Royce had always been resentful of his Uncle Edmond marrying Lily, but he never dared show it to his face.
"No, Uncle Edmond, you've got it wrong. I just wanted to ask Lily something."
"Lily?"
Edmond's jaw tightened, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Who is Lily?"
Royce knew what he meant, clenched his fists, and reluctantly corrected himself.
"Aunt Lily."
Edmond's eyes softened slightly, pleased with the address, and his voice carried a clear warning.
"So you know she's your aunt. If you have something to say, say it. Don't touch her. Luckily, I saw you today. I trust her. But if it were someone else, seeing you holding her like that, it's her reputation that gets ruined. It's fine if you have no shame, but your aunt's reputation is very important."
Edmond needed to find Alistair and beat him up, then explain to Lily that the incident in the private room had nothing to do with him. He had no time to waste here.
"This is your last warning. If you lay a hand on her again, you'll see what happens."
He turned to leave, but Royce, conflicted, still asked the question on his mind.
"Uncle Edmond, why did you marry Lily? You could have resolved all the issues without marrying her."
Edmond paused, stayed silent for a moment, then turned to him.
"What kind of answer are you looking for?"
This endless questioning was tiring. Whatever answer Royce wanted, he'd give it to him.
Royce hesitated, "An answer that makes sense to me."
He didn't really know what kind of answer he wanted. He just couldn't stand the fact that Uncle Edmond had married Lily.
From the moment he saw that marriage certificate, it felt like a heavy stone was lodged in his heart.
Sometimes, he even got a strange feeling.
Did Uncle Edmond have special feelings for Lily? Had they been secretly involved all along, making a fool out of him? He couldn't accept such an answer but desperately needed an answer, one that would allow him to accept Lily marrying Uncle Edmond.
"An answer that makes sense to you..."
Edmond drew out his words, "There is one."
Royce watched him intently, "What is it?"
Edmond referenced the previous night's conversation.
"Remember when your grandfather said, 'You married Lily just to spite me'? Do you remember that?"
Royce nodded. Of course, he remembered. After his grandfather said that, the atmosphere had turned weird.
No, it had gotten strange from the moment Uncle Edmond replied, 'You weren't afraid back then, why should I be afraid now?'
Especially his parents, his father had left immediately, and his mother's face turned particularly ugly.
Royce suddenly felt something was off. As he was pondering, a mocking laugh interrupted his thoughts.
"Go ask your father, or your mother, or your grandfather, ask them what that statement really means."
"Once you understand that, you'll have the answer you're looking for."
When Lily arrived, Alistair had already caught Aria.
They were standing at the restaurant's entrance. Alistair was holding Aria's wrist, his face dark with impatience.
"Can you stop being unreasonable!"
Aria struggled, turning her pale face away, refusing to look at him, her neck stiff as she tried to break free.
They had been at a standoff for a while, attracting curious glances from passersby.
Lily rushed over, put her arm around Aria's shoulders, and spoke to Alistair.
"What's going on?"
As soon as Aria saw Lily, her feelings of grievance reached a peak, and the tears she had been holding back burst forth.
"Lily, they're bullying me, bullying me!"
Seeing Lily, Alistair also breathed a small sigh of relief. He released Aria's hand and mouthed a silent message to Lily, signaling for Aria to cry it out.
Freed from his grasp, Aria threw herself into Lily's arms.
"I won't... I won't apologize to that woman. I won't... I didn't do anything wrong... I didn't..."
She cried so hard her body trembled.
Lily held her, gently patting her back to comfort her. She didn't know what had happened, so she just went along with Aria's words.
"Alright, no apologies. We won't apologize. You did nothing wrong."
Alistair, feeling frustrated, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and gestured to Lily that he was going outside for a smoke.
Lily ignored him and continued to comfort Aria with soft words until she calmed down a bit. Then she led her outside.
Near the southwest corner by the rock garden was a row of wooden benches. With no one around, Lily guided Aria to sit down.
Aria took out a pack of tissues from her bag, wiped away her tears and snot, got up to throw them into a trash bin two meters away, and returned.
"You had been out for about five minutes when Alistair brought Misha into the private room."
As she recounted what happened in the private room, tears streamed down her face again, her throat tightening almost to the point of suffocation.
Aria's account was broken and interspersed with bouts of crying.
She hadn't finished when Lily received a message from Jiang Jing, who explained the situation.
[Alistair brought his ex-girlfriend Misha. Remember that model who was quite popular? After breaking up with Alistair, she retired from modeling within half a year and married someone else. They divorced less than three months later.]
[Alistair said that this restaurant's owner is Misha, and she had saved this private room for us. When Alistair arrived, he met Misha at the door. She wanted to come over and say hello, so she followed him in. It wasn't intentional.]