"Because of myself."
"What's the meaning?"
"I have seen the fate of those sisters who fell into the hands of the enemy. I have also seen the fate of those who were captured by them. Your Highness, the Duke, is willing to let me go. In comparison, I have an answer to this question."
"Aren't you worried about my attitude, that I'm playing hard to get?"
Alia said calmly:
"If that's the case, then I can only accept my fate, and my intuition tells me that this is not the case."
Having said that, as Alia said, although it is possible that she will be protected by others after leaving here, it is unknown how the other party will treat her.
At least now she has some understanding of the Duke of Devonshire in front of her, both in terms of his strength and the way he does things.
Alia was not unaware of how her appearance would attract her. She had experienced this deeply since she was adopted by Louis Lafayette as a child, through the people around her and the way other men viewed and treated her in the past.
Before, if it weren't for her special status and the protection of Louis Lafayette, she would have fallen into the hands of others and become a plaything like many other "sisters".
Lafayette's protection of her was not out of any "family affection", but just waiting to "sell" her at a better price.
Alia knew this better than anyone else.
Now, by accident, she was captured by Barron's special operations team while carrying out the mission of contacting Raphael. Putting her in a dangerous situation where she would be suspected by Lafayette might be an opportunity to escape from him.
After all, most of the "powerful people" she had seen before were potbellied or old men. Compared with giving herself to those people, the young and handsome Duke of Devonshire in front of her might be more easily accepted by her.
"I can keep you by my side, but I also need your cooperation. First, you have to tell me everything you know about your adoptive father, Lafayette. I will send someone to monitor his every move. I think this will also ensure your own safety..."
"Yes, I do."
…
Although Barron temporarily agreed to keep Alia by his side, he would not trust her immediately.
Alia still needs to live in Bilu Castle, but the difference from before is that she no longer lives in the dungeon, but can live on the third floor of Bilu Castle.
Of course, under normal circumstances, she still needs two female bodyguards to provide her with close "protection".
However, compared to before, Alia's freedom has increased a lot.
Before leaving, Barron specifically instructed the bodyguards to "protect" Alia. After that, they could relax the surveillance on Alia on the surface, but secretly, they would still keep a close eye on her whereabouts. In this way, they could test whether she really had no other tricks.
Until the special operations team captures all of Raphael's members and completely destroys the organization, for safety reasons - including Alia's safety and Barron's own safety - Alia will stay in the Billu Castle.
After all, this place is close to the training base of the Protector Military Company and the Security Company. It can be said to be the most heavily defended and safest place in Barron's "territory".
…
"Congratulations, Arnold, this is exciting news."
"Thanks, Barron, for your support. I hope we can have a drink together next time you come to California."
On October 7, the results of the California governor's election were released. Schwarzenegger won 48.6% of the votes and became the new governor of California.
He will be sworn in as the 38th Governor of California in more than a month.
On the day the election results were finalized, Barron called him immediately to congratulate him.
Of course, during the call, Schwarzenegger also expressed his gratitude for Barron's support - during his campaign, Barron also provided some funds for Schwarzenegger's campaign through certain channels.
In addition, as a shareholder of the Sinclair Group, Barron also used his influence to have the Sinclair Group's television stations build public opinion for Schwarzenegger during his campaign.
Schwarzenegger naturally remembered all the help Barron provided, and after he took office as governor of California, it was time for him to give back.
Coincidentally, when investing in Skype, Nigel had promised on behalf of Barron that he would help their team to deal with the infringement lawsuit filed against them in the United States.
Coincidentally, in the United States, the court that heard their lawsuit was the California court.
This is also one of the main reasons why Barron dared to make such a promise...
After leaving his villa on Kensington Street, Barron went directly to the new headquarters of O2 Telecom - the O2 Building in the CBD area next to King's Cross Station.
Before DS Capital acquired O2 Telecom, this well-known British mobile communications operator was headquartered in Slough.
Although Slough is not far from London and is considered a satellite city of London - it takes about 45 minutes to reach the center of London from Slough, and it is only a 20-minute drive to Heathrow Airport.
However, for the sake of ease of management, Barron decided to establish the new headquarters of O2 Telecom there after some buildings in the CBD area near King's Cross Station were completed as part of the King's Cross renewal plan carried out by Argent Property Group.
DS Asset Management bought a 35-story building in the CBD area near King's Cross Station for £75 million, rented half of the building to O2 Telecom, and named the building the O2 Building.
This will become the international headquarters of the O2 Building.
In the future, O2 Telecom will be managed in the form of dual headquarters. The original O2 Telecom headquarters in Slough will be its UK headquarters, responsible for O2 Telecom's various businesses in the UK.
The O2 Telecom Headquarters located in the O2 Building will become its international headquarters, responsible for managing all of O2 Telecom's businesses, including the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, and more national markets to be entered in the future.
So far, in London alone, DS Asset Management already owns five buildings, including the DS Financial Centre in the City of London, the Cavendish Building in Soho, the SEM Building in Canary Wharf, the Cavendish King Building in King's Cross and the O2 Building.
He also owns the Devonshire luxury hotel in Chelsea and many other properties.
This time he came to O2 Telecom because after further studying the development of current global mobile communication technology, Baron adjusted O2 Telecom's previous development strategy, and based on the latest adjustments, made certain changes to their previous contract with Huawei.
In the revised contract, O2 Telecom significantly reduced its investment in 3G network upgrades and increased its investment in broadband business upgrades.
Specifically, in the newly entered French and German markets, only 2G network coverage will be completed, and 3G network trial operation will be carried out only in a few key cities. The broadband network construction in these two markets will be aimed at the latest technology and the highest speed.
The same is true in the British and Irish markets, where the 2G network will cover a wider area and some cities will be upgraded to 2.5G networks. Only in a few cities such as London and Dublin will the 3G network be trial-operated.
In terms of broadband networks, large-scale upgrades are being carried out on broadband facilities in the UK and Ireland to increase access speeds.
The reason for this change is that Barron suddenly realized through his understanding of the current deployment of global mobile networks that although Europe began issuing 3G licenses as early as two years ago, many operators including British telecom operators such as Vodafone and Orange have begun to deploy 3G networks, it was not until many years later in 2007 that 3G networks began to gradually become popular around the world.
The reason is that although the speed of 3G network is much higher than that of 2G network, the biggest factor limiting the popularization of 3G network is that now that feature phones dominate the mainstream, users have no motivation to switch to 3G network with faster Internet access speed.
In 2007, the launch of the iPhone heralded the arrival of the smartphone era. The emergence of various apps made users urgently need to use the faster 3G network.