V2: Chapter 155: The Power of the Langwendi Family
A few sarcastic whispers circulated.
"Heh, the Langwendi family's young lady certainly has quite the airs."
"So aggressive even in front of His Highness Gael, the Langwendi family is truly despicable..."
But they only dared to whisper. Even these whispers were so faint they wouldn't reach a second ear.
On one hand, they feared being caught by the Langwendi family and facing retribution; on the other hand, they couldn't suppress the darkness and bitterness in their hearts.
Contradictory yet reasonable—this was the truest explanation of their state of mind.
Gael frowned immediately.
He felt that Liang Di's words seemed a bit too arrogant, quite different from the gentle young lady he remembered. She seemed like a completely different person, all her former gentleness vanished in an instant.
Amidst a cacophony of conflicting thoughts, the banquet continued smoothly.
Such large gatherings among the nobility were, in reality, rather meaningless. They were nothing more than a group of pampered young ladies gossiping animatedly, or a group of noblewomen laughing and comparing themselves to each other. The ambitious noblemen, on the other hand, used this opportunity to speak with even more powerful figures, hoping to gain some advantage.
Of course, there were also simple nobles who simply brought their families to enjoy the banquet, but their proportion was despairingly low. Therefore, the essence of such banquets, or rather, the social interactions of the upper class, was ultimately just one of many forms of exchange.
Floating aimlessly through the banquet, nodding and waving, clinking glasses, Gael, after drinking glass after glass, became somewhat tipsy.
He suddenly remembered the main task the king had given him that day: to probe Liang Di's feelings.
Perhaps his father was getting impatient. Maybe he was thinking that if Liang Di continued her inconsistent treatment of Gael, he would have to resort to the coercive measures unique to those in power, while the Langwendi family hadn't fully recovered and the royal family still had the ability to maintain checks and balances.
Was it really not fully recovered? And could their royal family still maintain checks and balances?
What Gael and the others didn't know was that Liang Di hadn't made all her business dealings public. Some transactions with other empires were deliberately conducted under aliases, keeping her behind the scenes.
How much the king saw, and how much the other nobles knew, depended entirely on how much Liang Di wanted them to see.
Once the time was right, she could install the third prince, Walden, on the throne. From what Liang Di knew, the king was extravagant, and the treasury was probably already more than half empty.
Of course, she couldn't yet determine the veracity of this information, since it was told to her by someone inside the Magic Tower.
Hmm.... based on the existing intelligence, the credibility seemed high, but conclusive evidence was still lacking.
Putting aside these conditions, Doris and Gael are still difficult to deal with. If Walden is elected, Doris will certainly disagree and won't let it go easily.
If they don't want to fight to the death over their positions, the only option is to create an accident, forcing this monster, Doris, to leave the stage prematurely.
However, the key problem with this plan is that Doris, as a rather troublesome tentacle monster, can't be dealt with so easily?
At least until Doris is completely harmless, they can't touch Gael. Gael is Doris's Achilles' heel, or rather, a taut string. If her son dies, the thread controlling her rationality breaks, and Doris's personality itself will disintegrate. At that time, the world will have one more unscrupulous and completely insane monster who will do anything to tear down the walls, and that would be truly troublesome.
Gael walked towards Liang Di. Although his mother had privately instructed him not to have any physical contact with her, his father had told him to get closer to her—and as for how close... his father's meaning seemed quite clear.
So, caught in this dilemma, Gael devised a so-called foolproof plan: instead of directly inviting Liang Di to dance, he would simply approach her and chat, trying to get on her good side.
"Hello, Miss Liang Di. I heard your Miss Carol is four years old this year. She's so cute, like a four-year-old!" Gael, not very good at flirting, forced a smile, awkwardly making conversation.
Liang Di almost rolled her eyes at his words, but she didn't.
She knew exactly what Gael wanted, so she smiled slightly and played along. "Well, after all, she looks like me and my Sister, don't you think we're cute, Your Highness?"
Gael looked at Liang Di. Her eyes were curved, her lips curved in a smile, and her cheeks and nose were rosy—she was indeed quite cute.
However, when his gaze fell on Liang Lin, the latter gave him a huge eye roll, her chin held high with arrogance, pointing her nostrils at him, and then instantly turning her face away.
Uh, well... it's impossible to describe her as cute.
After all, Gael had never learned phrases like "cute nostrils" in the palace.
He could only give a dry laugh and continue speaking to Liang Di: "Cute, Miss Liang Di, you're the cutest girl I've ever seen."
Still so greasy.
Compared to Liang Lin's ruthlessness, Liang Di's seemingly conciliatory attitude was actually far more airtight, leaving no room for negotiation. Since he couldn't be direct, after much back and forth, Gael could only choose to approach Liang Lin again.
As if oblivious to the awkwardness, he struck up a conversation with Liang Lin, who had been turning her profile towards him from the beginning, "Speaking of which, Miss Liang Lin, what will Miss Carol do if you meet someone you like in the future?"
Admittedly, if someone was determined to marry Liang Lin, her adopted daughter would naturally become their adopted daughter. But Gael put himself in the imaginative person shoes; even someone like him, who was after the Langwendi family, would certainly not tolerate "his woman" having a "bastard" of unknown origin by her side. Others would probably feel the same way…
Gael's thoughts were deeply hidden, and his current actions were merely a test of Liang Lin first, so that he could then naturally test Liang Di later.
"I don't have anyone I like right now, and I have no plans to get married, so, Your Highness, could you please move aside? I need to use the restroom; my stomach's a little upset, and I feel like throwing up."
Liang Lin was very perceptive in this regard. Although she didn't know what Gael was thinking, just listening to his voice and the tone of his words…
This man really knew everything about her.
Liang Lin felt a wave of nausea rising from the bottom of her heart and couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.
Unfortunately, as the saying goes, even sarcasm requires a certain level of intelligence, emotional intelligence, and a precise self-awareness. Gael… clearly didn't meet any of these criteria.
Watching Liang Lin's departing figure, Gael didn't take it too seriously.
So, without realizing it, he then asked Liang Di, "And what about Miss Liang Di? What will Carol do if you meet someone you like?"
"It seems a bit inappropriate for you to ask this question. After all, it's a family matter between us sisters, but..."
Liang Di suppressed the fleeting displeasure in her eyes and said calmly, "Although my thoughts on marriage are currently the same as my sister's, since Your Highness insists on this assumption, I can only say... if that day truly comes, I will definitely bring Carol along. After all, this child is also our important 'daughter.'"
"Oh~" Gael, clearly oblivious to the deeper meaning in Liang Di's words, nodded casually, stroking his chin and speaking without restraint, "But, will your crush really agree to you bringing a child with no blood relation?"
Snap!
This time, although no actual sound was heard, there was indeed a sound of something breaking.
Liang Di suddenly fell silent, staring intently at Gael with her large, watery eyes, unblinking. A layer of mist seemed to veil her eyes, shimmering and rippling, concealing the turbulent undercurrents beneath.
What... what this gaze mean?
Gael's heart skipped a beat.
Liang Di turned her head and walked away, not answering his question, taking her increasingly undisguised annoyance with her.
"I'm going to check on my Sister; she hasn't been feeling well tonight."
With that, Liang Di lifted her skirt and hurried upstairs, leaving Gael standing there, deep in thought.
Time ticked by.
Finally, Gael understood.
"The way she looked at me just now, with that coquettish air, was she definitely scolding me for asking her that question at this time? Does she think that if I married her, I wouldn't let her bring Carol into the palace? Or does she think I'm asking a question I already know the answer to, and she thinks I should know that she's interested in me? Haha... What a lovely lady, so interesting."
If Liang Di were still standing there, hearing this guy's mutterings, she'd probably be so disgusted she'd throw up her dinner right there.
She'd seen shamelessness before, but what kind of person is this who doesn't even care about skin? Seriously, buddy. Can a person's self-perception really be this skewed?
The other person hadn't said anything, just looked at him with a weak, aggrieved... or even slightly accusatory gaze, and he could already conjure up a whole bunch of assumptions that would make even a bard feel ashamed and disgusted.
If she stayed a little longer and said a few more words, wouldn't he think she'd been secretly in love with him for over a decade?
Gael was satisfied with the answer he reached, feeling that his trip hadn't been in vain. He had neither disobeyed his mother's requests nor failed his father's, completing his mission safely and successfully.
The "rumor" that Carol was Liang Lin's illegitimate daughter finally subsided after the banquet. It wasn't that everyone believed it, but rather that no one dared to openly mention it due to Liang Lin's authority, especially at the young ladies' tea parties. Such topics had been explicitly forbidden by the family's important figures; everyone was afraid of offending the Langwendi family.
Time flew by, and winter arrived in the blink of an eye. Carol wore a warm, snow-white padded jacket that reached her ankles. Running around, she looked like a sugar-free, leavened white steamed bun, or a little milk dumpling, her waddling gait resembling that of a little penguin—quite adorable!
Gladys and Laura followed behind Carol like bodyguards, constantly checking on the little darling to prevent her from falling. These two clever girls were keeping themselves very busy.
"It's snow!"
Children are full of energy, oblivious to the cold. Her little hands were red and frostbitten, but she still grabbed a handful of snow, squeezing and rolling it around before throwing it at Gladys. Given Carol's height, even if she jumped to hit Gladys's knee, the snowball only landed on Gladys's stomach. Normally, any adult would have been unconcerned, but, note, Gladys wasn't a normal adult.
"Laura! Carol wants to play a snowball fight with us!" She grabbed a handful of snow and flung it at Carol. Snowflakes drifted down, landing on Carol and making the little one giggle.
This startled Laura, who froze on the spot. Only after realizing Carol was unharmed did she slap Gladys on the back of the head.
"What are you doing? What if you accidentally hurt Miss Carol!? What are we going to do?"
"Ouch!"
Gladys crouched down, rubbing the back of her head, muttering indignantly, "How could I possibly hurt her? Snow is so soft, it melts on people. What a fuss..."
"Ouch!"
Another scream.
Gladys had been standing, so Carol could only throw the snowball at her stomach. But now that Gladys was crouching, the snowball, by sheer coincidence, went straight into her collar and into her clothes.
Gladys, shocked by the snowball incident, jumped up, spinning around in circles, stomping her feet and fanning herself with her clothes.
"Fine...!"
"Carol! You little rascal!"
Gladys was really angry with the child. Although she looked like a lazy bum, she was surprisingly strong. She grabbed a huge handful of snow and threw it at Carol.
Laura almost choked. She used her once-in-a-lifetime teleportation skill, instantly appearing in front of Carol.
"Pfft!"
The huge handful of snow hit Laura's face, some even getting into her mouth, making her wince in pain.
Gladys: "....."
I really didn't mean to.
"You, you really, you really... Hey hey hey! Don't hit me! Don't hit me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't pour snow into my collar!!!"
Laura grabbed a snowball from the ground and, like an emotionless perpetual motion machine, frantically hurled it at Gladys.
Gladys ran, Laura chased, and their playful antics made them laugh, lightening the atmosphere.
Seeing this, Carol also took off running, throwing snowballs at the two of them.
Until…
Thud!
“…”
Sudden silence fell.
The worst thing is when the air suddenly goes quiet, because trouble has broken out.
A snowball landed on Liang Lin's face. Hit by the snowball, Liang Lin stared blankly at the three people in front of her.
“What.... what are you doing?”
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.