Lily took a breath and answered, "Yes, I want to save Nick, but it doesn't make me wrong. I’ve told you how risky the experiment is, Your Majesty. I'm sure you remember." Now that Rhea was trying to disrupt Lily’s plan, the latter could only rely on her relationship with the queen to salvage the situation. However, the queen did not respond and grew pensive, trying to recall what Lily had told her.Rhea noticed Lily had swayed the queen again and said, “Don’t believe her, Your Majesty! Indeed, the experiment is risky, but she only wants to save the boy. You mustn’t fall for her tricks.”Lily glared at Rhea. "Hey, even if I'm trying to save Nick, I'm just stating the facts!"Rhea scoffed and said, "Yeah, right. For his sake, you wouldn't even wish to make the experiment work.""Can you guarantee it’ll work now?" Lily asked. Rhea smiled. "Of course not." "Since you can't, why conduct an experiment that is most likely to fail?" Lily looked toward the queen and said gently, "Your
“You make a lot of sense, Rhea.” The queen gave her an approving smile. Rhea felt reassured. It showed she had successfully read the queen's mind. Lily could only threaten, "Your Majesty, if you insist on proceeding with the experiment, I won't be part of it. I won’t do something, knowing it’ll fail."When the queen frowned, Rhea said, "Well, I can do it.""Rhea, you—""Your Majesty, I may not surpass Lily by much, but I've won many international awards. Although I couldn't create the R10 drug like Lily did due to my limited knowledge about herbal medicine, I'm highly experienced in conducting experiments and surgery."She added with a smile, "Trust me. I can do it well." She knew she had nothing to lose. Previously, she was worried because Fred demanded she make it work despite its low success rate. However, the queen knew it would surely fail and would not blame Rhea if it did.Besides, Rhea would no longer need to bother with Fred when he died during the experiment. She a
Despite her caring tone, the queen continued to look at Lily.Rhea looked at the latter and noticed she was ignoring her, too. She hated being ignored ever since she was a child. Rhea had achieved so much, yet people still treated her like nothing.As long as Lily was around, Rhea could only play second fiddle to her. Rhea could not help but try and persuade the queen again, “We have all the right people and resources to experiment today. Your Majesty, you shouldn’t give up now!”She knew things would be different if they proceeded with the experiment. However, the queen lost her temper and glared at Rhea, scolding, “I told you to leave!”Rhea was startled. She dared not push her luck anymore and bit her lower lip, saying, “If you need anything—”She quickly shut up and left with the others when she saw the queen’s impatient expression.When Rhea reached the door, she could not help but look over her shoulder at them. She grew envious and resentful, seeing the two gazing at each
The queen sighed and said, "You aren't afraid of death because you're not old like me. I used to think I didn’t fear death and that I could conquer every problem."After a pause, she continued, "However, I've realized that there are many things I can’t control. I don’t want to die, either!” Suddenly, Queen Yasmin looked at Lily helplessly. The former became emotional, saying, “I still have many important things I’ve yet to do. Do you know what it feels like to be unable to do everything you want to?”"I do!" Lily answered."No, you don't!" Yasmin retorted, "How could you? You're so young, beautiful, and full of energy. Not only are you young, but you also have a good family and career. How could you possibly know how I feel? I used to be like you, but now I'm old!"Yasmin looked exhausted. She spoke more like an ordinary aging woman than a monarch. She had desperately struggled to defy her fate, unwilling to accept her aging and death.Lily gazed at her and knew how frustrated
Fred had always treated Lily as the queen's vessel. He would take good care of Lily but could never spare her in the end. Lily looked at Yasmin quietly as the latter raised her brow and said, "You don't believe me? If you don't, I can—" Lily interrupted, "No, I do. You're the queen, and I know you keep your promises. You wouldn't say so if you haven't considered sparing my life."Lily smiled somewhat mockingly. "I should thank you for willing to do so."It sounded awkward coming from her, but she meant it. Yasmin did not need to care about Lily’s life, but she was willing to trouble herself with finding a new vessel. Still, that was not what Lily wanted.Yasmin noticed Lily was not overjoyed. The former grew puzzled, asking, “Then why can’t you help me? Don’t you want to reunite with your family? Don’t you want them to achieve immortality, too?”"No." Lily readily shook her head. Yasmin looked at her in disbelief. "Why wouldn’t you? Everyone wants to live forever. I'm sure yo
Yasmin fell silent, seemingly pondering as Lily continued, “I don’t know if I’ll fear death when I reach your age, but I feel there’s a limit to everything. Even if I want to live forever, I won’t sacrifice others’ lives.“I would never wish the same thing upon my children, friends, and family. Since I wouldn’t want others to do this to me, I wouldn’t want to do it to others, too,” after a pause, she said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”“I’m…tired.” Yasmin closed her eyes, not wanting to dwell on the topic. “You should get some rest as well.”“Your Majesty, I hope you can understand that it’s impossible to achieve immortality. I’ve only created R10 based on the formula they gave me. As for whether or not it’ll work, I’m…truly unsure.“The truth is that I believe the chances of it working are essentially zero despite what I said earlier,” Lily spoke bluntly, no longer needing to beat around the bush."Enough!" Yasmin snapped. "Don't push it just because I've b
"Mike… Corden," the man added.Yasmin repeated the name under her breath and felt it sounded familiar.The guard asked, “Your Majesty, should I tell him to leave?”She waved. “No, let Rhea see him.”Although hesitant, the guard left to carry out her instruction.Yasmin muttered, “What the hell is Rhea up to?” …Mike discreetly scanned his surroundings as he sat in the reception room. Although he had been there before, he was not familiar with the place. He gently caressed his phone as he waited.After a while, he heard footsteps, and Rhea appeared at the door. She was surprised to see him, narrowing her eyes as she said, “Didn’t I tell you to come at night?”She would not have the time to meet him if it were not for what happened just now. Still, she was puzzled as to why the guards allowed them to meet. After all, only Fred knew what was going on between Rhea and Mike.‘Does the queen know about this? If so, why didn’t she ask me about it? Is she trying to see if I’d tell h
“Then who am I?” Rhea asked. "My master," Mike answered after hesitating for a moment. Rhea narrowed her eyes to study him. "Really? But you don't seem to listen to my instructions." "You're my master, but you still need to do what you promised." Mike frowned. "The boss used to let me see my son over video calls, but now I have no news of him. You—""He's dead," Rhea suddenly said. Stunned, Mike said, "What did you say?""I said…" Rhea said emphatically, "He's dead. Your son is already dead." "Wh-what?" Mike's voice quivered. "That's a lie! Nicky… Nicky’s fine.""I'm not lying. Fred killed your son," Rhea sighed and said, "I didn't tell you about it because I was worried that it would be too huge a blow to you. However, since you insisted on knowing, I guess you would find out sooner or later. Just know that I won't be able to help you because he's dead." "No, that's not possible! Why would he kill a child? Fred could have just given Nicky back to me if he was no lo