Chapter 865: Chapter 271: I’m Here to Announce My Victory
“Yes, I know it’s a bit urgent, but I need it now. If you can’t manage it, just say so, so I can immediately find someone else,” Kate said, hanging up the phone with a click, taking a deep breath before pinching her fingers. She was clearly in a bad mood.
“Mom, where’s my breakfast?” Lily poked her head out from the kitchen and asked.
“Oh… dear, sorry, I forgot,” Kate hurriedly said, realizing her oversight as she rushed to the kitchen to start searching.
Although she hadn’t fully moved into Adrian’s mansion, this villa she initially stayed at was basically in a semi-unused state. She would only live here two or three days a month, so things weren’t quite complete, with just an ordinary servant handling cleaning tasks, making everything appear somewhat messy.
“Let’s just improvise today, dear, you know…” Kate said apologetically with a bitter smile after pouring her daughter some cereal and milk, “Things will be better in a few days, I promise.”
“Alright.” Lily shrugged, neither complaining nor being spoiled, as if the past three days away from her father’s house were quite normal.
“By the way, Lily, I… I’m going to look at houses today, can I have someone else take you to school?” Kate hesitated as she watched her daughter eat breakfast before speaking.
She didn’t plan to stay here for long. The villa was where Adrian had lived, later handed to her, and everything here made her… very, very uncomfortable.
“Mom,” her daughter sighed at this moment, “Didn’t you forget I told you last night? School’s temporarily off today, I don’t need to go.”
“Is… is that so?” Kate seemed surprised, tilting her head for a moment, then showing another bitter smile, “Sorry, Lily, I think I forgot, after all, these days mom’s been… quite a mess.”
She sighed while covering her forehead, feeling bad about saying “sorry” too much. The thought of Adrian crept back into her mind, and she quickly rubbed her head.
“How about this,” Lily suddenly pushed the bowl forward, crossed her arms on the table, and adopted a grown-up demeanor, “Tell me, why are you and dad arguing?”
“Lily?” Kate frowned.
“It’s been three days since we left home, you can tell me what’s happened, right?” Lily pouted unhappily, “Don’t tell me this is an adult matter, I’m already 9, mom, hiding the truth from me will hurt me—tell me, what’s the matter? Do I have a new aunt or a new sister?”
Her mouth curved in a smile at the last sentence, her little face showed amusement and curiosity as if she found it intriguing. Kate was slightly taken aback, she usually saw her daughter as well-behaved and adorable. When did she ever exhibit such maturity? It’s not that she didn’t care about Lily, just that Lily reserved her scheming playful side for her dad, and as a mom, instinctively believed her child to be obedient, perfect even if she witnessed Lily’s pranks on dad, she’d ignore it with the mindset that “it’s venting for me,” which explained this.
“No, no,” Kate snapped back to reality, shaking her head, “Between me and… your dad, there are irreconcilable differences, so…”
“That can’t be right, mom.” Lily squinted, holding her cheeks with an evaluating gaze at her mom, “All these years, you should be used to whatever comes up, what kind of irreconcilable differences could there be?”
Kate was tongue-tied, once again faced with the maturity of her daughter, pinching her nose for several seconds before saying, “No, Lily, forgive me, I can’t tell you, believe me, this matter… isn’t quite suitable for you.”
At that moment, the villa’s sole servant arrived at the kitchen doorway, “Madam, a Miss Emma Watson is here for you.”
“Emma?” Kate’s face showed surprise, remaining in her seat for a few moments before recovering and standing up to head outside. She quickly reached the door, and after opening it, saw Little Emma idly counting her fingers outside.
“Hi, Kate, good morning.” The girl naturally greeted her, “I thought you’d take a few more minutes to open the door.”
“I… I didn’t expect you to come here…” Kate looked at her puzzled and stammered, “You should’ve returned to the UK, right? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”
“I took leave,” Emma shrugged, “Given the situation, of course I had to stay to see what was going on.”
Kate frowned but hadn’t spoken yet when Lily cheerily ran out from behind, “Emma!”
She jumped up and warmly gave Little Emma a big hug, and Little Emma smiled as she hugged Lily close to her cheek, while Kate could not help but furrow her brow even more.
“I thought you went back to London. How is home? Aunt Charli and the others say dad’s upset over mom leaving, but dad says nothing happened, it’ll pass soon, but mom just said she had irreconcilable differences with dad, don’t know what they’re thinking,” Lily chirped incessantly, unaware of her mom’s increasingly grim face beside her.
“Lily…” Kate coughed lightly, about to say something when Lily turned around first, in a dissatisfied tone, “Alright, mom, no matter what, I’m daddy’s daughter, I can’t possibly be barred from a phone call, if you want me to do this, then please give me a clear reason!”
Facing the serious daughter, Kate couldn’t help but feel a headache, luckily Little Emma interjected, “Alright, Lily, let’s go inside, I have something to discuss with Kate.”
“What’s it about? Can I know?” Lily asked while pulling Little Emma into the room, her eyes lighting up, “Is it to be a mediator for mom and dad’s argument?”
“No, Lily, it’s not,” Little Emma gave Kate a cheerful glance, “This is something beyond my control. I came to discuss with Kate, a woman-to-woman conversation.”
“Woman-to-woman conversation?” Lily blinked, glancing at Little Emma, then at her mom, even with her precociousness, she was a bit confused.
Little Emma raised her head, looked at Kate with sparkling eyes, “Do you have time, Kate? It won’t take too much of your time.”
Kate’s gaze moved back and forth between her daughter and Little Emma, her face showed varying expressions, after some time she said, “Alright, we’ll go to the study upstairs.”
“Why not here?” Lily curious asked, then added, “Can I listen in?”
“No, Lily.” Kate and Little Emma said in unison, perfectly synchronized as if rehearsed before, causing Lily to open her mouth in surprise, and even Kate and Little Emma were somewhat taken aback.
“Whoa, did you plan this? My curiosity’s growing more and more.” Lily laughed, looking back and forth between her mom and Little Emma.
“No, Lily, this is a conversation between me and Kate, you absolutely shall not eavesdrop,” Little Emma immediately squelched her notion and held her hand out in front of her, “This is important, Lily, so I hope you can swear.”
“So serious,” the little one pursed her lips but still spread her fingers to press against Emma’s hand, “Alright, I swear not to eavesdrop on your conversation.”
Then, she sat comfortably on the living room sofa, watching her mom and Little Emma go upstairs together.
“Lily… often listens in on adults’ conversations?” Kate asked haltingly as they walked.
“No, she just wants to care about how her parents view her. I used to eavesdrop on conversations between Ed and you or others. Lily is much more mature than you think, Kate,” Little Emma said with a light laugh.
Kate rolled her eyes and said nothing more. The two of them went to the study like that. After closing the door and locking it, she asked in a mock grand manner, “What do you want to say, Emma? Are you doing this of your own will? Does it have nothing to do with him? You love him, don’t want to leave him, and don’t want to see him and me like this, so you hope I go back?”
At this point, she gave a light snort of laughter, “He’s always like this, first letting others approach you to persuade you, and when you gradually let down your guard, he steps in at just the right moment, exploiting the softest part of your heart to carry out a public relations campaign, making you muddle-headedly fall into his hands again. It’s really ridiculous that he doesn’t even have the courage to face me…”
“Wait a second, Kate, wait,” Little Emma, sitting on the sofa, raised her hand with a giggle, “It seems like you’ve got something wrong. I didn’t come here to talk about that. I came here to—”
She crossed her legs but then sat up straight, with her hands resting in front of her, proudly announcing, “I came here to announce my victory.”
“Your… victory?” Kate blinked, taking a few seconds to digest the sentence.
“That’s right, my victory,” the young girl nodded solemnly, “This nearly ten-year competition, I won. From now on, I am the woman Ed loves and cares about the most!”
“What are you… what are you talking about?” Kate frowned more and more, unable to understand.
Little Emma, however, didn’t care at all and continued on her own, “From the moment I made up my mind, I knew you were my biggest obstacle. Ed admitted to me personally that you were the first woman he was attracted to after deciding to pull himself together, and you have a very unique position in his heart. Unfortunately, I could only come after you, so even if I became his woman, my position in his heart would be behind yours. I’ve never been reconciled to that.”
“Wait… wait,” Kate waved her hand unconsciously, “What are you talking about? You… you wanted to be Ed’s woman from a long time ago?”
“Do you remember?” Little Emma’s smile became deep, “At the amusement park in London, the time you, Ed, and I, while eating ice cream, remember what I said? Although I was just a little girl then, I still clearly remember what I said that day! Do you know, Kate, when I needed Ed’s embrace, needed him to sleep next to me, needed him to comfort and play with me, he had to leave me because of a look or a word from you to be with you intimately. Do you know how unreconciled I was?”
“I… I… you… this is completely different!” Kate’s thoughts were obviously chaotic.
“Even!” Little Emma suddenly raised her voice, “I had to use all means to get on Ed’s bed. God, I was shameless, yet he wouldn’t touch me until I threatened him, saying if he didn’t want me, I’d play with enough men, did he have to compromise. I knew, all because of you, because you were earlier than me, and because you watched me grow up, he had to consider your feelings!”
After saying so much, she jumped off the sofa, unusually excited, then slowly controlled her emotions.
“Although I’ve accomplished my long-standing goal, I know this isn’t over. As long as Ed hasn’t told you about us, I can’t count it as stealing him from you!” Although Little Emma looked up at Kate, she gave a feeling of looking down from a height, “For this, I made a lot of preparations, including how to show my gentleness if you get mad at Ed or how to show my tolerance if you have a cold war with Ed. But it was all for nothing because… you surrendered! Yes, you did nothing and just left so straightforwardly. How ridiculous. Do you think you’re showing your attitude? You’re surrendering to me.”
“How can you… how dare you…” Kate made several meaningless gestures, forcing herself to suppress her angry and chaotic thoughts, and then, looking at the young girl in front of her, she breathed heavily, her expression changed several times, and she finally asked through clenched teeth, “So, you came here to announce you won.”
“That’s right, Ed has to consider your feelings, I don’t,” Little Emma looked indifferent, seemingly not taking her seriously at all, “Of course, besides this, I have one more thing to tell you, Kate, once you’ve made your decision, don’t back down. It’s for everyone’s benefit.”
“You!” Kate was finally angry, her hands involuntarily clenching into fists.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, continuously knocking, and Kate had to glare at the young girl fiercely before walking to the door. As soon as she opened it, she saw Lily outside; Kate’s face instantly turned a bit pale.
“I didn’t eavesdrop, Mom!” Lily quickly declared with her hand raised, “I came to knock because someone has arrived.”
“Hi, Kate, are you alright?” Charlize then turned around from the side, looked inside, and Little Emma waved at her.
“Ed wasn’t wrong at all; you didn’t want to go back to London and insisted on staying here just for now,” Charlize said calmly.
“Of course,” Little Emma smiled and looked at Kate, “Ed knows me very well, just like I know him.”
Hearing this, Kate, who had calmed down because of her daughter’s and Charlize’s appearance, suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of anger again. Unfortunately, Lily was right in front of her, so even if she was angry, she couldn’t show it and could only glare at her.
Little Emma still looked indifferent, leisurely walked out, patted Charlize’s arm, and then sensibly pulled Lily along, “Charli and your mom must have things to talk about, let’s go downstairs first.”
Lily apparently also noticed something, and without saying anything, she obediently nodded and went downstairs with Little Emma.
“Are you all okay?” After their silhouettes disappeared, Charlize looked at Kate again. She was dressed professionally, her hair was short, and she looked very capable.
“Do I look terrible?” As soon as her daughter and Little Emma left, Kate leaned against the door frame and held her forehead.
“Much better now,” Charlize scrutinized her carefully, “When you came out just now, you looked like you were about to punch someone.”
Kate sighed and said nothing for a long time. Charlize remained silent, just quietly watching her from the side.
“Aren’t you going to the office today?” After a moment, she weakly asked.
“I took the day off, personally approved by the chairman of the head office,” Charlize made a small joke.
Kate pulled a slight smile, as if she had laughed, then remembered something and straightened up to look at the staircase, “She wouldn’t…”
“She wouldn’t,” Charlize knew what she was talking about, “Emma isn’t someone who doesn’t know her limits. Even if she’s targeting you now, she would consider Ed’s feelings. After all, Lily is Ed’s daughter too.”
Hearing this, Kate involuntarily let out a whimper, her body slightly hunching over. Charlize finally reached out and pulled her into an embrace, holding her tightly.
“I know you’re very hurt and confused, Kate, but it’s okay. That’s why Sarah, Innie, and I haven’t called you for the past three days. We wanted you to take some time to calm down, and we also ordered Ed to give a detailed explanation. It’s just… we didn’t expect Emma to come to you,” Charlize said, patting her back and gently kissing her cheek, “Some changes are simply unpredictable.”
“Oh, no, Charli, I never expected something like this to happen,” Kate uttered with a sob, burying herself in Charlize’s shoulder, “I thought it was Ed’s problem, but never did I think… Emma, this girl I watched grow up, actually… God, what on earth is going on…”
“Yes, I was also very shocked when I first found out. I didn’t understand why Ed would…,” Charlize sighed, her eyes looking at the empty study, showing a complicated expression, “Fortunately, I don’t have as close a relationship with Emma as you do, so I managed to barely see the problem objectively after calming down. I have to admit, Emma is indeed a very intelligent, stubborn, and restless girl, especially after having talked to her a few times alone, these three traits became very evident, so… I know there are indeed some things she could actually do…”
“What should I do?” Kate raised her head, looking at Charlize with pleading eyes, as if seeking encouragement and support.