When his biological parents were mentioned, Alexander Hayes furrowed his brow slightly and shook his head. "I had wanted to keep investigating and get to the bottom of my origins. But the deeper I dug, the more the clues vanished—there simply isn't a single trace of my real parents. I think... perhaps only Marquis Weiyuan and Marchioness Valor know the truth about my background."
Lily Evans listened, lowered her eyes, and fell silent.
Given Alexander Hayes’s influence, he had managed to uncover clues and realized he wasn’t the biological son of Marquis and Marchioness Valor. Yet, he still couldn’t find any trace of his real parents’ whereabouts.
A glint flickered in Lily Evans’s eyes as a bold guess emerged in her mind: Could it be that Alexander’s biological parents’ identities were too extraordinary, or that someone with immense power had deliberately erased all traces? That would explain why even Alexander couldn’t uncover the truth.
Their suspicions were basically the same, but the trail had ended here, with nowhere left to go.
At this moment, neither Lily Evans nor Alexander Hayes knew that aside from Marquis and Marchioness Valor—who would never reveal the truth—there was another clue to Alexander’s origins: a hidden diary, currently tucked away in a secret compartment in Dr. Rowan Lin’s study...
In fact, the secret of Alexander Hayes’s origins had already been uncovered by Dr. Rowan Lin and Lin Siyu. Once Lily Evans gave birth, the truth would finally come to light.
Ever since Alexander Hayes discovered the truth about his origins, he hadn’t mentioned the Marquis Valor Estate again.
That place, which had filled his childhood and youth with cold indifference and emotional neglect, held no warmth or affection for him. Since the two people living there had never given him love—only fed him and raised him—then all the glory and wealth Alexander Hayes had brought to the estate over the years could be considered repayment for their care.
From now on, he would have nothing more to do with them.
Summer arrived in a flash.
The weather turned hot, but fortunately, the Prince’s Manor was filled with trees and boasted a large lake, so it never got unbearably warm.
Lily Evans was six months pregnant now. Her belly was already quite obvious beneath her lightweight summer clothes.
Her days were wonderfully routine: every other day she’d teach at the academy, and in between she’d review the ledgers and listen to reports from her staff. Even without micromanaging, Lily knew every detail of her businesses.
Belle’s belly was even bigger than Lily’s—she was about to give birth any day now.
Every day, Lily watched Belle bustling around with her watermelon-sized belly and felt her own nerves jangle. She wished Belle would just stop working and take a break already.
But Belle insisted that staying active before delivery made labor go smoothly. Besides, she didn’t feel tired at all—she simply couldn’t sit still for a day.
Lily could only sigh and let Belle do as she pleased.
Just then, good news arrived from the Western Highlands spice plantation.
Her uncle and the others had managed the spice crops beautifully. Thanks to the unique climate of the Western Highlands, the plants were thriving—by summer, they were lush and vigorous, and come autumn, they’d harvest the first batch, easily several thousand pounds.
The news made Lily Evans ecstatic—a few thousand pounds of spices were worth their weight in gold!
There was another huge benefit to successfully growing spices locally: a guaranteed supply. Now, she didn’t have to worry about running out of imported spices—she could sell them freely, and her franchise hot pot restaurants could finally open one after another!
Sure enough, after Lily passed the news to Uncle Arthur’s family, Arthur Evans brought over more than a dozen franchise contracts for her to review the very next day.
Every new franchise would pay a commission to Uncle Arthur’s family, giving them a tidy profit—no wonder Uncle Arthur couldn’t stop smiling.
Meanwhile, good news arrived from Jiangnan: Leonard Yuan had placed first in the county-level exam and was now studying hard, determined to win the next round in autumn!
“Here, this is a letter Leonard Yuan wrote to his teacher, Mr. Evans—I brought it for you!” Arthur Evans said cheerfully, placing the letter in Lily’s hand.