If Soft Tactics Fail, Use Force

After a pause, she pointed to some potted flowers not far outside, which they had just moved in and were arranging, and asked, "Then tell me, what are those?"

"The ones with red flowers are Weigela, the purple ones are Begonia, under the pine tree are Royal Poinciana, and next to the green vines is the Kapok tree. They're not only beautiful, but also good for your health."

"Hmm, did you pick out all these flowers and plants yourself?"

"Yes, Miss Grace," Miles replied respectfully.

"Placing these outside my window is both lovely and fragrant. Well done," Grace said. "Hope, reward him with some silver."

Hope frowned, handing over the silver with clear reluctance.

After sending him away, Hope couldn't help but ask, "Miss Grace, why reward him? To dare speak so of Madam—he deserves to have his mouth sewn shut and tongue cut out!"

Grace smiled. "Do you want my reputation to be even worse?"

Hope stared blankly. "Pardon?"

"I know you’re all angry. I’m angry too." Grace looked at the beautiful flowers outside. "But when someone like Aunt Wan is so brazen and personally promotes people, it’s best to keep them around for now…"

Hope stared, bewildered. "Pardon?"

Claire: "Miss Grace, what kind of logic is that?"

Claire asked, "Miss Grace, what do you mean by that?"

The logic is simple: you never know when he might come in handy...

The point is, you never know when someone like him might become truly useful...

—

Grace Wan sat there for a long time, her whole body trembling slightly.

Lena’s recovery brought her not only jealousy,

but even more—fear.

Ten years of illness, suddenly cured—does it mean... the Prime Minister has finally discovered the cause?

That shouldn’t be possible.

No Spiritual Alchemist in Blue Moon Kingdom could ever detect it!

"Lady of Blue Moon, what’s wrong?" Lucy, Grace Wan’s confidante, asked from the side.

Grace Wan took a deep breath: "Lucy, I asked you to investigate why General Evan Xiao would give Madam such a precious Infernal Drake Pill. Did you find anything?"

Grace Wan had gotten this information from the Prime Minister himself.

Lucy replied, "Maybe General Evan Xiao and the Prime Minister finally resolved their misunderstanding, so he gave it to her to strengthen their relationship."

"Is that so?" Grace Wan narrowed her eyes.

"Well, what else could it be for?" Lucy asked.

"A few days ago, Grace dragged Maya to the General’s Manor." Grace Wan said. "I tried to get Maya to talk, but she wouldn’t say a word about what they did there."

Lucy was clever and caught on immediately: "Are you worried... Miss Grace and the General? That can’t be! Miss Grace doesn’t have a Spirit Root!"

"If not, then why would Evan Xiao try to curry favor with Grace’s mother by giving such a valuable gift?" The more Grace Wan thought about it, the more suspicious she became.

"Then... if she goes out again, should we have someone follow her?" Lucy suggested.

Grace Wan took a deep breath. "Keep a close eye on her."

Lucy nodded.

A vicious look slowly appeared on Grace Wan’s face. She said word by word, "I absolutely won’t let her have anything to do with Evan Xiao! She must enter the palace! If the soft approach doesn’t work, we’ll use force!"

......

This year, Prime Minister Zhu turned forty.

On his birthday, the residence was bustling with a lively banquet, full of celebration.

But Grace was restless inside.

She remembered that Aunt Wan’s niece, Bella Wan, had harmed her eldest brother at a birthday banquet just like this.

—

It was precisely this "knowing nothing," plus the passage of time, that made her memory of that event so vague.