An affair?
Uh... Serena Feng's face instantly darkened. Why was that the first word to pop into her head?
She and Nolan Eastlyn—neither married nor engaged—weren't palace maids or guards. Even if something did happen, it wouldn't count as an affair, and anyway, they hadn't actually done anything yet.
Nolan, however, thought Serena was just getting anxious. He glanced up at the sky; it was getting late, and they'd wasted quite a bit of time already.
Fine, since he was technically "in the wrong" first, Nolan decided to sacrifice a little more: "There are people inside who answer to me. If you need to go in, I can arrange it—but you have to tell me what you plan to do."
Nolan was sure Serena wouldn't be stupid enough to rush in and kill Liam Li. Not only would it be pointless, but even if she succeeded, then what?
If Serena killed someone, she'd never escape. And using such a dumb method to kill Liam—how would she paint him as a monster, or explain her story that the fire at Feng Manor was a heaven-sent blaze protecting her?
He didn't know exactly what Serena was planning, but he knew she'd prepared well. Otherwise, she would've had Sun Zhengdao take out Liam Li ages ago.
"Just sending him a little gift to repay his 'care' for Feng Manor." Serena put extra emphasis on "care," making her disgust for Liam Li crystal clear. Others might not notice, but Nolan definitely understood how badly she wanted Liam dead. For this, she'd even put off revenge against Duke Allen’s manor and Princess Yara for now.
"I'll deliver it for you." Nolan didn't press her further; he knew Serena well enough—if she wanted to talk, she would, and if not, asking was pointless.
Besides, once he handled things, he'd be able to figure out a thing or two himself—he didn't need Serena to explain. Of course, Nolan would never let her know about this little scheme; Serena was far too suspicious for that.
Serena didn't reply, just stared at Nolan, weighing whether she could trust him. This was serious—if anything went wrong, Liam Li might survive and she'd be the one to die first.
The Emperor was too busy to bother with her now, but if this failed or didn't go as planned, he'd have time to deal with her—and she was no match for him. When that happened, she couldn't guarantee this man in front of her would risk everything to save her.
Nolan wasn't impatient; he just let Serena size him up, his expression as distant and cold as ever—handsome, noble, and completely unreadable. But only Nolan himself knew he was actually annoyed. Very annoyed.
This woman still didn't trust him. She really needed a lesson. If he got the chance, he'd definitely teach this stubborn woman a thing or two—if she couldn't even trust her own man, who could she trust?
In the end, Serena compromised. Her previous plan was way too naive—this palace wasn't nearly as easy to infiltrate as she'd imagined. Luckily, with Nolan's help, she hadn't ruined everything tonight.
Princess Xie might have connections in the palace, but nothing like Nolan's. With her half-baked skills, she could dodge the guards, but getting close was another story—she wasn't exactly special-forces material.
"There are eight black charge blocks in the box. Find a chance to stick them in the blind spots by the doors and windows closest to Liam Li—on all four sides. Once they're in place, that's it." Serena pulled out a wooden box and handed it to Nolan. She'd made the contents by stripping unused Med-Pack devices and mixing them with gunpowder to create remote-detonated bombs. No way Nolan could guess what they were—at best, he'd think they were mini thunder-blast grenades.
She'd been trained personally by the Demolition Team Captain—if she couldn't make a remote-detonated bomb, she'd be letting him down. Not everyone got the kind of open-handed mentorship she had, with someone willing to share years of hard-earned experience.
Some poor Demolition Team Captain was still staring at Serena's file, totally stumped: "Everything about her is normal, so why are her brainwaves so strange—like she has some unawakened psychic ability? What kind of terrifying power could have gotten her killed?"
The Demolition Team Captain found that the biggest thing to happen before Serena died was that she'd caught the attention of the psychic abilities organization—only she died before her powers ever awakened...
At a certain military research institute in China, the director was staring at the clinical trial report for the Smart Med-Pack, totally stumped: "She was reduced to nothing but scum, so why can't we find Med-Pack No. 1? Could it be that the Med-Pack had feelings for Serena and buried itself with her?"
"Director, what should we do with this data?" a researcher quietly reminded him. Right now, their job wasn't to worry about Serena's life or death, but how to clean up the mess she'd left behind.
"What else can we do? The Med-Pack's test results weren't impressive. If we submit this report, the project will be canceled. Change it—all the data. And remove Serena's Med-Pack from the trial; not a single trace left. If the higher-ups find out the Med-Pack didn't self-destruct after the user died, we're finished."
"Yes, I'll get right on it."
Because some departments only care about the numbers, Serena and the existence of the Med-Pack were completely erased by the institute. From now on, even if she exchanged Medical Ethics Points for equipment and drugs, there'd be no trace—just a headache for the researchers.
Hmph, what does that have to do with her anyway!
Serena had no idea how Nolan pulled it off—just knew that half an hour later, he returned, looking completely at ease: "It's done."
Nolan was genuinely puzzled—did Serena really need to come in person for such a simple job? She could've handed it off to anyone. Those black charge blocks were strange, though: neither iron nor anything obvious, he couldn't tell what they were or what they did.
"You didn't keep any, did you?" Serena asked with a half-smile. It wasn't that she didn't trust Nolan, but the consequences were deadly—if she pressed the remote, those things would explode. If Nolan really kept one or two, he'd be the unlucky one.
As for handling things herself? No choice—this was too dangerous to trust to anyone else. She didn't have loyal people of her own, and borrowing help from the Wang–Hsieh alliance wasn't something she felt safe doing.
"Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Nolan put on a wounded face, but only he knew it was all an act—he'd kept one and sent it off to his subordinates to take apart.
"Good. If you ended up as another Liam Li because of it, I'd feel guilty." Losing one or two wouldn't affect the plan—Serena just didn't want Nolan carrying a bomb around and getting blown up by mistake.
Whether Nolan believed her or not, she stated the danger outright. If he really had kept one, he'd better get rid of it now. She knew Nolan understood: anything she gave Liam was a death talisman, best avoided.
"I told you—I'll help you unconditionally." Nolan had never known guilt or hesitation. As far as he was concerned, Serena was his, and so were her creations...