After struggling so much and overcoming so many battlefields, she had finally managed to become a fake couple with Zach. It might look like a fool's errand to the others, but Diana had invested herself fully in this fake relationship. She was in fact hoping that the fake relationship would eventually bloom into something real.
Just when Diana finally felt that she had a chance with Zach now that other bothersome girls were out of the way, another had come to take over her spot.
She felt that Zach already had a fake wife namely herself and didn't need another one as long as Diana was with him. She was determined to stand against such a decision even if she had to invest everything she had to achieve this end.
"I don't think it's a good idea at all. How would you make them believe that Zach is the son of that Wood person you just mentioned? What if they begin to investigate Zach because of your information leak? Once someone finds a simplest clue from amongst your web of lies, the whole strategy of yours would come crumbling down like a house of cards."
Violet looked like she had seen through the heart of the girl raising the objections. Clara had previously told her all about her journey. She had even mentioned how the two introduced themselves the first time they met her. Therefore, she had an inkling as to what was in Diana's heart as she so vehemently opposed such a great idea that might help them develop the foundation that their family needed while remaining hidden from the prying eyes.
Instead of taking her objection head on, Violet pulled Diana closer to herself and held her little hand in both of hers. She knew what Diana was trying to pull but she didn't expose her. Violet was older than her and more experienced when it came to matters that should be handled delicately. Therefore, she tried to be as cautious as possible so as to not offend someone close to Zach.
Diana was taken by surprise. She had not expected Violet to grab a hold of her hand like that. Before she could jerk her hand free, Violet's calming voice entered her ears.
"Mrs. Smith…"
Diana forgot all about pulling her hand free from Violet's grasp. The way Violet just called her sweetened her bitter mood in a second and all the things she previously found wrong with the world suddenly seemed quite reasonable and justified. She didn't even try to break free of Violet's hands and if possible she wanted to listen more to her honeyed words that calmed her trembling soul.
Diana couldn't help but urge Violet to talk a little more to her through various gestures and her body language.
Zach dismissed what was happening without a second thought as he took it to be the so called understanding between those of the same gender. Just like he was quite amicable and had tacit understanding with Bruce, Diana must have felt the same with Violet which was why they had gotten so close to each other within seconds.
"Mrs. Smith no matter what happens in the future, your position as the first wife won't be threatened. Young master Zach must love you very much for him to bring you along wherever he goes. I don't think any new girl can shake up his feelings for you in the short term. So you can rest assured that what you are worried about won't happen so easily. Moreover, you have been by his side through thick and thin, I don't believe that the new woman would be able to make him forget the sacrifices you have made for him."
The more Violet spoke about her position as the first wife, the more Diana became satisfied with the situation. In fact she was quite easy to coax as she was relatively young. With Violet's experience in diplomacy, it was as easy as cajoling a little child for her.
Diana soon found her raised guns lowering unconsciously as the flattery reached her head. Violet had evoked her strongest desires within seconds but her voice was only audible to Diana. Therefore, no one; not even her father knew what she said to Diana in order to appease her and keep her from objecting any longer.
Although Zach couldn't understand how the headstrong Diana acquiesced to Violet so easily, Bruce who witnessed the blush spreading across his sister's neck had a guess as to what Violet whispered to her.
…
Kanewea State was home to a lot of powerful and noteworthy families and their complex relationships with each other were a must for anyone to operate a business in this area. The roots of these families were hidden far too deep within the annals of time and no one even knew how old these families were or how far their influence stretched until they decided to go all out in order to fight for survival. Each such war led to terrible consequences in the state. Therefore, there was an unspoken rule among the top families to not push each other to the edge. Only after a weakness was found that could be exploited without any repercussions would the vultures actually turn towards one of those families.
Remaining within the limitations, the families constantly fought each other in order to secure resources and to expand their business activities. Hostile takeovers and mergers were a common occurrence as long as the families refrained from infringing upon the opposing families' main sources of income.
One of these old and powerful families was known as the Hunter family. For as long as anyone could remember, the Hunter family had always been a part of the Kanewea top influential families. Even though there was a certain drop in popularity from time to time, even time itself had been unable to erase the prestige of the family. The foundation of the Hunter family was too strong and the connections that they had built over the period of time were so numerous that two out of every five people one could meet in Kanewea state owed the Hunter family a favor.
The Hunter family had been a close associate of the Windsor family in the past. They worked together for a period of time during which their businesses profited mutually and the cooperation was deemed to be quite fruitful for both the parties. Alas! The friendship and cooperative relationship between the two families couldn't last very long due to the deteriorating health of the old master of the Windsor family.
The Hunter family had set its sight too high and was unable to distinguish greed from their right. Their cooperative spirit vanished and greed occupied their minds when they found out the condition of the Windsor family leader.
Even though the Windsor family was slowly deteriorating, the Hunter family managed to rein in their fantasies. They didn't dare to attack fearing that the Windsor family might still retaliate and they might not be able to take them on.
They only derived their courage from the fact that the illness the old master was suffering from couldn't be cured ever. Only when they were sure that Marico, the patriarch of the Windsor family was approaching the end of his life did they make a move to annex the Windsor family to be a subsidiary of their own.
Of course, several slightly lower level families had also been pestering the Hunter family for their share insisting that they wouldn't let the Hunter family eat up such a delicious piece of meat all by themselves.
The Hunter family had no reason to refuse since the Windsor family was such a behemoth that even after splitting their businesses and wealth into several pieces, it would still be enough to sate the appetite of all the vultures including the Hunter family.
With Marico nearing death, the presence of Clara and Violet had become a hindrance to the Hunter family. They needed the Windsor family to be in chaos in order to take over but the two girls wouldn't let anyone eye their family. Therefore, Nelson Hunter suggested his father Hogan to get rid of the little girls.
Hogan was a smart man who had taken the reins of the Hunter family a few decades ago. He wasn't going to leave about any traces once he decided to kill the annoying girls of the Windsor family off. So, he told Nelson to hire a Tamer instead of an assassin to take care of the younger one. If the girl got attacked out in the wilderness by a bunch of beasts, it could only be attributed to her bad luck and her lack of strength. No one would be able to find faults with them or anyone else.
Nelson agreed with his father's proposal because it was clean and efficient and the Tamer would never actually show up in front of the target in order to make it all look like an accident. Fortunately Nelson knew of a powerful Tamer who had an S rank beast in his possession. Although the Tamer was only Class A in terms of his mental capacity, the quality of beasts in his repertoire was far too capable; just the horde of Iron Mantises was deadly enough to wipe out a mid-sized party on their own. They didn't even need the fine commands of the Tamer to kill the other party.
Nelson had met up with the Tamer before assigning him the task. Although he was confident that such a show of strength was enough to take down that little girl who loved going outside the city and into the wilderness, he still decided to ask the old Tamer if he could take down Clara or not.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢