The Princess And The Lord



At the same time, Lilly met her father at one of the Ellecant branch offices of the Ellecant group in the town of Eagle Rock called Mirage, which was in the automotive sector.

Because the company is relatively new, Edmund directly oversees the development of the company and because of what happened to Ethan, he put a lot of work on hold for a very long time, so only now can he return to the company as one would expected his desk was filled with piles of documents he needed to read and approve.

Edmund had just finished his weekly meeting with company officials and was now stuck in his office with two assistants helping him when there was a knock on his office door.

Not just anyone could enter his office without notification from his secretary so Edmund could already guess the uninvited guest was one of his family but what a surprise it was Lilly who had arrived.

Lilly was an obedient child who rarely got into trouble and because she and her wife were busy Lilly was closer to her grandparents also compounded by the Dark Ages war which made them separated for a while because Lilly's relationship with her parents although not too bad but they weren't even close when compared to Lilly's relationship with her grandfather.

Edmund was surprised to see Lilly visiting him, he realized that the last time Lilly visited him at work was when he was six or seven years old, and after that Lilly never visited him again or rather his family never visited him again for a long time except for Ethan but that too for business matter.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your work" Lilly looked uneasy.

The string in his heart suddenly tightened as a feeling of anguish enveloped him but only for a second before Edmund's expression stiffened again.

"Come in, we just finished" Edmund signed his assistant to leave.

The two assistants exchange a quick glance at each other and then leave knowingly with a pile of documents their boss was supposed to check today.

Lilly looked a little nervous and uneasy as she entered her father's office. For a moment she felt out of place in her father's office soon after the atmosphere between them turned awkward.

Lilly and Edmund's relationship at first wasn't too bad, in fact, they could be considered quite close. As the only daughter and also the youngest, it was to be expected Edmund would spoil her, but responsibility as the heir of the Hamilton family forced Edmund to leave his family more than he wanted, and since then their relationship has started to drift apart.

This was exacerbated after the incident that happened to Ethan and his relationship with Hugo was strained due to the incitement of The S.A.I.N.T organization. It's not like Edmund was not suspicious about what the organization wanted to do but for him, Ethan's safety was far more important. 

Because of that Hugo and Edmund's fights got heated up, Edmund thought Hugo was selfish while Hugo thought Edmund's actions were too reckless and it would not help anyone and would only intensify the situation of course the relationship between father and son became even worse and when Lilly took Hugo side it added the already boiling dissatisfaction in his heart.

Edmund didn't want to remember but at that time he said hurtful words to Lilly which he wished he could take back but it was useless to cry over the spilled milk, unfortunately, because of Edmund's temperament it was hard for him to apologize openly to his daughter.

"You don't usually come, is there anything you want?" Edmund had been nonchalant but his heart hoped that Lilly would need something from him so he could pay back a little for his wrongdoing to his daughter.

Lilly sat across from Edmund's table while lowering her head for a moment she looked anxious "Um...I have something important to tell you...but I don't know how it will affect our family...so, um..."

Edmund squinted his eyes "Lilly?"

"Actually..." Lilly also told what Ron did to her, how Lory saved her and her meeting with Jacob, even though Lilly acted confident in front of Ron and Jacob but actually Lilly wasn't sure how her father would react to this.

Compared to her older brothers, Lilly's relationship with her parents is not that close, although that doesn't mean that their relationship is bad or that her parents don't love her, it's just that Lilly feels as if there is a transparent wall between them which makes it difficult to get close to them, especially her father.

Lilly was so absorbed in telling her story that she didn't notice the flame burning like wildfire in Edmund's eyes.

'CRACK!'

Lilly raised her eyes when she heard the sound but all she saw was Edmund opening his desk drawer and then meticulously wiping his black ink-stained hands.

Lilly didn't know what was going on so she continued her story but if Lilly looked closely she would see that the expensive pen that had been in her father's hand was now gone leaving only clear black ink marks on the paper on the table.

"So that's what happened," said Edmund calmly.

Lilly is hurt by her father's calm reaction, she feels stupid and then reminds herself that she was supposed to expect this much, She should have known that her father wouldn't care about her as much as he cares about Ethan.

"Yeah... I don't know what your decision is but no matter what... I will do whatever you say." Lilly's voice was strained with a hint of disappointment and despair.

Edmund's face hardened with annoyance, why did Lilly speak as if she would let this matter go, was he the heartless father in her eyes?

He felt rage fill his entire being, he felt suffocated and all the words he wanted to say were swallowed back up into his throat.

"I understand..." Edmund's voice sounded flat and innocent "You can go home, I'll take care of this"

Lilly bit her lower lip, She felt heartbroken but no words came out she just nodded "I'll be back later..."

Lilly got up from the chair and lowered her head. "I'm sorry I bothered you... for father's sake," he turned and left the room.

Edmund realized that his words came out too cold and heartless. He wanted to explain that wasn't what he meant but Lily had already left the room.

Edmund rubbed his forehead feeling frustrated at his own behavior at the same time the guilt in his heart sank deeper and deeper like a root in his heart, Edmund didn't know why he always behaved like this towards his daughter, and since when did their relationship become like this?

Edmund sighed heavily for a moment then he pressed the call button on his desk to summon his assistant.

A few seconds later his two assistants came "Do you have orders, sir?"

"Yes, put me in touch with the director of the Poko-Poko company" Edmund tapped his finger on the table.

The Poko-Poko company is engaged in the food chain restaurant sector, but he and the company want to expand into the food retail sector, which means that he will become a direct competitor for Jacob's Ancora company. 

The Poko-Poko company managed to secure collaboration with the Luminescent company, which is a large national company from Harland. 

As a result, the Poko-Poko restaurant managed to combine technology with services and entertainment that are more advanced than any other restaurant with surprisingly cheap prices as well, and now they want to penetrate the market in several major cities in Wellinburg including Eagle Rock and Edington city which is the territory of the Hamilton family. Therefore, a few days ago the CEO of Poko-Poko company contacted him.

At first, Edmund wanted to refuse the offer because he didn't want to worsen the relationship between Augburn and Hamilton which would trouble the Ellecant group further. However, that changed when the Augburn useless playboy son dared to play with his beloved daughter....ooh, everything changed now, since they begged for war then he was obligated to give it to them.

"Yes, Sir!" the assistants reply readily.

"Oh and put me in touch with my father" Edmund ordered his other assistant.

"Immediately sir!" answered the other assistant immediately.