Lily chuckled when she realized that she could no longer conceal her actual intentions. “It’s true that I
fancy Mr. Griffith, but I’m afraid I don’t know him that well yet. I was hoping that you could tell me a little
about Mr. Griffith’s interests and hobbies, Miss Sare.” Elise responded with a polite smile.
“You must be kidding, Miss Lily. I’m nothing more than a subordinate—I don’t think I’m at liberty to
discuss anything related to my boss’s matters. If you don’t have any other orders, I’ll step outside now,
Miss Lily. I’ll come in once you’re done.” Right as Elise was about to leave, Lily called out to her once
more.
“It seems like you’re not willing to tell me anything about Mr. Griffith, Miss Sare. Regardless, I think it
would be a shame if you were to just walk out without listening to the rest of what I’d like to say.” “What
else would you like to say, Miss Lily?” Elise tried to remain as patient as possible while Lily quietly
scanned her from head to toe before speaking.
“Give me an amount! As long as it’s something within my capabilities, I’ll give you whatever you want. I
can agree to keep it a secret—your boss will never know about this.” There wasn’t even a slight change
in Elise’s expression as she spoke. “Apart from our work, I don’t think there’s much to be said between
both of us, Miss Lily.
I’m sorry, but I think I should leave now.” This time, Elise no longer hesitated—she turned and strode
right out of the room. Lily was left alone in the water, her expression one of fury as she glared at Elise’s
receding figure. Elise let out a sigh after she stepped away from the hot springs. Phew. I finally
managed to get rid of Lily. She’s a pretty exotic woman, though. Other women might think of it as
shameful to speak of such matters, but Lily didn’t seem reluctant to do it at all.
After stepping away from the hot springs, Elise walked to a garden opposite the area and sat down on
one of the swings there. While sitting on the swing, Elise didn’t notice the imminent threat creeping up
behind her. She was casually swinging herself back and forth on the swing one moment, yet at the very
next moment, a slippery, green object slithered over to her.
“Ahh…!” Elise screamed in terror. Her face was drained of color when she saw what the creature was.
“A… s-snake…” If Elise had to pick one thing that she was the most terrified of in the world, her choice
would always be the same. She was terrified of snakes, and there was a living, breathing snake just ten
feet away from her at that moment.
Her entire body trembled with fear. Her first instinct was to run away from the threat, but her legs felt
like they were drilled into the ground. “Don’t come… Don’t come here… Save me!” Elise couldn’t care
less about how she looked then as she shouted at the top of her lungs.
She shuffled a few steps backward when the snake raised its head. Elise hastily turned to run away,
but her legs gave out, and she fell onto the ground with a loud smack. “Someone help me! Save me!”
She continued to scream and shout as she watched the snake slither closer to her.
At that critical point, a rock struck directly at the snake’s mid-area, where its heart was located. The
snake curled up into a ball as it twitched and jerked in pain. “Are you okay?” Alexander walked over to
Elise, his voice filled with concern. Before Elise knew what she was doing, she threw herself into his
arms and clung to his neck.
Her entire body was shivering uncontrollably. Jack saw the incident from afar, and he hastily got the
security workers to catch the snake. “I’m sorry, Mr. Griffith. You guys must have been really shocked.”
One of the security guards delivered his apology in a fearful tone. Alexander didn’t respond to the
guard and simply continued to pat Elise’s back gently. “It’s fine now, Miss Sare. Someone got rid of the
snake.”
However, Elise didn’t seem to feel any better. She continued to cling tightly onto Alexander. He
narrowed his eyes as he considered pushing her off of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it in the
end. Meanwhile, Jack gestured for the security guards to leave before he turned and looked at
Alexander.
“I’ll head over there, Alexander.” Jack turned and walked off, leaving Elise and Alexander alone at the
pavilion in the garden. After what felt like ages, Elise finally stuck her head out to check if the snake
was still there. The uneasy feeling in her chest finally disappeared once she made sure that there
weren’t any snakes near her. “Alright.
You’re safe now,” Alexander uttered. Elise shifted her gaze upward to meet his eyes, and it was only
then did she realize how close their bodies were to each other. She hastily backed away from him as
blood rushed up to her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Mr. Griffith. That was embarrassing.”
Alexander pulled his hands away from her. “I hadn’t expected you to be so afraid of snakes, Miss Sare.
The snake you saw earlier was just a regular garter snake, and it wasn’t poisonous at all.” Elise didn’t
even want to speak about the snake at all. “Well, if there isn’t anything else you need me to do, I’ll head
back to the hot springs now.”
Alexander nodded. “Go on. Please take good care of Miss Lily.” Elise was on her way back when she
recalled the rather unpleasant conversation that she had with Lily earlier. In the end, Elise decided to
stop by the bar at the entrance of the hot springs. She ordered a drink for herself. A while later, Lily
walked out of the hot springs with Alexander. Lily wore a smile that seemed to take up her entire face—
there was no trace of anger from her conversation with Elise earlier.
“The hot spring was lovely, Mr. Griffith. I really enjoyed it. Miss Sare, in particular, was really thoughtful.
You have a really capable assistant—it explains how you managed to dominate the markets for so
many years, Mr. Griffith.” Alexander, on the other hand, didn’t smile as he responded to the woman.
“You’re too nice, Miss Lily. I’ve told my assistant to prepare some of Athesea’s most famous dishes for
dinner tonight. We can head over for our meal now.” “Sure. Thank you so much, Mr. Griffith,” Lily
replied with a smile. She took a few steps forward, leaving Alexander behind her.
Elise seized this opportunity to approach him. “I won’t be joining you guys tonight, Mr. Griffith. I have
other matters to handle, so I’ll head home soon.” “Alright. You can leave first,” Alexander uttered while
glancing at her. He didn’t question her any further. After Elise got in the car that was heading back to
the city, she couldn’t seem to stop imagining scenarios of Alexander and Lily spending time with each
other.
Since Lily is interested in Alexander, I wonder if they’ll… She smacked herself on the head when she
realized what she was thinking about. “What nonsense are you picturing in your head, Elise?” she
whispered to herself. She tried her best to rid herself of all the wild thoughts running in her mind.
After she completed her makeup and got herself changed, she returned to Griffith Residence. She lay
on the large bed and fixed her eyes on the ceiling above her. Images and scenes of her leaping into
Alexander’s arms emerged in her mind, and she could still smell his fresh, minty scent at the tip of her
nose. She couldn’t help but long for him at that moment. Elise rolled over, but she couldn’t seem to get
rid of the images of Alexander hugging her no matter how much she tried to do so.
What’s up with you, Elise? Why can’t you stop thinking about Alexander? … The next day, Elise
dragged herself out of bed, her eyebags nearly extending down to her chin. She hastily covered her
eyebags with some foundation when she saw her haggard reflection in the mirror.
Once she walked out of the room and went downstairs, she found Alexander sitting on the couch in the
hall. He had his legs crossed, and he seemed to be casually flipping through some documents. It was
just a simple motion of flipping pages, yet he seemed to do it in an especially elegant manner.
“You’re here,” Alexander muttered as he lowered the documents he had been reading. “We’ll be late if
we don’t get there in fifteen minutes. Let’s leave now,” he uttered after taking a look at his watch. He
parted his long legs and headed toward the door, but Elise didn’t follow him. He frowned a little as his
footsteps came to a halt. “What is it? Why aren’t you coming along?”
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