Chapter 271: A Tailor-Made Gift

Lakeside City, Tea Rose Chamber Building.

Penrose was furious when he learned that Parit, that hidden landmine, had been removed in advance.

He smashed quite a few things.

First, the assassination attempt on Gro and Gro’s daughter had succeeded, but then Ms. Einfel had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The troublemaking directed at the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce had also been quietly suppressed.

Although some people had been bought off, the core members remained largely unpurchased, making it impossible to force a confrontation.

Then the second assassination attempt against Einfel had inexplicably failed. This time, even the cause was unclear.

For the third attempt, Penrose had obtained the fuse for the Parit landmine from the old hands at the United Chamber of Commerce.

He hadn’t even had time to set his plans in motion when he barely started talking to Parit, only to have Einfel dismantle the entire operation.

All told, that was three failures!

What had initially seemed like a simple matter had failed again and again, giving him an unprecedented sense of defeat.

And Penrose couldn’t accept losing to a woman.

In his eyes, women like Einfel should stay at home as decorations.

Raising children was what they were supposed to do.

But he had truly failed.

Even now, no one in Lakeside City had actually seen this lady’s face, let alone heard her voice.

Mystery added to Einfel’s mystique. Many gentlemen wanted a glimpse of her true appearance, but they were all turned away at the door.

To lose to a woman who couldn’t even be bothered to show her face.

Penrose was too frustrated for words. He couldn’t swallow this anger.

After taking some time to calm down, Penrose asked his subordinate whether Frisi had returned yet.

The answer was no.

Penrose’s face darkened. Frisi had already been paid!

It was a substantial sum of money, and it had gone to waste.

“Damn it!”

Penrose couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.

He was starting to wonder if he had been tricked.

After taking a deep breath to steady himself again, Penrose asked his subordinate about the Star Sea Chamber of Commerce.

If Ivan could succeed there, even without using assassination, inheritance disputes, or other methods, he could easily replace the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce and take over its niche in Lakeside City.

“Mr. Ivan, he…”

The male servant’s face showed reluctance.

He lowered his head and didn’t dare continue, because it was another piece of bad news.

He feared that blurting it out might make Penrose kill him.

Penrose sensed something was wrong. He pressed on in a low, stern voice.

“What’s going on with him?”

“…According to informants, Mr. Ivan received a confidential letter today and then rushed to the port.”

“The port? What was he doing at the port?”

“Mr. Ivan took a ferry and has already left Lakeside City.”

“What?”

Penrose’s eyes widened. His gaze was almost murderous as he fixed it on the subordinate delivering the news.

“Say that again.”

“Mr. Ivan… he hurriedly left Lakeside City.”

The male servant finished speaking, sweat beading on his forehead.

After hearing this, Penrose seemed to lose all his strength.

He slumped into his chair, his half-open mouth unable to speak for a long time, until the sound of a woman’s footsteps came from outside the door.

Knock, knock.

After the knock, the door was pushed open directly.

A tall, elegant woman entered, dressed in clothes that hugged her figure, with a high ponytail.

The woman walked to the desk and placed a black letter on it.

“Mr. Penrose, the Chamber of Commerce Union plans to hold a big meeting tomorrow. This is your invitation. Please be sure to attend.”

With that, the woman turned to leave.

Penrose glanced at the envelope.

Suddenly, he raised his head and stared at the woman’s back.

He picked up the letter with one hand, used the other to support himself as he stood up, his angry expression now somewhat restrained.

His bloodshot eyes fixed on the woman.

“Did you invite the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce?”

“Of course.”

The woman answered simply.

After answering, she didn’t linger. After she left, Penrose’s face grew even gloomier.

The next day.

A group of guests arrived at Lily of the Valley Manor.

During these days, Lily of the Valley Manor had not accepted any visits. Even invitations from the heads of major chambers of commerce had been refused at the door.

But this particular group was allowed in, which piqued some people’s curiosity. After investigating, they were surprised to discover that these people were not locals.

They had come from the West Wind Empire. They were envoys sent by the Star Sea Chamber of Commerce.

Enya appeared with a lazy demeanor, not bothering to dress up much.

She went to the reception room to meet the few people who had come from the West Wind.

Inside the spacious reception room, everyone was already seated except for the tardy Enya.

When the door opened and Enya entered with Wendy and Lucia, everyone rose to offer her their greetings.

Enya looked up. At the head was a young woman with some strength. Behind her stood a man.

The man’s name was Ivan.

“Ms. Enya, I am Diana, sent by the Star Sea Chamber of Commerce. From now on, I will be responsible for the cooperation between Lily of the Valley and Star Sea.”

“Mm.”

Enya nodded lightly and slowly walked to her seat at the head. After she sat down, Diana finally sat back down.

Ivan stood off to the side, like a servant.

He was very nervous now. Earlier, when Enya had said he wasn’t qualified, Ivan had already planned to cooperate with Penrose.

But he never expected that a letter from the West Wind would nearly scare him to death, and then Diana had arrived.

Although he felt he might be purged, no one in the room seemed to care about him, as if he didn’t exist.

Diana didn’t talk about anything else.

She spoke at length only about the cooperation.

Enya listened and immediately forgot, but she wasn’t worried—Katherine was there to take notes for her.

In short, the factory would continue to expand.

Star Sea would provide the technology, capital, and industrial chain.

The Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce just needed to collect the money.

Later, the industry would be rolled out on an even larger scale.

Industry…

Hearing that word, Enya felt as if it had been an age since she last encountered it.

No, it should be called magitech industry.

A year ago, Enya had seen in the West Wind Empire the thriving magitech industry, driven by technology provided by Antiros and promoted by Vivienne.

She just hadn’t expected this West Wind to blow all the way to the Northland States, and to develop so quickly in just one year.

Enya also roughly guessed Vivienne’s intentions.

She had already exported her culture and standards to the West Wind, and had trained some technical personnel on this side.

The intent was likely significant—perhaps she wanted to swallow the Northland States whole.

At first, the Northland States had happily enjoyed the huge benefits brought by the new technology.

But after realizing it was a trap of slowly boiling a frog in warm water, they began trying to resist.

But the results were not very good.

Lakeside City was just a microcosm of the west of the entire Northland States suffering from the terrible erosion of this slow poison.

What Enya couldn’t figure out was whether her encounter with Gro and Kalian in White Stone City had also been planned long ago.

Thinking deeper, was even her acquisition of the Dragon Bloodline and her meeting with the Dragon God Alchetea part of some plan?

Maybe ten years ago, when she met Antiros…

No, if she traced it back, she might find that the scheme could be traced all the way to her birth.

And there were still many unknowns about Enya’s background—for example, who her mother’s family was.

Forget it.

She couldn’t figure it out just by thinking.

Enya gathered her increasingly scattered thoughts and refocused on Diana, listening to her speak those hypnotic words.

Diana presented the follow-up plan. Enya glanced through it and then handed it to her secretary and head maid, Katherine.

Enya thought that was it, but Diana seemed to have more to say.

“Ma’am, a certain someone asked me to bring you something. She said you must use it, and she would be very happy.”

After Diana finished, a smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

Enya frowned.

“What?”

“A gift tailored just for you.”

As she spoke, Diana gestured for her subordinate to bring it up. It was a black square box, about the size of a human head.

Enya’s frown deepened.

When the box was placed in front of her, she hesitated for a moment before opening it.

On the violet-pink padded cloth lay folded black lace fabric, embroidered with delicate, intricate roses.

The moment Enya saw it, she immediately closed the box.

The corners of her mouth twitched, and the ears hidden beneath her hair felt hot and burning.

She bit her pink lip lightly.

“Heh, I’ll accept this gift. Diana, remember to thank her for me.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

Seeing Enya suddenly become awkward and uncomfortable, Diana also grew curious about what was in the box that could make her feel shy.

Could it be that?

After fantasizing for a moment, her smile deepened even more.

Enya saw Diana smiling and gave a cold snort inwardly.

‘Damn Vivienne!’

She exchanged pleasantries with Diana, but Enya didn’t keep them for a meal.

Once business was done, they could leave—no need to disturb her peace.

The black box was carried by Wendy back to Enya’s private room.

Enya specifically instructed that it be placed on top of the wardrobe.

Wendy was curious about what was inside, but without permission, she didn’t dare open it and take a look.

When she was finally alone, Enya reverted to her true form.

Her dragon tail wagged quickly.

The pair of small wings on her back also spread a little wider.

The long pointed ears peeking through her silver-white hair were flushed crimson, and her delicate, beautiful face was painted with a lovely rosy color.

The gift Vivienne had sent was naturally a custom-made lace lingerie pajama set—a semi-transparent, seductive style.

Enya felt she couldn’t wear it at all. She was a proper, good girl, after all!

‘Damn Vivienne!’

With no place to vent her little fists, she swung them wildly in the air.

Tired, Enya lay slumped over her desk, staring blankly into space.

She was thinking… trying it on didn’t seem impossible.