Tactical operation number two: using her advanced-beyond-her-years drawing skills to capture her sister's attention.
First, the most beautiful person in the world, Juliana, and cute little me. The two sisters living happily together in a grand mansion. As for big brother Cedric, she'd just draw a spool of thread and a needle to represent him instead.
However, all of this only existed inside Lily's imagination. This messy, multicolored scribble was the actual finished product she produced.
Even so, Juliana showered her with nothing but praise. "My Lily is so talented. She even drew a needle and thread in there. Looks like you really like big brother Cedric, huh?"
Noticing the conversation was steering right toward his romantic rival, Michael instantly changed the subject, questioning why there was no picture of their parents in the drawing.
The moment those words left his mouth, the once cheerful atmosphere dropped straight to freezing.
It turned out their parents had gone off on a long journey a while back. During that time, Juliana had written to them repeatedly, but every letter seemed to vanish without a trace, never receiving a single reply.
Michael spoke up, saying that if she was truly worried, he could send someone to check on the situation. Very quickly, Juliana found herself convinced by his offer.
Afterward, Michael turned his gaze toward Lily standing beside them. "Lily, don't you miss your parents?"
Hearing this, Lily silently sensed something was off. This guy really did know how to manipulate people's emotions. But she wasn't nearly as easy to lead around as her sister.
And so she flashed a wide, cheerful smile. "Of course I remember them. But since I have big sister and big brother Cedric playing with me now, Lily doesn't feel sad at all."
Noticing the slight stiffness in Michael's smile, Lily couldn't help but gloat inwardly. This guy definitely didn't expect her to bring up Cedric's name.
And true to Michael's competitive nature, the outcome was exactly as expected. He immediately, proactively offered to play with Lily himself. On the surface, the little girl smiled and agreed. But deep down, she'd already begun plotting exactly how she'd torment him.
The following day, Ellen walked through the door and immediately started curiously glancing around, wondering aloud why Michael wasn't here today. Juliana explained that yesterday he'd played horse for Lily to ride on, and had ended up exhausted and sick as a result.
At that moment, Lily's gaze instantly locked onto the bag Ellen was carrying. She hurried over to give it a good sniff. That's the smell of pudding. This guy Ellen really did know how to pick the good sweets.
But even so, the mission to protect her sister's happiness couldn't be allowed to pause. And so she invited everyone to play a round of hide-and-seek.
This left Luca a bit confused. "Last time, when I played hide-and-seek with Aiden, didn't you say this game was too childish, Lily?"
Catching her sister's suspicious gaze, someone suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. This little brat really had no idea how to read a room. Her sister had always assumed she absolutely loved hide-and-seek.
In this moment of crisis, Lily randomly pointed in some direction and shouted, "Look over there, sister! Isn't that big brother Cedric?"
Taking advantage of the adults' attention being diverted, she immediately turned and glared threateningly at Luca. If you dare say another word out of line, I'll eat every last bit of that pudding, I swear.
"That means you must have seen wrong." With that, she shot Luca a meaningful wink.
Luca jumped in fright and quickly changed his story. "I misremembered. It was Aiden who said he didn't like hide-and-seek. He wanted to read instead."
Recalling how Aiden always carried a book with him wherever he went, Juliana immediately believed the excuse without question.
Right at that moment, the butler walked in to make an announcement. "My lady, young Master Robin wishes to see you."
The moment she heard that vile scoundrel had suddenly come to visit, Lily instantly tensed up as if heading into battle. To keep her sister from making the same mistake twice, she insisted stubbornly on tagging along, no matter what. But Juliana gracefully turned her down.
At this critical moment, Aiden stepped forward to save the day. He claimed he was also very eager to meet Robin.
Lily immediately gave Aiden a thumbs up. Great job, Aiden. Go crash their little meeting for me. Once this is done, I'll consider calling you big brother.
However, Juliana was worried about leaving the kids unsupervised. She asked Aiden to stay behind and help watch them instead. "As for wanting to meet Robin, I'll pass along the message for you."
With that, she walked straight out of the room.
Fortunately, the heavens weren't cutting off anyone's escape route just yet, for just as Juliana had barely stepped away, Cedric happened to arrive at the mansion with his nephew in tow. Aiden immediately dumped the babysitting duty onto Cedric, while he himself dashed off to try to stop the meeting between Juliana and that scoundrel.
However, Lily still felt uneasy letting Aiden go alone. She came up with an idea.
"Let's play a role-playing game. Right now, we're going on a secret mission, and absolutely no one can find out. I'll be the captain. Big brother Cedric will be the vice captain. And the rest of you will be my little soldiers."
However, Joshua immediately voiced his displeasure at this arrangement. "Why do you get to be captain? I want to be captain, too."
"Let me be captain, and I'll give you my pudding."
In the end, unable to resist the temptation of good food, Joshua reluctantly agreed.
A little while later, the whole group crept quietly toward the hallway outside the living room. Everyone strained their ears to eavesdrop on what was happening inside.
"Robin is asking me to be his companion. Is that it?"
The moment she heard this, Lily instantly kicked the door open. "Sister, you absolutely cannot say yes to that!"
But the moment she said it, she froze. Why was it just her sister and that scoundrel in the room? Where on earth had Ellen disappeared to?
Meanwhile, in some random storage shed, Ellen was staring around in bewilderment. He'd clearly used a teleportation spell to reach the living room. So why had he ended up in this god-forsaken backwater instead?
Little did he know, the entire mansion had been placed under a barrier by Juliana. Anyone who tried to teleport within it would get flung to some random location instead.
Back in the living room, Lily, eyes brimming with tears, tearfully pressed Juliana. "Are you really about to become that uncle's girlfriend? Are you going to leave me behind?"
Cedric wasn't just standing idly by either. All he had to do was step forward and stand imposingly in front of that scoundrel, and the sheer pressure radiating from him, thick with the presence of a royal knight captain, was enough to make the man break out in a cold sweat.
"Juliana, I'm not feeling too well. Let me head home. I'll write you a letter to talk more later."
Before Juliana could even respond, that wretched man had already taken off running for his life, like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs.
Seeing her sister was on the verge of losing her temper, Lily immediately hung her head and apologized meekly. "I'm sorry. I know he's your guest, but I just have this feeling that if you keep seeing him, you'll end up leaving to go somewhere far, far away."
Looking at the pent-up tears welling in the corners of Lily's eyes, Juliana opened her mouth to say something, then stopped herself. In the end, she simply pulled Lily into her arms and gently comforted her.
"Don't worry, sweet girl. I'll never abandon you, Lily. Once we've both had time to calm down —"
Cedric then hesitantly spoke up. "Juliana, if Robin was looking for you about being his dance partner for the prince's birthday party next month, would you — would you be willing to go with me instead?"
Cedric had actually made the first move. Lily's eyes widened in shock. For his sake, since he chased off that terrible scoundrel, this young lady shall generously lend him a hand.
"Sister, Lily really hopes you'll go with big brother Cedric, too."
Cedric quickly added, "Kids are welcome at this party, too. I was thinking we could bring both Lily and Joshua along as well."
"Is that so? Well, now that you mention it, that actually doesn't sound bad at all."
Lily was left speechless hearing this. You two can just go on your date together already. Why drag me and that little crybaby along for no reason at all?
Still, since her sister didn't seem to mind, Lily reluctantly went along with it. This poor kid really was worrying her heart out over this family.