Jennie let out a sigh after she heard Gideon's words. Why did it seem like her parents love story was too dramatic and complicated?
"He wanted to at least match the power of the Vercello Family," he added. "That's why the Li Family continuously increased its power when Li Jun started leading us. We were able to spread our influence so much that it eventually threatened the Kim Family. This prompted them to plot over and over to overthrow us. But they never succeeded. The reason is, while Li Jun attended the Cabinet meetings, I attended the meeting with the Queen and her sons. Meanwhile, they continued feeding me poison... but Li Jun stayed safe."
"Still not making any sense... But please continue...we don't have much time." She said..
"We didn't know Wang Ruo's reasons for leaving. So, we assumed that it had something to do with your Maternal Family. That was the reason your father wanted the throne. So he could have the power to rival the Vercello Family. With the current speed of our family's growth, we can now be considered an equal rival of the Vercello Family."
"How did you know that she is from the Vercello Family?"
He shrugged. "Only your father can answer that question."
"Tell me... Did my father know about my existence from the beginning?" She asked. She wanted to know more about her mother, yet... she was running out of time.
"No, and yes," he answered.
"Explain," she said.
"It took us a lot of time to find Wang Ruo because of the Kim Family. They were... They wanted to change the leadership for a very long time for now. So no. When your mother left, he did not know. But yes, he eventually found out after years of tracking her. When we discovered your existence... we decided neither approach you nor your mother, so you could live in peace."
"However, an accident happened when you were fifteen, prompting your father to believe that the Queen knew about your existence. At that point... We thought that your mother indeed died."
"We always thought that she died... until your father discovered some signs of her existence again..."
"Don't get me wrong... I stopped your father. I did not approve of his obsessive behavior towards your mother's death. However, he insisted on leaving and giving the throne back to me. At that point... we were already making efforts to reach out to you."
"But you always refused," he added and made a pause when Jennie looked at her phone.
"We have two more minutes. Another question, since you know that the Queen was poisoning you after you married her, then why did you not do anything?"
"What can I do?" He smiled, melancholy lacing his face. "If I don't take the poison, they will use another method to hurt the King."
"So you keep on taking this poison instead of my father?"
He nodded. "It's the only thing that I can do to repay your father for saving my life once."
she did not say anything as she stared at Gideon. She couldn't help but wonder why were his eyes saying a different thing than his words. Every time he mentioned Li Jun, his eyes were showing extreme sadness, even she could feel it from afar.
"The Queen thinks that I am Li Jun," he said.
"She knows that there are two of you?"
"Not exactly. But she saw him once and thought he was me... She thought my name was another secret." He scoffed. "That woman became obsessed with Li Jun. She has tried to seduce him, but it backfired when he called out your mother's name."
"How do you know that?"
"Well... he told me." He hesitated. "To secure his own room, he installed a video recorder inside. Just to know if people, especially the..."
"Are you telling me that he does not sleep with the Queen?"
"Of course! The Kings never sleep with their wives. That's the reason only people from the Li Family become heirs and not the Crown Prince." He answered. "That's the reason, in the history of this country, a Crown Prince never become the King."
"Not even once," he added.
"Last thing... can you tell me the reason you wanted me to come here? I'm sure it's not just because you wanted me to help you with the Kim Family."
"I want you to succeed the throne for your father," he answered directly. "I don't have much time and I'm not sure when your father will come back. I can't let a civil war happen, not now, when I am weak. I need you to become the Queen."
she deadpanned at Gideon's words. What? Queen? Was this man crazy?
...
