Villain: The Play of Destiny

Monday, November 25th, 2041

Orly Airport, Paris, France

Keith disembarked the private jet together with Rebecca, Celine, Marianne, and Yingying. And the grey-eyed lady tensed up when she saw dozens of people in suits waiting for them.

"Ian." The Heir of the Demiliore Family smiled and shook hands with his acquaintance.

"Keith." Volos, the wandering God of Netheria, smiled back at him and then introduced him to the Netherian delegates behind him. "...And this is Meryl, your grandmother's secretary."

"I know." He nodded and shook his hand with the aged lady whom he had known since his childhood.

After he was done greeting everyone, Volos led him towards the line of cars, and gestured for him to sit with him inside a Royal Blue coloured car with their Country's flag on it.

Celine had finally realised that she should not have asked Keith to take her with him and Rebecca when he told the family that he had to attend to some business in France.

She thought that it was something concerning his Group, but it turned out that Keith was here for something much bigger, which concerned the Netherian government. And it was because the limousine she was sitting inside, and the other cars in their convey, had the flags of Netheria and the Kingdom of France on them, and inside the car with her was the secretary of the Netherian Deputy Governor-General of External Affairs.

Rebecca lightly squeezed her hand, which eased her nerves, and then the blonde girl engaged Secretary Meryl in a casual chat.

The grey-eyed woman soon managed to collect herself and joined the chat, but she was nervous again when they entered through the gate of the Estate of Versailles.

Even though Celine had always wanted to see the Palace and Gardens of Versailles, she could not muster up any excitement right now.

She watched with bated breaths as the Second Prince of France and the Netherian Ambassador to France stepped forward to greet Keith and Ian as soon as they arrived outside the Palace.

"Lady Rebecca!" The Prince courteously bowed to her.

"Prince Charles!" The blonde politely bowed as well and introduced Celine to him. "This is my aunt, Celine Vittori."

"Lady Celine." Charles smiled and politely bowed to her, and despite being very nervous, she managed to courteously bow to him.

Her curious eyes wandered all over the stunningly luxurious Palace, and when the Prince led them inside, her heart finally started racing in excitement.

However, there was something that caught her attention, and that was how respectful the second Prince of France was towards Ian and Keith. Especially towards Keith, since the Prince seemed a little nervous in his presence.

Their group was led to the section that was reserved for guests, and several maids guided them to their rooms. She was relieved that Rebecca decided to share the room with her, which meant that she would not have to be alone there.

After everyone was settled, Ian and Keith left with the Prince to talk about some things, and the rest of the Netherian Delegates stayed in their rooms.

"Rebecca."

"Yes, Aunty?" The blonde looked up from the file she was reading and smiled at her.

"I should have not insisted on coming..."

"Oh, no, no." The blonde girl shook her head and brightly smiled. "It's okay. We will be staying here for the next seven days, and Keith will be free in the afternoons, and we can explore the Palace and the city of Paris."

Though she was still a little nervous, Rebecca's words eased her nerves a lot, and she finally managed to smile.

"You are not mad at him anymore?" She curiously asked.

"I am!" She pouted and folded her arms on her chest, which prompted Celine to burst into giggles.

After Keith returned from his trip with Amelia and attended Qingyue's birthday bash, he informed everyone in the family that he would be leaving in December to join the Netherian Military.

Needless to say, almost everyone, including her, objected to his decision. Though Venessa and Amelia did not say anything, Kiara was very upset with his decision. It was the same for Rebecca and Qingyue, and the latter even cried that night.

Of course, no one wanted him to go away for years since he said that he would not be able to see them for at least the next two years. But more than that, most were worried about his safety.

It took him a few days to convince Kiara and Qingyue, but Rebecca did not talk to him for an entire month, even when Keith nearly spent a week in her room.

"He will be fine." She said and also tried to comfort her heart.

"I know." The blonde girl nodded his head. "I just don't like the idea of not being able to see him for at least 800 days." She said, and it was quite evident in her voice that she was not happy with his decision.

"You love him a lot, don't you?" Celine meaningfully smiled.

"Yes." And Rebecca did not shy away from the answer and nodded her head. "Which is why it hurts to see him make such a selfish decision."

The grey-eyed woman sighed and nodded his head.

"I don't see why he needs to do it. He has such a successful business, and it's quite possible that he would be able to grow it just as big as the Demiliore Consortium. Why does he feel the need to join the Military?"

"He has his reasons." The blonde girl lightly said, which made Celine curious.

It seemed like Rebecca was aware of exactly why he wanted to join the Military.

"Why?" She could not help but ask.

"He wants to fly fighter jets." She pouted, and Celine deadpanned at her words.

A minute later, Celine raised a question to ascertain her guess.

"Rebecca, are you mad at him because he will be able to fly Fighter Jets and is not taking you with him?"

"Yes!" She unhesitatingly nodded her head. "But I don't want him to go away too."

After a good minute of silence where Celine processed her words, she could not restrain herself and ended up laughing heartily.

Rebecca smiled as she saw that the grey-eyed lady was in a good mood. She was quite fond of Celine and always enjoyed her company. And on more than one occasion, she had voiced her feelings that she enjoyed having Celine keep her company rather than her daughter, Qingyue. But, that did not mean that she would tell her the reasons for Keith's decisions.

He wanted to keep quiet about them, and she would not disclose them to anyone.

Rebecca sometimes wished that Qingyue had taken after her mother in personality as well.

The grey-eyed girl simply got on her nerves now as she always looked forward to competing with her.

What annoyed her more was that Keith had forbidden her from telling Qingyue about her true Cultivation Realm, and the reason behind it.

Keith did not want Qingyue to know that sleeping with him would improve her Cultivation. And it was not something that bothered Rebecca much. In fact, she was happy with it as she could keep up with Qingyue's outrageous speed of Cultivation by having Keith all to herself. It was just that she wanted to see the impatience and anxiety on the poor girl's face when she learned about it.

Rebecca happily chatted with Celine and made some plans about exploring the city of Paris. But of course, they wanted to explore the Estate of Versailles more than anything.

An opportunity soon came when a maid knocked on the door of their room and introduced herself to them as their maid in service for the next seven days.

"What time is lunch?" Rebecca casually asked as she started walking towards the dressing room.

"1 pm."

Celine looked at the clock and realised there were still a couple of hours in it, and then Rebecca asked the maid something that elated her.

"Can you show us around the Park and the Gardens?"

"Of course, Madame." The maid politely smiled and nodded.

"Thank you." Celine smiled at her and then rushed inside the dressing room too to freshen up.

"Aunty." Rebecca suddenly said when Celine was about to step out of the dressing room, having gotten ready.

"Yes?"

"If we come across the little Princess Avriel, don't look into her eyes for more than a couple of seconds." She seriously said, which tensed up the grey-eyed lady.

"Why?"

"I can not tell you that but please remember it." She apologetically said. "Keith asked me to warn you about it."

"Oh..." Celine nervously nodded her head and agreed.

The two of them together with Marianne followed the maid outside the Palace, and a bright smile bloomed on Celine's face when she saw the beautiful Garden in front of her.

"It's beautiful!"

"It is." The maid politely nodded her head.

"Can you lead us to the Flower Parterre first?" She asked.

Celine knew that if they decided to explore all of the Park and the Gardens, they would miss lunch, and thus she first wanted to visit the place she was looking forward to the most.

"Of course, Madame." The maid nodded to her and then led them to the South Parterre of the Gardens of Versailles.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes slightly as she caught on the elation in the maid's expression.

It was as if her task was finished and she was finally relaxed, and the blonde did not have to think much to piece things together. She already had an idea about what awaited them in the flower garden.