Clockwork Bride

Page 76

"I have three solutions for your current problem: the best, the middle, and the worst."

Abigail, whether she was getting excited or what, started talking in a very serious manner, shaking her long pipe and swaying her head.

"Your opponent is a celestial being, so the worst course of action is for you to face it alone and try to defeat the Great Sage Joyful Heaven on your own. If you can win, that would be the best outcome, as it would prove that you indeed possess earth-shattering power."

The witch revealed a somewhat wicked smile as she spoke.

"If we lose, it might not be a bad thing. If that young lady's boyfriend made such an absurd, frankly crazy, self-sacrifice to protect her, she will definitely be deeply moved when she finds out. Her boyfriend dying in her arms will surely unleash the little goddess's infinite potential and bring joy to the sky."

Then Abigail saw Hayden and Angela frowning, so she quickly sat up straight and dared not make any more jokes.

"I'm currently considering whether I should discuss this matter with the Peacock King."

Hayden frowned. He was indeed much more serious than usual, and didn't even bother to comment on the old witch's joke.

But upon hearing his words, Abigail rolled her eyes: "You really think He knows nothing at all?"

This is obviously impossible.

Abigail mentioned this before. The so-called peacock's tail is actually hundreds and thousands of eyes; hundreds and thousands of eyes signify omniscient divine power. The peacock is a celestial bird with a thousand eyes that sees the entire world; how could it possibly be completely oblivious to its own daughter's situation?

Of course, He couldn't know everything, couldn't possibly know everything. Karen certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to let her father discover such an important secret as the Dream Flower. Otherwise, the Peacock King would have already come to arrest her.

"The fact that the Peacock King allowed his daughter to run away and do so many things under an assumed name, instead of sending someone to arrest her directly, already demonstrates his attitude."

The witch tapped her pipe and said seriously,

"In any case, He certainly wouldn't watch his daughter be killed by his political enemies, so you don't need to worry about that at all."

Even if Ganesha and Maurya have a long-standing feud, they are both high-ranking executives of the Mithra Group. It's unlikely that internal office politics would completely escalate into a full-blown war, and certainly not to the point of killing someone else's child.

"As long as the Great Sage Joyful Heaven doesn't go mad, the worst-case scenario is that the little girl's business will go completely bankrupt, she'll suffer a lot, lose a hundred million to learn a life lesson, and finally be captured by the Peacock King to be disciplined and then inherit the family business."

"If the Peacock King already knows about the Joyful Heaven's plan but hasn't personally intervened, it means that He intends to watch His daughter's independent business be crushed by the Joyful Heaven and then drag His daughter back in disgrace—that's probably what He's thinking."

This is just Abigail's speculation. But this little witch is very familiar with the personalities of the gods, so her speculations are generally quite accurate.

Hayden nodded in agreement. After all, experience counts. He could accept Abigail's reasoning.

"So the next option is my middle ground."

So the little witch made two peace signs.

"Try to figure out why that young lady and her father are at odds, and why she ran away from home. If you can persuade her to reconcile with her father, you can save the Peacock King the 'lesson' he wants to give his rebellious daughter. In that case, the Peacock King will take over the confrontation with Huanxi Tian, ​​and you two won't have to deal with this mess. The girl will return to the normal development path of the gods, inherit the family business, and should even be able to start some new businesses."

"And you, of course, can also take this opportunity to curry favor with the gods, gain the new gods' favor, and rise to prominence, becoming the Peacock King's son-in-law and a member of the new god race. Aren't you happy?"

The witch waved her two little hands with a wicked grin.

But Hayden twitched his lips and held back. There were many flaws, but he didn't complain, because Abigail's words did have a point.

On the other hand, this situation is also somewhat tragic. Although Hayden didn't trust Karen before because she was the daughter of the Peacock King, and because Hayden didn't trust executives of a large company and couldn't trust a rentier capitalist class—at the same time, even Hayden felt that Karen would actually be better off maintaining a good relationship with her father.

It wasn't for profit; Hayden didn't really care about such things. But regardless, the Peacock King was Karen's father; they were father and daughter after all. If they could truly resolve their differences, wouldn't that be the greatest good?

Because such thoughts will exist to some extent, the bond of blood is an inescapable shackle.

But can Hayden really so easily mend and ease the relationship between Karen and her father? Would Karen be willing to return home to inherit the family business and restore the normal development path of the gods?

To be honest, Hayden found it difficult.

"Last resort is the best option."

The Dark Witch finally raised only one index finger.

"The most important part of any secret is its existence. If you want to hide a big secret, the best way is to first reveal another, smaller secret as a cover."

"Hayden, what you fear most is that Angela's big secret will be discovered by the company. So, what if you first persuade Karen to voluntarily reveal her little secret and share the results and benefits with the other gods? You said that her little secret has great value and is enough to generate huge profits."

The witch wagged her finger and said with a smile,

"Since she has this value and wants to break away from her father, she should try to build relationships with something bigger. As long as she's willing to approach other bodhisattvas and vidyas within the Mithra Group, whether friendly or neutral, and share the benefits with them instead of hoarding them, she should be able to build an alliance of interests by sacrificing some autonomy and using this little secret. Mortals might get completely taken advantage of if they do this, but little girl Karen is a god, and a special one at that. She has a chance of negotiating these terms."

Old ginger is spicier, really.

"Once young Karen uses her little secret to generate enough profit to bring other executives in and form an alliance of interests, she can truly become independent from the Peacock King. As long as the methods are used well, the other executives should turn a blind eye to the technical details of the secret and become her backers."

"These are my three strategies: superior, middle, and inferior. What do you two think?"

Hayden didn't say anything.

He closed his eyes and thought about it seriously for two minutes.

When faced with something truly important, you can't make a decision after only two seconds of thought. That would be irresponsible to everyone involved.

The worst option... well, let's not even go there. That was basically just the Dark Witch playing dark humor. She might genuinely want to see just how capable Hayden and Angela really are, but she clearly neither thinks nor wants Hayden to actually do it.

The middle option was obviously difficult. However, Hayden still thought it was worth a try. At the very least, he should try to find out why Karen and her father had such a bad relationship.

As for that so-called best strategy, it did sound great and made a lot of sense. But Hayden felt something was off. It was as if the Dark Witch had forgotten, or was unaware of, some very important key points, leading her to make a wrong judgment.

Fortunately, the middle and best strategies have some things in common.

"I will ask Karen and try my best to understand what's going on with her family situation. But no matter what, I can't speak to the Peacock King, so I'll have to trouble you with this part."

Hayden bowed his head to thank Abigail.

"If there's any price I can pay, please just say so."

“No need. Prying into the affairs of the gods sounds serious, but it’s actually nothing.” Abigail shook her head. “What the gods truly care about most is always practical benefit. If mortals pry into the gods’ affairs and gossip about them in private, they won’t really get angry. I’ll try my best to sound them out for you.”

Rather, it's more accurate to say that since ancient times, the private gossip of emperors and gods has been used by ordinary people for spreading rumors. It's all for entertainment.

"On the other hand, if you're going to find the little girl from the Divine Race to learn more about her, there's something I really need to remind you of first."

The older witch frowned as she finished speaking.

"You need to be open and honest with her. Stop hiding things and distrusting her, or you'll ruin even the best situation. Understand?"

Hayden lowered his head and obediently agreed.

"There's one more thing, and I'll make it clear upfront."

Abigail's voice also became serious again.

"If all other plans fail, and you really intend to go crazy and fight the Great Sage Huanxi, then even if Huanxi cannot turn the internal strife among the company's executives into a war, you will be facing an attack launched in private by a celestial being, and there will be no other gods to help you."

"I'm just offering you some advice; I don't intend to expose myself to the gods. If things really escalate to that point, I won't get involved anymore. Do you understand what I mean?"

These words silenced Hayden for a long while.

For a moment, Abigail began to worry that her words might have been too blunt—but it was indeed the truth. If Joyful Heaven really intended to relentlessly suppress Karen, and Hayden and the others couldn't get divine assistance, they would ultimately have no choice but to find a way to withstand the attack of a god themselves, and not just a physical one.

Karen is probably not going to die; after all, she is the young lady of the gods.

But what about the others who got caught up in it?

Abigail had absolutely no desire to get involved in that level of conflict. She wouldn't mind helping Hayden, provided she ensured her own safety and profit; watching the young man cause trouble was quite entertaining.

But risking her personal safety is out of the question. She's not Hayden's biological mother.

So, how will Hayden react to this?

He remained silent for a very long time. It wasn't until Abigail was starting to back down that Hayden suddenly reached out, grasped the witch's left hand (which wasn't holding the pipe), and shook it vigorously up and down.

"???"

No wonder she was the one who was dumbfounded this time.

"I want to apologize to you."

Then Hayden spoke, his tone solemn, as if in repentance.

“I used to secretly call you a little witch in my heart, but I really shouldn’t have thought that. I know you have a dark side and that you made a pact with the devil, and I thought that was the same as being evil, but in reality you have always been a very sincere friend, at least much more sincere to you than I am to you. I’m really sorry.”

These words made Abigail's eyes widen. She stared at Hayden as if some screw had come out of his head.

So Hayden continued, "You're not some little old witch at all, you're a kind little good witch!"

As a result, Abigail kicked Hayden out of the bar.

Sigh, it seems she doesn't like this kind of frankness.

Whatever.

Hayden knew Abigail was too kind, so he'd repay this kindness later. After all, priorities matter, and order is important.

Angela followed him out of the bar. Hayden, having been kicked out by the Black Witch, wasn't angry; in fact, she seemed quite pleased: "Master did quite well today!"

"Thank you for the compliment. But you're speaking too soon."

Hayden dusted himself off.

"Today isn't over yet—next we'll go straight to the flower shop to find Karen."

Angela immediately tilted her head: "What do you plan to say to Miss Karen?"

"Say what you need to say."

Hayden replied,

"At this point, why waste time beating around the bush?"

For some reason, he still felt there was a significant flaw in Abigail's strategy. Upon reflection, Hayden had indeed never asked Karen a single question, nor had he even considered asking. This was truly his mistake.

Why did Karen want to run away from home and start her own business?

Thinking about it carefully, apart from Karen, Hayden seems to have never heard of any other Protoss giving up their comfortable lives to live as unsung corporate slaves.

This matter is probably not just a simple case of a rebellious teenage heiress and her capitalist father, is it?

084: Please call me when you two are finished.

【Flower Magic Workshop: Dreams】

It was already evening. But when Hayden came to the flower shop, no one would have stopped him anyway. Everyone assumed he was the head of the mercenary company they worked with. Sadly, probably only he knew (and insisted) that he wasn't.

Alright. Things have priorities, so this isn't the main point, right?

Hayden could always find another opportunity to resolve this misunderstanding later.

Strangely, the florist's staff seemed unusually busy today. Hayden initially guessed it was because Eric had been injured and brought to the emergency room at noon, but looking at their complexions, he wasn't so sure.

So when Hayden hurried into Karen's underground research lab, he saw Karen standing behind a table, frowning, staring at the screen projected onto her phone.

Hayden was quite familiar with her expression and immediately sensed that something was wrong: "Is there bad news?"

“It’s not really bad news,” Karen replied coldly. “Several small and medium-sized enterprises in San Francisco—none of which have ‘direct’ ties to the Mitra Corporation—sent me several protest letters, some of which included lawyer’s letters. They were full of nonsense, saying they were going to sue me for trademark infringement and such.”

……What?

"Then there were some official notices saying that a criminal gang was illegally smuggling my products and that I should prepare to cooperate with the investigation—no problem. These aren't really bad news. They're just minor tricks, there are ways to deal with them."

After Karen finished speaking, she waved her hand to turn off the projection screen, looked back at Hayden, and frowned.

"On the contrary, what about you? You've already finished investigating the devil's matter so quickly?"

She still seemed annoyed with Hayden because of what happened at noon.

However, Hayden didn't intend to complain, because he did deserve it. Besides, the situation was urgent; the fact that Karen received such a nonsensical and malicious lawyer's letter meant that the enemy, perhaps the Devas, had already begun to launch attacks bit by bit.

“My sources with connections to the devil tell me that this is unlikely to be a purely wild devil attack; it’s more likely that you’ve been caught up in a political power struggle among the Mitra Group’s executives.”

So he quickly told her the plan that the Black Witch had just told him.

"This matter is likely related to your family's situation. The mastermind behind those demons might be a political enemy of the Peacock King—but don't worry too much, the people I've asked have given you a few ideas. As long as..."

However, before Hayden could finish speaking, he saw Karen raise a hand, signaling him to stop.

“Golden Bear State, San Francisco, I’ve always known that it’s the home ground of the Great Sage’s Joyful and Free Heaven, and I know whose enemy it is… I just didn’t expect it to actually be so determined to stick to this relationship.”

Karen spoke in a cold, flat tone. Her face looked somewhat gloomy.

"There's no need to worry about me. I am, after all, the daughter of the Peacock King. In any case, the Joyful and Free Heaven wouldn't dare to really harm me, or that would break the rules."

If power struggles among senior executives within a large corporation escalate to the point where one side harms or kills the other's child, wouldn't all the other executives feel insecure? Everyone has children, right? So unless Huanxitian has lost its mind, it certainly wouldn't go so far as to break this unspoken rule. Karen's words were indeed true. Abigail said something similar.

But Karen hadn't finished speaking.

"This is not my problem, it's your problem."

She spoke in a listless, even disheartened and disappointed tone.

"So stop playing games and stop lying. Be honest. What advice are you and your backers trying to give me?"

……ah?