The Killer Queen (Noella Briony)

Sienna and Tristan were gobsmacked!

Who would have thought that the woman raising their precious daughter was Marcel's first love!

Jasper pondered for a moment. "Noella, Grandma Harriet's final resting place is at the Lambert ancestral home, right? Should we relocate her to our family's burial ground?"

The way Marcel was acting, it was clear Grandma Harriet meant the world to him.

Noella shook her head. "No need. Grandma loved it there. I don't want to disturb her peace."

Marcel nodded in agreement. "That's right. She always adored the rolling hills and the greenery, and having that old osmanthus tree by her side made her happy."

Their first encounter under a massive osmanthus tree, with its blossoming flowers showering down, had stayed with him all these years, never fading from his heart!

Marcel's eyes brimmed with memories. He removed his glasses and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, looking hopefully at Noella.

"Darling, could you share those pictures with me?"

Noella nodded. "Grandma had made a video recording before she passed. It should be with the Lambert family. I'll find time to get it back."

They had discovered the existence of the video when they opened the safe. In the letter Old Mrs. Lambert had left for Noella, there was a note telling her about a video she had recorded, which was kept with the Lambert family.

After some thought, Marcel brought up the trending online topics to Noella.

“Looking at it this way, it seems like the Lambert family is behind this. Noella, can you... tell me who your grandma's significant other was?"

It was embarrassing for someone his age to ask such a thing, but thankfully, no one in the family seemed to mock him!

Noella shook her head. "There wasn't anyone. Grandma always took care of me by herself. Grandpa, Vincent isn't her biological son either; she adopted him."

Upon hearing this, Marcel unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then muttered under his breath. "Good, good. If that fool really was her own, and she found out I had someone beat up her son, she'd never forgive me."

"Grandpa, what did you say?"

Marcel quickly shook his head, indicating he hadn't said anything.

Jasper stroked his chin. "The Lambert family is no good. They were cruel to Noella and to Grandma Harriet. Noella shouldn't go there to retrieve anything. What if she runs into danger? We need to find a way to make them give it to us willingly."

Tristan also disapproved of Noella going to the Lambert family and looked at Jasper. "How will you get them to hand it over? Will Vincent agree?"

Knowing his stingy, greedy nature, would he willingly give something so valuable to Marcel?

Jasper patted his chest confidently and raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, Dad, I've got a plan!"

Tristan knew his youngest son was full of tricks and probably had another clever scheme up his sleeve. "Alright, just be careful not to put your sister in jeopardy."

Noella looked at Marcel and asked, "Grandpa, what did you mean when you said Grandma deceived you?"

Marcel let out a sigh. Even he wasn't sure what had happened!

"Harriet and I were very close, but one time when I came back from a mission, she was lying there covered in blood. I rushed her to the hospital, and then she was gone! All these years I thought she had passed away. If only I had known she was still alive..."

Marcel didn't finish his words.

"So, Grandpa, how did you end up marrying Ashlyn?"

"It's all a blur now." As he spoke, Marcel sifted through his mind, trying to piece together the past, his eyes deepening with the weight of memory.

He hastily stood and walked to his study, pulling out a thick stack of old receipts from a tall cabinet. Finally, he picked up a faded invoice and strained to read the worn letters.

"I remember taking Harriet to Tandy Hospital. I was right."

Noella blinked in surprise.

Tandy Hospital again?

"Back then, I should have made proper arrangements for Harriet's burial, but an urgent mission came up. There was a collapse after an earthquake in a nearby county, and I had to go help. I entrusted Merrick Horwich with Harriet's burial..."

As he spoke, Marcel recalled the times Merrick looked at him with an expression full of unsaid words. He now understood that he had been duped by them all!

"No, I must confront Ashlyn and get to the bottom of their deception! They've all been lying to me!"

The mastermind behind all this was likely Ashlyn herself.

As Marcel stormed off, Tristan, worried about his father's wellbeing, quickly followed.

"Hey, Dad! Wait for me!"

Noella watched their retreating figures and felt her thoughts churning.

If her father wasn't Ashlyn's biological child but indeed Marcel's, then did Marcel and Old Mrs. Lambert have any children back in the day?

Tristan and Old Mrs. Lambert's features did resemble each other in certain angles, but that wasn't uncommon nor enough to be conclusive.

Noella returned to her room, grabbed her phone, and accessed the Lunar Lab internal system. She then requested a DNA comparison to confirm the relationship between sample D and sample H.

[Contact me with the results.]

[Understood.] came Mizar's reply, accompanied by an audio file.

Vincent's voice echoed, "Arrange for some people to stage an accident on Noella's commute. It'll just be an unfortunate incident."

"She took my mom's precious treasure and thought she could hide it? What if she decides to sell it? We can't have that!"

"It belongs to our Lambert family! If that brat won't play nice, then let's give her a little scare. I've already found a buyer for the bracelet."

...

Noella clicked off the chat, rubbing her temples with a sigh.

Her cell buzzed with Mizar's name flashing on the screen.

"Boss, did you catch that insane stream? Vincent's off his rocker! The bloke's plotting to hire a hit and stage a car crash to off you."

Vincent would never guess that the little clinic in town was owned by Polaris Star, fitted corner to corner with their state-of-the-art surveillance. They'd snagged footage of him skulking around, scheming about taking out their head honcho!

With a calm that chilled the bone, Noella instructed, “Then leak my daily commute to him.”

"Roger that!"

"And while you're at it, check who's been trying to buy that bracelet. I've got a hunch it's someone from Grandma's old circle."

Noella had always thought of her grandmother as nothing more than a kind, gentle village woman, never probing deeper.

She never anticipated that her grandma had nearly become Mrs. Schnabel herself. This revelation suggested that her grandma's social circle must've been nothing to scoff at—Grandpa Sexton and Grandpa Merrick were proof of that, both friends of Grandma's!

Mizar's voice bubbled with mock servitude, "At once, milady!"

Noella could only roll her eyes at such antics. "Cut the drama, Mizar. Just get on with it."

...NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.

Meanwhile, in the Phoenix Lab, Elara strode into her office, the crisp rustle of her new lab coat marking her passage.

Jacob glanced up. "Weren't you supposed to be on vacation? Addicted to the grind?"

"My sister's headed back home. What's a holiday for me if not running experiments?"

It didn't matter what Elara did; her thoughts were always swirling with experiments. Even her pre- sleep ritual involved mulling over data. A break was the real anomaly.

She picked up the experiment notes left by Noella and instinctively leaned in, sniffing them.

There was a faint, familiar scent clinging to the paper, like a whiff of déjà vu.

Something felt off. Driven by her hunch, Elara stepped out of the lab and dialed Mizar's number.

Furrowing her brow, she cut straight to the chase. "Hello, I need to know, what's your boss's name? Does she know me? Or, perhaps, do I know her?"