Chapter 146

Monday, May 27th, 2041

Nightingale Auditorium, Sameran City, Agnolia, Netheria.

Today was a very significant day in the history of Sameran City and the newly formed Province of Agnolia. Because today, the Princess of Persia, Leilah Bint-e-Maryam of the House of Varzaak, was going to unveil her Project Noxville.

A few days ago, a piece of news detonated in the business world when Princess Leilah announced that she will be partnering up with the Black Forest Group to build the new Noxville.

It was something that people found hard to believe, but after the Government confirmed it, they were shell-shocked about how the Heir of the Demiliore Family had managed to become a partner in the Noxville Project. He was not a sponsor, but a partner with an equal share to the Princess in the new Noxville. And it was not the Demiliore Consortium, but a new Group that had only been formed by the Heir of the Demiliore Family back in December.

There was some outcry in the business community, and the people pressed the Government to reveal the details but were not entertained in the least. However, yesterday, in a Press Conference, the Spokesman of the Black Forest Group, May Ragzar, addressed the journalists and finally revealed some details.

It turned out that half the land the Princess needed for Noxville was owned by Heir Demiliore, and after negotiating, an agreement was reached over a partnership, which will see to faster development of the Noxville Project.

The Black Forest Group, in addition to providing the land the Princess needed, would be investing over 30 Billion Neris in the next four years to complete the Noxville, which would have otherwise taken nearly seven years to finish. Additionally, the Black Forest Group, led by Lady Amelia Demiliore, will design the new Noxville. And all her designs had already been approved by Princess Leilah.

No more details were revealed, but tonight, people were finally going to get the needed answers.

Foreign and Netherian Dignitaries and Investors, and also some very big names in World were in the city to attend the event. The Deputy Governor General of External Affairs, Diana Demiliore, and The Deputy Governor General of Internal Affairs, Winsten Arkinson, were also going to attend this event, and this was the reason why the Netherian Military was put in charge of the Security of tonight's event.

The famous Nightingale Auditorium and Opera House, previously owned by Gouzo, and now the property of the Black Forest Group was filled with guests by 4 pm, even though the event was meant to start at 7 pm after Supper.

The reason behind it was that people wanted to take this opportunity to hold some business talk and make new profitable friends.

At exactly 6 pm, the co-hosts of the event, the Demiliore Family, arrived at the venue.

Keith gracefully stepped out of a flashy Pagani Moonshade, and then helped his wife out of the passenger seat. From the Car behind them, which was a very rare Limited Edition Mercedes-Amg One, stepped out a beautiful blonde girl and a younger girl with raven hair. They both had beautiful blue eyes, but of different shades, and under the flashes of Cameras they walked up to Keith and Amelia, and then each girl took turns as they hugged his arm and posed with him to the Cameras.

After they were done announcing themselves and giving pictures to the News Channels, they all entered the building together.

"Nervous?" Keith smiled at his little sister and asked.

It was the first time that Kiara was making a Public Appearance with him at such an important event.

"Nope!" She brightly smiled at him, showing no signs of any nervousness.

She had an inborn confidence in her bones, and Aunt Danielle and his mother had been educating her on these things for the past few months.

"So, do you want to do the presentation along with Amelia and Rebecca?" He playfully asked.

"Can I?!" She excitedly asked, and then expectantly looked at both of the girls who were going to present the Projects of Black Forest Group in the new Noxville.

"Sure." Amelia smiled at her. "You can unveil the Amusement Park."

"Yup." Rebecca too agreed to it.

"Thank you!" Kiara seemed really happy at getting their permission.

For a girl who was not even fifteen years old, she was a very confident individual. She was not in the least nervous that she would be presenting one of the key Projects to the audience that was comprised of, perhaps, some of the most influential people in their country and the world.

Kiara had been staying at the Demiliore Manor for the past month and had been quite involved in the Amusement Park of new Noxville, which was going to hold some of the most thrilling rides in the world and was nothing short of a Wonder.

It was going to be one of the biggest tourist attractions in the new Noxville. So, its importance was unquestionable.

As for how she ended up staying at the Manor for the last month? She did it as an excuse after the old man Angelini, Aunt Danielle, and little Benjamin left for Eden for a couple of weeks to handle some business. And even though they had been back for 2 weeks now, she was still staying at the Manor under the same excuse that she wanted to keep her friend, Qingyue, some company through the tough times.

Of course, everyone knew that there was little to no truth to this as Qingyue was absolutely fine. She was in no need of any emotional support over what had happened in the last month. But they allowed Kiara to stay in the Demiliore Manor.

The day after Keith had arrived home from Seychelles, and talked with the mother and daughter, Celine filed for Divorce. They did manage to keep the news suppressed for a week, but ultimately it was public knowledge after Lin Houtian tried to resist it.

Since Celine had not demanded any divorce settlement and had asked to give whatever she was entitled to her daughter, the proceedings were relatively smooth.

Old Lin tried to advise her against divorce, and even Meiyin visited her at the Demiliore Manor to talk her out of it, but Celine had made up her mind. Venessa had been very clear to her that if she stepped back on her decision now, it would weaken the resolve of Qingyue, which would be harmful to them in the future.

She was not a dumb woman and understood that her daughter would only suffer if she stayed married to Lin Houtian, and such, after a two-week deliberation period set by the court, she appeared before the judge and maintained her stance that she wanted a divorce. And it was finalised right away.

The backlash Lin Houtian had been suffering for the last few months only intensified after the divorce, and things took a really bad turn for him when two days later, Qingyue filed a case in the court, pressing her father to hand her the 15% share in the Family Wealth that each child was entitled to by the Netherian Laws. And later that same day, when she was approached by Journalists, she stated that she wanted nothing to do with Lin Houtian, who was a failure of a father and a husband in her eyes.

She did not give out any details, and Lin Houtian, who was advised by his father to not take any rash step that might force Qingyue to reveal things that must stay private to the public, could only swallow his anger over her public comments.

The Lin Group of Industries needed to weather the storm they were stuck in. Their shares were on a negative trend because of the court cases against the president of the group.

Worst came worst, Lin Houtian would have to step down as the President of the Group, which he did not want to do in any case, and his counsel showed his willingness to give Qingyue her inheritance in the Family Wealth before the court could force him.

For the last couple of weeks, the details of the Inheritance were being negotiated between Qingyue and the Lin Family, and the final date given by the court to reach a settlement was Wednesday, May 29th, 2041, which was the day after tomorrow.

Needless to say that Qingyue was not the one to settle for the shorter end of the stick, and she did not want to just take the money. She had asked to be handed over everything her mother had brought in dowry, which included very profitable brands, and more. Her 'greed' had infuriated Lin Houtian and had led to a verbal spat between them when he suddenly showed up in her office one day.

However, Lin Wudao intervened at the right time and sent legal counsel to calm his son down before he could make a mess of everything. With the Demiliore; Angelini, and Grayson Families now tied to each other, and the Demiliore Family having the backs of Celine and Qingyue, there was simply nothing Lin Houtian could do right now to force her to take back her claim to the Family Wealth.

And then there was the fact that the Old man Wudao did not seem willing to persuade Qingyue out of her stubbornness, which did not settle well with Houtian.

Keith knew that the despicable man wanted nothing more than for his father to suddenly pass away so that he could get hold of the entire Family's Wealth. With Lin Wudao gone, he could find ways to strike Qingyue off from the Family, which would save him the Businesses worth Billions that he had to give up to his daughter, not to mention the losses that the Group would suffer as a result of losing some of its prized brands in the market.

However, the old man Lin was very shrewd, and he had already left the Lin Mansion to go to Eden, giving his son no opportunity to even have a face-to-face chat with him.

But it seemed like Lin Houtian was still going to play a card. He was going to show his apprehension against his Family Wealth being devoured by the Demiliore Family, whom he believed were instigating his daughter.

The report Keith had received in the morning was about a conditional clause that Lin Houtian wanted to be added in the settlement, where he would give Qingyue everything she asks for under the condition that she would not marry anyone for the next 4 years.

Of course, Qingyue could choose to not agree to such a condition, but Lin Houtian too was not bound to give her the most profitable brands under the Lin Group even though they used to belong to her mother. He might have to pay her a lot more money in return, but he could keep, at least one of the brands if he really insisted on it.

It was not something that bothered Keith, but he knew that his dear Qingyue was quite distressed right now.

Keith, Amelia, Rebecca, and Kiara entered the Main Hall, and soon they got busy greeting the guests who were present there for the event.