The Queen's Back

46

When Mona arrived at her desk, she called Elara and Vespera over to update them about their workspace situation. As she talked about the studio

ed found for them, a smile broke out on Mona's face, and her heart was full of pride.

After their discussion, Mona made her way to Leander's office and repeated the same story about the workspace, as well as that she'd need Elara and Vespera to be all hands on deck to work on making the gown, so they wouldn't have any time to come to the office. Leander agreed eagerly. He'd originally been worried about the lack of space for the design department, but now that Mona had helped to resolve the matter for him, he was more than happy to oblige. So it came to be that morning that

la, Elara and Vespera made their way to the studio that Maxwell owned.

When the three of them left, the remaining coworkers in the design department looked on at Elara and Vespera with envy and jealousy.

They had every reason to be upset. It was an amazing opportunity that had been bestowed on Elara. Compared to them, Elara lacked the experience and the qualifications, but as they recalled the things they had said to Mona before, none of them could bring themselves to fight for the opportunity to be given to them instead. They could only stand down and suck it up.

When Elara and Vespera arrived at the studio, their eyes almost popped out. The place was too good to be true, and had way more facilities and amenities than they'd needed to design and make a dress. The space could easily accommodate a decently-sized company, actually. Not only was there a full sized pantry and break room, there was even a lounge where you could rest if you needed. "Wow, this place is

is amazing." Elara couldn't help but marvel. On her way over, she had imagined a studio about half the size of this one. Vespera wasn't as stunned as Elara, but she was surprised by the space too.

And so, for the next two days, the trio busied themselves working on the dresses. Elara even gave "The Designscape. the place a name, calling itNôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.

Mona and Vespera didn't have any objections, but they were amused by how much Elara gushed about it every day, saying, "The Designscape has this?", or "Did you know The Designscape has that?" It was certainly entertaining. On Friday afternoon, Maxwell went to The Designscape to pick Mona up. She said goodbye to her team members and went back to her family home with Maxwell.

That day was the day for Maxwell to fulfil his promise to Albert to have a video

game

showdown.

When Mona returned with Maxwell, Albert made a rare appearance at the door to welcome them home. He then grabbed hold of Maxwell and pulled him back to his room, leaving Mona behind them.

As Mona stood there and watched the scene unfold, she thought to herself, 'See, this kid hasn't grown up one bit.

It made sense, since Albert had been just a small boy when Emily died. Although their grandparents never made them want for anything, Albert sorely lacked motherly love, as well as a figure of authority in his life. Mona didn't come out of her own thoughts until Maxwell's eyes.

000

oped itself around hers. She lifted her head and met

"Why are you spacing out? Come on." Maxwell said softly as he lifted his other hand and tapped the tip of Mona's nose. He

had an easy smile on his face as he pulled Mona to Albert's room.

3

Maxwell was incredibly satisfied with the current state of his life Mona was by his side every day, and every morning when he opened his eyes, he could see her sleeping face. It never failed to put him in a good mood. Albert watched the both of them as they walked towards his room. From the devoted gaze with which Maxwell looked at Mona, he could tell that the random man Mona had found to be a stand-in for her fiancé turned out to be the right choice. Soon, all three of them were in Albert's room.

As soon as Albert had entered, he walked directly to his computer to turn it on. But then he realized that there was only one computer in his room, so he took his phone out and loaded the game on it. Looking at his brother-in-law, Albert said, "Come on, Maxwell. Don't spare any mercy and show me what you've got." Before Maxwell could ask what game and fished out the test from his bag. Handing it to Mona, he said, "Look all you want they were playing, Mona cut in and said, "Show me the results of your weekly test."

Albert shot Mona a look of

à a look of annoyance and

up the Even if the score sucks, I wrote all the answers myself and I skipped zero classes these past two days. You can call teacher and check if you don't believe me."

the past two days, the only thing on Albert's mind was playing games with Maxwell. Even when his classmates asked him to join in on their gaming sessions, he found it meaningless because he knew he'd just win anyway.

Mona looked at the test. There was a large empty space on it with missing answers, and the score was less than 20%. She rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh. This result was way too bad.

But at least Albert did it himself, and his attitude had indeed improved. This comforted Mona a little and she decided it would be better to take things step by step.

After letting t

the matter come to a close to a close for now, Mona took out her own phone, unlocked and loaded the game they'd be playing, since she knew that Maxwell wouldn't have it on his phone. After the game loaded, she passed her phone to him. дога For a moment, Maxwell looked at Mona in surprise. Phones were such a private

and

Albert couldn't care less and he personal possession for people since it could potentially hold many secrets. That Mona would hand her phone over to Maxwell so casually was a show of how much she trusted him. With that in mind, he resolved to focus all his atten annoyed by their exchange. It seemed clear to him that Maxwell wasn't taking their battle seriously at all.

was starting to

to feel

on playing extra well so that he could show Maxwell who was boss.

Mona saw Albert straightening up his posture and getting his game face on, and started to feel a little worried. If Maxwell lost the game, there was no way Albert would ever listen to her about going to school and taking his studies seriously anymore. I's eyes and mustered all the emotion she could gather, saying, "Maxwell, do your best, I'm rooting for you!" Maxwell met Mona's hopeful doe eyes and surprisingly began to feel a little pressured. He replied softly, "I'll do my best." Albert frowned and bristled. "Come on, Mona, aren't you being biased? You're not cheering for me?" "Well... Then... You do your best too!" Mona said reluctantly. In her heart, of course she hoped Maxwell would win.

Even though Mona hadn't meant it, her encouragement fired Albert up and fueled an even stronger desire to win. "That's what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed.

Both Maxwell and Albert joined a player versus player game, and as the game began, Mona also started feeling stressed.