Empire of Shadows

A lot of people were celebrating the New Year in Lance’s manor this year, and there were also many visitors.

In the past, Lance was just a gang member. Even a while ago, people didn’t think such a person could step onto the stage.

But now, some subtle changes seemed to have occurred.

The ”Federal Post” is a very weighty newspaper. To a certain extent, it is like the mouth of the federal government.

The news and content published in the Post often represent the ”official attitude.”

Lance was mentioned in the last two issues of the newspaper. ”The Aggressor’s Reflection” was about viewing the investment and development of the federal people in Rapa from the perspective of Lance and the federal government.

The second article, titled ”The People’s Justice,” was published later, analyzing the differences between the Rapa government, the anti-government armed forces, the concession, and the federal people from the perspective of the Rapa people.

The second article did not frequently mention Lance, but smart people could sense that the core of this article was still about Lance, and the concession.

The federal government was whitewashing the concession, which meant it was truly whitewashed.

What this represented, many people actually didn’t know, but they understood one thing: Lance was taking a step that many people couldn’t imagine in their lifetime, and didn’t dare to.He was broadening his influence even further!

So many people came to visit him. He spent the entire day dealing with these visitors, handling the gifts they brought, until later in the evening when he finally relaxed a little.

But he wasn’t completely relaxed, because there was a New Year’s Eve party to be held here later.

When a person significantly breaks away from the bottom rung in terms of wealth, power, and status, the amount of private time they have becomes less and less.

Lance handed Ace, who had soiled his collar with saliva, to Patricia. There was a ruby ornament on his collar.

Ace might have taken it as some kind of sweet little snack, and was chewing on this gem.

Lance hadn’t noticed this at first. By the time he noticed, his collar was completely covered in saliva.

Fortunately, these ornaments had been well-maintained, and there were no harmful ingredients.

”I need to change my clothes,” Lance put his arm around Patricia’s waist, kissed her cheek, and then walked towards the second floor.

While Patricia’s gaze was still on Lance, Barbara walked over from the side. ”Where is he going?”

Patricia’s expression was a little strange when she saw Barbara. It was hard for her to maintain her normal expression, because her cousin was about to take her things away again, just like when they were children.

What she had taken away when they were children might have been adults’ compliments, or some little toys, little pebbles, or the like, that she liked.

She could forgive Barbara. After all, these things were just things, and were not as important as the feelings between them.

But now, she wanted to take away her husband, which made Patricia a little hard to accept.

However, she quickly adjusted her mindset and handed Ace to a servant woman from the farm who had come over.

This servant woman was only in her thirties, but when she walked, she gave people the feeling of a ”bear standing up and learning to walk.”

Don’t be fooled by her height of just a little over 1.6 meters. Her weight was over 200 pounds, which gave her a full sense of oppression.

She could not only take care of Ace, but also serve as a ”fighter” when necessary.

This woman’s family, from her grandfather’s generation to the present, had been loyal to the farm and the Lawrence family.

The servant woman carefully held Ace and then walked to the side, leaving the space to Patricia and Barbara.

Maybe they themselves didn’t feel anything, but some people on the farm could sense that there seemed to be some problems between the two sisters.

Patricia, at this time, was looking at Barbara from bottom to top. A tight, floor-length dress. The satin-like fabric completely highlighted her figure. The bright red color made her look like a ball of ”fire,” the fire of desire!

Her wavy, reddish-brown hair exuded an astonishing passion. Her bright red lips made Patricia herself a little lost in thought.

She was slightly distracted, but quickly reacted. ”His clothes were soiled by Ace’s saliva. He’s going to change.”

Barbara looked at her sister. ”You’ve been avoiding me lately.”

Patricia had wanted to say ”no,” but then she felt that saying so would be a little too passive. She took the initiative to raise her head and look straight into Barbara’s eyes. ”Why do you have such an illusion?”

”An illusion?” She raised her hand, and Patricia noticed that she was holding a lady’s cigarette holder, which looked very modern, slender, and beautiful.

A lady’s blended flue-cured tobacco was placed at the front, much milder than raw tobacco.

This kind of aged, flue-cured tobacco was gradually appearing more on the market. Its sales target group was mainly women and teenagers.

The federal tobacco groups had released a lot of advertisements in the past few years to promote this blended flue-cured tobacco, allowing it to be better accepted by the market. They had also sponsored quite a few movies.

After all, movies were the most mainstream form of entertainment for the common people in this period. According to the statistics of some federal statistical agencies, basically every federal person would go to the cinema two and a half times a month. The average was once every twelve days.

With such a huge market scale, more women and teenagers in movies began to use the new blended flue-cured tobacco.

Many old smokers were very disdainful of this, believing that the bland, flavorless blended flue-cured tobacco was something only sissies would use, but it did cater to the mainstream female and youth market.

In the movies Barbara participated in, several of her characters had the habit of smoking. Because of this, she had also received endorsement contracts from two tobacco groups.

At first, she didn’t really like smoking, but as some things developed, she also gradually started to smoke.

Patricia looked at her smoking posture, which had an aesthetically pleasing charm, which made her, more or less, feel a little... not to say inferior, but just that she wasn’t good enough.

Barbara was the most outstanding girl in the family in terms of appearance, bar none!

Even when she was smoking, she was still full of charm.

She was about to look away, but then she thought of Barbara’s ultimate goal, and again stared at her with wide eyes. ”Isn’t it an illusion?”

Barbara laughed twice. ”I never thought of taking him away from you.”

Patricia pursed her lips and didn’t speak, just staring at her.

Barbara shrugged, tilted her head slightly. The exposed shoulder and shoulder blade made Patricia feel that she was very beautiful.

In the gentle light of the room, it exuded a gentle, jade-like luster. It was extremely beautiful!

”Sometimes I think, dear.”

”In the past twenty years, I have beaten you countless times. I thought I would keep winning, but you, on the contrary, dealt me a heavy blow.”

Just as the corners of Patricia’s mouth began to curl up slightly, she heard Barbara say, ”There is a high probability that I won’t get married in this lifetime.”

”Let alone finding a man better than him, even one who is as good as him, is almost impossible to find.”

”Maybe there are, but they are either too old, or too ugly. You know, I don’t like old and ugly men.”

”So I might spend this whole life alone. When Ace grows up, you will have your children, your family, and I will have nothing. I’ll be all alone.”

Hearing Barbara say this, Patricia felt a little sad again. Their relationship was truly good.

If it weren’t for a truly good relationship, they wouldn’t have played together for so long. But this kind of thing, how could it be compromised?

She didn’t continue to talk about this topic. Barbara also didn’t continue. Some things won’t have a result after just one or two tries. Anyway, she still had a lot of time.

After a while, Lance came downstairs. He had changed into a new suit, and also a new set of accessories, but it was still a ruby.

He was somewhat fond of rubies. In fact, sapphires were also okay, and he liked emeralds too, but among them, he preferred rubies.

The color of blood.

Passionate, unrestrained, and also dangerous.

Lance, walking down the stairs, saw Barbara standing with Patricia. Although he was a little curious about what they were chatting about, he did not press them.

He could guess that it was probably those things.

”We should go now.”

Some guests had already arrived. As the host of the New Year’s Eve themed night event, it was a little inappropriate for Lance not to appear.

Barbara very naturally hooked her arm around Lance’s. Patricia was a little annoyed, but she also hooked her arm around Lance’s other arm.

In this regard, Lance did not appear too drastic, but just smiled and led the two ladies into the largest dining room in the manor together.

Many people had already gathered here. Seeing Lance walk in through the main door, the gentlemen who had already gathered all came up.

Barbara very naturally let go of Lance’s arm, and stayed by the door.

Patricia turned her head and glanced at her, and she, in turn, returned a smile.

”Lance, let me introduce you,” Governor Terry’s face was full of smiles. He had already placed all his men in the key positions of the state government. It could be said that he was now, in the true sense, the complete form of a governor.

Here, besides Lance, he didn’t need to cater to anyone else’s feelings, unless he himself was willing.

Lance proactively looked at the people by his side. Several of them.

”This is...”

Seeing the successful gentlemen, who were clearly twenty or thirty years older than himself, willingly bend their backs and extend their hands to Lance with a fawning expression on their faces, Patricia felt a little dizzy.

She was, in fact, often unable to feel Lance’s ”strength.” Her understanding of his strength was mostly from other people’s words, and she had never truly experienced it.

Until this moment.

The governor was standing right next to him. Her hand, which was holding Lance’s arm, tightened slightly. A somewhat unnatural, stiff expression appeared on her face.

She was a little unable to adapt to this environment.

Lance shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with the people Governor Terry introduced, and exchanged business cards.

After this batch of people had left, Lance patted Patricia’s hand, signaling that he needed to talk to Governor Terry alone.

Patricia then, somewhat blankly, left Lance’s side, which made her feel very insecure.

She was a very simple woman. She had been simple from childhood to adulthood. If it weren’t for meeting Lance, her life might have been as bland and simple as ever.

She subconsciously walked to Barbara’s side. Barbara was chatting with a few noblewomen who looked like they knew each other.

When she saw Patricia walk over, she proactively excused herself, ended her conversation with them, and came to Patricia’s side.

”You look a little lost,” she said, holding the slender lady’s cigarette holder in her hand, which had an indescribable charm.

Patricia turned her head and glanced at Lance, who was talking in a low voice with Governor Terry at the edge. ”I don’t know...”

”I feel... as if I can’t really blend in here!” She had thought for a few moments, before finally finding these words to put together.

The social event here was simply too high-class, so high-class that it made her a little unable to adapt.

For example, just now, when those successful people had handed Lance their business cards, Patricia, as Lance’s female companion, and a person of the upper class, should have proactively taken the business cards he was handed, but she had not done so.

Although whether she did it or not, was actually fine.

She felt that she couldn’t adapt to this place, the environment here, the people, and their way of socializing.

She now really wanted to go back to the farm, where it was simple, not so complicated, and made people feel at ease.

Listening to Patricia narrate her inner turmoil, Barbara reached out and lifted her somewhat frustrated chin. ”No one knows everything when they are born, Pat.”

”As long as you are willing to learn, to accept, to study, you will soon adapt to everything here.”

”Now, I’ll give you some advice!”

Patricia nodded, looking seriously at her cousin.

”Put away those terrible expressions on your face. You are not only representing yourself now, but also Lance, and even the Lawrence family.”

”Feel it. Those gazes filled with curiosity, doubt, malice, and even hostility, this is a part of your future life, an indispensable part!”

Under Barbara’s explanation, Patricia glanced around with the corner of her eye. She saw many of the noblewomen who had come to attend the social event tonight, looking at her with a smile that she couldn’t distinguish whether it was malicious or benign.

This made her feel even more uncomfortable. Her face even turned slightly pale.

Barbara proactively walked to her side, linked her arm with hers, and said in a low, but very firm voice, ”Chin up, dear.”

”The more you try to avoid it, the more they will chase after you and humiliate you.”

”Only if you punch them in the face will they be afraid of you!”

”And, these people are not scary at all. You have to know, you are the female lead today!”

”Come on, let’s go and say hello to them...”