Ch. 641..650

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 641

Speaking of which, she was focusing on saving the young girl earlier, and she was then anxious about getting to know more about Hesper Rivera’s past. With all that on her mind, Hestia really forgot that she should be curious about the identity of the person on the other end of the call.

‘It seems that this man is filthy rich, and he’s able to find out about me in such a short time, so he’s certainly not someone to be trifled with.’

"My name is Nathaniel Tucker." Nathaniel paused and continued. "Ms. Deschamps, you might not have heard of me, but you should’ve heard of Daybreak, right?"

Hestia liked communicating with smart people, so she raised her eyebrows when she heard Nathaniel’s introduction. "If the Daybreak that you’re referring to is the Daybreak that I know, I can only say that you, Mr. Tucker, are indeed a very remarkable man."

Nathaniel chuckled. "It seems that I don’t have to waste more energy trying to introduce myself. You must have felt a lot of emotions ever since returning to Genecity, didn't you, Ms. Deschamps? And I wonder if you’ve felt any strange emotions deep down when you saw Rickard Duval."

"What do you want to say? I’d prefer it if you stop beating about the bush."

She did not have the time to play riddles, so Nathaniel responded directly.

"To be completely truthful with you, I know Hesper Rivera. That’s you before your amnesia." Nathaniel’s voice sounded unhurried. "I adored you but couldn’t get you. That’s why Rickard is like a thorn in my flesh. So, if you’re planning to get rid of him, why not cooperate with me?"

"…"

Nathaniel was extremely direct with his suggestion, and Hestia remained silent for a moment.

"You should know that I’m Hesper Rivera, yet you dare to say such things directly to me," Hestia said with a half-smile. "I can’t help but feel that you have a very strange backstory, and I don’t know if you’re here to help me or sabotage me."

Both parties were very smart individuals, so the conversation went back and forth without any one of them losing in terms of tone and attitude.

Although Hestia really admired Nathaniel’s style, Nathaniel had been confessing too much, and Hestia could not tell whether it was true or false. She also did not know what the other party’s purpose was, so it was impossible for her to agree to the plan so easily, lest becoming someone else’s pawn.

"Ms. Deschamps, you should really think about it carefully. All I want is to see Duval Group and Rickard crumble from where they are now." Nathaniel did not force Hestia to make a decision now, and he chuckled. "I believe that you’re a smart person, and I look forward to meeting you again, Ms. Deschamps."

After saying so, Nathaniel took the initiative to hang up the phone, leaving Hestia alone to think about what he just said.

She could be sure that Nathaniel did not tell her the whole truth, but since it was potential exploitation, it was still unknown exactly who would be the party exploiting the other.

‘Bringing down Rickard… It sounds like a very attractive condition.’

Ever since arriving in Genecity, affairs kept on appearing one after another. Hestia could not help but rub her forehead tiredly.

‘I can more or less understand Hesper’s life in the past. She was constantly living in a huge trap every day; she not only needed to be wary of outsiders but also being backstabbed by those living around her.’

Thinking of the battles of wit that she was going to go through in the future, Hestia felt even more fatigued, but at the same time, she was looking forward to it, as the extremely peaceful days in Fredonia had been making her feel a little bored.

After all, Hestia still liked the excitement that she gained from competing with others. No matter whether she appeared as the winner or loser, at least she would feel that she was still alive every day.

"Rickard Duval, you’d better not let me down."

Hestia stood up and glanced at the courtyard outside. There was only one wall separating her current place from the Duvals’ residence, the place that had given Hesper countless painful memories.

‘Hesper might’ve been wrong since the very beginning. She was always too kind to Rickard, and she was worried about too many things. That’s why she couldn’t hate him to the bones.’

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 642

The next day, Hestia arrived at Duval Group on time and checked herself in.

Benji was on the brink of weeping when he saw Hesper. He had been working overtime last night to get her office ready, so he would have cried out loud if Hesper didn't come in that day.

Thinking of the "Ms. Lane" that he knew from before, Benji could not help but lament that Hesper was very kind back then, as the current version of her was the ultimate devilish side of her.

"Mr. Lynch, you don’t seem very happy to see me." Hestia smiled at Benji and curled the corners of her lips upward. "Is Mr. Duval here? I want to see the detailed proposal for the future plans… This wouldn’t be too hasty, would it?"

As soon as Benji heard Hestia bring up the proposal, he began to admire Rickard’s ingenuity. As soon as Hestia left yesterday, Rickard immediately held an emergency meeting to finalize the details of the proposal in advance.

Seeing Benji’s expression, Hestia instantly knew that she would not be able to find anything wrong with the proposal, so she waved her hand with a lack of interest. "Forget it. I don’t want to read it. Bring me to my office now."

"Okay, Ms. Deschamps." Benji welcomed Hestia into the office with a smile.

The employees around them gazed at Hesper while working on their own tasks attentively. But in fact, the gossipy alter ego in them was already on the verge of exploding.

Hesper had disappeared from Genecity for a long time; some claimed that Hesper died in an accident, while others claimed that she had broken up with Rickard and would never come back again. No one had ever expected that she would be back in only half a year.

Hestia followed Benji around the company to observe the internal operations of the entire Duval Group and found that she was still a little unfamiliar with the Duvals. Apart from the route that led her to Rickard’s office, the other areas of the company seemed very strange to her.

"Did I work in Duval Group before?"

"How would I have dared to ask you to work?" Benji answered bitterly. "It’s just that when Mr. Duval was ill, you temporarily acted as the president of Duval Group. Does this remind you of something in the past?"

"No."

Hestia walked by Benji indifferently, went directly into the office, and nodded with satisfaction when she saw the interior design. "Alright, sorry to have troubled you, Mr. Lynch… I believe that we’ll have a great working relationship in the future."

Benji was at a loss for words.

He vaguely remembered that when he first heard this sentence from Hesper back then, she instantly launched a series of fierce attacks against the Duval Group, which shook the company’s position in Genecity.

‘She had this same smirk on her when she said so back then.’

With a chill jolting up his spine, Benji decided to leave the current version of Hesper as soon as he possibly could. "Then I’ll get back to work for now, and if you are in need of anything, you can always tell me."

"So, is that it?" Hestia smirked, and Benji instantly regretted what he just said, but he was lucky that she did not say anything else, and let him leave.

Rickard was standing at the door of the office, so as soon as Benji came out of the room, he immediately ran into his boss, and he wondered what the man was thinking.

"Did she ask about the proposal?"

Benji nodded. "She did, but she didn’t want to go through it anymore all of a sudden. Perhaps she guessed that you’d gotten it ready."

It felt like Rickard was doing all this just to entertain the love of his life. However, it seemed that Hestia and Hesper had completely different personalities, so Benji was a little worried.

No matter how unfeeling Hesper was toward Rickard in the past, Benji never thought that she would do something to hurt Rickard, but Hestia was different.

‘She looks rather… wicked’

Unexpectedly, Hestia was very quiet all morning. She did not make any excessive demands, and she did not go to Rickard. Instead, she stayed in her office all the time, but because she had put all the curtains down, everyone outside had no way to know what the person in the office was doing.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 643

Benji was a little uneasy wondering what the woman would do, but until lunchtime at noon, the office was still as quiet as ever.

Hearing this, Rickard stood up, went straight to Hestia’s office, and knocked on the door. After a long time without getting a response, Rickard opened the door with the company’s general password. This was Duval Group after all, and Rickard had the highest authority in the building.

As a result, the door of the office was opened, but there was no one inside.

"How is this possible? I’ve been keeping an eye on this room!" Benji was stunned by the fact that a living person actually disappeared before him, and then turned back to look at Rickard. "Ms. Rivera didn't go out at all the whole morning."

Rickard frowned, but before he could say anything, Hesper’s voice came from behind the two of them.

"What are you two doing in front of my office?" Hestia came over with two cups of coffee, looked at Rickard with a half-smile, then handed one of the cups to him. "Mr. Duval, I didn't know what you like to drink, so I bought what I like."

"Didn’t you say you wished to inspect our work?" Rickard’s tone sounded indifferent.

Hestia shrugged. "How could you not let me go out to relax? I’m a client of yours, not your employee. Aren’t you a little too strict, Mr. Duval?”

"Shouldn’t this be in line with the wishes of a client? The service provider is actively asking the client to check their work but gets blamed for being too active. So aren’t you the strict one here, Ms. Deschamps?"

The curvature of Hestia’s lips remained the same, but her tone of voice became a little less welcoming. "You’re quite a good speaker, Mr. Duval. I wonder if you’re as good at sweet talking as you are now when you’re facing your lover?"

"You’ll get to know that if you try me out, Ms. Deschamps."

Benji remained silent on the side, watching the two going at each other, and could not help but be amazed, but that was when Rickard called his name.

"Benji, it’s your fault that Ms. Deschamps had to go out to buy coffee by herself. Ms. Deschamps, you don’t have to go out by yourself if you want anything. All you need to do is get Benji to go out and buy it for you."

"Yes, Ms. Deschamps. You can summon me at any time."

Hestia chuckled, and her cold almond eyes narrowed with her smirk. "Mr. Duval, you’re making it sound like a house arrest. Are you saying that I can’t leave this room while I’m here?"

"I don’t mean that, but I can’t bother you with such petty errands, can I? After all, you’re now our company’s client." Rickard slightly nodded after explaining his intention. "I still have some work to do, so I won’t stay back to accompany you through the boredom. As for the coffee, I’ll bring it with me. Thank you for the drink."

Hestia’s amity was buried by Rickard with just a few lines. She looked at Rickard’s back as he left the room, her smiling eyes calming down. She then glared at Benji, who was standing at the side.

"Mr. Lynch, are you planning to stay here for the rest of the day? Or are you planning to buy me a coffee?"

Seeing Hesper’s expression, Benji hurried out, not forgetting to close the door behind him when he left.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that Rickard had won the confrontation, so it was obvious that Hesper was in a bad mood now. Benji did not want to stay back and be her living target, giving her the chance to torture him.

Taking a few huge steps forward, Benji caught up to Rickard, who ordered, "Go and pull the footage of every single surveillance camera in the company. Hestia must have gone out more than once. I want to know where she went."

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 644

Benji was already quite shocked by the fact that Hesper slipped out of her office under his nose, but he was even more surprised when Rickard suspected that Hesper might have slipped out more than once.

Although he was also busy with the tasks at hand and was occasionally distracted, he still kept an eye on Hesper most of the time and never saw her going out.

However, when the surveillance footage was downloaded onto a computer, Benji realized just how naïve he was.

Hesper had gone out more than two or three times. As soon as his attention was shifted away from her, she would immediately seize the opportunity to get out of the office, and during this time, she had already visited the entire Duval Tower.

Compared to the trip that Benji brought her along to take a rough look around the company before this, Hesper seemed to be looking into everything in Duval Group. She stopped by the reference room and archive room for quite a long time before heading back to her office.

Benji was staring at the footage intently when he suddenly saw Hesper smile and wave at the camera as if she had expected that they would go through the surveillance.

"What’s going on here?" Benji was shocked. "Ms. Rivera’s observation is rather insane, isn’t it? I didn’t see her leave at all… And I understand that she could do so when she was trying to leave, but how did she do it to that extent when she came back?"

Rickard pondered for a moment and said, "She might have learned something that you couldn't think of in the past six months."

‘Such as reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance.’

Hesper’s ability to learn had always been beyond doubt. Rickard was only wondering why Hesper would learn these things.

‘Logically speaking, the Deschamps should’ve provided her with an absolutely safe environment, and it’s rumored that the patriarch and matriarch of the Deschamps love her very much, so why would Hesper learn reconnaissance skills?’

After briefly explaining things to Benji, he understood the horror behind Hesper’s actions now. "Then doesn’t that mean that I won’t be able to keep an eye on Ms. Rivera at all?"

Benji frowned. And it seemed that Hesper hesitated for a long time in front of the reference room when she got there. Loads of important materials that belonged to Duval Group were stored in that room. Although Hesper did not seem to show any reason to sabotage Duval Group, one could tell at a glance that her intention did not look kind.

"Kenji will be back tomorrow… It seems that something big is about to happen in Genecity, so it’s good news if he’s back," Rickard spoke lightly.

Benji nodded immediately and replied with a smile on his face, "He just finished his mission a while back, but he refused to tell me when he’ll be coming back when I asked him the question a few days earlier."

"You brothers haven’t seen each other for a long time. If it weren't for the complicated situation that we’re in, I would let you off for a few days."

Just when Benji was about to feel moved, he warned himself inwardly not to empathize with the evil capitalist and then went back to his workstation to work hard with tears rolling at the bottom of his eyes.

Rickard was speechless for a short moment after that.

On the other side, Hestia inspected the entire office and made sure that there were no other hidden cameras. She then sat on her chair and slowly took out the miniature camera from her collar and imported its content into her laptop.

"I got my hands on the internal structure of Duval Group."

Hestia looked at the full-length video on the computer, and the corners of her lips could not help but twitch as she took a sip of coffee in a good mood. "You might be good at talking back, Rickard Duval, but so what? We’ll see who gets the W at the end."

…

Looking at the information on the screen, Myriade frowned for a while.

"Big T, in the document that the Deschamps gave to Hesper, there’s no description about you… Even if there is, it’s next to nothing. Mot even your name is mentioned in the documents, let alone Daybreak."

Nathaniel took a glance at the monitor with interest but was also a little puzzled.

"The Deschamps had come across Daybreak on a few occasions before this, but I don’t remember forming any friendship with Charles Deschamps." Nathaniel thought for a moment and continued. "Has there been any progress in what happened half a year ago?"

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 645

Myriade shook her head. "No, the Deschamps’s confidentiality mechanism is very strict, so such things will never be posted on the Internet."

"When Hesper met Charles and Elise Deschamps, her appearance was completely different from how she looks now. So how could the Deschamps recognize who she is at a glance?" Nathaniel felt that there were still too many things that had not been clearly studied. However, when it came to the informant network, even if Daybreak had Myriade, they were still not as competent as the Deschamps’.

After all, Myriade obtained all her information off the Internet, while the Deschamps had a network of live people doing it for them.

"Okay, you’re to continue to follow up on this matter, whereas I still need to work harder to persuade Hesper…" Nathaniel paused for a split second. "Although all Hesper feels for Rickard now is pure hatred, I still feel a hint of jealousy. Why does she remember only him out of everyone around her?"

Myriade was silent, then frowned and covered her chest.

During this period of time, her heart had become more and more irritated and troubled, and she had no idea how much longer she had left. Even though Nathaniel had already found her the best doctor in the region, she was born with the disease that was very difficult to cure.

"Is your heart hurting again?"

Nathaniel finally noticed Myriade’s discomfort, took the laptop off her lap, and frowned. "Forget it, you should get some good rest. Daybreak can’t lose its brain, so don’t crush your body."

‘Daybreak can’t lose me, but what about you?’

Myriade could not bear to ask such a sentimental question, but since the onset of her illness and knowing that she did not have much time left, Myriade had become more and more sensitive.

She used to think that Nathaniel was the person who treated her best in the world. He would always let her have it her way no matter how undue her requests were.

But she just realized now that what she thought was not actually the case.

‘To Nathaniel, both Hesper and I are the same. When everything is smooth and calm, he’d be willing to disperse some of his emotions to us, but in fact, as soon as there's something that involves his and Daybreak’s "end goal"… Feelings are simply worthless when it’s compared to these agendas.’

Not wanting to talk more about it, Myriade turned her head and said, "I’ll keep an eye on the Deschamps, but when can I make a move on Roberto? You should know that I don’t have much…"

"Roberto is Hesper’s master and has a great influence in the design world. Now is still not the time." Nathaniel interrupted Myriade, knelt down, and rubbed her on the head. "Trust me. I’ll keep my promise to you, okay?"

Myriade bowed her head in silence.

"Okay."

After ending the current subject, Myriade took a deep breath and reported, "I just monitored Hesper’s laptop earlier and found that she has copied a lot of Duval Group’s internal structures and schemes, which are confidential. I’ll send them to you in a while."

Nathaniel nodded. Seeing Myriade’s sensible look, he made another promise, "Roberto’s life and death are nothing to Daybreak, but we’re currently going through a critical period, so I’m sorry, but Roberto can’t die just yet."

Hearing Nathaniel explaining his plan to her so earnestly, Myriade’s expression softened a little, and she nodded. "Then I’ll go and rest for a short while first."

Nathaniel turned off the light for Myriade, then walked out of the room, closed the door, and stood outside the room for a long time.

"…I’m sorry, Myriade."

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 646

Different from the undercurrents on Daybreak’s side, Hestia’s methods of making things difficult for Duval Group were relatively more straightforward.

Benji brought the proposal out of her office with a demoralized expression. And as soon as the team waiting for the results saw Benji’s look, they immediately knew that Hestia must have returned the proposal again, and they could not help but feel a little defeated for a while.

When Hestia came into the company yesterday, she only wandered around the company, making Benji feel a little uneasy. However, Hestia started asking questions related to the project that morning, and both the previously proposed plan and its backup had all been rejected by her.

Now the entire Team A that was in charge of the project was outside Hestia’s office. They were there waiting to receive Hestia’s next order at any time, and among them was the unlucky Benji.

Although Hestia had been making things difficult for them deliberately, everyone could still see that every point that Hestia put forward was something they could not accomplish at this moment, so all they could do now was curse the evil capitalist deep down while correcting all the problems that Hestia had pointed out.

The most devastated person in the group was actually Benji. After all, the others were only there to modify the proposal, but he was the one who had to face the devil head-on.

"Mr. Lynch, Mr. Duval asked you to go downstairs to pick someone up." Seeing that Benji was walking out of the office, the secretary standing next to Team A instantly said, "Right now."

Benji’s eyes lit up; he handed the proposal back to the members of Team A and dashed downstairs. He originally thought it would still take a while longer for Kenji to arrive at Duval Group, but he did not expect him to come so soon.

As soon as Benji left the scene, Hestia opened the door and came out. "Has Benji gone downstairs?"

The team members looked at each other in dismay. Although Hesper was now their immediate superior and had an unclear relationship with Rickard, they also knew that she was not part of the company, so they did not know whether they should disclose Benji’s itinerary to her.

Hestia could tell what they were thinking at a glance. Seeing that they did not intend to answer her question, she took a few steps backward unconcernedly. "Okay, you people are to come up with a new proposal. If we were not in Halwanest, but Fredonia instead, and I was your direct superior, your salary for this month would have already been flushed down the drain at this very moment.”

After saying so, Hestia closed the door, leaving all the team members with their heads bowed guiltily.

All of them once heard employees from Lane Holdings say that Ms. Lane was very gentle on the surface, but as soon as it came to work, she would turn into someone else. They did not believe how strict Hesper could be with her employees before this, but they did not expect they would have the opportunity to experience it themselves someday in the future.

At the same time, Benji had already picked Kenji up and they were on their way up in the elevator.

"Where is Ms. Rivera?" Kenji was dressed in black, and everyone should be able to tell from his appearance that he looked somewhat similar to Benji.

But because Benji wore a business suit and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that had not been changed for as long as he was alive, one would always see the shrewdness of an entrepreneur in him. However, Kenji was different; he was usually casually and ordinarily dressed, so one might subconsciously ignore this man at first glance most of the time.

Benji scratched his neck. "She proposed to work opposite Mr. Duval, so her office is now located opposite to that of Mr. Duval."

Kenji was silent for a while.

When performing his missions outside, Kenji had heard a lot about this woman who went by the name Ms. Rivera. After all, she was once Rickard’s nominal wife.

However, Kenji had not cared about her, as according to others, she was only a pushover that anyone could kick around.

Kenji did not believe that Rickard would get himself involved and entangled with such an ordinary woman.

Who would have known that the news that came to him ever since the marriage became more and more outrageous.

"I also heard from Mr. Duval that Ms. Rivera seems to have some reconnaissance skills." Kenji was curious about this. "Although the Deschamps are involved in some suspicious businesses, Ms. Rivera had only gone missing for half a year, hadn’t she…? So why would the patriarch of the Deschamps not only let her get involved with their family businesses, but also let her learn reconnaissance skills in the past six months?"

Benji had always been in charge of all legal deals in Duval Group, so when the tortuous words came out of Kenji’s mouth, Benji did not quite understand them and was only able to grasp onto the key points.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 647

"Ms. Rivera is also involved in the Deschamps’ suspicious businesses?"

"…Hmm, it’s just a guess of mine." Kenji paused for a split second and continued. "The Deschamps were originally from Fredonia, and Daybreak chose to set up their base and make a fortune there only because of certain characteristics of the country. It can be said that some cities in the country are perfect breeding grounds for evil organizations."

Benji originally thought that Hesper had returned to Genecity this time around just to restore her memory. He did not expect that it was not as simple as it seemed.

‘If Hesper really did run filthy businesses while she was in Fredonia, leaving the other minor consequences aside, I don’t know if she'll be able to accept it after she fully recovers from her memory loss.’

"Alright, it’s useless to think so much at the moment. From now on, I’ll keep an eye on all of Ms. Rivera’s actions until the moment her memory recovers."

This was the main reason why Kenji came back. To protect Hesper, supervise everything that she did, and not let her get dragged into dangerous situations.

…

At this time, Hestia was frowning and staring at her laptop. Before returning to Halwanest, all her electronic equipment had been specially treated by the Deschamps beforehand.

Although she herself was not proficient in computers, she could still tell that when she was not on the laptop, a stranger had remotely controlled her computer and taken some things from it while he or she was going through her laptop.

‘The only thing that I saved onto my laptop yesterday was Duval Group's internal surveillance footage, so is someone using me to obtain information about Duval Group?’

Hestia sneered.

‘I've got to hand it to them; they’re actually very proficient when it comes to obtaining information.’

At this moment, she had a candidate that she suspected.

‘That person whose name is Nathaniel did contact me before and tell me that he wanted to work with me to sabotage Rickard.’

‘Is this the type of cooperation that he had in mind when he brought the idea up?’

It was useless for her to be too cautious while dealing with this kind of person. Hestia knew that if the other party had someone who was very proficient in hacking techniques, all her actions in Halwanest would be under the surveillance of the other party. After all, she was living in the information era, and she would not be able to do anything if she was not allowed to use the Internet.

Thinking of this, Hestia immediately looked for the cell phone number that called her the other day on her phone and called it.

After two beeps, the other party picked up the call almost instantly.

"Ms. Deschamps, you contacted me faster than I expected."

Nathaniel was surprised. After all, Hesper had always been a cautious person, and now "Hestia" had been living in the Deschamps residence for half a year until very recently, so she should be quite hard to convince.

Hestia’s lips twitched when she heard his response, but there was not even a hint of hilarity in her eyes.

"I was still on the fence before this, but I didn’t expect you to cooperate with me in such a strange way. If I didn't take the initiative to contact you, Mr. Tucker, I wonder how much longer you planned to work with my laptop?"

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, while Hesper continued. "If this is how you show your sincerity, then I must say that I’ve gotten quite an opportunity to feel its level. And in order to prevent you from continuing to monitor me, I'll agree with what you suggested last time."

The table had turned at this point. Nathaniel heard the words and wanted to ask why, but Hesper had already hung up the phone.

‘I only want to confuse him so that he doesn’t know what I’m going to do. As for the cooperation…? It would be faster to give him some hope

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 648

After sending Nathaniel off, Hestia created a new folder on her laptop, called Sylvie, and asked her to encrypt this folder separately, not allowing anyone to see the contents inside.

Although Sylvie felt a little puzzled, she still agreed and went to do as asked.

After arranging the things on her end, Hestia curled her lips and realized that Benji had not come in for more than an hour, so she took the initiative to open the door. "Benji Lynch?"

Unexpectedly, Benji did not show up, but another person appeared in front of her out of nowhere.

"Ms. Rivera." Kenji looked at Hestia indifferently and then explained, "Benji has returned to the CEO’s office. I’ll be in charge of your safety for the rest of your days in Genecity."

Hestia was a little surprised. Benji was a lot softer when dealing with her. So in order to prevent him from being led directly into a trap by her, Rickard would certainly arrange for someone else to come and take over his position, which did not seem to be a very unexpected arrangement.

Thinking about this, Hestia nodded casually. "My current name is Hestia, Hestia Deschamps, so stop calling me Ms. Rivera. And what’s your name?"

"Kenji, Kenji Lynch."

After getting his full name, Hestia immediately took a closer look at him and realized that Kenji and Benji looked slightly alike. But she did not notice such details at all at the first glance.

Hestia naturally did not think this was just a coincidence.

'It’s probably because I went out of the office and around the company yesterday, which made Rickard feel a little bit more vigilant, so he’s found someone who could watch over me. So it seems Rickard is only obeying all my requests on the surface, but in fact, he still suspects that my appearance will do harm to Duval Group.'

"…Pfft, so boring." Hestia turned her head around. "Since you’re here to protect me, then stay in front of my door and do your job."

"Of course."

The door was slammed shut by Hestia, and Kenji’s eyes narrowed.

‘Even though it was just our first time meeting each other, she’s already formed a general understanding of me. This shows that she’s undergone similar training.’

‘Her walking posture also doesn’t look like that of an ordinary person, so she’s probably practiced kickboxing or some kind of martial arts.’

Kenji lowered his gaze.

‘I’m afraid that Hestia Deschamps is a completely different person from the woman who went by the name of Hesper Rivera. I guess this is why Mr. Duval is wary of her.’

Although Kenji had a fairly good impression of Hesper after listening to Benji’s description of her before, she might as well be considered a completely different person after suffering from amnesia. If such a dangerous individual was allowed to stay in Duval Group and by Rickard’s side, she was practically a ticking time bomb.

The day passed just like that, and Hestia only asked the team that worked directly under her to keep changing the proposal. Other than that, she did not do anything out of the ordinary. However, Kenji did not loosen his vigilance.

"Ms. Deschamps, how do you plan to go back at night? Do you need me to send you back?"

Kenji was a humanoid surveillance camera that had been placed by her side by Rickard, so Hestia originally wanted to refuse his suggestion.

But she nodded as soon as she remembered that she had not shown Rickard the "surprise" that she had carefully prepared for him. "Okay, then please do send me back."

After Hestia gave Kenji her current address, he was stunned for a split second. "You're living there?"

"Is there a problem?" Hestia asked knowingly. "This is the best residential area in Genecity. I might only get to stay in Genecity just this once in my lifetime, so why can’t I get myself the best real estate available?"

Kenji remained silent for a while. "It’s not that you can’t, but that you and Mr. Duval are neighbors. Don’t you know that?"

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 649

When he threw the question out, Kenji did not take his eyes off Hestia’s gaze, but Hestia looked back at him calmly too as if she did not know anything about this and even had some doubts.

"Sorry, I seem to have worried too much." Kenji apologized and did not say anything else.

Hestia smirked. "Then please do send me back, Mr. Lynch, and thank you."

…

Although Hestia did not show any emotion on the surface, Kenji still felt that Hestia’s living next to Rickard was something that she had deliberately planned.

After listening to Kenji’s report of the information that he had gained throughout the day, Rickard did not seem surprised, but only nodded. "Keep monitoring her, and come to me at any time if anything seems unusual."

"Ms. Rivera… She isn’t very trustworthy now." Kenji hesitated for a moment, then said, "Sir, you may not understand how the Deschamps trains their people. I don’t think Ms. Rivera will now care about the relationship that she shared with you back then, and this makes her a rather terrifying person."

Rickard remained silent for a while and then raised his head. "Is there still no news about Professor Miles?"

Ever since he cured Renfrew, Professor Miles had been going around Genecity, practicing medicine, and even Rickard could not locate his whereabouts. Ordinary doctors would not be able to solve Hesper’s current situation at all. So Hesper could only continue to be Hestia until he managed to find Professor Miles.

Kenji shook his head. "Our men have searched all over Genecity, but we haven’t found any trace of Professor Miles. Are you sure that he’s still in Genecity?

"Yes, he said before he left that he’ll show up when he has to."

Rickard firmly believed that the doctor would not renege on his promise, so Kenji had no choice but to nod. "Then I’ll leave first. I will continue to keep an eye on all of Ms. Rivera’s movements too."

In the mansion located next to the Duval residence, Hestia was unpacking her belongings and she took out a cell phone that had been in silent mode all this while with a guilty conscience.

Looking at the video call request that was flashing on the screen, Hestia’s heart skipped a beat for a moment, picked it up before it got disconnected, and instantly put on a more adorable expression.

Seeing the face that appeared on the phone’s screen after the video got through, there was an instant sigh of relief.

"Mother, you look very good today!"

Elise looked at Hestia helplessly but smiled instantly when she saw that Hestia did not seem to have suffered any grievances in Halwanest. "You looked relieved as soon as you saw that it was me who was calling you… Did you cause any trouble out there and are afraid that your father will find out about it?"

"That’s not it! Why would you think so? I’m just running serious businesses in Genecity."

Hestia thought that supervising their company’s business partner’s work should be regarded as a serious business.

‘Although what I’ve been doing here is a little overkill, Rickard doesn’t look like someone who would backstab me in front of Father and Mother.’

Looking at the baby girl that she picked up a while back, Elise’s gaze softened. "I didn’t call you about this. I’m only calling because I missed you all of a sudden. I haven’t been away from you for so long ever since you came home."

When Elise said so, Hestia instantly felt a little homesick, but there were still a lot of unresolved questions and hatred in Genecity.

‘You only live once, so I must do my best to get to the bottom of my past self for my own sake so that I’ll live with no regrets.’

"Alright, Hestia should have her own plans, so just let her go at it." A male voice suddenly sounded in the background of the video. Hestia instantly felt guilty.

"Father, you’re here too."

Charles’s face appeared in the video halfway through the call, and Hestia gave off a stiff smile as she waved at him.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 650

Seeing that Charles seemed to have something to tell Hestia, Elise handed the phone directly to him and then walked out of the room. So after that, only Hestia and Charles were left staring at each other through the phone for quite some time.

"Have you found the answer that you’re searching for?"

Charles finally took the initiative to start the conversation, and Hestia lowered her gaze. "I’ve found parts of it, but I don’t know. There are still a lot of things that I want to do in Halwanest. Although you two are my life savior and benefactors for taking me in back then and teaching me heaps of things throughout the past six months, I can’t go back now."

"I’m not asking you to come back now, am I?"

Hestia had been getting ready to get into a debate with Charles, but she did not expect him to support her decision without her fighting for it, so she lifted her head and widened her eyes. "You don’t object to my decision to come to Genecity?"

"No, I still don’t like it." Charles’s expression remained unchanged, but there was an emotion that flashed across his gaze for a split second which Hesper could not understand.

After a while, he sighed, and continued. "Forget it, this is all your decision to make. Perhaps this is what the Halwanese called fate."

Although she could not understand what Charles was saying, Hestia had an intuition that Charles had decided to hide something from her. Charles said immediately, "While you’re there, I need you to help me locate someone in Halwanest. This person’s last name is Sulzbach, but I’m not sure about the full name."

"Sulzbach is the last name, huh… And that’s it?"

Charles went silent for a moment, and Hestia found it difficult to believe that. During the six months when she stayed with the Deschamps, she developed a very strong confidence in the Deschamps’ informant network. She had always had complete information when she went on all of her past missions. The details that she would get were so detailed that even her target’s childhood would be meticulously investigated.

"He’s very likely to be from the Sulzbachs of Emperion. Based on his age, he should be a generation older than you."

Speaking of Emperion, Hestia suddenly thought of Matthew again, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Ever since I came to Halwanest, I’ve met many people who used to know me, including my biological brother, who’s one of the Lanes.”

The moment she brought Matthew up, Hestia was stunned for a moment.

‘He’s from the Lanes, and it seems that he and Mother’s ex-lover come from the same family.’

But Hestia did not think too much about it. After all, countless people shared the same last name in the world, so it would not say much.

"Your brother?" Charles did not seem to have foreseen this outcome and nodded in response. "If you want to go back to the Lanes, your mother and I won’t stop you, but your mother isn’t at her peak nowadays and might not be able to visit you while you’re gone."

Hestia shook her head. "I have no memory of them at all. Even if he’s my biological brother, to me, you’re still my only parents."

The two talked about work again, and when they heard that Hestia was staying at Duval Group as their client, Charles sighed helplessly. "Duval Group has been hit by a lot of waves recently, and Nathaniel Tucker from Daybreak has always wanted Rickard Duval to step down as the president of the company, so don’t get yourself involved in this mess."

Hestia wanted to tell Charles that she had been forced to get involved with the matter, but it was beyond her expectations that Charles did not reprimand her that day.

‘Let’s just wait until the matter is resolved before I reveal this kind of "big surprise" to him.’

"Okay, I know that." Hestia obediently agreed and then asked, "If I find Sulzbach, do I bring him back to you?"

"No, you’re to end him right then, right there."

Charles’s response sounded very decisive, and Hestia was taken aback for a short moment.

"I know you don’t want to do it, so just get our men to do it on your behalf, and keep this matter from your mother."

"…Okay."

After hanging up the phone call with Charles, Hestia laid on the bed and let the moonlight shine on her face.

‘Actually, the Deschamps are excellent in many aspects of life, and from them, I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge that I didn’t possess while I was my previous self. But for some reason, I still can’t sit well with Father’s stern and resolute management style.’

‘Perhaps because I’m not holding a high enough position in the family’s operation, I can’t be as decisive as Father is.’

Thinking of this, Hestia sat up. She had been working in Duval Group for one whole day, and she was feeling a little tired earlier, but now, after such a phone call, all the fatigue that she felt had dissipated.