The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)
Chapter 1171

Nathaniel has asked this question straightforwardly, so Magnolia was surprised.

"Go ahead."

She smiled faintly and picked up the teacup in front of her to take a sip of the tea.

Nathaniel knew that he was asking this question abruptly, but he did not intend to avoid it. He asked, "Ms. Xiao, you've been involved in complicated situations in Angolla all these years. Therefore, I want to ask you something. You've probably prepared a backup plan in advance just in case someone exposed your real identity, right? So how did you end up in such a terrible situation?"

When Magnolia heard Nathaniel's question, her hand trembled, and a trace of pain flashed across her eyes.

"I did prepare a backup plan indeed. Even if I've been exposed, I wouldn't have ended up like this. But I didn't one of my men to be a traitor. Alas, I was careless! If it weren't for the traitor, I wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state."

Nathaniel remained silent after hearing her explanation.

Magnolia had come up with a good excuse by saying that she had a traitor in her troop. This could explain why she had ended up in such a terrible situation as well. However, everything was in a mess now, so he only trusted half of what Magnolia said. Therefore, he had to find out the truth of the incident himself.

"Do you still not believe me?"

Magnolia knew that Mango and Nathaniel would not believe her as she had appeared suddenly in Ocean City.

She let out a bitter laugh and said, "Ah, forget it. Just pretend that I didn't look for you. I'll deal with my problems myself!"

"Aunt, we didn't say that we wouldn't help you, and we found a house for you too! However, Nathan and I want to go to Angolla. After all, Bernard has been trying to kill me. I got the news that he would attack me on New Year's Eve, but there has been no news about him. Therefore, I think that he would've made a move by now because of his personality. Also, you came back here at the same time, so we wanted to know more about your intentions."

Mango said with a faint smile and said neutrally.

On the other hand, Magnolia furrowed her brows tightly when she heard Mango's explanation.

"I'm afraid that Bernard has no time to kill you." "What do you mean?"

Nathaniel and Mango were startled to hear this.

Magnolia smiled coldly, "Bernard wanted to watch Lexis and Lebanon fight to the death and benefit from it. Not long ago, Lexis decided to expose the fact that Lebonan was gay. He did this to ruin the marriage between Lebanon and the daughter of the chancellor. However, Lebanon is my son, so he was prepared for this before Lexis could release this news. As soon as the news was released, Lebanon started a counterattack. During that time, they were fighting quite a fierce battle. At this moment, someone exposed Bernard's identity. They told the public that he was Lebanon's halfbrother, and Laney was his mother! Now the king has begun to investigate this issue, so he put Bernard under house arrest."

Upon hearing this news, Mango and Nathaniel paused for a moment.

They had already known Bernard's identity beforehand, and they also thought about using his identity for the sake of Lebanon. If they did this, Lexis and Bernard would fight against each other. With this, Lebanon could have the chance to take a break amid this chaotic situation.

However, they did not expect that the news to spread so fast.

Suddenly, Nathaniel was the first person to realise what was going on.

"Wait, Lebanon has been in the entertainment industry for so many years. He should know how to control the media!"

Mango nodded in agreement.

However, Magnolia said bitterly, "Alas! The king is not only investigating Bernard's background, but he also put Lebanon and Lexis under house arrest."

"Why?"

Mango was confused.

Then, Magnolia smiled bitterly and said, "The king doesn't believe anyone. He doesn't like Lexis and Lebanon, and now it's been exposed that Bernard is his son. Once this matter is confirmed, there's no need for Lebanon and Lexis to fight. Maybe the king will pass his throne directly to Bernard."

"What? Why?"

Mango felt that she couldn't process all this information all at once.

On the other hand, Magnolia looked to the outside and saw that it was snowing again.

She did not speak, but Nathaniel suddenly understood something after hearing the tone of

her voice.

"Did the king deliberately allow Lebanon to fight with Lexis?"

"What? How is that possible?"

Mango was astonished and asked, "How could he do that on purpose? Lebanon and Lexis are both his sons!"

"Nothing is precious for the king, including his sons. He wanted to watch Lexis and Lebanon fight against each other. All these years, Lexis has become more powerful in the country. Therefore, he needed someone to maintain the balance."

Magnolia replied indifferently to Mango. Then, in a self-deprecating manner, she said, "I always thought that it was good for me to fake my death. But now I found out that the king may have already known the truth a long time ago. The reason why he didn't expose me was for Lebanon's sake. Lebanon is my son. As long as the king plans to let Lebanon seize power to control Lexis, no one will say anything. Well, at least, he'll secretly support me and help Lebanon win over the throne. In this way, even if everyone doesn't think Lebanon will win, Lebanon will still be able to be on par with Lexis."

Mango did not understand anything about politics.

Weren't Lebanon and Lexis both the sons of the king?

The king had made Lebanon came back to fight over the throne to prevent Lexis' forces from growing too powerful?

What did this mean?

On the other hand, Nathaniel already understood this situation.

"The king loves his throne the most. To put it bluntly, he doesn't want to pass his throne to anyone else, so he wants his son to fight each other to balance each other's power. This is the way of the emperor. He needs to ensure that everyone has almost equal power."

Nathaniel understood it so quickly, so Magnolia was a little amazed. Then, she smiled, "Men know each other very well indeed. I thought I faked my death successfully all these years, but I didn't expect that the king had planned all this out since the beginning. He has been planning this since the moment I died. He allowed Lebanon to go out for so many years, and he knew the relationship between Lebanon and Alfred. He didn't ask anything, and he let their feelings develop stronger. Finally, he allowed Bernard to kill Alfred. This triggered Lebanon, so the latter moved back and starting seizing power so that he could get revenge for Alfred. Thus, the king had calculated every step since he knew what everyone was thinking. I suddenly feel a little scared. If he wanted me to die, I would have never lived until now. But now, a traitor has appeared among my men, and the traitor is the king's subordinate. This time, he wants to kill me!"

Magnolia said these words with a sad tone.

She was in despair because her husband wanted her to die! Furthermore, her husband was not someone powerful.

At this thought, Mango and Nathaniel fell silent.

They did not want to get involved in the political conditions of Angolla and the battle for the throne, but now, they had to intervene now.

"Well, according to what you said, this king sounds like someone scary."

"Yeah, he is."

Magnolia nodded and did not say anything else.

Suddenly, Nathaniel didn't doubt her that much anymore.

If Magnolia's words were true, it would be easy for the king to get rid of her as he had such a powerful influence in Angolla.

But why would he do this?

Why did the king want to kill Magnolia?

Mango's mind was filled with questions, and she suddenly remembered something.

"Auntie, I've always wanted to ask you this. Do you know who kidnapped you and brought you out of Ocean City?"

Magnolia paused for a moment before she shook her head.

"I don't know. I was adopted by an ordinary family, and I also thought they were my biological parents. Besides, I only realised that I wasn't their biological child when I saw their adoption certificate. However, they treated me quite well!"

Magnolia became a little upset after she finished speaking.

"I started to find out more about myself. Finally, I found out that I was the daughter of the Xiao family in Ocean City."

After hearing this, Mango paused for a moment but did not say anything.

The two of them sat down and continued talking for a while. Then, Mango gave the address of the house to Magnolia. It was the original house that Desmond had lived in.

After Magnolia thanked Mango and Nathaniel, both of them left.

Then, Nathaniel held Mango's hand and asked in a deep voice, "What do you think?"

"I don't believe everything she said, but I think she wasn't completely lying either."

Nathaniel paused upon hearing her words. Then, he smiled and parted her hair on her forehead.

"You are so straightforward. I thought you would trust her because she's your aunt."

"Nah, how is that possible? I'm not a child anymore. Can I believe whatever people say?"

Mango glared at Nathaniel. However, to Nathaniel, she looked charming right now.

Therefore, Nathaniel gulped, and there was a trace of desire in his gaze. However, they were currently in a critical situation, so he had to control his desires. "Which do you think is fake?"

"She claims that she doesn't know her identity, but I think what she saying is full of loopholes!"

Mango did not know why Magnolia did not want to tell her who had kidnapped her, but Mango could sense that the latter knew the truth. Not only did she know who that person was, but she was also very clear on the person's background.

This was what Mango's sixth sense was telling her, but she could not confirm that this was true.

Then, Nathaniel held her tightly in his arms and kissed her gently with his thin lips. He said softly, "Well, this was already a mystery. If she knew who the other party was and did not take any actions for so many years, let alone come back to find Brantley, this means that this is suspicious. So, if we leave now, it would be dangerous for grandpa as he would be in Ocean City alone."

Mango was tempted by Nathaniel's seductive kiss, but she was shocked by what he said.

"Are you afraid that she'll hurt your grandfather?"

"I don't know, but I have to be on guard."

Nathaniel knew that what he said was a little cold blooded, but he had no choice. They were in a critical time right now, so he had to be careful.

Mango fell silent after hearing what he had said.

She did not want to think about Magnolia's evil plans and her hidden dark side. After all, she was Brantley's only daughter. Therefore, Mango hoped that Magnolia could spend more time with him before he passed away, and this was all she wished for as well.

However, Nathaniel's words were also correct. What if Magnolia had bad intentions towards Brantley?

On the other hand, they were father and daughter that were related by blood. Could Magnolia really do something to her own father?

Mango did not know the truth. Hence, she felt upset and worried.

"Well, let's just see what happens then. Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt Brantley."

After all, Brantley was the person Mango cared about the most. Hence, Nathaniel would do anything so that Mango would not be upset. When they got in the car and drove towards the Xiao family, Nathaniel received a phone call.

It was from Ned.

"Mr. Ye, Magnolia went out, and our men followed her. However, instead of going to Desmond's residence, she went to the Hans family."

Mango when started when she heard what Ned had said.

Why did Magnolia go to the Hans family?