Filed To Story: A Little Princess's Journey from Darkness to Light Novel
The looks that the reporters gave Emily were very odd indeed, as a realization slowly dawned upon them. The golden boy of film had never been scandalously linked to any of the actresses in the industry. However, he had never turned down any actresses who asked to take photographs with him during any press conferences or red-carpet events. In fact, he had never objected even though they had hung onto his arm, generously allowing them to do so.
He must truly dislike Emily…
“Tsk tsk.” It was evident that the reporters relished this startling revelation.
Emily felt as if someone had slapped her hard on the face. Oh, the sting…
Jonas did not bother waiting for her reply and turned to leave. He had initially wanted to take a stroll to get some fresh air, but he was in no mood to enjoy it now. He ruffled Ivan’s hair lightly. “Let’s go.”
This left Ivan’s meticulously styled hair in sudden disarray. Looking completely out of sorts, he trailed after Jonas.
Lilly draped herself over Jonas’s shoulder and giggled in delight. “Ivan, your hair looks like a bird’s nest!”
Ivan just stared at her, unable to come up with a suitable retort.
The reporters’ cameras immediately began clicking when they saw this! They might not be able to spread gossip about the golden boy of film, but they could certainly fuel speculation about the possible connection between the Crawfords and the Shaws. If the two families were truly going to join hands and work together, there would be a ma*sive upheaval in the city’s business community…
Jonas and Lilly returned to the ceremony venue, where both uncle and niece settled themselves onto a couch and lounged, relaxing. Jonas, in particular, looked like a dashing rogue as he crossed his long legs, exuding an air of elegance.
Lilly, on the other hand, completely relaxed against the back of the couch like a deflated balloon. Rubbing her stomach, she looked sorrowfully down at it and said, “There, there. Uncle Jonas won’t let you eat cake, how can you act up like this? He won’t allow you to have sweets, and he didn’t get you anything to drink either! Poor tummy!”
Jonas was left without a word to say. The little minx was truly a drama queen!
Both of them had barely settled in before they were suddenly swarmed by enthusiastic people who chattered non-stop.
“Ms. Lilly, could you please read my daughter-in-law’s fortune and tell me when she’ll give birth? Will the baby be a boy or a girl?”
“Ms. Lilly! Ms. Lilly! I want to know my fortune, please! When will I become wealthy?”
“Ms. Lilly…”
Everyone was clamoring for Lilly’s attention.
The noise nearly drove Jonas mad, but he resolutely remained where he was. Today his task was to be Lilly’s bodyguard. He closed his eyes to calm himself, shutting out the hubbub around them.
Once in a while, he could hear Lilly’s clear, childish voice rising above the confused babble of voices. “Granny, your grandson will be born in three more days!”
A venerable old matron in the group looked stunned, a denial slipping out before she could stop herself. “Nonsense! My daughter-in-law is only eight months pregnant!” There was still a month before the due date! She felt rather disappointed; this was really too big of a stretch. Shame on her for believing that Lilly might actually have the gift of second sight; if the little girl had said half a month instead, she would have believed her! Grumbling, she pointed out, “My daughter-in-law still has at least a month to go before she gives birth. This is really too far-fetched…”
Lilly’s prediction was a month early unless the old matron’s daughter-in-law was hiding something from the family and the child was actually another man’s…
Lilly just shook her head. As Pablo had said, in divination, people either believed the predictions or they didn’t. If they didn’t, then it was best not to waste time on them.
The old matron departed, muttering.
The rest of the people kept asking for their fortunes, and Lilly answered them painstakingly one by one.
“Oh? Miss, you said you wanted to become wealthy. What’s your idea of becoming wealthy, though?”
A fresh-faced young lady answered eagerly, “Suddenly becoming rich overnight! I want to have lots and lots of money, more than even Mr. Anthony Crawford!” Worshipfully, she stole a glance at Anthony, who was standing nearby.
However, she was abruptly brought back to reality by Lilly’s young, yet stern, little voice. “In that case, Miss, you’ll just have to dream!” There was absolutely no way this young lady could hope to become richer than Uncle Anthony! Uncle Anthony was very, very good at making money!
The young lady stared at Lilly, then wailed, “No! I don’t believe it, that can’t be right!”
Everyone kept swamping Lilly with questions. The people who received good fortunes departed, full of smiles, while others who were not so lucky kept on repeating, “No, that’s impossible! It must be a fake prediction!” like broken records.
Jonas folded his arms and gave a derisive smirk. “Modern-day superstitions indeed.”
Lilly looked up curiously. “Modern-day superstitions? What does that mean?”
Ivan’s face was wooden as he rested his hands primly and properly on his knees. “It’s like if you have a bad dream and wake up and say, dreams aren’t real. But if you have a good dream, then you think, oh, this is a lucky dream! It’s like people say, if your left eye twitches, you’ll have good luck, but if your right eye twitches, it’s bad luck. When their right eye twitches, most people think that something good’s about to happen. But if their left eye twitches, they’ll say they’ve just been too tired lately, and it’s only a muscle twitch. That’s modern-day superstition.”
Lilly blinked. Abruptly, she looked over at Ivan, her eyes shining.
When Ivan saw Lilly staring at him with large shining eyes, he immediately stiffened his spine and straightened up, pursing his lips slightly. “What now?”
Lilly counted busily on her fingers before exclaiming, “Wow! Ivan, this is the most number of words you’ve ever spoken! That’s so cool!” All along, she had been under the impression that he could only speak five words at a time!
Ivan just stared at her, lost for words. He thought she would compliment him for knowing so much…
Jonas smiled faintly, then shifted to a more comfortable position and propped his chin against his palm, watching the two little rascals. Children were children, after all, and they came up with the oddest observations.
Once the ribbon-cutting ceremony finished, Lilly fell asleep because she had eaten too much.
While Jonas carried her carefully, Anthony came over and took off his dress jacket, draping it over her sleeping form. The two men slipped past the barrage of cameras everywhere on the red carpet, carefully shielding their precious little burden. Bidding Colton goodnight, they made their way to their car and departed.
Ivan stood at the entrance, quietly watching as the two Crawford brothers drove off.
“Let’s go, son!” Colton told him.
Ivan sighed and took a last look at the car vanishing in the distance. If he met Lilly again, he would give her two sweets. Two, because she liked eating them, and not three because he was afraid she might get cavities…
A short, chubby middle-aged man stood beside the Shaws’ car. With a smile, he bid Colton goodnight. This gentleman was very short, standing only around five feet four or so. The buttons of his dress jacket strained against his rotund beer belly; they looked as if they would pop off any moment.
This was Valentine Taylor, the CEO of Taylor Entertainment.
Valentine’s mother had given birth to two sets of twins, all boys. During her third pregnancy, she had hoped for a daughter and had named the child in her womb “Valentine” for luck.
However, the baby turned out to be a boy instead.
Mrs. Taylor had been so disappointed that she had not bothered to think of another name, so “Valentine” had stuck.
After sending off the Shaws and the Crawfords, the tension in Valentine’s shoulders eased considerably. “That little Crawford brat…” Something enigmatic flickered in his eyes for a moment. “She really is a little devil!”
His mother had fallen ill with some bizarre sickness, and Valentine had heard the story of how Lilly had literally brought young Ivan Shaw back from the dead. Furthermore, everyone present had witnessed the auspicious light that had shone down on the ceremony earlier.
Valentine wondered if he would have a chance to invite the little Crawford devil to take a look at his mother…
As he went back inside, he gave orders to his a*sistant. “Bear in mind, from now on, Little Miss Crawford doesn’t need an invitation to show up, and she doesn’t need to call beforehand, either. Whenever she visits, get the best pastry chef in Shercaster City to come over immediately and bake a cake for her on the spot. Just remember that the Little Miss can’t have anything too sweet, and she doesn’t like chocolate, but she loves cakes that have lots of fruits in them. She also loves fruit candies and sweets. Note all this down in the employees’ handbook.”
Valentine’s a*sistant stared at him blankly in confusion. Why would something like this need to be noted down in the employees’ handbook?
Lilly was still half-asleep and dreaming when she sensed she was being stared at. She turned and squinted, then realized that an old woman was standing in front of her. This old lady was dressed in what seemed to be a green vintage dress, and her gaze was fixed intently on Lilly.
Lilly was so startled that she woke up immediately. Her eyes sprang open.
It gave Pablo a shock, and he hurriedly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lilly’s sleep-filled eyes were still fearful. “Master, I saw an old granny in my dream.”
Pablo was startled. “What did she look like?”
Lilly gestured as she described the old lady. “Her eyes were all sunken in and hollow; her cheeks too. Her eyes were purpley-blue right under here…”
“Have you seen her before?” Pablo asked.
Lilly shook her head. “Nuh-uh.”
Pablo narrowed his eyes and thought hard. A woman with sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, and livor mortis under her eyes, who looked like she was dead…
Most importantly, Lilly had never seen her before. Previously, Ivan Shaw had appeared in Lilly’s dream because she had actually seen him in person. However, this departed soul who had intruded into her dream was a complete stranger to her.
This meant that the souls of the dead were beginning to come in search of Lilly…
Pablo’s face was very grave as he asked, “Tulip, have you dreamed about anything else?”
Lilly shook her head, looking puzzled. “Master, what’s wrong?” Her master’s expression seemed very serious all of a sudden.
“Tulip, if you dream about anything in future, you must tell me, okay?” Pablo told her. Looking conflicted, he asked, “Do you know why I came to find you back then?”
Lilly was still slightly blurry from sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she answered with a yawn, “Of course I do! Master, are you trying to test me? Mommy asked you to come…” Of course she still remembered what Pablo had said in the past!

New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.