Love Began with the First Meeting

Dragon Island, the most influential and modernized place in the world, held many lives in its hand. The Long Family's hereditary monarchical system had brought her mixed feelings; confusion and temptation plagued her as she ogled at her surroundings. "Do people here..." Maggie leaned closer to Edgar, her eyes flittering around. She gulped and then asked, "Do people here kowtow to their superiors?"

Edgar looked down at her and seeing that she was nervous, gave her an assuring smile. "Yes, they do."

Maggie's facial expression changed instantly. That was unacceptable. She had never kowtowed to other people, not even to her parents. If she had to kowtow to anyone here, it would feel... It wouldn't feel right. It would feel very wrong. Edgar's eyes darkened. Hyatt, watching them, suppressed a smile. However, there was laughter in his eyes.

"Please," Hyatt said again. He could tell that Edgar wasn't going to explain, and there was no reason why he should ruin the couple's fun.

A faint smile lingered on Edgar's lips while Maggie continued to worry about having to kowtow to Eric later. They had dinner at the same time the night before. Now she would have to kowtow to him. It really didn't feel right.

When she reached the door of the main hall, she heard gales of laughter coming from inside. She opened the door, looked inside and realized that she had been tricked. "Edgar!" She grounded her teeth.

Edgar's smile never left his face. Hyatt made a gesture to usher them in. Edgar reached over to take Maggie's hand and pulled her inside the hall.

Maggie was pretty bold in front of her old friends, but when she met strangers or someone she wasn't quite familiar with, she was shy and reserved, and the main hall was full of people she didn't know. She tried to pull her hand out of Edgar's.

But Edgar didn't let her go. Instead, he pulled her over to the crowd. He greeted them cheerfully.

Eric turned to a woman in her forties. "Your may serve the dishes."

"Yes, sir," the woman answered, motioning to the waiters to get ready to serve.

It was a dizzying experience for Maggie. She had gone into the hall, said hello, realized she was tricked by Edgar and had a warm and tasty dinner with them. During dinner, she found out something that she felt was kind of odd. Brian was terribly possessive of Molly and that he noticed every tiny detail about her. Meanwhile, Eric seemed impassive all throughout the dinner, and Maggie continued to suspect there was something weird underneath his exterior. Whenever he looked to Molly, he had an inexplicable look in his eyes.

But more so than Eric, it was Addison that really captured Maggie's attention. He had a smile so innocent that it seemed like an angel's smile, with dimples that were very deep whenever his lips curved. His smile was so bright that it made Maggie feel like she was basking in the spring sun. Maggie could easily see other people feeling the same, and Addison certainly had the kind of aura that made everyone want to be close to him.

He behaved like a perfect gentleman. It was clear that he took good care of his siblings and parents. Addison would become a prominent man in the future, Maggie could tell. It was hard for people to believe he was the same boy who had got an A in the Eagle. "Mommy, you go with Papa Brian. I will stay here with Charlie and Evelyn," Addison said. "I promised Evelyn that I would do a jigsaw puzzle with her."

"That's right. He promised me," Evelyn said.

Their words made Charlie smile. He was getting more food for Evelyn. The smile on his face was placid, significant, and mature, almost like it should not be on a five-year-old boy's face. Addison was left behind with the children. Eric and the other adults-five in all-took two cars to the secret army base which was supposed to be restricted to the staff of the Dragon Island.

Here, Edgar and Maggie felt more comfortable. They were used to solemn soldiers with brisk and cutthroat mannerisms. Maggie didn't quite understand why Eric brought them here. After all, she and Edgar were his rivals to some extent.

The car pulled over next to some training ground and Eric gestured for them to get out. That was when a chorus of voices rang out so loud that it cut through the dark night as if to tear the sky apart.

The soldiers on the Dragon Island reminded Maggie of the ancient warriors. But there wasn't anything pedantic or inflexible about them. Just like the Long Family Mansion, the army base kept a perfect balance between the modernity and tradition. There wouldn't be anything to improve on.

"This squad is going to fight you in the maneuver next year." Eric said something to some of the leaders, then turned to Edgar and Maggie. "There are many unexpected accidents in the real maneuver. Still you can get an general idea of our expertise." Maggie was only getting more confused. She looked at Eric, who gave her a roguish smile. She frowned.

"Aren't you afraid that we will change our tactics after this?" Edgar asked playfully.

"You have to." Eric looked somewhere far off, proud of what he had seen. "Because we're going to change ours tomorrow."

Edgar grinned. "Looking for trouble, aren't you?"

"My soldiers are getting too comfortable. When a man gets too comfortable, he lets his guard down." Eric sighed.

It was then that Maggie realized what he was doing. He must be out of his mind to have brought them here. He wanted to overrule all the old drills and tactics and make new ones for the maneuver in only two months after his main rival Edgar had acquired a general idea of the Dragon Island's capability. Eric had surely lost his marbles, Maggie thought. With such a leader, where were Dragon Island and the Dragon Empire Group heading towards? She couldn't imagine it. But now she had no time to consider it. It was too distant and too irrelevant for her to imagine the outcome. She was too shocked to speak, but now she could imagine how Addison could have gotten an A in the Eagle.

Everything here was overly impressive. Every soldier had reached his full potential in the individual combat and in the squad combat. No one was weak.

Maggie was quite dispirited. She had a competitive streak and what she saw was that no matter how good you were, there would always be somewhere who outmatched you.

"I heard..." Eric turned to look at Maggie, who had been silent all this time. "You have been working on changing the course of the bullets to extend their effective range. Isn't that right?"

Maggie looked up at Eric, wondering why he would ask this question. But she wasn't so naive as to believe it was just a throwaway question.

Maggie nodded. "Yes. I have been working on it for a long time." She figured that there would be no use of her answering dishonestly. Eric already knew about it, and she would seem petty and small-minded if she were to hinder the conversation or to beat around the bush.

Eric glanced at Edgar, who was seated beside Maggie. "If you don't mind, I can set up a meeting for you. I knew a man who is working on the same thing as you are. Maybe you can work together to spark up some inspiration and find out some new solutions." When she heard Eric's words, she widened her eyes, which brightened. She gulped. "Really?"

Eric nodded, "Really." His smile widened.

Maggie felt her heart skip a beat at the smile. She had a suspicious feeling that somehow she had been tricked and hooked.

Eric dropped Edgar and Maggie off at the Royal Garden. Before he left, he told Maggie, "I will send someone to pick you up at 9 tomorrow morning." He gave her a smile that seemed loaded, and then told Lenny to drive away.

Maggie felt as through her stomach was filled with butterflies. She stared at the car until it was out of sight. She turned to Edgar. "Do you have any idea what he was talking about?" she asked.

Edgar nodded and took her hand, smiling.

"Addison."I