The Queen's Back

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When Albert saw Maxwell moving his character back a little, he thought it was a good opportunity for him to make his move and win the game. He increased his character's speed and dashed directly to the front of Maxwell's character. Seeing this, Mona felt her heart jump in her throat. She clasped her hands together as if in prayer and her eyes stayed glued

to the screen.

Maxwell could see Mona's expression in his peripheral vision and said calmly to her, "Don't be nervous. We're not gonna lose."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Maxwell made a sudden turn and dodged Albert's attack. At the same moment, he landed a counterattack on Albert, and the health bar on Albert's character shortened.

Faced with this unprecedented situation, Albert felt his nerves on edge. It was something he'd never felt before, and it distracted him enough that he even pressed the wrong buttons twice in a row.

The more flustered Albert became, the more calm Maxwell and Mona were.

In the end, as to be expected, the game finished with Albert losing.

Mona looked at the word 'Victory' on her screen and literally jumped up in excitement towards Maxwell, throwing her arms around his neck and shouting, "We won, we won, you're so amazing Maxwell!"

A desire to win was every human's basic instinct, and Maxwell's victory plus Mona's reaction to it stirred determination for revenge.

up Albert's

Maxwell looked up to see Mona's happy face. He gently held on to her arm, afraid she'd fall over in her excitement. "Wait, let's have another round, I wasn't in my best form." Albert looked between the two of them and then back at the word 'Defeat' on his screen. He didn't want to admit that he had actually lost.

Mona shook her head at Albert and said, "No way, a loss is a loss, you

Farn week esn't

can't say it doesn't count."

"Come on, Mona. Let Maxwell play another round with me. I promise I won't skip classes next week either." He was really itching to have a go at Maxwell again. He was the best player he'd ever seen.

As Mona pretended to think it over, she gave a look to Maxwell to see if he would be willing to play Albert again. Only after Maxwell nodded did she reply, saying, "That can be arranged, as long as you pay attention in class and complete all your assignments."

Albert raised his hand and made an 'okay' gesture. Nothing was as big of a deal as going up against Matthew again. Going to school, listening to the teacher, doing his homework? All that was child's play.

Still, Albert couldn't wait another week to play the game with Matthew again, he wanted the chance to redeem himself right there and then, so this time he promised to get better scores on his next weekly test.

After playing and losing to Maxwell three times in a row, it was difficult for Albert to make anymore excuses. He knew without a doubt that he was no match for Maxwell.

"Wow, Maxwell, you really are amazing at this game." Albert said, impressed. Maxwell hadn't played the game much before, whereas Albert had been playing it for years. Albert had to chalk it up to Maxwell's natural talent.

"It's all thanks to your sister." Maxwell said matter-of-factly. He wouldn't even be playing this game if it wasn't for Mona.

"Yeah. Alright, you guys can leave now, I have some practicing to do." Albert said. Then looking at Mona, he added, "Don't worry, I'm a man of my word."

Mona was satisfied with that and pulled Maxwell along with her to leave Albert alone in his room.

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As Mona was about to step out, Albert suddenly thought of something and blurted out, "Actually, Mona, when Barbara was kicked out of the family, she hadn't done anything wrong, right?

Yesterday, Barbara had gone to Albert's school to look for him. He could tell that Barbara hadn't had it easy since leaving the Clems. He was afraid to talk to his grandparents about it directly so he could only talk through it with Mona. After all, Mona and Barbara were pretty close before.

Mona came to a sudden standstill at the abrupt topic. The smile on her face had vanished and after thinking a beat, she replied, "Well, yeah, she didn't do anything wrong, but her presence only reminded our grandparents about losing our mother, their daughter. So it was too upsetting and too difficult for them to let her stay."

What Mona really wanted to say was that Barbara shouldn't have been born in the first place, but she couldn't say that to Albert. Especially since Mona had put in all this effort to improve her own relationship with him over the past couple of days.

"I... I see." Albert answered as he lowered his head and looked down at his phone.

He did understand, of course. But Barbara was his half-sister after all. He can't just cut off relations with her for the sake of anyone else.

By the time they left Albert's room, Maxwell had noticed an obvious and dramatic change in Mona's mood.

Was it because Albert had asked Mona about Barbara, so it reminded her that Teddy had cheated on her? Maxwell thought that made sense. Mona had suggested getting married precisely because she wanted to get back at the shameless pair. Albert asking about Barbara must have put her in a foul mood.

The grey cloud hanging above Mona soon cleared up though, and it was replaced with a calmness. Having been through so much in her life, she understood a simple truth. Life was short, she should live in the moment and try to be happy.

She turned to Maxwell and said, "Maxwell, thank you for helping me out today. You always rescue me when I'm in a pinch, and I've never once returned the favor."

"No worries. We're husband and wife, after all." Maxwell held Mona's hand firmly. The fact that Mona was willing to stay by his side was his greatest wish come true.

The next day, with the morning sunlight peeking through the clouds, Mona was making preparations to go car shopping. Of course, Maxwell accompanied her.

On the way, Maxwell received a call from Nigel, who informed him that there was an important document that needed his signature. Maxwell shot a glance at Mona, who was sitting beside him in the passenger seat, and she nodded at him. Car shopping was simply an errand on her to-do list. Maxwell's work and company affairs naturally took the highest priority. She didn't want to cause any trouble for Maxwell.

Seeing Mona nod her head, Maxwell told Nigel he'd head over to the office right away and then hung up.

In actuality, the two of them were already near the car dealership, so Maxwell asked, "Mona, would you rather accompany me to my office or wait for me at the dealership?"

Mona thought for a moment and said, "Let's head to the dealership then. It looks really close by on the GPS. Or you can just drop me off along the street and I'll walk over myself. You can pick me up after you've settled things in the office." She thought this was the best way to save them both some time.

"Alright, I'll drop you off at the dealership first." Maxwell replied.

Obviously Maxwell wouldn't drop her off by the street. On foot, it would still be a considerable distance after all, and he

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couldn't bear to let Mona walk under the hot sun.

car anyway. "Cool." Mona smiled lightly. It would just be another couple of minutes by

After Maxwell dropped her off at the entrance of the dealership, he reminded Mona to wait for him there and not to go anywhere else without him. He waited for Mona to agree before driving off towards his office.

As soon as she entered the dealership office, Mona was greeted by the sales director, who was smiling from ear to ear.

Even though Maxwell hadn't gotten off the car, the staff in the dealership office had recognized his car, and they all saw Mona get off from the passenger side.

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