Chapter 129: The Audience

Although the three of them had already taken their seats, there still seemed to be someone else in the laboratory. Cole called out softly, “All right, we have guests. Take a break!”

At that moment, a young woman in a white lab coat emerged from another corner of the laboratory. She was not dazzlingly beautiful, but possessed a fresh, unadorned charm—plain in a way that made her seem like the girl next door.

“Honestly! You’re slacking off again instead of finishing the work,” the girl complained unhappily, though she obediently walked over. She wore glasses and had the air of a female doctor, yet she was far from unapproachable.

“Allow me to introduce her. This is my assistant, Teresa. Doesn’t that sound a little like the name of a crown prince?”

Cole deliberately introduced her as she approached. He had met Teresa two years earlier, when he returned to the United Kingdom. At the time, Cole had not yet become the country’s most authoritative scientist. Professor Titan still stood as the supreme symbol of scientific achievement in the United Kingdom, while Cole was merely an independent researcher. Teresa, meanwhile, had been a brilliant young scientist at the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Cole already had two assistants back then, Tylen and Taylor, but the three of them together were still less renowned than Teresa, who had already been there for several months. Their abilities, however, were in no way inferior to hers. After competing against one another several times, the four of them gradually became familiar with each other. Though they remained rivals, their relationship was never hindered by it.

Now, that brilliant young woman had become Cole’s assistant.

“Get lost. I’m not your assistant. I’m only using your research results to complete my own work.”

As she spoke, Teresa lifted the tablet in her hand and smacked it against Cole’s head. She had not used much force, but being struck with something hard still hurt.

“All right, all right. That really does hurt,” Cole said tactfully, though he did not cry out.

Miller, however, could not help feeling that there was something more to their relationship.

“Greetings, Your Highness Trexi. Greetings, Princess Miller.” Teresa remained courteous and offered the visitors a polite greeting.

“Um… are the two of you a couple?” Princess Miller asked curiously, watching their subtle gestures.

At the word “couple,” Cole and Teresa both froze. Teresa looked a little embarrassed, while Cole could not help laughing.

“No, no. I already have a fiancée.”

Even so, Trexi knew the truth perfectly well and remained silent.

“She’s from the Eastern Alliance—and not just anyone, either. She’s the daughter of the Eastern Alliance’s marshal. Good heavens, I really am burdened with sin.”

“Burdened with sin?” Curious about Cole’s self-deprecation, Princess Miller tilted her head.

Before he could say anything more, Teresa once again raised her tablet and smacked him on the head, while her left hand seized his ear.

“Him? During all those years of study abroad, he was quite the rake, flirting with women everywhere he went. He only settled down after becoming famous. His fiancée is merely one of his victims.”

“Hey! Do you have to expose my shameful past? I was young and reckless back then—”

“You say that as though you’re any different now.”

Teresa’s mutter cut off his defense. Yet after exchanging a glance, the two of them broke into laughter together.

“You two really are very close…” Miller remarked.

“Not at all!” Cole quickly denied it, though Miller had clearly been about to tease them. “We argue all the time, and sometimes we even…”

“Little quarrels between lovers? You may not be a couple, but you certainly act like one.”

Watching their playful bickering, Miller changed tactics and teased them in another way. At this point, the four of them almost looked as though they were on a double date.

“Hm? Why is he here too?” Cole suddenly hesitated.

Seeing his expression, Trexi seemed to understand at once.

“He? Wasn’t he supposed to be unable to get out of bed and wander around? What happened?”

“What happened? You’re having a gathering without inviting me?”

At that moment, a young man in a wheelchair appeared at the doorway. His face bore the same resemblance to Trexi’s.

“Aren’t you still unable to get out of bed?” Cole rose immediately upon seeing him. Though the young man did not need anyone to push him, Cole still walked around to the back of the wheelchair. The two of them seemed to exchange a few words in a low voice.

“Oh? Then I’d better prepare myself mentally.”

Still joking, the young man allowed Cole to push him over to the others.

“My apologies, Your Highness. I am Lei Mingchuan. As I am physically inconvenienced, please accept my greetings from here.”