The speech Hailan gave to the supervisor at the Tower family's administrative office today—including her identity and her requests—was, of course, all masterminded by Milady.
Gathering information, creating a plan, preparing a script, resolving to go to sea... None of these things were difficult for Milady, even with the time crunch. The truly difficult part, in fact, was convincing Hailan.
Hailan had never done anything so out of line in her entire life, yet today she had carried out a deception for her late friend's daughter. Filled with gratitude, Milady poured her some hot tea and comforted her softly for a while. But Hailan remained deeply anxious, repeatedly saying, "I'm never doing this again."
"There won't be a next time," Milady said with a smile, patting her hand. "If the family administrative office is efficient, I'll be at sea by next week."
Hailan looked up, her face full of worry.