Lily was ecstatic when she heard the adults’ discussion and couldn’t help but cheer up.
All her dedicated plans and tactics came to a halt as she heard that Elena was staying for good.
It didn’t make sense but she accepted that it was probably the so-called butterfly effect.
Since she had changed the timeline of her meeting her family, things must’ve changed on their end as well.
Maybe they saw how impoverished she was and what a tough life she had that they forced Elena out.
Naturally, she had no idea Elena sought this decision out herself and no one was going to come and explain it to her.
With the household registration sorted, Lily Bennet was now Lily Shaw and Elena Shaw was now Elena Bennet.
With things sorted, both of them began their new lives.
Elena in her small room with Emma and Lily entering the military compound.
Julian was a Regiment Commander so he was entitled to a two-storey house with multiple rooms, a frontyard, a garden and a backyard.
It wasn’t Lily’s first time here but she was still surprised seeing the house that solely belonged to her now.
In her past life, she was casually given a room and wasn’t ever materially unsatisfied but her reputation wasn’t much to speak of.
Her college was mediocre and so were her grades.
Nor did she know martial arts like Elena.
She just couldn’t compete with Ethan Cole in any regard.
That’s why the Shaw couple needed Elena in their previous life but now they had no choice.
Still, Julian secretly hoped she would regret it and soon return home.
He wasn’t blind.
No matter how much his own flesh and blood Lily was, she was raised in the countryside and how outstanding could she be?
Could she compete with Ethan Cole like Elena?
Remembering that, he happened to see Ethan going out.
Their houses were just opposite each other. It was impossible to miss.
"Uncle Julian, Aunt Lena," Ethan greeted the two of them.
No matter how much of a rivalry the families had, it was more or less between the same generation and the juniors would still have to be respectful to the elders.
Thus, Ethan had no choice but to greet the two of them.
He completely ignored Lily though.
His dismissive attitude irked her but she couldn’t say much.
Since she wasn’t supposed to know him.
No matter what, it wasn’t like they’d be on good terms.
’What a waste of a handsome face,’ Lily cursed internally.
Ethan Cole was the epitome of a heartthrob, athletic, master in martial arts, good at studying, disciplined, upright and the typical ideal child every parent compared their child to.
He was the golden child but he still fell short of Victor—who joined the military and became the youngest Battalion Commander at the young age of 25.
It was one of a kind and it was built on staking his life on the line not just having his path paved by predecessors.
Victor was one-of-a-kind man.
Truly rare.
But all this had nothing to do with Lily who was gnashing her teeth as Ethan continued to converse with the Shaw couple without giving her a second glance.
"I heard Elena left with you but hasn’t returned..." Ethan said, wanting to see where she was hiding.
The college entrance examination result was going to be out any day now and he was eager to hear her estimated score and compete with her but he never got the chance.
She was the only one who got drive him insane yet make him do his best.
No one other than her could match him among their peers.
"Uhm... This..." Julian hesitated, not wanting to say anything about the matter because deep down, he hoped for Elena to return.
Unlike him, Lena had no such reservations and looking at Lily’s pale face and her being ignored, she didn’t hold it in.
"Elena has returned to her family and this here is my daughter, Lily Shaw," Lena said in a haughty tone, uncaring of Julian’s darkening face.
In her eyes, Lily was the only one at the moment and she couldn’t care less.
That was her own flesh and blood.
How could she allow this Cole boy to look down on her.
Only then did Ethan spare her a glance as if checking her out and soon withdrew his gaze.
It was a very dismissive glance as if not worth paying attention to.
Lily was burning with hatred.
This was the same feeling she had experienced in her past life.
He never even looked her way.
Truly infuriating.
"Well then, I’ll take my leave."
With that Ethan left, not wanting to linger any longer, uninterested in things unrelated to Elena.
As she was his competition not her parents or this girl wherever she came from.
"Who was he?" Lily asked despite knowing. She couldn’t show she was reborn or who knows what would happen to her.
"Ethan Cole," replied Julian succinctly.
He didn’t want to explain the whole situation to Lily at once.
He was more concerned with explaining everything outside.
So he first ushered her home.
Then he explained everything about the Cole family in detail and also about the other military dependents living in the compound snd everything that she needed to know.
Having lived here once already, Lily definitely knew all this and more but she had to pretend and even ask questions.
It was quite tiring for her.
Imagine having to pretend all day long, anyone would get tired.
Finally she got to rest in a new empty clean room.
She had yet to meet her grandfather as he wasn’t home when they arrived.
Who knew where he had gone off to?
Not like she cared.
She always found him biased towards Elena so she didn’t have a good impression of him anyways.
And currently her plan was to create an identity for her in the military compound as a university student.
Education was rare, much less for a countryside girl and making it to University would be a big deal, given her circumstances.
Like Elena, she too had been planning her next steps since she was reborn.
It wasn’t like fortune would shine upon her from nowhere or something like that. She had to work for it.
And Ethan wasn’t one to gossip so no one would yet know of her appearance or why she’s here.
So she planned to make a dazzling entrance as a university student in this military compound where most had barely finished highschool.
Again, Victor was an exception.
And everyone knew of Ethan’s education and Elena’s so both were expected to get into university.
With careful planning, Lily went to sleep, getting some rest to get ready to meet her grandfather who would definitely dislike her.