Chapter 925: The Frey Family’s Three Blueprints (What If)
"Chairman Nolan? Are you okay?"
A woman’s concerned voice snapped Nolan out of his thoughts.
He looked up and saw a beautiful woman dressed in business attire standing in front of him.
She had brown hair tied back in a bun, with a butterfly-shaped hairpin pinned into it.
Nolan took a deep breath and shook his head.
"Sorry, Ardena. I’m fine."
He pressed the bridge of his nose before asking, "Do you need something from me?"
Ardena nodded slightly and handed him a document.
"Here are the three blueprints you asked for. Everything’s been organized."
Nolan took it and placed it on the desk.
"Thanks. You can go."
Ardena bit her lower lip. A hint of affection flashed in her eyes, though she quickly tried to hide it.
"C-Chairman..."
Before she could finish, a voice from outside called out to her.
"Secretary Ardena, are you in there? There’s an important document that needs your signature!"
Ardena swallowed the words that were stuck in her throat.
Frustration welled up inside her, but in the end, she could only let out a long sigh.
She bowed slightly to Nolan before turning around and leaving.
Nolan paid no attention to her departure. His gaze remained fixed on the document in front of him.
"The Frey family’s businesses are mainly focused on finance and investment."
He tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the desk.
"And if I remember correctly, we have projects involving trains, airplanes, and warships."
A smile appeared on his face as he remarked sarcastically, "The Frey family’s ancestors were truly amazing. No, I should say my grandfather. He was a true genius."
His grandfather, Martin Frey, had been one of the greatest leaders in the Frey family’s history.
If not for his genius, the Frey family would never have reached the position it held today.
One of his greatest achievements was securing government contracts to build airplanes, trains, and warships.
In fact, the Frey family had never ventured into those fields before.
But his grandfather had managed to break into them, and naturally, many other prominent families had grown envious of his achievements.
Unfortunately, his grandfather didn’t live long enough to see those projects completed, so his father, Arden, had to take over.
But the difference between their abilities was obvious.
His father simply didn’t possess the same exceptional business management skills.
As a result, the three massive projects progressed slowly, drawing criticism from various sides.
Fortunately, his grandfather had already laid the groundwork, including establishing three subsidiaries dedicated to developing the three projects.
Although progress was slow, all three projects were still moving forward according to plan.
Nolan opened the document. A special seal had been placed over it.
If the seal were broken by anyone other than the authorized recipient, they could be sentenced to prison.
After all, the blueprints were a closely guarded secret of the Frey family.
Nolan broke the seal, revealing three small folders inside.
He picked up one of the folders. It contained the airplane project.
Nolan studied the blueprints carefully, down to the engine’s framework.
He had only one goal: to learn everything he could and put it into practice once he returned to his original world.
Yes, Nolan had already realized the truth. Just as the mysterious woman had said, this world was no longer his place.
Nolan Frey was dead.
All that remained was Nolan Lorian.
As painful as it was, he knew this was the reality... and perhaps, his destiny.
He couldn’t fight it. The only thing he could do was accept it with an open heart.
The blueprints were extremely complex. Even Nolan found them somewhat difficult to understand.
Two hours flew by before he knew it. Nolan closed the last blueprint and leaned back in his seat.
"Airplanes... trains... and warships. If I handed these three projects—no, make that two—to Shion, the Great Velmora Empire would surely become the strongest empire on the continent," he chuckled.
He had just remembered that he had already given Shion the blueprint for the train.
However, after studying the train blueprint just now, he realized that the one he had given Shion still had many flaws.
Perhaps he could fix them after he returned.
Nolan then tore up the three blueprints, put the pieces into a plastic bag, and stored it in his drawer.
Later, he would burn them himself so that anyone with malicious intentions toward the Frey family would never have a chance to get their hands on them.
Knock!
"Chairman, the meeting is about to begin."
A man’s voice came from behind the door.
Nolan stood up and stretched his stiff body.
"Meeting after meeting," he muttered irritably. "Looks like the next few days are going to be exhausting. I miss the days when I could just laze around."
He let out a sigh, already starting to regret coming back to this world.
After all, he could laze around as much as he wanted before.
But then again, he was doing all of this for Seira’s sake, and he was willing to do anything for her.
With that thought in mind, he straightened his suit and walked out of his office.
...
That night...
Nolan had just returned from work when a little girl ran toward him and jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his right leg.
"Big Brother Nolan!"
Nolan was surprised, but when he saw the familiar face, he chuckled and scooped her up into his arms.
"Did you behave yourself today, Alice?"
Alice hugged Nolan tightly, as if she didn’t want to let go.
"Mhmm! I did great!" she replied proudly. "Even my piano teacher said I’ve improved a lot compared to a month ago."
"That’s wonderful!" Nolan patted her head as he carried her into the living room and sat down on the sofa. "Since you’ve been such a good girl, I’ll grant you one wish."
"Really?" Alice loosened her arms around his neck and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
"Of course. Come on, what do you want?"
Alice rubbed her chin and thought for a few minutes before finally answering excitedly, "I want you to read me a story!"
"A story?" Nolan looked surprised. "That’s it?"
"Mhmm! That’s it!" Alice nodded like a little chick.
Then suddenly, her expression turned sad as she pouted.
"You know, Big Brother... I’ve been having nightmares a lot lately."
"Nightmares?" Nolan frowned. "What kind of nightmares?"
"I don’t know what the dream is about. All I know is that whenever I open my eyes, I’m in a vast expanse of snow. There’s no one there but me. But there’s something that bothers me."
She bit her lower lip, her chubby face turning pale.
"I... I saw a pile of... corpses."