Chapter 153

Hannah appeared calm, but inwardly, she looked down on Oliver. "Oliver is definitely trying to fool me," she thought, but remained silent, afraid of offending him. Clearing her throat, she asked, "Oliver, are you here to help us today?"

Oliver took a sip of water. Then, with arrogant self-assurance, he glanced at them and said, "I'm sure you've all noticed your luck has been pretty bad lately. I can help, but there's a condition: your daughter's emerald pendant. It's mine, in exchange for my help."

The Bennett family flinched. Their reluctance was clear.

Oliver continued, confidently, "As long as you give me the pendant, I will protect the Bennett family. I guarantee nothing bad will happen to you in the next year. All your misfortunes will disappear. What do you think?"

They were tempted. Even a month of good fortune would be enough to get the Bennett Group back on track.

"What? You don't trust me?" Oliver's expression darkened. He held a high standing among Crownridge's wealthy families; people usually sought his help. Yet, the Bennetts hesitated. He considered them ungrateful.

"Oliver, it's not that we don't trust you," Hannah explained, her voice trailing off. "That emerald pendant belongs to my daughter. If she finds out we gave it to you, she'll be angry..."

Oliver waved dismissively. "Don't worry. I'll handle it. She will listen to you."

"Thank you, Oliver," Hannah said quickly, eager to conclude the conversation.

Henry opened his mouth to speak, but Hannah silenced him with a pointed look. Oliver left as quickly as he arrived.

Once he was gone, Henry exclaimed, "Mom, do you really believe him?"

Hannah narrowed her eyes, revealing her plan. "It doesn't matter if I believe him or not. What matters is that he's after Odalys's emerald pendant. The pendant was taken from her, and I'm gravely injured. I want to see if this pendant really has some kind of magic. For now, we'll keep Oliver in check and use the pendant to bait him into working for us. When Odalys returns, we'll have people guard her, take the pendant, and kidnap her. Since we can't find her master, this will work just as well. If the Stewart family cares about her, taking her will make them work for us. With her in our hands, we won't need Oliver's help anymore."

Henry and Caspian were taken aback. They hadn't expected Hannah, despite her years away from the company, to be so sharp.

"Alright, we'll do as you say, Mom," Henry nodded, quickly making calls to arrange everything. The variety show was ending in a few days, and he needed to prepare.

A nurse, overhearing the conversation, hurried away when Henry opened the door.

At the foot of the mountain, Odalys remained unaffected by the giant python's appearance. Leading Freya and the others deeper into the forest, she remained silent.

"It's too quiet. I'm starting to get scared," Selah said nervously.

Stellan was also on edge. The earlier encounter with the python had left everyone unsettled; no one dared make a sound. Odalys murmured, "The giant python's appearance scared off all the smaller animals. Hunting will be a breeze now. They'll be hiding in the corners or deep in the woods, waiting for things to calm down." Freya tugged at Odalys's sleeve.

"Odalys, do you think the giant python might suddenly appear and ambush us?" Selah whispered nervously.

Chapter 133 (presumably a corrected chapter number)

Odalys smiled softly. "No, it won't. Though snakes are cold-blooded and lack empathy, they don't just attack without reason. That giant python was only after Sophia. It won't harm anyone else. That shows it's getting old. Many older animals become more spiritual. They don't kill easily. Otherwise, the python would have swallowed Sophia in one bite earlier," she explained quietly.

Reflecting on her words, they realized the python had only targeted Sophia and hadn't killed her, even with others nearby.

"You didn't make a move earlier because you knew the python wouldn't easily hurt anyone?" Freya asked, picking up on Odalys's explanation. (Note: The previous text implied a camera crew, which this clarified version removes ambiguity from).

"You could say that," Odalys replied, pausing. Everyone focused their attention on her. The cameraman and crew members were also eager to hear her explanation.

Odalys continued, "It's the company you keep. For such old creatures, if they are truly enlightened and understand human nature, the thing they dislike most is contact with anything that brings them bad luck. Think about it. We haven't really made things difficult for Sophia, have we? When we didn't provoke her and kept a safe distance, she kept making trouble, starting chaos and causing a series of blunders. The key is, she always ends up hurt."

Everyone recalled past incidents. Odalys continued with examples: on the deserted island, Sophia rushed ahead, stealing the spotlight and getting scratched by thorns; she provoked a wild boar, injuring herself; she tried to manipulate Lucian into killing Odalys (caught on camera); she ignored Kenny's warning about the rising tide and almost drowned; she provoked Rafael, shifted blame, stole the turtle eggs and lied about it; and finally, she provoked the snake.

"None of this happened because anyone conspired against her, or mistreated her. She's the one who always tries to steal the spotlight, and every time, she ends up in trouble," Odalys concluded softly.

This revised text corrects grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, making the narrative flow much more smoothly. It also removes some inconsistencies and redundancies. I have also attempted to maintain the original meaning and style, but made appropriate changes for clarity.