Taylor felt a little disappointed. If she hadn't been drunk, would sothing have happened?
She had long wanted to give herself to Hardy, but he was so restrained, insisting on waiting until she turned 18.
Hardy patted Taylor on her small bottom, "Go take a shower. I've called for room service, and after we eat, we'll go shopping. Your clothes from yesterday are filthy—you spilled a lot of drinks on them."
"This afternoon we're going to Buckingham Palace. Princess Elizabeth invited for afternoon tea. You should co along," Hardy said.
"Sure!"
They ate in the hotel room, and then Taylor pulled Hardy out to go shopping. Shopping with Hardy felt so much better than with Margaret. Taylor was like a joyful little bird, pulling Hardy from store to store.
She bought things for herself and for Hardy.
In the afternoon,
Hardy brought Taylor back to Buckingham Palace. In fact, Taylor had been staying at Buckingham Palace for so ti and was already very familiar with it.
In the garden behind Buckingham Palace,
Hardy once again t Princess Elizabeth. This ti, things were more formal. Hardy bowed, took the princess's hand, and kissed it.
Princess Margaret was nearby, her gaze at Hardy lively and full of curiosity.
Every now and then, she exchanged glances with Taylor, giving subtle hints.
"Mr. Hardy, we et again. The last ti we saw each other was at the reception for the investnt delegation. Ti flies—it's already been five months," Princess Elizabeth said.
"Yes, ti does fly," Hardy replied.
"I heard that you went to Hong Kong and made a lot of investnts there. I want to thank you for investing in British territories," Princess Elizabeth inquired.
"Apart from HSBC, I also established an industrial zone where over a hundred companies will be housed. In addition, I've acquired several other industries. The total investnt is around $100 million," Hardy explained.
"How do you view the Chinese conflict? Are you worried about Hong Kong's future?"
They discussed Hong Kong affairs.
anwhile, Margaret and Taylor sat quietly on the side.
Usually, when Princess Elizabeth t guests, Margaret rarely stayed around. Even if she appeared, she would greet the guest and then quickly find an excuse to leave. Today, however, she sat quietly by, without any excuse to leave.
Margaret wasn't particularly interested in the conversation about war, politics, or investnts that her sister was having with Hardy.
She was simply interested in Hardy.
Yesterday, Hardy had taken her on a wild adventure—a kind she had never experienced before, and no one had ever dared to take her on.
But Hardy dared.
And it seed that even her sister couldn't do anything about it.
Now, the thought swirling around in Margaret's mind was how to find another opportunity to have this man take her out again.
Not just to a nightclub,
But to experience everything that was forbidden for a British royal. Discover stories at empire
After talking about Hong Kong,
Princess Elizabeth moved on to discuss the state of the British economy with Hardy.
Before World War I, Britain was the dominant world power, enjoying great prosperity. Even before World War II, Britain was still a creditor nation. But during the war, the country spent a staggering £25 billion, and to pay for military supplies, Britain sold off a quarter of its pre-war overseas investnts.
National debt had increased threefold since before the war, and external debt had soared to £3.7 billion.
The war had severely crippled Britain.
Casualties amounted to 950,000 people, with the Navy losing 4 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 5 aircraft carriers, 5 auxiliary carriers, and a total of 341 surface ships. Britain had lost control of the seas.
Before World War II, Britain had a colonial empire of 30 million square kiloters. Now, those colonies were gaining independence one after another. Although Britain had won the war, it erged deeply in debt, transforming from the once mighty British Empire into a debt ridden nation.
Now, Britain was in dire need of money.
A lot of money.
Although the monarchy had virtually no control over the governnt anymore, Princess Elizabeth still cared deeply about the state of the country.
She knew that the UK's finances were currently in a dire situation, and the man in front of her was a very wealthy tycoon. The reason she was chatting with Hardy was to see if he could help solve so of the financial issues facing the UK.
"Mr. Hardy, have you ever considered increasing your investnts within the UK itself? There are actually many opportunities worth investing in here," Princess Elizabeth said.
Hardy smiled.
"Hardy Group's business isn't like traditional conglorates. During my last visit with the investnt delegation, I already invested in what I found suitable."
"I know that Mr. Hardy has his own bank, so I wonder if you might be interested in purchasing British governnt bonds. The yield on British bonds is very stable, making it a worthwhile investnt. Bonds are also backed by the governnt," Princess Elizabeth continued, promoting governnt bonds.
Buying British governnt bonds? To be honest, Hardy wasn't particularly interested. It was no different from lending money, and when he last visited, the British governnt had already raised the idea to the delegation.
It included both loans and purchasing governnt bonds.
Whether it was Rockefeller, the Citigroup consortium, the California Bank, or Hardy's Wells Fargo, they had all declined.
Because they all knew.
During tis of economic collapse, that is when the feast for capitalists begins—the mont when "cash is king." The return on buying up assets was far better than lending money or buying bonds.
"Sorry, Hardy Group has limited funds, and we aren't very interested in purchasing bonds or lending money," Hardy replied.
Elizabeth looked sowhat disappointed.
"Then what are you interested in?" Margaret suddenly asked from beside them.
In fact, Margaret just wanted to say sothing because she was getting bored.
"Land. If there's land, I might consider it. Recently, I purchased over 500,000 square kiloters of land in Australia," Hardy said.
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