***** Frosh was dumbstruck for some time after hearing his brother and feeling the pain and desperation heavily laced in his voice, then he shook his head and released a soft sigh. “Why do you say that?” he asked, staring at him in confusion. He instantly saw the anguish on his brother’s face and understood his fear. The following second, Frosh couldn’t help but laugh, even amid the unsettling situation. “You—you think that weakling, whom even I, an F-ranked fighter could easily crush with a snap of my fingers, was the one who killed Jazzy?” he laughed so hard that tears sprang to his eyes. “How is that even possible? Do you know what it takes to become a ranked fighter, let alone an E-rank, which requires a miracle and divine intervention? Then the level above?” “But…” Frosh Junior began, only to be interrupted. “If truly Jazzy has reached the E-rank and was still
*****“Is something the matter?” Laura, whose mind was still in turmoil from all that had happened and the second near-death encounter she had had in just two days, suddenly blurted, gazing at Xavier, who had come to an abrupt stop, staring intently in a specific direction.“I…” Xavier blinked, startled back to his senses by his mother’s voice. He then shook his head in response to her question before his brows furrowed again, subconsciously glancing back at the departing black vehicle.‘Who could have been releasing that much murderous intent and hostility toward me?’ he wondered, his rarely wrong intuition alerting him of looming trouble that he deliberates on solving right there and then.Just as he was about to step forward, however, David’s concerned voice sounded beside him, breaking through his thoughts. “Are you sure you’re alright, son?” he asked, and only then did Xavier tear his gaze away from the car, deciding to dismiss the threat and intention to act, nagging at his
*****Although Grace had already been accustomed to various stares throughout her life, especially since she had embarked on the journey of being an entrepreneur, this one left her deeply uncomfortable, making her palms sweat for a reason she had no idea about.“I...I hope you weren’t hurt, Aunty?” she stuttered, uncertain of how to respond to the gaze she was receiving.At the sound of her voice, Laura trembled slightly before stepping forward with her mind a flurry of emotions.She kept her warm gaze on Grace and then gently took her hands once she reached her, leaving Grace, Dorothy, and Xavier utterly flabbergasted.The trio stood there in a daze, unsure of what had just transpired, while Laura, her heart overwhelmed with joy, failed to notice.‘This—this is my daughter-in-law. I’ve —I’ve finally laid my eyes on my daughter-in-law,’ she thought with a mind filled with butterflies, her eyes brimming with unshed tears of joy.Laura had thought she would never get the chance t
***** "Father! Father!!!" Lucius cried out, darting forward as if his butt had caught fire, then with not even the slightest trace of pity, shoved aside the two guards, who appeared to be trying to warn him, and then slammed open the grand door before him, storming inside. “This...” The bodyguards, who had just been roughly pushed aside without any care whether they fell or injured, exchanged uneasy looks. "Master specifically said no one was to enter—why does young master always put us in impossible situations?" one of them muttered, visibly shaken. The other forced a deep breath, trying his best to maintain his composure despite knowing the consequence of making their master mad. "I’m certain the master won’t hold it against us," he whispered hopefully, although his nervous expression suggested otherwise. He then cautiously closed the door that had been forced open by Lucius. As he did so, however, the guard sneaked a glance into the hall and saw Lucius standing motionless. The
***** Lucius had never taken Xavier to his mind and he had long sentenced him to death, merely waiting for news from his bodyguard whom he had dispatched to assassin him now. Never in his wildest dreams—or rather, nightmares—had he expected the next news he would hear about Xavier to be that he had slain a godlike figure such as an E-rank fighter, a level that none in his own family, despite its strength and position, had yet to attain. “You know him?” Borgia asked urgently, noticing Lucius’s dumbstruck expression and outburst. But Lucius was too frozen in shock and disbelief right now to react. He remained transfixed, staring dazedly at the phone displaying Xavier's image, where he was smiling at his parents outside the underground fighting club. Lucius’s mind was in complete turmoil, overwhelmed with fear as he remembered how he had treated Xavier earlier and even sent someone to assassinate him. He stayed like this for a moment before suddenly, something seemed to
*****Grace’s casual expression finally faded away as soon as she heard Xavier still insisting on owning a villa in OceanView Estate.She stared blankly at him for a moment, half-expecting him to suddenly break into a grin and admit he was merely joking. After all, who wouldn’t laugh at such an absurdity of an ordinary person claiming to own a house in OceanView Estate of all places? Yet, there he was, staring back at her, his expression steady, as if he had just casually stated the most obvious fact in the world.She had already been frustrated with him for telling his parents about their marriage—something meant to be a mere business arrangement—without giving her any warning. Now, however, he even dared to boast about something so obviously untrue.‘I thought you were a bit different, maybe even honest, based on the background check I did. But it seems I was wrong,’ she thought, any trace of lingering goodwill she might have had for Xavier vanishing entirely as if it had never
*****Although Grace’s expression didn’t change after seeing Xavier incapable of responding to the question he was asked, her fists clenched slightly with so much fury as she suddenly regretted the mistake of giving her first time to him.Though she had regretted this from the moment it happened, she had kept trying to convince herself that he was at least better than the other men who were only interested in her looks. Especially recalling how he had stood up for her at the bar, and everything she’d learned about his past before he was sent to prison. But now, however, seeing him for what he really was—a liar, a braggart, and a shameless fraud, on top of being an ex-convict—she couldn't help but despise herself to the core, and suddenly... suddenly, she thought Xavier might have planned the incident at the bar.Though this was only a fledging thought, it grew stronger and stronger until finally, it became so believable that she couldn't take it off her mind again.In the next sec
***** "I knew you were somewhat different and mysterious from the first interaction I had with you, “ the figure of a beautifully shaped lady, seated behind a desk inside a dimly lit, shadowed room suddenly mumbled to herself, her expression distant and contemplative with a smug smile on her barely visible lips. Eventually, she snapped back to reality and lowered her gaze to the monitor in front of her, whose screen was providing the only light in the otherwise dark room, and carefully reread the oddly typed, somewhat encrypted message on it before finally, she couldn’t help but release a small sigh. “Never have I imagined that your level of secrecy and mysteriousness actually extends to having the strength needed to eliminate an E-rank fighter...” she whispered with a voice filled with awe, her eyes gleaming with a light that could make one’s skin crawl. Looking at the way she was muttering to herself, lost in her own thoughts, inside the dimly lit office that appeared empty save f