*****Laura and David couldn’t believe their ears for what felt like an eternity, staring in a daze at Xavier as though he had just delivered the worst news to have ever existed.While the two had sensed that something didn’t seem quite right with Xavier and Grace’s sudden marriage, they had never anticipated that the two would part ways so quickly—on the very day of their wedding, not even waiting for a day or two.After a brief moment of silence, Laura finally managed to process Xavier's report and in the following second, she seemed to have suddenly experienced a panic attack.Her breathing grew rapid and her chest started heaving hysterically up and down, as though she were on the verge of departing with the grim reaper and joining the underworld, and seeing this, both Xavier and David were instantly alarmed.“Wife!!!”“Mother!!!”The father-son duo cried out in distress, rushing over to Laura.“Are you okay?” they both inquired, their concern evident, and only then—hearin
*****“Boss, are you really going to move in with tha... with him?” Dorothy's voice, though barely above a whisper abruptly shattered the silence in the Audi A6 as it sped away from the stunning Oceanview estate.She had been forcing herself to hold back the question, but now, she couldn’t keep it in any longer, and as soon as Grace, sitting in the back seat, with her countenance already returning to the cold goddess of the business world known by everyone, heard this question, she was jolted back from her thought and glanced briefly at Dorothy in the driver’s seat, then turned her gaze back to the passing scenery outside the window.“Hmmm.” She responded indifferently before returning to being lost in her thoughts again.….What he said earlier was nothing but the truth,’ she thought, her brows knitted together. ‘If we live desperately, grandfather and his relatives will soon see through our marriage, and the troubles will never end,’ she sighed inwardly.In truth, Grace had al
*****"How dare that b!tch not return to her office yet!? She must still be with that vile spawn!" Inside a somewhat dark room thick with tension, an enraged and ferocious Dominic, who had turned into an entirely different person from the don known to the world, suddenly snarled, his grip on the wine glass of wine in his hand tightening until finally;“Damn her!!!” He hissed, his teeth grinding against each other and then unable to hold his emotions together again: the glass flew from his hand, shattering against the wall like the fragile threads of his composure, causing the secretary nearby to flinch slightly.The secretary had already gone pale, overwhelmed by the intense aura emanating from her E-rank fighter boss, an aura that would have long crushed ordinary people.She watched in absolute stupor as her typically calm and composed boss lost his temper and control, something she had never seen before despite having worked with him for years.'That b!tch is certainly so fortu
*****After leaving Oceanview Estate, Xavier hailed a taxi to the largest herb market in the city, thinking he’d be able to easily locate the ingredients he needed for concocting the medicines his parents needed. Unfortunately, however, he only managed to find a few of the minor components, and no matter how thoroughly he searched, there was not even the faintest sign of the others.As for the main ingredients, the ones that would truly make the medicines he was going to concoct work, which couldn’t be swapped nor absent, it was as if no one in the market had ever heard of them before, so elusive that it felt as if Xavier was the one who had imagined their existence.'What do I do now?' Holding a plastic bag with the handful of ingredients he was able to gather, Xavier after realizing that the things he was searching for weren't present in the market stood at the side, looking completely helpless and frustrated.Despite the market’s vast size, he had already circled it five time
*****Xavier didn’t depart immediately after the little girl had gone, instead, he observed her as she hurried over to a street vendor, eagerly handing over the money he had just given her, her eyes locked on the noodles she was about to buy as though it was a sort of delicacy which anyone would die for.Eventually, after making sure the little girl was okay, he sighed deeply and then brushed off the emotions that threatened to surface, before turning and leaving the market.Barely five minutes after Xavier had left, however, four scruffy-looking roadside gangsters appeared in front of the little girl, who was crouched on the ground, happily devouring the bland-looking noodles she had just purchased as though it were the most delicious meal she had ever tasted in her life.“I see you’ve got cash on you to buy such an expensive-looking meal,” the man who seemed to be the leader, a cigarette dangling from his lips, said abruptly, and the instant the little girl, who was lost in her
*****"First brother! Second brother!” The youngest son of the Blackwood family, despite currently looking somewhat disheveled and worn-out, suddenly shouted with excitement as he burst into the study where his two older brothers sat in tense silence, deep in contemplation.Startled by his sudden entrance, both brothers immediately raised their heads, and the moment their eyes landed on the eager grin on their younger brother’s weary face, confusion crept in.“Yes… something the issue?” The usually stoic of the three Blackwoods; Aldric—Cassandra’s father and the first brother inquired with a small frown on his face.Darian, still catching his breath instantly flashed a grin, a stark contrast to his haggard appearance. "I think I’ve figured out what that bastard had done to Father, making him give out things he couldn’t give his children," he blurted, barely able to contain himself.For a moment, Roland, the second brother, and Aldric couldn’t react to Darian’s words, but then the
*****Of all the possibilities the two brothers had imagined, they had never, not even in their worst nightmare considered what their third brothers had just uttered.Their father, the patriarch of one of Riverton City's six first-rank families—a man who was practically a god in the city, having been controlling the fates of others for decades—was being controlled by someone? It was unthinkable.“Are—are you sure about what you just said?” Aldric and Roland asked in unison for the umpteenth time, their voices dark, cold, and filled with apprehension.“I’m 90% sure,” Darian, the third brother, responded, forcing out a deep breath as he tried his best to contain his emotions.“According to my research, there was an ancient, lost art of acupuncture, one that belonged to a terrifying and evil faction that had terrorized the entire world for centuries. This technique specializes in one thing: controlling the bodies and souls of its hosts.”“This…” Darian’s words sent a cold shiver do
*****At the same time, outside the Blackwood’s estate."I'm telling you, young man, this place is off-limits. It's not meant for people like us," the taxi driver, who had brought Xavier from the herb market muttered, his tired eyes watching Xavier through the rearview mirror.The old man still couldn’t understand why someone like Xavier would want to approach the Blackwood estate.At first, he had assumed Xavier was a servant which was why he had agreed to bring him, but seeing as Xavier did not even know that taxis aren’t permitted inside beyond the Blackwood’s gate, he couldn’t help but shake his head. His concern coming from a place of kindness."You’re asking for trouble, son. I’ve seen it happen," he finally sighed, his gaze looking at the towering and majestic black gate in apprehension.Meanwhile, Xavier, hearing the old man’s advice couldn’t help but stare blankly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry for the old man’s concern.Eventually, he opened his mouth to reveal