Inside the welcome ceremony.The servers had started serving gourmet dishes to the guests and Brenda’s stomach had started grumbling from a strong hunger.She wasn’t that hungry until she smelled the delicious aroma of the dishes, but now that she had, she wanted to gulp them down.“I really want to eat something,” Brenda said to Kristin, her hand on her stomach. “Yeah, me too. Let’s call one of the servers to bring us something” Kristin said, then she looked for one of the servers whose back was turned to them as he served another guest, and she called out to him.The server turned around and to her surprise it was Desmond. Immediately, her expression dulled as she lost her appetite and didn’t want him to come near them.Unfortunately, Brenda didn’t pick up on that and called him over anyway. “What do you think you’re doing?” Kristin asked her hungry best friend.“What? I thought you wanted to eat just as much as I do” Brenda replied, a confused grimace on her face.“Yes, but not
“Where do you think you’re going, huh?” David asked angrily.“David?” Desmond's eyes blinked rapidly. “I said, where the hell do you think you’re going? Did you forget that you have a job to do?” David asked.Desmond gulped because he knew that he had messed up. His only reason for being at the welcome ceremony was to work, so where was he running off to? “I’m just… Umm…” Desmond cleared his throat “I’m just going to step out for a moment, but don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”Just then, David chuckled and Desmond got confused.“Sorry, ‘cause for a second there I thought I misheard you. Did you just say that you were going back to work and that you’re sorry for taking a little break?” David said.Desmond grimaced, understanding that David didn’t misunderstand or mishear him but rather was telling him not to repeat the nonsense he just said and that he should do what he told him or there would be consequences.What should he do? He feared David and didn’t want to incur his wrath, bu
Jeremiah and Lynette finally made it to the building where the welcome ceremony was taking place and just as Jeremiah was about to head to the entrance, Lynette told him to stop.Jeremiah looked at her, wondering why she stopped him.“We’re supposed to meet up with Mister Kingston when we get here, remember?” She said. “That’s right. Isn’t he inside though?” Jeremiah asked.Lynette nodded.“Yes, he is”“Then why are you stopping me from going in?” Jeremiah asked.“Because we are supposed to go in another way. This way is for the guests, whereas you, young master, are to go in through a special passage,” Lynette said, and Jeremiah groaned. “A special passage? So you’re saying that Kingston is waiting for me at that special passage,” Jeremiah said, and Lynette nodded. Jeremiah had no problem going through a special passage if that’s what they wanted him to do, but he was curious to see how the welcome ceremony looked from the perspective of one of the guests. He had never attended a
“Jeremiah? Has anyone heard that name before?”“Not me. I also haven’t seen him before, so I can’t tell if he’s someone important or not.”“But come to think of it, why does his face seem so oddly familiar? It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t grasp it.”“I think you’re right, he does have a very familiar face, but why is that?”“Forget about all that! What I want to know is how he knew that the gift Malcolm presented was a fake?”The guests murmured as they stared at Jeremiah. “Jeremiah or whatever your name is, who do you think you are to stand there and say that the gift I spent years and money to get and bring to this ceremony is fake?!” Malcolm asked angrily. “That’s right, who are you and can you tell everyone how you know that the mirror is a fake?” The presenter asked. Just then, Jeremiah grimaced and looked down.Truth be told, he too didn’t know why he said that the gift Malcolm had presented was fake or how he knew that it was a fake, but, for some reason, he j
While everyone had been berating Jeremiah after they asked him to prove that what he said about Malcolm’s gift was true, and he kept quiet, searching within to know why he felt the mirror was a fake magical item in the first place. He needed to know how he knew to be able to prove that what he said was true and after a couple of seconds of reflecting, he finally found the answer. He knew exactly how to prove whether an item was magical or not. Jeremiah saw all the eyes that were glued to the mirror he held in both hands, and he too looked at the mirror. “Have any of you ever seen a magical item before?” Jeremiah asked the crowd and they all looked confused. “Seems like no one other than Mister Ludwig, who brought the gift, and you, who says it’s a fake, has experience with magical items,” the presenter said on behalf of the crowd. Jeremiah chuckled. “So how can you guys know it’s real if you’ve never had any experience with one before? Does Malcolm climbing that podiu
Seeing the vitriolic gazes aimed at him, Malcolm, who didn’t know what to do, ended up chuckling nervously. “You guys can’t seriously be taking what that bastard said as the truth, can you?” Malcolm asked as a way to discredit Jeremiah, but saw that his attempts were futile.“Why shouldn’t we, Mister Ludwig? He said that the mirror would explode when destroyed if it was a real magical item, but it didn’t, so he was right, and you are a liar!” The presenter said.Among everyone there, the presenter was the most angry because he had propped up Malcolm when he said his gift was a magical item, and finding out that it was a lie made him feel like he was an idiot who believed the man. Malcolm’s brain fired on all cylinders, trying to come up with something else to say to save himself, and just in the nick of time, an idea popped up. “Wait a minute, who is he for all of you to believe that what he said is true?” Malcolm asked, pointing at Jeremiah.“What do you mean? We all saw what happ
Malcolm gulped, fear in his eyes. There truly was no way out of this mess this time. Malcolm quickly went on his knees, pressed his head on the floor, and groveled at Reginald’s feet. “Please forgive me, Your Majesty! I didn’t know that the mirror wasn’t a true magical item! Even I was fooled by the merchant who sold it to me,” Malcolm pleaded. “I’m confused, didn’t you say that you spent years and millions to obtain the mirror?” Reginald asked. “That’s right your majesty. Millions of my hard-earned money and time was put into—“ Malcolm said, but Reginald cut him off. “If that’s the case, then I assume you would have done your research to know if the item was truly magical or not, or are you telling me that you’re so incompetent, that a simple merchant scammed you out of millions for a regular mirror?” Reginald asked and Malcolm gulped. He knew that nobody would believe such a stupid lie because how did he, a successful businessman, who had been in search of the mirror for a
Jeremiah watched the guests, who were all just told to fork over one hundred million dollars each, clap and cheer on Reginald for letting them off the hook with only that punishment and he was taken aback by it.It was like they took it as a slap on the wrist and that was very strange, but at the same time, it taught Jeremiah a very important lesson.In this world there was power and there was power beyond power and that little scene just showcased which part of that spectrum Reginald belonged in. Crazy, but at least beside Malcolm, who was about to lose his hands, no other person was hurt. Money was far less important than body parts, especially to this crowd of people who could get their money back as time passed, so in the end everything concluded on a positive note. ‘I guess everything ended as well as it could have’ Jeremiah thought, then sighed, accepting that he was going to be a billionaire at the end of the night. Yes, his family’s money was unmeasurable, but for him, as
Inside Reginald’s study.While David and his grandfather sat opposite Reginald and were engaged in a lighthearted discussion, Jessica, appearing bored and uninterested in what was being said, sat on the desk with her legs crossed and idly played with the items on it.She flipped through the edge of documents on the desk with her thumb, moved the pen around with her finger, and hummed the melody of whatever song popped into her head.Annoyed by her actions, David—who also didn’t want to be there but felt obligated to behave—kicked the desk discreetly, ensuring only Jessica would notice.Jessica paused what she was doing and glanced at David, who subtly signaled her to behave through his expression. She then rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue in response.She folded all her fingers except the middle one, then glanced down at it, prompting David to do the same. That’s when he realized she was telling him to go fuck himself.Jessica chuckled then continued moving the pen with the midd
Inside his room, Jeremiah locked eyes with Jessica, who was surprised to see him, then he saw her try to get David and their grandfather to look up at him. Satisfied with what he had seen, Jeremiah closed the window, dropped the drapes, and stepped back, which made David and their grandfather to only see a closed window when they looked up.From his room, Jeremiah heard David patronizing and ridiculing Jessica for acting like she saw something when she didn’t and he chuckled at how funny the two sibling’s dynamic was.For someone like David, who acted like he was above everyone just because he was royalty, to not be respected by his younger sister was funny to witness. Jeremiah did a little stretching to free up his joints then he became ready to tackle his day.He was about to go to the bathroom to freshen up when he heard a knock on the door and he grimaced, wondering who it could be. “Who is that?” Jeremiah asked. “Young Master, it’s Christabel” she replied and Jeremiah groaned
“So that’s what the old man looks like” Jeremiah commented, staring intently at David’s grandfather and knowing that both of them wouldn’t have a good relationship.As someone who had taken away the kingship from his grandson—a goal that had been David’s grandfather’s lifelong mission—the elderly man was unlikely to be fond of Jeremiah.Just then, Jeremiah furrowed his eyebrows and groaned curiously when he saw someone else’s leg stretch out of the opened car door. “Who’s that?” Jeremiah asked himself.All he could tell was that the person was female and young, but with those two information and the fact that she sat with David’s grandfather in the back seat, he could make an educated guess as to who it could have been.“Aren’t you going to help me out?” Jeremiah heard the mysterious lady say to David whose response was a frown.“What do I look like? Get down yourself or ask the chauffeur to help you” David retorted, annoyed as he stared at the lady in the car. “Grandpa, David is be
“Let me just interject before you finish that sentence. I know what Elizabeth told you to do and my answer is no” Jeremiah said and Christabel’s eyes widened.“W-what are you talking about, young mas—?” Christabel stuttered while also smiling nervously, but Jeremiah cut her off, again.“Trust me, you don’t want to play that game with me.” Jeremiah said coldly and Christabel gulped “I know the secondary objective Elizabeth gave you when she told you to act as my personal help and I know this because she did the same to Lynette”“Oh,” Christabel said, her eyes blinking multiple times. She had thought she would be able to get away with it but was surprised that Jeremiah put a stop to it before it even began. “I’m fine with you taking over from Lynette and helping me like she used to, but delete every thought concerning the second part of your assignment from your mind, got it?” Jeremiah instructed.Christabel nodded.“As you wish, young master. My job is only to help you and nothing el
“Thank you very much, Young Master! I’ll make sure to share your number with Kristin later” Brenda said with a huge smile on her face then she waited for Kristin to say something too, but the girl was quiet.Brenda quickly looked at Kristin and used her eyes and expression to tell her to say something to Jeremiah.“That’s right, thank you young master Jeremiah! It’s great that I’ll be able to reach out to you whenever I want— I mean, need your help” Kristin said, smiling awkwardly.“You’re welcome,” Jeremiah smirked then took a deep breath, sighed, and placed his hands on his thighs.“Anyway, since I’ve confirmed that you’re doing okay and my reason for visiting has been completed, I’ll be taking my leave and going back to my room,” Jeremiah said as he stood up. Brenda quickly stood up too, saying “Let me open the door for—“Jeremiah stopped her with a hand gesture.“It’s fine. I can walk myself out so please stay with your friend” he said.“O-okay, young master” Brenda stuttered and
“Can I come in?” Jeremiah asked and Brenda, who was still shocked that he was there in front of her, remained speechless for a moment. “Hello? Anybody home?” Jeremiah snapped his finger in front of Brenda’s face and pulled her back to her senses. “I’m sorry, young master Jeremiah. What did you say—?” Brenda asked but was cut off.“Of course, young master. You can come in” said Kristin, who found a way to stand up on one foot, holding onto the bed frame so she doesn’t put weight on her sprained ankle. “You own the entire estate, this room including, so you’re the last person who should be asking for permission to do anything or enter anywhere,” Kristin said, a flirting tone in her voice. Brenda, who knew what her best friend was doing, quickly turned to Kristin and smiled in approval. “No, this is your room so no matter who I am, I still have to ask for permission to come in,” Jeremiah said and Kristin bowed her head in concession. “Anyway, thanks for inviting me in, and don’t wo
The moment Jeremiah opened the door of Reginald’s Study and was about to step out, he saw David standing a couple of feet away and feigning that fake smile he always does when he sees him.Being able to read David like a book, Jeremiah knew that he was pretending not to be annoyed about not hearing anything that was said in the Study after trying his best to eavesdrop on the conversation he had with, Reginald, Kingston, and Obadiah.“Cousin— I mean, My Lord,” David said. Jeremiah groaned as he looked at David, skeptically. This was the first time David was addressing him as “My Lord” which was strange because he didn’t do it immediately after finding out that he was Lord Crimson.Everyone that knew about Lord Crimson and found out that Jeremiah was him quickly changed how they addressed him from his name or young master to “My Lord” except for David, who kept calling him cousin until he now, so what changed?Knowing that David wouldn’t do anything without a reason, Jeremiah concluded
Jeremiah grinned, happy about the news of him getting to learn magic.Magic was something every kid wished they could do growing up, but eventually, they would become disappointed when they found out that it wasn’t real. However, not only was Jeremiah going to fulfill his childhood dream of learning and then doing magic, but it wasn’t going to be the type the magicians he loved to watch did. This wasn’t going to be tricks or sleight-of-hand gimmicks, but rather the real deal.The same type of magic that only existed in fictional movies with characters seemingly doing the impossible with just the utterance of words and now he was about to be one of them.“Now that Dark Emblem has been informed of the Lord’s return and will be preparing to come for him, do you realistically think that you have enough time to teach him magic that would make a difference between winning or losing?” Reginald asked. Obadiah looked at Jeremiah from head to toe, placed his hand on his chin, groaned, and the
Inside the Study, Reginald, who noticed that Jeremiah’s mind was elsewhere, asked him what he was doing. Jeremiah had actually been eavesdropping on David, wondering if he would say anything that would expose his involvement in the gas processing plant’s explosion and prove to Jeremiah that his suspicion was right. However, that didn’t happen and Jeremiah got annoyed that David stopped talking all of a sudden. From the last sentence Jeremiah heard David say before abruptly cutting himself off, he concluded that David knew he was onto him and was actively trying not to expose himself. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence, and Jeremiah was wrong about the whole thing—meaning David wasn’t involved in the explosion at all. There could only be one answer to the two possibilities, and time would reveal which one was correct because sooner or later, David was bound to slip up. All Jeremiah had to do was wait for that moment to come. Jeremiah replied “Nothing. I was just listening to wh