The man looked at Darius. Though he knew it was impossible, he still prayed Darius would let him off the hook. To his surprise, his prayers were answered! Darius put his hands behind his back and looked at the man calmly. “I had no intention of taking your life, just as you had no intention of taking mine. Something about you surprises me—you have plenty of misdeeds, but none of them have resulted in deaths. Because of that, I will let you leave this place alive. As for your broken rib…take it as me teaching you a lesson.”Darius turned to reveal the door behind him. Then, he kicked the man and said, “The door’s over there—make yourself scarce now. From now on, you have nothing to do with the Chamberlain family.”The man’s eyes widened in shock. Though he had nothing to do with the Chamberlain family in the first place, he was still surprised that Darius was willing to let him go. He staggered to his feet, making sure not to aggravate his injury.Darius had indeed broken his rib, but

Darius looked at Liam, suddenly curious to know how he would handle this. To his surprise, Liam’s face turned frosty at the elderly man’s words. “My father’s treated you equally well—no, better than you’ve treated me—since you were a child, yet you had no qualms about harming him when you found you had something to gain from doing so. How do you have the nerve to demand I repay your kindness?”Darius raised a brow and exhaled. “Alright, I’m not interested in getting involved in your internal strife, and I want answers. If you can’t tell me where that man learned those words, at least let me know how he found you guys or anything you know about him.” He put his hands into his pockets and walked to the window. At the same time, his gaze swept around as he took in the Chamberlain family’s villa.For some reason, the elderly man couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Still, he gritted his teeth and said, “Darius, you have many questions. I must admit they make sense, but you’re wasting your time

“Now, however, it seems my kindness didn’t have the intended effect. If so, you should pay the price for wasting my mercy.” Darius looked at the elderly man with disdain.The elderly man returned his look with one of horror, not knowing what to say. “You know everything! How is that possible?”Darius smirked. “Of course. Why else would I have wasted so much time on you?” He reached for the elderly man as he spoke, making the elderly man’s knees go weak and fall to the floor. The elderly man’s lips trembled as he shut his eyes in despair. “You’re right—I do know more than I let on. However, I have to apologize because I can’t tell you anything. You may not believe this, but the Chamberlain woman I married isn’t my only wife. I have another secret wife.”Darius raised an eyebrow. He looked at the elderly man mockingly but didn’t say a word. On the other hand, Liam couldn’t accept this. He exclaimed, “How can you call her a secret wife? At most, she’s a mistress. Besides, how could you

Darius raised an eyebrow as he looked the old man in the eye. “You’re lying. All of the formidable black-robed people are dead.”The old man looked at him dazedly. However, when he spoke, his tone was agitated. “When did that happen?” He looked at Darius desperately, but it soon faded into doubt and suspicion. “You’d better be telling the truth, Darius Reid. Otherwise, there’ll be hell for you to pay. I know you grew up in squalor, so you might’ve picked up some bad habits. However, you should know that certain nifty tricks that seem to work like magic may not exactly give you the same results when used on a wealthy person.” He looked Darius in the eye as he spoke, trying to determine whether Darius was lying.Darius looked at him scornfully. “You people constantly use the environment I grew up in to attack me, but you’re the ones who end up dead.”The old man stared at him for a few moments before slowly chuckling. Then, the chuckles turned into a hysterical laugh. “Their deaths must

Liam didn't say anything else and followed Darius into the backyard, only stopping when they were at a deserted corner. His eyes widened as he pointed a trembling finger at the corner, saying, "This place looks completely different. It used to be covered in flowers, but it's bare now."Darius raised an eyebrow, then nodded and smiled. "Yes, you're right. While you were away, many people saw a lot of soil and earth being moved out of the Chamberlain family's villa, which means they've built a new secret chamber somewhere."Liam's breathing sped up. He couldn't believe his father and daughter had been locked up here all this while. How were they doing in there? Had they had a bite of food or a drop of water since his return to the villa?Darius patted him on the shoulder when he sensed his anxiety and guilt. "You don't need to be so nervous. I can sense things haven't been too bad for them there." As he spoke, he stepped forward and stomped on the ground, sending soil flying to reveal t

“He’s been worried sick about you two.” Darius strode out of the secret chamber and into the tunnel. When he got to the hole he’d entered the tunnel from, he saw Liam slowly lowering himself to the ground—one foot was already on the ground while the other was still in mid-air. Darius raised an eyebrow at this and said, “Congratulations for making it down here, but I’m sorry to say you’ll probably have to get back up there soon enough.” After that, he channeled his life force to his legs and flew upward.Liam gaped at him, never having seen someone fly without assistance before. A moment later, a joyful and surprised voice rang behind him, crying, “Dad!” Nothing else mattered to him at the moment. He turned to see his daughter and father walking toward him.When Darius landed on the ground, he poked his head over the hole to see what was happening there. He cleared his throat to attract their attention and said, “I hate to break up this touching reunion, but you guys should probably c

Darius smiled at their anxious looks and rapped his knuckles on the table. “Alright, I’m just pulling your legs. I’m the one who still has things to do—I haven’t had time to bother about the company lately. Look at all the documents piled up here.” His subordinates cheered at his words, and he shook his head in amusement. He watched as Erin skipped out of the room, then noticed Pearl standing at the door. He asked, “Has something happened?”Her eyes were red and tear-filled before she spoke, making Darius frown. Despite being reluctant to put aside work, he got up. However, Pearl shook her head to stop him and said hoarsely, “It’s nothing. W-We’ve just been expelled…” She couldn’t bring herself to continue.Darius’ brows furrowed. “What happened for us to deserve expulsion?” He clenched his fists tightly. Now, he knew how tough it’d be for him to be accepted as a genuine member of the Reid family, let alone head it in the future. Though he didn’t think being unable to graduate from

Pearl stood right before Darius’ desk, but he treated her as if she were invisible. She frowned and balled her hands into fists, parting her lips before pursing them again. She’d never felt this awkward, and Darius didn’t show any signs of wanting to speak to her. As she slowly backed away to sneak out of the room, Darius looked at her. “Sorry, I was too engrossed in this contract and forgot about your existence. You can sit over there; Erin will return with something soon.”He looked at her thoughtfully, making her blush as her mind stopped working. Her eyes subconsciously trailed over his hand, and she floated to the spot he’d pointed at, sitting down dazedly. Darius ignored this, merely turning back to his computer. At this moment, his phone rang. His hands were still on his keyboard as he glanced at his phone; his eyes lit up a second later as he smiled and straightened up. Darius was surprised to suddenly receive a call from his grandfather. After all, it’d been a while since

Pearl couldn’t understand this. Her eyes turned red at the thought of Kingston University’s existence being wiped clean. Darius had already calmed down; he looked thoughtful as he tapped his fingers on the desk. His mind was obviously on something, so no one said anything to disrupt his train of thought. They watched him silently, waiting for him to reach a conclusion. To their surprise, he looked at them with a smile instead of declaring anything and said, “You guys don’t need to stand there and stare at me. Go and do your own thing.” Erin hurried off at his words.He turned to Pearl. “Especially you. Don’t rush into anything; you won’t be able to change anything.” After that, he fell silent and focused on his work once again.Pearl’s lips twitched. Eventually, she turned and slowly walked out of Darius’ room. On her way out, she kept turning back, hoping to hear him call out her name and stop her. To her dismay, nothing of the sort happened.Darius looked up with a frown when she w

“She’s right, sir. You’re truly the most amazing enlightened martial artist I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. I can’t believe you thought of using your life force to help you in your work! I’m sure the world would rejoice if you were to write a book on the different ways to utilize one’s life force,” Bridget said enthusiastically.Darius smiled, but it soon faded. He didn’t particularly enjoy having the two women look at him with such admiration; it meant they were starting to get ideas again. He raised an eyebrow and said, “That’s enough. What did you two come here for?”The two straightened up silently at his words, making him smile. The room was too dark for Erin to see the look on Darius’ face, but this wasn’t an issue for Bridget. Instead of saying anything, she merely looked at him with a smile.Erin said, “We thought we’d be able to leave Almiron City by tonight, but we forgot to consider one person.”Darius raised an eyebrow. “Are you talking about Ansel?” Erin’s head shot u