Oddly enough, Pearl's father didn't make a sound despite having clearly heard Fleur's words. This made her start to tremble uncontrollably; she didn't even know why she felt like this. She asked shakily, "F-Father, is she telling the truth? She told me her name is Fleur Chamberlain."After a long silence, Liam said, "Yes, she is, but I hope you'll understand why your grandfather and I did what we did. I'm guessing Fleur told you she was sent away over a potato chip, but that's not the whole truth. We sent her away because she was extremely hostile to you when we told her it wasn't right to feed you potato chips. She hated you, and as your father, that was something I would never be able to accept! In any case, her mother was an employee at the hotel who'd tricked your grandfather into sleeping with her—that's how she was conceived. Still, we accepted her as part of the family. We didn't expect her to be grateful or anything, but we thought she'd at least think of us as her family. Unf

It wasn't something Pearl could pull off. Fleur said, "You're indeed clever, Darius, but it's just gonna stress me out when we have anything to do with each other in the future."Darius seemed unfazed by her words. He raised an eyebrow, put his wine glass on the table, and looked her in the eye. "Actually, there's no need for you to trust or befriend me." He leaned back and rested his arms on the armrests. "I'm tired of playing games—tell me what you're here for."Fleur didn't expect him to be so blunt. She dropped her smile and said, "Simply said, I want you to avenge me.""Give me the details." Darius calmly grabbed his spaghetti and started eating as if nothing had happened. On the other hand, Fleur's face turned red as she started trembling with rage. From Pearl's perspective, Fleur and Darius seemed to be in two different worlds. It was as if there was an invisible barrier between them, and they couldn't see each other. One was speaking agitatedly as her spit flew, while the oth

Fleur's emotions were relatively stable now. "I came to you because I heard something—Thompson's in contact with someone in the Reid family's inner circle, and they've devised a plan to take you down. I think this piece of news should be enough for me to bargain with you." She held her head high and smiled at Darius proudly. A few seconds later, it stiffened. In her imagination, Darius should've been unsettled by her revelation; he should've been urgently asking with whom Thompson was working and what their plan was. Unfortunately, things didn't always go as planned.Darius didn't even bat an eyelid at her words. "Many people in the Reid family have it in for me—it's basically part of my daily life." He smirked; it was filled with confidence and arrogance. "You might not believe this, but none of them are capable of laying a finger on me when operating alone. That's why they choose to work with others. Unfortunately, they've failed to harm me thus far."Fleur's heart started racing a

"You don't know how dangerous he is. Shouldn't you at least investigate him?" Pearl said. "That's unnecessary," replied Darius. "The way I see it, he's a fool." He patted her on the shoulder and said in a softer tone, "The fact that he and Fleur have been at each other's necks for so long, even allowing her to have the upper hand, is enough to tell me what I need to know about him." After that, he didn't say anything else and focused on his food. As he ate, he sensed Pearl staring at Fleur, her body tense with anxiety. She didn't touch her food at all. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder before pulling her to him. Pearl lost her balance and widened her eyes in pleasant surprise as she toppled toward him. Was she going to end up in his arms? However, before she could, Darius stopped her and held her in place. Then, he said, "Have you shaken out of it? Are you calmer now?" He slowly pushed her upright as she stared at him in confusion, but he didn't say anything to her. I

Darius concluded that the person who'd murdered his father was ready to make another move. This time, he was the one they were after! He shot to his feet, trembling with agitation. Suddenly, he staggered forward and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, he blacked out and collapsed on the floor. As he fell, he crashed into the table, causing a ruckus. Pearl's heart jolted when she heard this. She darted out of her room and bolted downstairs without hesitation, skidding to a stop when she saw two black-robed people in the living room. Darius, who was unconscious, lay before them.Pearl screamed, making the two black-robed people turn to look at her with bloodshot eyes. Her chest heaved as she reached behind her to whip out a pistol and her phone. To her relief, the two black-robed people weren't too quick to react. She fired at them while calling Edward. At this moment, Edward and Bridget were strolling along the street. Suddenly, they stopped and exchanged looks as an ominous feeling

Pearl squatted before Darius, sensing the black-robed people present starting to get agitated. Despair washed over her. She only had one bullet left; it would help slow down the black-robed figures but wouldn't do much else. Their heads were about as penetrable as bricks, and they didn't seem bothered by their gunshot wounds anyway.At this moment, Darius stood in the realm in the book tattooed on his arm, looking at Teivel in surprise. "You've merged with your physical body!"Teivel nodded. "Yes, and it's good that it happened when it did. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw you in danger."Darius didn't dwell on the subject. He put his hands behind his back and looked out a window showing what was happening outside the realm. He frowned when he saw Pearl standing before his body protectively.Teivel leaned close to him and clucked his tongue while shaking his head. "That look on your face is the farthest thing from being touched. Aren't you moved by a powerless woman trying to protec

As Darius pondered this, he suddenly heard a loud crash. Then, his body landed on the ground before him. His lips twitched; he was at a loss for words to describe how he felt. It appeared someone had flung his body from a distance and with all the strength they possessed because it bounced a little before settling on the ground. The next thing Darius noticed was that his skin was as purple as an eggplant. Although he knew it was because of the poison, he still couldn't accept it. He sighed, then turned back to the mirror.The scene had changed, and he could see many things that hadn't shown up before. Darius' breathing sped up when he saw Teivel. For some reason, Teivel stood behind Pearl. She seemed to be mimicking his actions … not that he could see what Teivel was doing. Surprised, he raised an eyebrow—this was the first time something like this had happened. Any enlightened martial artist who had the honor of witnessing someone so powerful in action would want to learn as much a

As he waited for the antidote to take effect, Darius imagined something nasty happening. In his mind's eye, he saw his body opening its eyes though his spirit had yet to merge with it … because another spirit had taken his spot. His breathing sped up. This wasn't impossible, so he had to be careful. When Darius saw his skin return to normal, he tried and failed to enter his body multiple times in succession. Then, he stopped and glanced at the mirror, looking worried. Everything that had happened was way beyond his horizon, and the scene he'd imagined earlier—though ludicrous—was not impossible. After all, Teivel had also talked about wanting to merge with a better body than his own.Darius exhaled, clenched his fists, and turned his attention to the mirror. He saw Teivel had already stepped away from Pearl; she collapsed to the floor, looking exhausted. Then, Teivel approached the mirror and suddenly appeared before Darius. The latter raised an eyebrow and looked at the former thou

Darius felt like his eyelids had been glued shut, and his ears filled with water. There were many muffled voices around him calling his name; they seemed to be coming from somewhere distant … very distant. Something about this thought made his eyes fly open, and he sat upright. And just like that, Darius sat up in his hospital bed. Everyone present gaped at him. No one had expected him to suddenly wake up and sit up like this.Darius winced at the sunlight pouring in through the windows. He felt like it had been ages since he'd last seen the sun, and he felt exhausted—it was tough staying upright, but he still propped himself up and swept his gaze over everyone crowding around his bed. They were all familiar faces, and they looked similarly exhausted. Pearl, Kate, Edward, Bridget, and Bruce were all present. He raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when Bruce placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down. Darius was again on his back, but it didn't make hi

"The fact that you're asking me about this proves you already have your doubts about this matter." Darius sighed. "Unfortunately, I've been unconscious for too long that I can't remember too many details. All I can say is my prime suspects are a woman named Fleur Chamberlain and a man named Floyd Davis. The former handles the signing of contracts at Solaris Estate's sales office, and the latter owns the business. Then again, there's also a chance that the person behind this is one of the employees that I had some conflict with. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that the mastermind could've been hiding in the crowd."Bruce's lips twitched. He gave Darius a look before sighing and standing up. His gaze was a mixture of helplessness and affection as if he was looking at a mischievous child. "Understood, sir. I won't reprimand Edward and Bridget anymore, but I still hope you'll allow the new bodyguards I've picked out to stay with you. I have a feeling Edward and Bridget won't