The blood-red wine slowly seeped into the pure white tablecloth, like a splitting wound amidst the heavy silence of the VIP Room 'Moonlight'.
Ryan's hand froze in mid-air, his blue eyes brimming with expectation. Governed by a brain molded by hero-novel logic, he had already imagined that in the next second, his goddess would shed tears of gratitude, pull him into a tight embrace, and thank him for pulling her out of hell.
But reality... is always crueler than imagination.
Clara's sweet, dripping smile and gentle, mature deanor vanished without a trace. Her beautiful face turned deep crimson not from shyness, but from an uncontrollable 'Anger' that had shot past its boiling point. The fear of power or wealth no longer existed in her mind. All that remained was the raw instinct of a 'Tigress' ready to tear apart anyone who dared touch her family.
BANG!!
Clara stood up abruptly, her slender hand slamming down onto the glossy dining table so hard that the crystal glasses and fine china vibrated with a loud clink. The sheer force of the impact made Ryan flinch violently.
"Stop insulting my husband right now!!" Clara roared, her voice so sharp and fierce that it echoed throughout the room.
She glared at the boy who had just declared himself her white knight with the hardest, coldest eyes she had ever shown. "Who are you... to dare call him trash!? Do you know how hard he works? Do you know how much he loved and cared for
before all this crazy stuff happened!?"
Clara's words poured out like a broken dam. Even though she had crossed the line into a deep, complex relationship fueled by lust and bonding with Owen, the truth that Damian was her 'Family' had never changed. He was an honest man who had given her nothing but pure love for over ten years. The guilt she carried toward him was already heavy enough; she would never let so newly-rich brat trample on his dignity!
"You know nothing about my family, Ryan!" Clara pointed right at his face, her tone laced with agony and rage. "The reason I do OnlyStar... the reason I dean myself doing these shaful things, is because I love him! I want to save my family from this crisis! I chose to fight on my own... not act weak just to wait for so rich guy like you to play hero and save !"
Every single word from Clara was like a sharp sword slashing the illusion Ryan had built until it shattered into dust.
Ryan stumbled back half a step, looking exactly like a grade-schooler being harshly scolded by his mother for the very first ti. His eyes widened in absolute confusion. The beautiful logic he had ticulously woven in his head was now in total chaos. He tried to open his mouth to argue, unable to comprehend the situation.
"B-but I'm richer than him! I have a hundred tis more money! I can protect you! I'm going to be the greatest S-Rank Awakened in this city!" Ryan stamred, his voice trembling like a madman. "Why, Clara!? Why did you choose that... uh... choose that man over !? I'm better than him in every way!"
To Ryan, power and money were the answers to everything in this world. It was a simple equation he had learned over the past three months... the stronger, richer person inherently deserved the best things!
Clara looked at the pathetic state of the young man in front of her with empty eyes. She took a deep breath to suppress her emotions before delivering her final sentence with a bone-chilling voice.
"Take your money back. I don't want help that cos at the cost of insulting the person I love like this."
She paused for a brief mont, staring deep into Ryan's trembling eyes.
"And rember... stay away from my husband... and don't ever let
see your face again."
Delivering the absolute ultimatum, Clara turned away dismissively. She reached out to grab her designer handbag from the chair, turned her back, and stord away from the table imdiately. The sound of her high heels clicking against the marble floor echoed... Tap... tap... tap... fading further away, without her even glancing back at the boy behind her for a single second.
Ryan's entire world collapsed in the blink of an eye.
The tall figure of the young boy stood frozen in place like a cursed statue. The hand that had reached out to his goddess monts ago still hung pitifully in the air. His blue eyes, once shining with confidence, were now wide open and entirely empty, filled only with severe shock and confusion.
The S-Rank mana aura that had aggressively pressured the room just minutes ago vanished like a giant balloon popped by a tiny needle. It morphed into a dark, depressing, and freezing mass of emotion that was almost tangible.
His mind went completely blank... Ever since he beca an Awakened with S-Rank potential, he had never been 'rejected' by anyone. Everyone always bowed to him, serving whatever he desired on a silver platter.
His brain simply couldn't process the reality in front of him... 'Why? I'm the hero... I genuinely intended to help her... Why is she so angry at ? Why does she still love that worthless man? What did I do wrong?' The idealistic world where he was the great white knight was violently slapped by the complexities of reality, hitting the naive boy so hard he could barely stand.
Behind him... Owen, who had been quietly observing the entire ordeal while blending into the room's shadows, slowly relaxed his battle-ready muscles.
Throughout Clara's explosive outburst, Owen had been fully prepared to activate [Instant-Mind Palm] and [Avatar of Asura] at a mont's notice, just in case this S-Rank kid went berserk and tried to force Clara.
But upon assessing Ryan's current emotional state and completely diminished mana aura... Owen knew instantly that the threat had passed.
Owen's golden eyes narrowed slightly. He looked at the trembling form of the ultimate die-hard fan with a gaze tinged with slight pity. As a fellow man with far more experience, the thod this kid used to approach a woman lacked any sort of class or finesse. Only a gold-digger would have been won over by such an approach.
'He's just an inexperienced boy when it cos to relationships...' Owen thought to himself. 'Thinking the whole world revolves around him just because he has money and power... completely ignorant of the complexities of won. I just hope this lesson doesn't turn him into a monster in the future...'
Once he was one hundred percent certain that Ryan was in too deep a state of shock to attack anyone or even move, Owen shook his head softly at the sheer cruelty of a teenager's first heartbreak.
The young man in the bodyguard suit turned around and silently followed his mistress out of the room, leaving no trace behind...
Leaving the 'White Knight' drowning alone in his shattered beliefs and the most devastating defeat of his life amidst the empty luxury.
…
SLAM! The door of the white SUV closed with a heavy thud. The mont Clara's slender figure collapsed exhausted into the front passenger seat, Owen didn't waste a second. He started the engine and stepped on the gas, smoothly yet swiftly accelerating the car out of The Luna's luxurious Drop-off zone, leaving the skyscraper and all its chaos behind.
The cabin fell into a dead silence. There was only the low, continuous rumble of the powerful engine and the occasional orange glow of neon streetlights passing through the windows, illuminating Clara's still-tense profile. The air conditioner blowing cool air helped extinguish so of the heat in her chest, but her ample bosom still heaved heavily. Her heart raced, and the adrenaline from the recent confrontation was still pumping fiercely through her veins.
After the car had rged onto the main road of Titan City, putting a considerable distance between them and the restaurant, the suffocating silence was finally broken.
"Haaaa..."
Clara let out a long breath, as if exhaling all her pent-up frustration along with the air, before raising her hands to massage her temples in exhaustion.
"Damn it, Owen! That kid has absolutely lost his mind!" She began to vent her suppressed feelings, her tone still laced with severe irritation. "Who does he think he is? A pri-ti soap opera hero swooping in to save the poor damsel in distress? He thinks just because he's so prodigy Awakened with wads of cash, he can throw money at anyone or dictate soone's life however he pleases!"
Clara pursed her lips tightly before lowering her voice slightly, revealing a hidden layer of worry stemming from her deep-rooted instincts as a household-managing wife.
"But well... now that I think about it, I do secretly regret losing out on that massive pile of money..." She sighed once more, then lifted her chin, her eyes flashing with determination. "But whatever! Even if I have to lose a huge payday, I will never stoop so low as to accept money in exchange for letting soone insult Damian!"
Once Clara finished venting, Owen, who was steering with one hand, slowly reached out his other hand to grasp Clara's slender fingers clasped on her lap.
Her hands were ice-cold and still trembling slightly from the emotional high. Owen squeezed her hand gently, transferring the steady warmth and firmness from his thick, calloused palm. The touch was almost magical; it slowly quelled the stormy waves raging within Clara's heart.
"You did the right thing, Clara..." Owen finally spoke, his voice deep, calm, and as solid as a rock. "You were incredibly strong, and you protected Damian's dignity beautifully... I'm so proud of you."
Clara turned to look at Owen. Her previously hardened gaze softened entirely into deep gratitude.
However, in the very next second, Owen winked at her lightly, a sly, mischievous smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Besides... are you so angry that you forgot sothing? We didn't exactly co back empty-handed tonight."
"Hmm? What do you an?" Clara raised her eyebrows in sheer confusion.
"The $250,000 deposit that guy transferred earlier," Owen chuckled softly in his throat. "You just got that money for absolutely free without him even getting so much as your autograph... From a business standpoint, we made a massive profit tonight, My Lady."
The witty remark and the undeniable truth made Clara's eyes widen slightly before all her remaining tension evaporated. She let out an uncontrollable, crystal-clear laugh.
"You're right! God forgive , I completely forgot about the deposit!" Clara smiled so widely her eyes crinkled into crescents. The most gorgeous smile returned to grace her features once again. "At least... tonight's madness helped us clear off another huge chunk of debt."
The warm touch and Owen's perspective-flipping words lifted the heavy boulder off Clara's chest. She shifted closer to the warmth of his hand, rested her heavy head against the car seat, and slowly closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion completely take over. Before long, her breathing evened out as she drifted into a deep slumber just like that.
However... while the woman beside him dove into peaceful relaxation, beneath Owen's outwardly gentle expression, his genius-level brain was working in overdrive, processing all the risks and variables at maximum velocity.
'What a truly lucky kid, to have an S-Rank mana pool the mont he Awakened. It's no wonder the Awakened Association is backing him this heavily. But given his severe lack of maturity right now, I'm afraid he's going to turn into a massive ti bomb before he ever becos the full-fledged S-Rank Awakened everyone expects him to be, all due to his unstable emotions...' Owen thought to himself, his golden eyes narrowing coldly in the shadows of the car.
He knew very well that human nature when violently rejected, especially for soone like Ryan who had never tasted disappointnt could easily twist 'infatuation' into 'vengeance' or a distorted obsession that was infinitely more dangerous.
'But luckily... this kid doesn't possess an inherently savage nature or a tendency to force others right off the bat,' Owen analyzed, recalling how respectfully Ryan had treated Clara. 'He's not a terrible person... just a kid spoiled rotten by the society of the powerful until he beca misguided.'
An enigmatic smile crept up the corner of Owen's mouth as a sudden thought flashed into his mind.
If he could find a way to "handle" and flip this situation into an opportunity... If he could successfully infiltrate the boy's shattering psyche, forge a bond, or even establish himself as an authoritative 'Big Brother' or 'Guide' in the ways of won that Ryan would respect... The sheer benefits and connections he could extract from this young man who was destined to be a future S-Rank pillar would be so astronomically massive they couldn't even be quantified!
Hundreds of plans and simulations began drafting rapidly inside Owen's head.
The white SUV carved through the darkness of the night streets, heading straight back to the warm Ward family ho, peacefully drawing the curtain on a chaotic night... Even though Owen knew perfectly well in his heart that, for the boy nad Ryan, this storm was only just beginning to brew, and it most certainly wouldn't end as simply as this.
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