Chapter 78: Price of Offence
"How pitiful. The famous Moon Goddess Hikaru... fell for Tony Clark."
Lily’s eyes didn’t move from Hikaru’s face. "I have seen many people try to break the Clark and Frost engagent. Many families, many thods. But I never... not once expected the Moon Goddess family of Japan to involve themselves in it."
"Don’t drag my family into this!!" Hikaru said sharply. "This has nothing to do with them!! I want Tony to have a future that uses his talent!! You are the one trying to bury it!! That’s the only reason— there are no other intentions!! Stop twisting everything into a conspiracy!!"
"Such a drama queen," Lily said, with cold sarcasm. "Let
make this very clear for you, Moon Goddess. Even if you knelt at the gates of the Frost family for a hundred years — I would not allow it. Tony is mine." She declared.
"That is not your decision to make." Hikaru objected instantly. "You are engaged, Lily— not married. An engagent breaks like glass." She turned, and for the first ti since the confrontation began, she looked directly at Tony.
"Tony." Her voice changed— lost the edge, beca sothing simpler. "You can decide your own fate. Stay here and spend your life as a Clark family figurehead Or co with . You will be the heir of the Moon Goddess family. You will beco the Master of the Healing Tower. Your talent will have room to grow into what it actually is." A pause. "What do you say?!"
Everyone looked at Tony.
The mountain wind moved through the outer courtyard and rustled the pine tree where the snow leopard was tied... it is the only sound in a radius of ten ters.
Lily stared at him. The murderous look had not left her face.
Hikaru waited, steady, eting his eyes with the quiet seriousness of soone who had ant every word.
Julie was looking at the ground. Leo was looking at the sky. Both of them had arrived at the mutual conclusion that wherever their eyes were, it should not be on Tony’s face right now.
Julie was in complete disbelief... Three weeks ago she had considered Tony a waste of space who her sister had been unfairly tied with. And now two of the most capable won she had ever known were standing in an outer courtyard fighting over him in the open air like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Leo had a simpler thought. Brother, I owe you an apology for every terrible thing I privately thought about your prospects.
Tony looked at Lily. Then at Hikaru. Then at Lily again.
He opened his mouth...
But just then...
Rapid footsteps ca from the entrance.
Everyone turned.
A woman was running toward them— moving fast, one hand holding the hem of her robe up to keep from tripping, hair coming loose from its pins, eyes scanning the small group with an urgency that had nothing calculated in it.
She wasn’t looking at Lily. She wasn’t looking at Hikaru. She was looking at Tony, and when she found him in the group her entire face changed— relief, desperation, and sothing much more raw flooding through it all at once.
She ran straight toward him without slowing... In the next second...
"Bammm..."
She directly fell at Tony’s feet.
Both knees hit the stone courtyard floor hard enough to make everyone within earshot flinch. Her forehead followed— a full, desperate bow, her palms flat on the ground, blood already welling from where her forehead had struck the uneven stone.
"Please spare my family!!" she cried out, her voice breaking completely. "Please!! I’m begging you— please, Young Master Tony— spare my family!! I’ll do anything!! Anything you ask!!"
The courtyard went silent.
Lily and Hikaru, both fell silent simultaneously. Julie stopped breathing. Leo crossed his arms and said nothing.
Tony looked down at Kelly Don, the 5th rank doctor who trapped him in the ICU.
She was shaking... genuinely, completely. The blood from her forehead was dripping onto the courtyard stone in small, steady drops.
Tony crouched down to her level.
"Kelly Don," he said, in the sa pleasant, unhurried tone he used for most conversations. "Look at ."
She lifted her head. Her eyes were red, her face a wreck of tears and blood and foundation.
"How does it feel?!" he asked, with a smile so calm it made the question worse. "Yesterday night you were sitting across from First Prince Mark Smith drinking wine and discussing how to destroy my reputation inside this tower." He tilted his head slightly. "How does that plan look right now?!"
"I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Young Master, I never should have..."
"Did you think the Clark family was less than the Imperial family?!" Tony continued, still pleasant, still smiling. "Or did you think that Mark Smith is a better punisher than ?! Is that what you thought when you agreed to his deal?!" He stood back up slowly. "You should have thought a little longer before taking that wine glass, Kelly. It was a very expensive drink."
"Young Master, please...!!" She knocked her forehead to the floor again. "I was wrong!! I was completely wrong!! Please, my parents... my family... they had nothing to do with this!! Please don’t punish them for what I did!!"
Tony reached into his robe and took out his golden orb.
He pressed two fingers to the surface and a live video feed expanded outward from it— visible to everyone in the courtyard, bright and clear in the afternoon light.
The image showed a large room sowhere far from the Nine Lotus Academy. Marble floors. High ceilings. And kneeling on those marble floors, in a row, with their heads bowed to the ground— the entire family of the Don family. Kelly’s parents at the center, her father Lindon’s broad shoulders shaking in fear.
Behind them, standing in neat, composed positions, were several Clark family operatives— n and won in dark clothing, one or two with weapons visible— and at the front, holding the golden orb on the other end of the feed, a woman in a black manager’s skirt and dark stockings, her posture immaculate, her expression carrying the specific serenity of soone who is very good at their job and very comfortable with it.
Lily stared at the video. Then at Tony. Then back at the video.
Julie grabbed Leo’s sleeve. Leo gently removed her hand and said nothing.
"Young Master Tony!!" Lindon Don’s voice ca through the orb, rough with tears he was clearly fighting. "We never offended you!! We have done nothing against the Clark family!! Please— please tell us what we did!! Why is this happening?!"
"The Clark family never moves without a reason," Tony said into the orb, and then turned the cara toward Kelly, still kneeling on the courtyard floor with blood on her forehead. "See for yourself. Your clever daughter is the reason for all of this."
The feed shifted to Kelly’s face.
Kelly squeezed her eyes shut.
"KELLY!!" Lindon’s voice cracked through the orb.
All Don family mbers raised their heads and watched Kelly with murderous look. Till now, they were wondering why this mischief fallen on them.
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