Dan walked out of the Estate as people gathered around, spectating for a good show that would surely arrive. Opening the gates, Dan found a middle-aged man clad in an outfit meant for nobles. The man's expression twisted in anger when he saw the former as he cursed, "You fucking bastard! How dare you steal my wife! Where's that slut?!" He looked around and was about to enter the gate before being stopped by the guards.
Dan stared condescendingly at him, "Stealing your wife? Anyone can do such an accusation but without solid evidence, everything that you say will be baseless!"
The middle-aged man chuckled, stretching his hands inside his robe, he took a small Profound Imagery Stone and activated it before the eyes of the crowd, "Evidence? Since you're forcing my hand, I'll have everyone in here see how you stole my wife!"
A cloud of mist formed in the air, as vague silhouettes materialized inside the mist. One of the silhouettes belonged to that of Dan while the other belonged to a young woman! Everyone stared at Dan with an expression of utmost disdain, 'How dare this bastard asked for evidence when his actions were recorded?'
Dan shrugged, his eyes kept on staring at the Profound Imagery Stone. Although no voices could be heard, the intimate rhythmic actions of the silhouette and their slightly flushed expressions indicated their activity and witnessing this blatant cuckolding happening before the gazes of the crowd. Almost all of them exploded into fury.
But still, they kept their anger inside their mind. After all, the influence behind the young man was something that anyone couldn't easily offend.
A complicated light shone in Dan's eyes as he stared at the conjured images. The young man definitely looked like him, but with just a single look, Dan realized that it was the work of a master of disguise. However, even though the trick was obvious; the middle-aged man's goal wasn't to demand any kind of compensation for Dan.
He just wanted to further destroy Dan's reputation and push him down to the bottom.
Dan inwardly chuckled before saying, "So that is your evidence? Okay, fine. You win this time," His words reverberated across the surroundings as the crowd who expected his denial became stunned, 'He actually admitted to stealing someone's wife?' They inwardly thought.
The middle-aged man raised his trembling hand and pointed a finger at his direction, "You bastard! Instead of apologizing, you even admitted to the crime! How can someone like you, someone like you that is the tumor of this entire City, still exists?!" His words carried a righteous tone which rallied the crowd to his favor.
Crossing his arms together, Dan cooly replied, "That's because my background and my strength is stronger than yours..." His eyes filled with disdain focused on the man. Dan knew that to fight against someone that was sly like this man. Dan could only assume an arrogant stance and "confess" to his so-called crime instead of being condemned.
The middle-aged man who prepared numerous scripts against Dan's denial of his crime became stunned. But as a merchant, he had an opportunistic and sly mind which enabled him to grasp this opportunity to push Dan, even further the abyss.
The ire of the crowd thoroughly roused when they heard Dan's response. But still, they do not dare to address their grievances openly. Afraid of Dan's retaliation against them.
"Just because you have such a gigantic background behind you, doesn't mean that you can bully the weak! I will not give this case up! I will ask the Emperor itself to hand over his judgment towards this case!" The middle-aged man turned around in indignance, he walked towards the direction of the Imperial Palace. The crowd started dispersing, and the eyes that they used to look at Dan became filled with concentrated disdain and mocking.
But Dan was always a person who didn't care about what others thought of him, and so. Why would he care? He shrugged, turned around and ordered the guards to close the gates. Arriving back to his estate, he found the worried young auntie, "Are you okay? Did he do something to you?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, however, he thoroughly destroyed my reputation by spreading to the common populace that I'm a wife-stealer..." Dan wryly smiled, the young auntie's expression darkened, "A wife stealer? What a joke! Now that you're helping me, he's trying to deprive me of any help by pushing anyone who helped me into the pit of despair..." She bitterly chuckled, turning towards Dan, she said, "Don't worry, I can just give myself up and clear your name..."
Dan stared at the young auntie and found that the latter stared at him with a complicated expression painted on her face, Dan chuckled, "Don't worry about that, I have my own idea on getting back at him. But for now, ask Mister George for the medicinal herbs that Elder Manong told you and take care of your daughter..." Dan turned around, intent on walking outside on his own.
"Wait!"
His figure froze, turning around, he found the young auntie who shook her head before saying, "Nevermind, I wish you success," She thought for a moment before her expression turned bleak. Dan nodded his head before his figure disappeared from her line of sight.
When Dan's back vanished, she murmured, 'How can I hope of staying beside such an outstanding young man? I'm just a loose woman whom people wouldn't even care for even if I die...'
After that humiliation, how could Dan let him go? Standing before dark alleyway just outside the Longinus Clan Estate, Dan activated Absolute Disguise before following the stream of people towards the direction of the Imperial Palace.
With the help of the System, Dan constantly scanned the area, looking for someone that matched the Soul Signature of the middle-aged man who caused such a ruckus, earlier.
[Target Found!]
A system notification sprung, along with the map of the entire City of Cloud. Inside the map, a small red dot could be seen, indicating the location of the middle-aged man as a small smile lifted on his lips.