"What if I don't leave?"
One of the girls bullying Sylvia shouted and turned to me, but when her eyes met my cold, apathetic ones, a shiver ran down her spine.
Her voice stuttered, and she spoke meekly.
"I... It's you?"
She was the leader of the women's pack, pointing her finger at me while she subconsciously took a step back and started speaking to dissuade me from this.
"It's a simple matter between women, you don't have to intervene."
"Simple matter?"
My gaze shifted from the leader to the woman who had grabbed Sylvia's hair.
Noticing this, the flustered leader knew that I already knew what they were doing and wasn't going to back off.
So she gathered her courage by turning her fear into anger, jumped in between Sylvia and me, blocking my sight, and looked at me furiously.
"Yes? I was just giving Sylvia advice as a friend."
Our eyes met tightly.
But I wasn't the type to back down from a challenge like that, so I walked up to the leader girl, bent over, my face an inch away from hers, and I spoke to her word for word.
"I am a better Mage than you, and can teach better than you... How about I also give you guys some advice?"
"...You!"
The challenging words and the eyes looking down on her made the leader grit her teeth.
She knew that I was indeed better than them, but how could she admit it and let me take advantage?
But before she could even open her mouth and say anything,
Vroom!
The sounds of engines came from behind me, and diverted her attention.
"Master!"
Upon hearing that familiar, loud call, a smile appeared on my face, and I turned around.
It was Charlotte, as expected.
Dressed in a green combat dress with a sword on her waist, she got out of the red Ferrari that was surrounded by multiple black Mercedes Benzes.
'Now this is what I call a proper villain's entourage.'
The sight of such a scene, combined with hearing what Charlotte called me, caused a cold sweat to break out on the girls' backs.
As if lowering their tails, the group of women began to step back in succession.
But among them, the most drastic change came in Sylvia, whose eyes furrowed looking at this scene, and an unknown disgust bubbled in her heart.
All these actions weren't hidden, and everything was clearly seen by me, not to mention Charlotte, who was a high ranking player.
Realizing something was wrong, the bodyguards dressed in black suits, who stood behind Charlotte, threateningly looked at these girls.
"Run!"
Suddenly someone yelled, and without hesitating, all these girls ran in different directions as if their lives depended on it.
"Master, should I catch them?"
Charlotte came forward, and asked me quickly with her eyes narrowed, her gaze following the girls.
But all I did was shake my head.
"No need, just some bugs."
Then I turned to Sylvia, and, with a gentle smile, asked.
"Are you okay?"
This time, Sylvia did not respond and did not even move; she stood facing the ground with her face lowered.
Either way, I saw her and understood her emotions.
'Are you suddenly beginning to doubt that since I am a rich second generation, I have no good intention in helping you?'
'Well, you aren't wrong, my dear Sylvia, hehehe.'
A subtle smile appeared on my face.
Since this was the last time Sylvia would be so rude to me, I didn't say anything to her attitude of ignoring me.
Instead, I waited for her to speak, though I noted that this account must be settled in the future.
'With interest, of course.'
Not long after, I heard a quiet whimper.
"... Yes. Thank you."
"No big deal."
Then without hesitating, I turned around and went in my Ferrari, with Charlotte getting in the driver's seat.
From there, I looked at Sylvia, who also moved out, stopped a taxi, and got in.
'The sweet has been given, now I just wonder how long it will take for you to feel its sweetness and crave it like an addict in its absence, hehehe.'
"Master, where to?"
"Back to my villa... Also Charlotte."
"Huh?"
"Investigate that girl I helped, her name's Sylvia... Be thorough, especially with her parents: who are they, where do they work, and what had they done, good or bad? I want everything."
Hearing my words, Charlotte nodded, then asked in excitement.
"Okay! But Master, are we doing something fun again?"
"Indeed!" I nodded.
Charlotte and I locked eyes.
Pfft~!
"HAHAHA."
Suddenly, we both laughed out loud as she pressed the accelerator, and the car shot off like a rocket.
* * * *
General POV:
At the same time in Adrian's villa on the outskirts of the city.
"Sigh! I am so tired."
With a tired sigh, Rachael fell backwards on the bed, turning around with her face buried in the pillow.
Since she woke up today at around six in the morning because of Adrian's scream, she hadn't been able to sleep a bit.
"Damn! So much work, I hate you Adrian... But... you must be tired too, I wonder if you got to rest or not."
Somehow, Rachael couldn't help but be concerned about Adrian, who hadn't returned back since morning, and she lost herself in her thoughts, remembering what happened today.
"Only 2 hours have passed."
When Rachael heard these words of his after he had untied her in the morning, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
'Were you also trying to sleep but couldn't?'
There was an urge in Rachael's heart, and she wanted to know what the hell was going on with him, but she didn't know how to face him, so she could only pretend to be asleep.
Shortly after that, she overheard the doors opening, a splash of water, and Adrian having a conversation with Charlotte.
The girl Charlotte was amusing, and Rachael imagined her to be a silly, sweet, and innocent girl who was always careless about little things but was nonetheless very adorable.
Although Rachael chuckled internally at Charlotte, she felt bitter in her heart for some reason when she noticed how close Adrian and Charlotte seemed to be.
But before she had time to consider it further, Adrian said something that completely shocked her.
"She will be living here from now on, have the maids come back and manage her accommodation; she will be my new secretary from now on... Also, have a trained female player from the family act as her bodyguard for the time being."
When Rachael heard those words, she became furious.
'Are you trying to imprison me here?' She couldn't help but have such thoughts.
In spite of this, she had little control over the situation and only gritted her teeth when a bodyguard was assigned to her.
Worst of all, she couldn't even keep pretending to be asleep, because her bodyguard, who was a high-ranking player, saw right through her disguise and caught her.
Fortunately, Rachael's freedom wasn't at all constrained, contrary to what she had anticipated.
The bodyguard named Sharon was a lovely lady with a gentle nature, who took Rachael anywhere she wanted.
The problem was that no matter where Rachael went, she had to come back here at the end of the day.
As for why?
Because she was now Adrian's secretary.
All of this was told and explained to her by her bodyguard and teacher—Sharon.
To begin with, Rachael was strongly opposed to all of this and was only superficially getting involved because she knew she had no choice in the face of the mighty Vaiself family.
However, when Rachael went to the hospital to check on her mother, and, all of a sudden, Sharon resolved her family's issue in front of her, she couldn't help but be perplexed.
In front of Rachel, her mother's medical bills were all paid, and she was also transferred to the best hospital, where she was cared for by the best medical professionals in the nation in the VIP ward.
It was like something out of a dream.
When asked why she did all this, Sharon said it was all Adrian's orders.
Such an operation made Rachael finally have a change of heart.
'Did you remember everything I told you?'
Rachael recalled that she seemed to have told Adrian her problems while they were drinking together.
At that time, she suspected he was preoccupied with his own thoughts and wasn't actually listening to her, but now it looks like he heard everything and never forgot about it.
Speaking of last night, Rachael recalled something that Adrian had said to Charlotte in response to her inquiry about his change.
"Of course I would be, idiot. It was only yesterday night that I completed my assimilation with my character's traits."
The words he had spoken came back to Rachael like a flash of lightning, and she understood what was happening in an instant.
'Was it because of his character assimilation at that time?'
It was as if she had discovered the final, missing piece of the puzzle.
'I was wrong.'
Rachael realized this in her heart, and she felt guilty for misunderstanding Adrian.
However, at that very moment, her father and relatives, who got the news about Rachael having paid off all of her mother's bills and even provided her with luxurious facilities, began calling, messaging, and emotionally blackmailing her.
Like hungry wolves who saw a fat sheep, they wanted to take advantage of the fact that Rachael seemed to have suddenly gotten a lot of money.
But to these people, who had brutally rejected her when she had asked for help from them, Rachael rejected them without hesitation.
This rejection came as a face slap to these people.
Furious, they soon started to threaten her in various ways.
'Is this why you let Sharon protect me? Have you foreseen all of this?
At that moment, Rachael realized why she was assigned a bodyguard, and her heart beat quickened at this amount of care.
' But what if these people went to do something to my mother?'
Rachael tensed up when the possibility of such a situation appeared in her heart.
Thankfully, Sharon assured her that the hospital's security was very strict and would not permit anyone to meet her mother without Rachael's permission.
In that moment, Rachel was truly grateful to Sharon and Adrian.
It was also then that, albeit a bit reluctantly, but she truly accepted her new identity as Adrian's secretary and agreed to stay here at her own will.
At least until she had repaid him for everything he had done, and settled the account of what he had done to her, even if it was just a sorry from him, Rachael decided to stay here.
"To be honest, this life isn't actually that bad. I have no tension about having to pay rent, cook food, or pay bills. No one's there to scold me, accuse me, or curse me for something that I didn't even do... The bed's also comfortable."
Despite her joy, tears came unconsciously to her eyes as she recalled her sufferings and was then suddenly overcome with gratitude towards Adrian.
To be honest, Rachael doesn't even remember what Adrian did to her.
Everything happened when she wasn't even awake, and coupled with all these attacks of his that hit her deeply, Rachael's heart was unable to remain angry with him anymore.
Knock! Knock!
"Rachael, the Young Master has arrived, come down for the dinner after getting fresh."
When Rachael suddenly heard Sharon's words that came from outside her room, she was startled awake, and her heart began to race.
The moment she had been trying to delay all along had finally come.
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"In the canvas of life, sometimes misunderstandings weave the threads of fate, intertwining seemingly chaotic events into a symphony of purpose, revealing that sometimes things happen for the greater good, even when we fail to grasp their deeper meaning."
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[A/N: Shout out to "chro" for the Inspiration Capsules and "Mehedi_Hasan_3032" for the cola.]
[There will be a bonus chapter soon in a few hours. Thanks to "TWISTEK" for sponsoring.]
Thanks a lot, guys, your support means a lot to me.