เข้าสู่ระบบ"Right away. I'll handle it immediately." Stanley moved to organize people and start clearing the courtyard.The figures Oscar had brought dispersed on their own. They had come for the engagement party.The engagement was cancelled and there was no reason left to stay.But as they filed out, one of them pulled Stanley aside with a careful, quiet question. "Mr. Draxler, what happens to their family after today?"They had their eyes on their holdings. Stanley had reined them in before. Now they couldn't read Oscar's intentions.Stanley smiled faintly. "What happens? Isn't it obvious? Do you think what I did to them today was excessive?"Without a doubt. Everyone in Silverton knows that Amara's reputation is everything to her. The family name, the group name, that's her lifeblood. What you did today took half of it."And in all of that, did our Archon say a single word to stop me?"The man's eyes sharpened immediately. "You're saying he's completely washed his hands of the family?
The exaggerated display landed perfectly, and the crowd erupted. Voices overlapped from every direction."Break it off! Break it off!""He's right. You can't be careless about who you marry. Ordinary people can afford to settle for a dull wife, but Mr. Draxler's family has a legacy to carry forward. You can't bring that kind of woman into it.""The biggest joke of the year is the Chamberlain women driving away the Draconox Archon. Ha! Does she think she outranks him?""Apparently she does. She's the one who threw him out."The laughter that followed was loud and unrestrained.Amara finally broke. A mouthful of blood spilled from her lips. Her mind had absorbed more than it could bear in a single day."Amara!" Her sisters rushed forward to support her."Spare me the act. You'll have people thinking I'm out here bullying a helpless woman." Stanley let out a short, cold laugh and tossed a document at her feet. "Still breathing? Good. Sign it. Once you do, we're done with each othe
Amara's mind went blank, a shrill ringing filling the void."Why did she get engaged to Mr. Draxler in the first place?""What else? The consortium had the Chamberlain Group building seized. If she hadn't announced her relationship with Stanley, do you think they'd still be living in that villa today? They would have been thrown out long ago.""And now she's demanding an explanation for why he's backing out. If anything, Mr. Draxler should be asking why she agreed to the engagement in the first place.""I see those sisters clearly now. A bunch of opportunists chasing power and glory. Small people with oversized ambitions.""They've dragged the Chamberlain name through the mud."The voices came from every direction, crashing over her in waves. Each word struck like a blow to the head, scattering every coherent thought she had."I... Of course I know." The words escaped on instinct.Amara bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood, and the sharp sting pulled her back to hersel
Stanley was no distant abstraction. He was the Draconox envoy to Silverton. The people of this city would be working under him for years to come."Feelings arrive without warning and run deep. They leave the same way. I've stopped wanting you. Naturally, that means the engagement is over." Stanley delivered the words without the slightest sign of discomfort.The sisters were not prepared to accept them."What a load of garbage. The Draconox Order's envoy? You're just afraid of Oscar's name. You're doing this on purpose to humiliate us. Everyone in Draconox is rotten. Every last one of you, from top to bottom."Hilda's outburst drew visible displeasure from several people nearby.Stanley had broken off the engagement at his own engagement party. That was his failure. But it was his failure alone. What did it have to do with Draconox?Amara had seen this coming. "Hilda, watch your words."Compared to her sisters, she was the calmest in the face of Stanley's rejection. "You told me
Oscar's face darkened. Arthur's body was gone. In its place lay a wax figure, crafted and styled to match him exactly."Damn it." He slammed his fist into the side of the coffin.His first instinct was to go straight to Amara. Using something this despicable to stop him from paying his respects was exactly the kind of thing he could imagine her doing.But he stopped at the door. Several lilies rested atop the coffin, their petals still fresh. Someone had come earlier that day to pay their respects. If Amara had wanted to replace the body, she wouldn't have come here first to leave flowers."And when I arrived today, she didn't even know who I was. If she wanted to stop me from coming in here, she could have refused me at the door. She had no reason to do any of this."Oscar returned to the coffin and examined its position in the room. This was the Chamberlain family hall. Everything had a designated place. Nothing was moved without reason.A closer look revealed that the coffin h
But those eyes were closed, and they would never answer him.Oscar recognized the foolishness of the question and pulled over a chair. He wanted to sit with Arthur a little longer.This farewell felt final. There would likely never be another visit after this one.He turned to sit, but something caught the edge of his vision. He stopped, turned back, and looked into the coffin. His gaze settled on Arthur's left hand.Arthur lay with both hands folded across his abdomen, just as he had always been arranged. But one finger had split open, and that was wrong.Oscar had overseen the preservation himself. He had hired the finest specialists available, both at home and abroad. According to them, Arthur's body could survive the apocalypse without a scratch.Yet here, only a few years later, the skin had cracked.His first thought was that the specialists had cut corners. Recently, while spending time with Rebecca, he had watched a series of short videos about industries with no repeat
"Fine. You can protect it now. Let's see how long you last." Wyatt ordered, "Move on to the next one!"The excavator swung around and turned toward another grave: Calvin's."Start digging!" Wyatt barked. "Let them see what happens when you miss the relocation deadline. Not even your family is safe
Oscar looked at them both.George and Helena were honest people to the core. They had taken him in because he seemed to need it. Now that they knew what he was, their first instinct was to worry about the gap between them, about becoming a burden."I want you both to come because of something self
Helena reached over and took Oscar's hand. She had long since stopped thinking of him as anything other than family. "You could have asked Becca to come tell us. You didn't need to make the trip yourself. How are you feeling? Any better?""The neighbor's daughter-in-law told me this kind of illness
Oscar followed Rebecca out of the room. They took the same bicycles they had ridden the day before, only this time Rebecca rode in front while Oscar sat behind her."Bro, how are you so light? I think you weigh less than Melanie, and we make fun of her for being heavy. She's barely over 110 pounds.







