Chapter 1

If it weren't for my long-standing relationship with Esther Howard, I wouldn't even have made that call to her at all. After all, the fact that her brother, Eugene Howard, was forced to eat only instant cup noodles at the entrance was reason enough for me to destroy him completely.

"Nicholas Warner! Do you think you're ever going to get any other clients with your emotional intelligence? Do you even know who I'm with right now? How dare you call me at this moment!" Esther replied to me impatiently on the phone.

"I've already transferred 50 bucks to you as your tip. Now quit bothering me!"

She then hung up without even waiting for me to reply. It hadn't even been 24 hours since we last met, and she had already suddenly had a 180-degree change of attitude toward me.

The 50-dollar "tip" pierced into my eyes.

While it was true that I hadn't told her about my true identity, I used to always spend lavishly on her, and I didn't think that I deserved to be humiliated like this.

When Eugene saw that I'd gotten rejected by Esther, he laughed so hard that he almost fell over.

"Really? A ten-billion-dollar wedding gift in cash? Who did you think you were, the Prince of Cantonia? How the hell do you even satisfy your sugar mommies with how stupid you are? Don't tell me that all the money you'd been spending on Esther was from personal loans or something."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

I'd endured my grandpa's severe punishment back home in Cantonia after informing him that I wished to marry Esther, and now, everyone there was waiting for me to bring her home as my wife. If I were to return empty-handed like this, Grandpa would be both ashamed and furious with me.

I didn't want to continue talking to Eugene anymore, so I turned and walked straight toward the door, intending to talk to Esther face to face and set the record straight.

However, I'd only taken two steps when Eugene splashed the hot soup from the instant cup noodles at me. I'd been specially trained since I was young and efficiently avoided his attack, and all of the soup ended up with a loud splash on the carpet instead.

Eugene got so mad that he began yelling at me.

"Nicholas Warner! Don't you ever read the news? Didn't you know that the Prince of Cantonia is going to propose to Esther today? What the hell do you think a gigolo like you is doing here? Be their wingman or something?

"The Prince himself gifted this carpet to us, and it's worth more than you can ever make selling your ass! Now pay for the compensation and get out of this place!"

I thought I'd heard him wrongly at first.

"You're the one who ruined the carpet. What's that even got to do with me? There's a camera at the hotel entrance. Did you really think you could cheat me out of that money?"

Eugene scoffed and gave me a disdainful look.

"I am the Warner family's brother-in-law! So what if I'm trying to take your money? I can't even think what was going on in my dad's head when he agreed to let Esther marry a lowlife gigolo like you.

"If her fiance never told her that you were a gigolo after all, she'd probably still have been deceived by you!"

I stopped in my footsteps. Did Esther and Eugene seriously think that I got all my money from working as a gigolo?

The heir of the great and mighty Warner family of Cantonia, working as a gigolo?

How ridiculous.

"You know that the Warner family had strict vetting procedures for their partners, right? Aren't you the least bit afraid of losing the Warner family's support by spouting such nonsense?"

Eugene became even more arrogant and yelled at me, "Who the hell do you think you are? You don't know anything about the Warner family's vetting procedures anyway!"

I laughed in anger.

"Sure, I don't know anything about it. Then who would?" I asked. "That swindler who lied to both you and Esther"

I'd only just finished speaking when loud laughter erupted around me.

"That's the gigolo who's been harassing Ms. Howard, isn't he? He's such an arrogant brat, thinking he's all that."

"Ms. Howard is the fiancee of the Warner family's illegitimate son. How could this gigolo even dare to harass her like this? Doesn't he know that the Warners are so powerful that they could just easily kill him with just a snap of his finger, even if just from the illegitimate son?"

"I bet he only gave the couple a wedding gift worth less than 100 bucks. But Mr. Howard has already been kind enough to give him cup noodles at the entrance. How could that gigolo still act so ungrateful to them? His greed is only going to ruin him one day!"

When Eugene saw that I wasn't backing down, he got even more aggressive and yelled at me. "I'm warning you, Nicholas Warner, if you still want to continue working in Geronton, then you'd better drop to your knees and beg me for forgiveness immediately!

"If not, don't blame me for ruining your life!"

My face darkened.

"Why don't you go in and enjoy the food for now?" I asked.

Eugene stared at me in confusion. I continued, "This is going to be the very last time you and the Howard family are ever going to eat at a five-star hotel anyway."

"You're asking for it this time!" Eugene spat, gritting his teeth as he grabbed a jug of punch, meaning to bash me in the head with it.

A pair of slender arms stopped him just then.

"Stop that!"