*****The man she loved now stood so high above her to the extent that her family was willing to chain themselves to him forever.Even without soul-bound slavery, she already knew the truth.She had lost him forever.In fact, even dreaming of him now felt nothing but blasphemousThey were no longer standing on the same ground… and that’s if they had ever been on the same ground before.As for the gap between them… it wasn’t just a step or a chasm again. It was heaven and earth, a realization that crushed her, hollowing her chest and leaving a pain so sharp that she nearly staggered when she stood.Before Cassandra even realized it, her fingers trembled frantically, her lips pressing into a thin line.Tears threatened to fall from her eyes… but she swallowed them down viciously as hard as she could, forcing herself to act strong even though she wasn’t.‘So this is what it feels like,’ she thought bitterly to herself. ‘To want something you were never meant to touch.’Yet still… she fol

*****Reginald, hearing what his father had just said, couldn’t help but blink, still unable to recover from his recent revelation.But then his eyes lit up, processing what his father had just said.In the following second, his earlier confusion and frustration vanished completely as though they had never been there in the first place, replaced by excitement so sharp that it made his blood hum.Then a wide grin spread across his face, the kind that only appeared when something big… very big was about to happen.“Right away, Father,” he responded eagerly and then pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, only to freeze for a second when the screen lit up.569 missed calls, and about a hundred messages stared back at himIt took a moment for Reginald to react, then he let out a bitter chuckle, already knowing where the calls and messages came from even before checking.And just as he had expected, most of the calls were from the headquarters… his secretaries, siblings, the dep

*****At that moment, seated firmly in the driver’s seat, the Prime Minister couldn’t help but be utterly struck speechless.His vehicle hadn’t merely been intercepted… it had been perfectly boxed in, blocked at the front, the rear, and the flanks.Every possible escape route had been sealed with brutal precision, showing that whoever had orchestrated this hadn’t come to intimidate.They had come prepared, confident, and disturbingly thorough.And the Prime Minister himself… for a brief second, he could only gape at his surroundings in a daze.Then, finally, reality crashed down on him.However, who was he?He wasn’t some sheltered official who had clawed his way to power through paperwork and speeches alone.He was Riverton City’s Prime Minister… seasoned, sharp, and battle-hardened in ways the public would never imagine.While his rank might not compare to even one percent of a monster like Xavier, within Riverton City, he was far from weak… very far, in fact.So, the mom

*****Apart from the five direct subordinates, there were about twenty of the State’s Special Force… twenty of whom had once saluted and had once sworn loyalty to the state… and by extension, to him.Yet, at this very moment, every single one of them appears as though they were facing a terrifying enemy rather than the man who led their state and someone they serve.Their auras were fully unleashed, appearing extremely oppressive and heavy, even forming an invisible cage around the Prime Minister’s car.And around them, the world finally responded.Civilians screamed, shop shutters slammed shut, and people scattered in every direction, panic spreading like wildfire.But the Prime Minister didn’t spare them even the slightest glance.How could he even notice something like that now, when the very people meant to be loyal toward him and protect him were now pointing guns at him?Wait, could this even still be called betrayal again?If it could, then this was probably the highes

*****Back inside the car, something in the Prime Minister’s brain couldn’t help but finally give up… his brain seemingly short-circuiting.He stared through the tinted glass like a lifeless statue, watching his most trusted aides snatching a voice transmitter from each other as though it were some sacred relic, all of them shouting apologies, reassurances, bargains, and barely restrained threats toward the thin air.No, they shouted all those toward an enemy that didn’t exist… an enemy that apparently only existed in their minds.The absurdity was so intense that it felt physical.And like so, the scene dragged on for what felt like an eternity until, finally, the Prime Minister blinked.Then…“What…” he muttered hoarsely to himself, his eyes blank. “What are they talking about?”His voice was barely audible and heavily thick with disbelief, sounding like that of a man waking up mid-surgery without anesthesia.Then, unable to help himself, he shook his head forcefully, hopin