*****He had brought the scheme he had been cooking for years forward, all for what… Mason’s future and that of his descendants.Everything he had done… every single thing had been for them, yet the very first time true danger appeared…They didn’t hesitate even for a second. They had thrown him out like trash.Meanwhile, Grace and her parents… the three people he had always treated worse than enemies…The three he had tormented for years… because they weren’t his blood, whom he had deprived of their right, punished unjustly, and repeatedly allowed his own descendants to take what belonged to them, had never once dared to meet his gaze with open defiance.Never once had they tried to use him as a scapegoat, let alone screamed accusations at himBut these… these spoiled, greedy descendants he had protected like treasures, didn’t even hesitate a bit to point at him like he was a criminal.Realizing this, the elderly patriarch’s eyes slowly reddened, a bitter, suffocating emotion

*****Still inside the Oriens Patriarch’s mansion… within the enormous hall that was usually brimming with power, pride, and the arrogant confidence of a family that believed itself untouchable, an eerie stillness had taken over.It was silent, but not the ordinary, harmless kind.No.This silence was suffocating, hanging in the air like a thick, invisible fog, while pressing down on everyone in the room until even breathing felt like a difficult task.The hall itself was vast… large enough to host dozens of guests comfortably, but at this moment it felt oppressively clustered, as if the walls had begun creeping inward, slowly squeezing the occupants like prey trapped in a tightening cage.The atmosphere was so heavy that it almost seemed alive, and for what felt like an eternity, no one moved, blinked, or even inhaled too loudly.The elderly patriarch, who only moments ago had been betrayed and shamelessly pushed under the bus by the very descendants he had spent decades prote

*****“No… no… that’s…” Mason muttered under his breath, but the words refused to come together.His brain simply… refused to cooperate.Then, all at once, a crushing wave of heat surged through him.It felt as though someone had dumped an entire bucket of ice water over his head… except the “water” was sweat.Within seconds, his clothes clung to his skin, soaked from collar to waist. Beads of perspiration rolled down his temples, his back, his neck.His breathing turned ragged, and his vision blurred, the letters on the screen twisting and doubling, the text swimming before his eyes like mocking phantoms.Account Restricted.Account Restricted.Account Restricted.It echoed in his mind like a death sentence, repeating on an unending loop, when suddenly;“Son…” a voice echoed from the distant, seemingly muted, and sounding as if it were coming from the far end of a tunnel.Just at that moment, Mason’s knees buckled, strength draining from his body so quickly that it was al

*****The old retainer did not answer the patriarch’s question or show even the slightest intention of speaking.It wasn’t defiance, nor was it stubborn silence.Instead, the truth was far more pitiful… he simply didn’t know what to say.Every possible response felt like a blade poised over his master’s throat, and no matter how he tried to phrase it in his mind, the outcome remained the same.So he remained there, his head lowered, his shoulders tense, and his lips pressed tightly together as though a single word might shatter the fragile calm holding the room together.However, that silence… that heavy, suffocating lack of response, was already enough of an answer.As soon as the implication settled in his mind, the old patriarch staggered, and for a brief moment, it truly seemed as though he might collapse right then and there.His body swayed, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him as the full weight of the situation came crashing down on his shoulders.But just then

*****The Orien Patriarch knew well that this wasn’t merely an attack on his Orien family… no.This was something far crueler and worse.Whoever had orchestrated this didn’t just want to destroy them. They wanted to break them first… slowly, methodically, and until nothing remained but despair.It was a carefully designed cage meant to suffocate them, and worst of all…The patriarch understood the intention behind it.This wasn’t just punishment; it was revenge.They were being forced to experience, piece by piece, the same helpless desperation they had once inflicted upon Grace… only magnified several times over.That realization tightened around his chest like an iron vice, until;“Huff…”Another weary sigh escaped him, then the old patriarch slowly turned back toward the loyal retainer, clearly preparing to speak again.But just as his mouth opened…BANG!The door burst open violently again, the deafening crash echoing through the room like a gunshot, startling everyon