*****Silas was too stunned at this moment that time itself seemed to stretch unnaturally, as though the world had slowed down just to mock him.For what felt like an eternity… though it was only a few seconds, his mind went completely blank.His thoughts, which had been racing so confidently just moments ago, now collapsed into absolute silence. It was as though someone had taken everything inside his head… and simply erased it.Then, almost abruptly… he turned around, his movements stiff and almost mechanical, his gaze snapping toward Xavier.His heart, which had been steady before, began to pound violently against his ribs, each beat louder than the last, echoing in his ears like a war drum.“Sir… are you… Do you mean that was the car you… you brought me here to see?” he stammered, his voice breaking awkwardly, completely losing its earlier composure. “The… the one you were gifted?”He sounded like a broken machine struggling to function.At that moment, Silas’s heart was p

*****Still standing in the underground parking lot, Silas was so utterly stunned at this moment that he didn’t even realize his mouth had already fallen wide open, his jaw practically hanging as though gravity itself had betrayed him.For a long, stretched-out moment that felt like an eternity, he remained frozen in place… unable to move or blink, and, most alarmingly, unable to remember how breathing worked.His thoughts didn’t flow; they echoed, repeating themselves over and over again in his mind like the tolling of a relentless bell.‘An A-rank fighter.’The words reverberated endlessly, each repetition hitting harder than the last.Yes, Silas had already suspected as much at the hotel earlier.The signs had been there… clear, glaring, and practically screaming at him.The master’s deliberate carefulness and the way he had spoken about Xavier with a strange, measured restraint, while treating his own family, a first-rank family, with sheer arrogance and disrespect.Then

*****Xavier didn’t react at all for a moment after hearing Silas, but then… his brows rose.It wasn’t intense or dramatic, but it was enough to make it clear that his attention had been genuinely drawn.He stared at Silas blankly for a moment, his expression unreadable, as though processing what he had just heard.Then he blinked slowly and raised his hand to point at Silas. “You… want to give me the three cars for free?” he asked, his tone calm but carrying a faint trace of confusion, as if he were trying to determine whether Silas had just made a joke… or lost his mind entirely.Silas didn’t hesitate even in the slightest.“That’s right, sir,” he said firmly, his answer immediate and almost too quick, as though he feared that even a fraction of delay might make Xavier reconsider accepting.Hearing this, Xavier’s brows furrowed slightly, his gaze sharpening as he looked at Silas with a quiet intensity that made the latter’s spine stiffen involuntarily.The look on his face d

*****Still, forcing himself forward… because at this point, stopping would only make things worse, Silas continued.“In reality,” he said, not allowing himself to pause again this time, afraid that if he did, he might completely lose the momentum he had built.“I am the second son of the Revercrest family… one of the five first-rank families in Riverton city, and my family has been assigned a mission to capture you by a weird man whom my family addresses as master.”The moment he said that, Silas made a decision.He didn’t look at Xavier’s face anymore, no… he couldn’t again.If anything, the moment he started, he kept going without holding anything back; after all, he had already made up his mind.Before he confirmed Xavier’s identity, he had planned to remain neutral, carefully observe, and stay on the fence until he fully understood what he was dealing with.That had always been his way… calculated, cautious, and patient.But now that he had joined a side, he knew he had

*****At this moment, Xavier… looking like someone who had absolutely no worries in the world, simply stared at Silas with a gaze so dull and unfocused that it almost seemed like he might fall asleep at any second.His eyelids hung low, his expression flat, his entire demeanor radiating a level of boredom that bordered on offensive.If anything, he looked less like a man who had just been handed explosive information and more like someone being forced to sit through a painfully dull show he had already watched a hundred times and feels boring each time.He showed tension, curiosity, or even the faintest flicker of interest… just that same lazy indifference, appearing as though nothing Silas had said held even the slightest significance.Silas had anticipated many things… shock, confusion, suspicion, or at the very least, a question.But after everything he had just revealed… after laying out schemes, dangers, and hidden enemies, he had never imagined that Xavier would not only r