*****The Blackwoods were understandable. Their motives were practically written in bold letter, but the Greystones… their involvement didn’t align cleanly with anything he knew.He replayed possibilities, motives, and hidden intentions, but nothing clicked, and for someone like Xavier, that was mildly irritating.After a few seconds, he gave up.‘No point racking my brain over something I can’t deduce,’ he decided calmly, lazily dismissing the thought as easily as he would brush dust off his sleeve.With that, his gaze shifted back to the television.It was on break.Right now, a loud, cheerful advertisement played across the screen, completely out of place against the emotional turmoil filling the room. The contrast felt almost jarring.A smiling family happily drinking juice, a man laughing over discounted furniture, and someone shouting about limited-time offers like the world hadn’t just tilted off its axis.It was completely absurd, and then…The break ended.A second

*****At this moment, the four Oriens…The once untouchable patriarch, his equally scheming son, and the two treasured, endlessly pampered, and domineering grandchildren…Were all in handcuffs.That’s right.Cold, metallic handcuffs clamped tightly around their wrists like a brutal declaration that whatever power they once flaunted had been mercilessly stripped from them.The only one spared was Nico’s wife, while the other four…Witnessing this scene from Villa Number One's huge living room, Grace and her parents genuinely questioned their own eyesight for a moment.It felt like one of those absurd dreams where reality bends so far it snaps, except this time… no matter how hard they blinked, nothing corrected itself.Ever since they knew the Oriens’ patriarch… the imposter who had once been in control of the Sky family under the guise of righteousness, he had always been a figure of cold authority: distant, calculating, and intimidating.Every word he spoke had carried weig

*****Still in the living room.The reporter was still busy tirelessly broadcasting the events of the day, her voice steady as the scene kept alternating between her composed face and short clips of everything that had happened.She reported one explosive headline after another… news that under normal circumstances would have held anyone captive, but at this moment?Not a single person in the living room was paying attention.If anything, every single person present looked like their soul and spirit had quietly packed up and vacated their bodies, leaving behind nothing but empty, motionless shells.It wasn’t even an exaggeration at all. Right now, if a random person walked into the room, they would genuinely assume they had stumbled into a room filled with humanoid statues… perfectly sculpted, eerily realistic, and completely unmoving.No one moved or blinked. Even breathing felt… restrained.This was especially true for Grace, Susan, and Williams.The three of them had lived

*****Without hesitation, Little Lola lifted her small head further and looked up at Susan, expecting to see clear pain… maybe even tears or a wince, but instead…‘Huh?’Her mouth opened slightly, a soft, adorable look of confusion spreading across her face as her thoughts stalled for a moment, then...‘Why is she grinning?’Her gaze dropped instinctively to Susan’s arm, focusing on the crimson mark left behind by the pinch.To her, it looked ve ry painful, and although it wasn’t her arm, she could almost feel the sting just by looking at it.Then slowly, she lifted her gaze again, returning to Susan’s face.She was still smiling. No… grinning.And it wasn’t just a small one, but instead, a very wide grin.In the next second, Little Lola felt as though something in her tiny understanding of the world had just cracked slightly.‘Is pinching oneself not painful?’ she wondered, her face turning incredibly serious, as though she had just stumbled upon a scientific mystery that

*****At best, the first-rank families would allow their family members to borrow influence… to leverage the family name to achieve something on their own, but outright backing and public endorsement? That was rare to the point of being almost nonexistent.And yet…Not one or two.Four first-rank families had stepped forward, supporting his daughter so openly and almost eagerly that it felt as though they were seeking her approval and favor.Williams’ thoughts became chaotic, one crashing into the next as he tried to make sense of it all, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing aligned.Nothing made sense or followed the rules he had known all his life.But despite that…There was one thing he couldn’t deny.The joy.It rose within him quietly at first, then stronger and fuller, until it filled his chest completely, pushing everything else aside.No matter how confusing it was or unbelievable it seemed…This was real.Four of those untouchable existences… openly supporti