*****‘She still hasn’t forgotten!’ Master Tush and his venomous wife thought simultaneously, a sense of dread twisting in their chests like a coiling serpent.“Young mis—” Master Tush attempted to interject and speak for his wife, but a single, cutting glance from Lyria froze the words in his throat.Then her frosty gaze shifted back and locked onto Madam Tush with an intensity that could shatter bone.Madam Tush’s throat constricted, and she swallowed hard, her mind churning feverishly like a machine on overdrive.Of course, she was well aware of her husband’s deep-seated loathing for this particular woman… Lyria. But her own contempt was no less intense.Still, she wasn’t stupid.From the moment her husband revealed the frightening power behind Lyria’s family… how its patriarch, who controls the entire herb conglomerate, dotes on and spoils her, Madam Tush understood one thing clearly: Lyria was not someone she dared to be rude to, otherwise, both she and her husband might n

*****Pak!An unexpected loud, resounding slap echoed through the emporium like a thunderclap.In the next second, Madam Tush’s head snapped to the side, her cheek instantly inflaming with a hand-shaped welt.She staggered back twice, then a thunderstruck expression appeared on her face as she gasped.Silence fell once again, dead, unbreathable, and suffocating.Everyone froze.No one could process what had just happened.Lyria, on the other hand, stood tall, her hand still raised, her expression now one of righteous fury.“Watch your tongue,” she hissed, her voice trembling not from fear, but from restrained rage.“You dare speak that way to him?” she continued, her eyes burning into Madam Tush like molten gold. “If I hear one more disrespectful word out of your mouth to the master, I promise you that I’ll personally make sure you can’t speak again.”“You dare speak that way to him?” she continued, her eyes burning into Madam Tush like molten gold. “If I hear one more disr

*****Standing at the threshold of the chaotic store with shattered walls and ruins, Sage Myron, the prominent and respectful elderly man of the herbal world, radiated pure fury.A crushing spiritual force and rage surged from his body, flooding the shop like a suffocating tide. The once-elegant and luxurious space, now desecrated by the ruins from the shattered walls, trembled under his wrath.His piercing and thunderous eyes continued sweeping through the store. Seeing how disorganized it was, his jaw clenched so tightly that the veins along his temples bulged with suppressed rage.This was his family domain… the catch cow and major source of income for his family.It was a place he treasured with everything he owned, and now… it had been turned into a den of vipers.He had poured decades of prestige, influence, and reputation into this establishment. For it to be reduced to a lawless playground for degenerates was nothing short of blasphemy.On the other side of the huge roo

***** “The young mistress refused to let us act! She protected the criminal who had robbed your store, defiled your honored family name, and tried to shatter the place, like he was some sacred treasure!” A moment of silence stretched taut like a drawn bowstring within the room. For the first time, a furrow creased Sage Myron’s usually implacable face. His eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded Madam Tush with a cool, probing gaze. “You say you were badly injured? That multiple bones were broken?” he asked quietly. As soon as the words left his lips, Madam Tush’s heart skipped a beat, and then her pupils dilated. Cold sweat also bloomed across her forehead. ‘Did he see through my lies?!’ she panicked, the edges of her lips twitching despite her best efforts to remain composed. But then she shook her head mentally, steeling her resolve behind a mask of pitiful sincerity. He couldn’t have. No one could prove otherwise… “That’s exactly the case, sir,” she replied wit

*****‘He... he bowed? Sage Myron just bowed to someone of his grandchild’s age?!’The horrified thought echoed like a shrieking alarm in the minds of every witness.Their hearts pounded violently against their ribcages, thudding with a ferocity that threatened to burst out of their chests.At long last, they were beginning to understand—though unwillingly and with mounting terror—the dreadful truth.Xavier… the so-called nobody they had ridiculed, falsely accused, and gleefully prepared to torture… wasn’t just someone of importance. He was something else entirely, an existence far beyond anything their limited minds could have ever comprehended.In an instant, their faces became drained of all color, turning ghostly pale. A cold, paralyzing dread clutched them like an icy hand, freezing their bodies and minds alike.One by one, Master Tush, the venomous Madam Tush, their brutish guards, and Vidor’s lackey shifted their gazes toward Xavier, their expressions stiff with horror.