William returned to the tenth floor after all the plates had been cleared, walking in a way different from the first time he had entered this room—lighter, with something on his face that couldn't be fully hidden behind the professionalism that had been his way of moving through this place for years."Thank you for visiting Maison Delvaux tonight, Doctor Voss." His tone was warm, without the layer that was usually there. "It's truly been an honor. I—all of us—feel privileged."Caelan rose from his chair, smoothing the front of his jacket."I'm the one who should be thanking you, William. Your service was exceptional—you and your team." A pause. "This was a truly perfect dinner."William bowed once, in a way that was completely sincere.Then Caelan reached into his inner pocket.A black card."Cover the full bill for tonight." Caelan placed it on the table. "And take one million dollars for you and everyone here."A brief silence.William looked at the card, then at Caelan, with an exp

The Presidential Suite door opened.From inside, the sound of the TV greeted him. And it was a sound unmistakable to anyone who had heard it before: fight sound effects, clashing metal, heavy breathing, a score that knew exactly how to make a heartbeat rise along with it.Rex sat on the sofa with an upright posture, leaning slightly forward, both hands on his knees, with an expression on that small face far removed from what a four-year-old's expression should look like.He didn't turn when the door opened.Caelan closed the door behind him, took off his jacket, and hung it on the hook near the entrance. Then walked to the sofa, sat beside Rex, and looked at the screen.On the screen, two figures moved in a fight that surpassed every limit of what a human body should be able to do—but that was what animation was for, to bring the impossible into moving images.The protagonist and the villain stood facing each other above ruins that had lost all their original shape, under a sky alread

The Hale family home hadn't changed from the outside.The same gate, the same garden, the same facade—everything exactly as it existed in Caelan's memory from the last time he had stood here. But the way Caelan saw it now was already very different from how he had seen it then.The last time he came here, there was still something remaining in his chest. A small, thin hope that refused to die even when it was already clear there was no fertile ground for it in this place.About a month ago, he had just walked out of prison.Four years inside, and during those four years there was only one reason that had allowed him to choose patience—Serena. Serena's career as an actress and singer had been built over many years. She had a big name and a bright future.One scandal could destroy all of that, and Caelan knew it, so he had chosen to be the suspect in an accident Serena had caused—to make sure the name of the person he loved wasn't tarnished.Four years.And time that should have been sp

Caelan returned to Aurelian.The day moved like the days before it—patients came in one by one, each bringing their complaint, each leaving in a different condition from when they had walked in.Some came with exhausted faces after years of going from doctor to doctor with no results, some came with wrong diagnoses from other places, some came because they had nowhere else to go.All of them went home healed.At eleven at night, Caelan turned off the lights in his room.---Dinner that evening was a little different.Layla brought the trolley as usual, but this time she didn't rush to leave. Caelan invited her to sit, and Layla accepted in the way of someone who no longer needed much convincing to do it.They ate as three—Caelan, Layla, and Rex sitting on the other side of the table with his milk carton and the expression of someone very pleased with the development unfolding in front of him.The conversation flowed without a plan—from small things, to things a little larger, to laugh

The same man who had taken the mysterious black sword from the Sterne Family's hands, the one their Supreme Leader had ordered them not to pick a fight with.Of course, that was because he had a mysterious toddler at his side.And that toddler had walked into this room with him.In the center section, three figures in soft green robes—a color fitting the name of the sect wearing them. The Pure Jade Sect's robes carried no heavy ornamentation, only thin lines like jade cracks running along the fabric's edges, with buttons of a material that was clearly no ordinary metal.Two men around their forties with postures that were patterned—trained to appear neutral, and managing it—and one woman in her thirties whose eyes when they looked at something showed that neutral for her wasn't the product of training but simply how she was.And on the side closest to the entrance—two figures from the Sacred Sword Sect.The first was a woman with long black hair that fell loose in the way of hair care