Chapter 81: The Weight of the Top HundredDamian’s voice cracked through gritted teeth as he stared at Cassian like he was trying to peel back a layer of reality itself. The room had gone still, but it was not the gentle stillness of night or the quiet of a private residence after everyone had gone to sleep. It was the stillness before violence, the kind that gathered between two people when one had been pushed too close to the edge and the other remained so calm that it became almost insulting. Cassian had just called him weak. Not challenged him or doubted him, not said he still needed improvement, but looked directly at him with that composed face and told him he was still very weak.For Damian Harthwone, those words touched something deeper than pride. He had survived places where ordinary heirs would not last a single night. He had fought in deserts where men died without graves, in abandoned cities where every shadow carried a gun, in underground rings where rules only existed

Chapter 83: A Cure That Was Never ThereCassian continued before Damian could recover.His voice took on an almost instructive tone, calm and measured, like a teacher handing down advice nobody had asked for, yet every word was placed with enough precision that Damian had no space to interrupt. There was no mockery in Cassian’s expression now, unnecessary amusement, or careless provocation. He had already broken the challenge before it became a fight, and now he seemed more interested in correcting a dangerous mistake than humiliating the man standing before him. That made the words heavier, because Damian could feel that Cassian was not saying them to win an argument. He was saying them because he truly knew.“It’s only fair I give you one piece of advice,” Cassian said. “Free of charge.”Damian’s fingers curled slightly.He wanted to speak, but his throat felt tight. The poison was not something strangers should know. Even the word itself carried years of frustration, hidden treatm

Chapter 85: The PrescriptionReaching into his sleeve, Cassian pulled out a folded prescription.The motion was so casual that, for a brief second, Damian almost failed to react to it. After everything that had just happened, after the poison had been exposed and the hidden reason behind the marriage had been torn open in a few short sentences, something as ordinary as a folded piece of paper felt strangely out of place. Yet the moment Cassian’s fingers appeared from his sleeve, Damian’s eyes sharpened again, his body instinctively preparing in case it was a weapon, a talisman, a hidden needle, anything that could strike faster than thought. But Cassian did not attack. He simply flicked his wrist, and the folded prescription flew across the room with light precision before landing on the table between them.The paper slid once across the polished surface and stopped.“Take it,” Cassian said.Damian stared at the prescription without moving.Cassian’s voice stayed calm. “It will make

Chapter 87: His Brother Is BackThe following day, they arrived at the auction house together.The building stood tall at the center of a quieter business district, its glass front reflecting the pale morning light while polished black cars rolled up one after another before the entrance. It was not the kind of place that needed loud banners or exaggerated decorations to prove its value. Everything about it spoke in a lower voice, from the clean stone steps to the discreet security at the doors, from the attendants in matching uniforms to the guests who stepped out of their cars with the calm certainty of people used to entering places ordinary men only heard about afterward. The wealth here was restrained, but it was everywhere. In the watches hidden beneath sleeves, in the soft shine of tailored suits, in the brief nods exchanged between men whose businesses crossed in public and clashed in private, in the way even laughter was kept at a polite volume.Zora walked a step ahead, el

Chapter 89: RecognitionAs the commotion settled and the small crowd began drifting back toward the main hall, a new figure approached, drawing more than a few curious glances.The attention around Jackson and Damian had not disappeared completely, but it had loosened enough for the entrance of the auction house to regain its polished calm. Guests resumed their slow movement toward the hall, attendants guided people with professional smiles, and conversations returned in low voices, though a few eyes still lingered on the Harthwone brothers, Zora, and Cassian. In places like this, people rarely stared openly. They only looked through reflections, through half-turned faces, through the pauses between polite greetings. Everyone pretended not to notice trouble, but everyone remembered it.Then Miranda Ravencroft walked into that thin layer of attention.She wore a fitted outfit that balanced elegance with authority, the sort of style that did not beg to be admired but still made people