"You disgusting mute!""We put a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and you go running off to some prostitute! Neve Ashford must've been blind to fall for you. You actually went out and cheated on her!"A loud crack split the air as a sharp slap landed across Cassian Reed's face. The stinging pain jolted his consciousness back into focus, dragging him up from the depths of confusion.Hadn't his soul been destroyed? So why did his cheek burn, and why did the pain feel so terribly real?This was Earth, a thousand years in the past. He'd been reborn.The moment Cassian opened his eyes, shock rippled through him, cold and absolute.He had once been a husband who married into her family, enduring eight years of humiliation on Earth before being cast out of the Ashford family. For two years after that, he'd wandered, homeless and despised. Everyone thought him a mute, a waste of space, human garbage.Yet no matter how the world cursed him, trampled him, humiliated him, Cassian had b

"You worthless piece of trash. Even as a mute, you couldn't stay out of trouble. How did my cousin go so blind as to let a bastard like you marry into the Ashford family?"The girl wrapped in the towel nodded vigorously, pointing at Cassian Reed as she spoke. "It was him. He contacted the madam and paid top dollar for us to come. I never thought things would turn out like this. I'm so sorry, miss. Here's a thousand dollars. I'll give it back to you. Please, just let me go."The girl's accusation sent a flash of triumphant satisfaction through Bernice Grady and Damon Grady's eyes.Neve Ashford glanced at the girl, then turned her gaze back to Cassian. Her expression had frozen into something utterly glacial.An indescribable emotion surged up from the depths of her chest. The moment she raised her head and looked again at that innocent face of his, a wave of revulsion washed over her.Cassian felt the full force of Neve's fury. She believed it. She actually believed them.And how could

Dark clouds hung low over the city.Meanwhile, Damon Grady's face was swollen and bruised, his injuries freshly bandaged, but his mood was far worse than his appearance. He hid in a corner downstairs, scanning left and right for any sign of that maniac. Satisfied the coast was clear, he fumbled for his phone and dialed. After several rings, someone finally picked up."Is the Gould heir available? This is Damon calling!""Speak," came the low, icy voice from the other end.Damon recognized the voice immediately, and despite the sharp pain shooting through his face, he pressed the phone tightly against his ear and hurried to explain, "Young Master, the plan failed. The mute is a lot tougher than we expected, and even with all of us fighting together, we couldn't take him down."Silence stretched across the line for several seconds, leaving Damon's heart pounding as he waited nervously for a response, too afraid to say another word."Where is he?"Damon hesitated, caught off guard by the

"Hey, miss, are you listening?" Cassian Reed glanced over and noticed Rosalie Calloway staring at him, so he flashed a faintly amused smile and added, "I know I'm handsome, but there's no need to stare at me like that. You said your car was here, so where is it? Can we hurry this up? Time is money, miss."Rosalie's pretty face flushed crimson as she lowered her gaze and answered in a voice barely above a whisper, "It's on the second level, over there."Cassian sighed. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on with this girl, but given Rosalie's current state, he couldn't just leave her hanging. If you're going to help someone, you might as well see it through to the end.Following Rosalie's directions, he retrieved an Aurelian from the underground parking garage. Cassian hadn't driven in ages. He spent several minutes in the garage fumbling around, groping at the controls, and nearly stomping the gas pedal instead of the brake. It took a while before muscle memory gradually surfaced.

Rosalie Calloway, despite being a stunning beauty, let out a scream utterly devoid of composure. It was the kind of shriek that made listeners' hearts clench and brought tears to their eyes. Her face drained of all color as she flailed wildly in her seat, panic consuming her entirely.The car lurched violently, shaking as though it might tear itself apart at any second."Hahaha! If you're scared, scream louder!" Cassian Reed didn't seem bothered in the slightest. A grin spread across his face, barely masking the edge of madness flickering beneath it. If someone could fast forward a thousand years and ask those who knew him what made Cassian most dangerous, they would answer without hesitation, in unison: his madness.Only madness was truly impossible to suppress.When Cassian had walked the path of cultivation, it was that very insanity, that reckless edge no one else possessed, that had carried him forward. But as his cultivation level rose and his concerns multiplied, he had buried