Return of the Legendary Cyber King

CH 1

Henry stood on the freezing front steps of the Humpton villa, holding a paper box tightly to his chest.

Inside were three warm almond twists from an old bakery across town. They were Rose’s favorite treat, the only food she could stomach when work stressed her out.

Henry had waited in line for two hours in the freezing snow just to bring them home fresh and warm.

For four years, Henry had lived in this house as a poor, live-in son-in-law, taking every cruel insult in silence. He had washed their floors, cooked their meals, and swallowed his pride every single day.

He gave up his dignity and his youth for this family. He truly believed that if he gave Rose his whole heart, his quiet care would melt her cold heart.

Henry pushed open the heavy front doors and walked into the warm hallway. Soft, sweet laughter came from the living room, sounding happier than anything Rose had ever given him.

He stopped at the doorway. Rose was sitting on the sofa in a green dress, leaning close to Brandon Thorne, the rich heir of Thorne Telecom. Or at least, that's who they all thought he was.

Between them on the table, a laptop glowed with the files of Humpton Tech’s core security system: the Aegis Core.

"Brandon, you saved my life," Rose said softly, looking at him with shining eyes. "Our servers stopped forty thousand hacker attacks this afternoon."

She rested her hand on Brandon’s arm. "If you hadn't stayed up all night to rewrite our code, my company would have gone bankrupt by morning."

Brandon smiled with a humble look, adjusting his gold watch. "Rose, please don't say that. Seeing you stressed breaks my heart. I only spent three nights fixing the code for you. As long as you are safe, my lack of sleep is nothing."

Henry stood frozen in the doorway, a cold pain stabbing his chest. Brandon had not written a single line of that code.

Henry was the one who had spent three days in the damp basement with a burning fever, coughing until his chest ached just to fix that dangerous leak. Brandon had simply copied the clean files Henry left behind on the office computer.

"Rose," Henry spoke, stepping into the bright light of the room. His wet shoes squeaked on the clean floor.

The laughter stopped at once. The smile on Rose’s face vanished, replaced by pure annoyance.

"Why do you always sneak around like a ghost, Henry?" Rose snapped, pulling her hand away from Brandon’s arm. "Didn't I tell you never to barge in when Brandon and I are talking about serious business?"

Brandon stood up quickly, putting on a polite smile. "Rose, don't be too hard on him. Henry was outside in this terrible storm. He must be freezing. Henry, I hope our talk didn't disturb you."

"I brought the warm almond twists you wanted, Rose," Henry said quietly, holding out the box. "From the bakery across town."

Rose didn't even look at the box. "Throw them in the trash. Brandon had fresh pastries flown in from Paris for me today. Do you really think I still eat cheap street snacks? Look at you, dripping dirty water all over my expensive carpet."

She crossed her legs, glaring at him with disgust. "You have lived under my roof for four years, yet you still act like a dirty beggar."

Henry stood completely still, his hands gripping the box. He had waited in the freezing wind for two hours just to see her smile, but all he got was bitter scorn.

Before Henry could lower his hands, Brandon chuckled and stepped forward, acting like he owned the place.

"Oh, Rose, don't be so harsh," Brandon said, giving Henry an amused look. "Henry walked through the snow to bring these. It wouldn't be right to throw away his hard work. Let me try one."

Brandon reached into the box and took out a twist to show who was boss. "Thank you for being thoughtful, Henry."

Brandon took a large bite, chewing with a smirk. But before he could swallow, his face twisted into pure shock.

He dropped the pastry onto the rug. Brandon grabbed his throat with both hands, letting out a choked gasp as his face turned bright red.

He stumbled backward, hitting the glass table before his knees gave out, crashing heavily to the floor.

"Brandon?!" Rose screamed, leaping up from the sofa in sheer panic.

Brandon rolled on the carpet, gasping for air as his fingers clawed at his collar. "Peanut oil... my throat... I can't breathe!"

He wheezed in loud gasps, letting his eyes roll back as if he were passing out, playing the dying victim perfectly.

"Brandon! Brandon, stay with me!" Rose cried out in tears, dropping to her knees and pulling his head into her lap. "Somebody call an ambulance! Call a doctor right now!"

Rose looked up from Brandon’s body, her face twisted with pure rage. She shot to her feet, rushed up to Henry, and swung her hand with all her strength.

Her palm struck Henry’s cheek with a loud crack.

The force of the hit turned his head, leaving a bright red handprint on his skin. The paper box slipped from his fingers, falling to the floor.

"You evil animal!" Rose shrieked, her voice shaking the entire room. "You knew Brandon was deadly allergic to peanut oil! You did this on purpose!"

Henry slowly turned his face back toward her, his cheek burning, but the pain in his heart was ten times worse.

"I know nothing about his allergies, Rose," Henry said, his voice shaking with disbelief. "I bought those pastries for you, like I always do. I didn't tell him to eat them."

"Shut your dirty mouth!" Rose screamed, tears of rage running down her face. "You saw how smart Brandon is! You saw how he saved my company today! You knew you could never match him, so you tried to poison him out of pure jealousy!"

"Rose," Henry whispered, his chest heavy. "We have been married for four years. Do you truly believe I could poison someone?"

"Yes!" Rose yelled back without a second of hesitation. "You are bitter and pathetic! Brandon bleeds for my company, while you are nothing but a useless parasite living off my money!"

Brandon coughed weakly from the floor, slowly leaning against the sofa with a pale, trembling hand over his chest. He looked at Henry with eyes full of gentle, fake pity.

"Rose, please... don't be too angry with him," Brandon wheezed softly, smiling like a forgiving saint. "Henry only did this because his pride hurts. It is normal for an ordinary man with no job to feel insecure around real success."

Brandon looked straight at Henry, his voice dripping with false kindness. "Henry, I understand your pain but doing bad things like this won't help you in life. if you are worried about where your next meal will come from after you leave, I can arrange an entry-level position for you in my company warehouse. How does that sound?"

"Did you hear that, Henry?!" Rose shouted, her face red with fury. "Brandon almost died from your poison, yet he is offering you a job out of the goodness of his heart!"

She pointed a shaking finger at his face. "And you dare look at him with hatred?! For four whole years, you sat in the basement playing video games while Brandon stayed awake for days to protect my servers!"

Rose marched to the glass table, grabbed a thick folder, and threw it violently against Henry’s chest.

The papers hit his body and scattered across the wet floor, surrounding his feet like fallen snow.

The bold black title stared up at him: DIVORCE AGREEMENT.

"I am done with you, Henry!" Rose shouted, pointing at the front door. "Sign those papers and get out of my life! I will not let a lazy freeloader drag my name down for another second!"

Henry ignored the papers on the floor. His eyes stayed locked on Rose, his voice dropping into a dark, raw whisper.

"And what about Lily?" Henry asked.

The large living room went completely quiet.

"Our agreement said your family would pay for Lily's life-support pod at the hospital," Henry said, his hands clenching into tight fists inside his pockets. "Without that machine, her brain will suffer permanent damage. You know she only has me left in this world."

Rose's eyes flickered with a brief hesitation. A tiny spark of guilt touched her face, but before she could speak, sharp heels clicked against the marble floor.

Eleanor Humpton marched into the room, holding a stamped paper with a cruel, happy smile.

"You don't need to use that dying vegetable as an excuse anymore, Henry!" Eleanor barked, stepping right up to him.

She shoved the stamped paper hard against Henry's chest.

"The hospital board sent this urgent notice to our house twenty minutes ago!" Eleanor sneered, tapping the red seal on the page. "They have officially marked your sister's pod as an unpaid bad debt! Our company refuses to waste money on a useless charity case any longer!"

Nobody in the room knew that Brandon had secretly visited the hospital director that very morning, paying him fifty thousand dollars in cash to print this fake cancellation letter just to strip Henry of his last reason to stay.

Now, Brandon stepped forward with a look of deep, fake sorrow, placing a gentle hand on Eleanor's arm.

"Auntie Eleanor, is that really from the hospital board?" Brandon sighed, looking at Henry with fake pity. "Oh, Henry... what terrible timing. I had no idea the finance team was reviewing the charity accounts today. It seems even fate is telling you that some burdens simply cannot be carried forever."

Eleanor kicked the crushed almond pastry across the floor, glaring at Henry with pure malice.

"Why should our family waste thirty thousand dollars a month on a brain-dead invalid just so you can eat our food?" Eleanor sneered with a nasty smile. "Sign the divorce papers right now, Henry! Or the hospital staff will pull the plug on your sister's machine in one hour!"

Henry looked down at the ruined pastry lying in the dirty puddle of melted snow.

Behind Rose's back, Brandon was looking at Henry with a cold, mocking smirk. His face was completely relaxed, without a single trace of an allergic reaction.

In that exact second, something inside Henry broke completely.

The quiet warmth that had survived four years of insults died on the spot. The desperate look in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold, dead calm.

He realized the hard truth: no amount of sacrifice would ever earn her respect. His four years of silent devotion had meant nothing to her.

Without a single word of anger, Henry slowly straightened his back. He stood tall and unmoving, bringing a sudden chill to the room.

He bent down, picked up the divorce papers, and laid them flat on the glass table. He picked up the pen with a steady hand.

Rose paused, caught off guard by his dead silence. She had expected him to beg, to cry, or to get on his knees for mercy.

Henry did not look at her again. He pressed the pen to the paper and signed his name in a clean stroke.

He dropped the pen onto the glass. It made a sharp, final click.

Henry slowly lifted his head, his eyes locking onto Rose.

Rose did not speak up for Lily. She did not show a single drop of pity for a dying girl who had never harmed her.

She simply held Brandon’s hand, her voice as cold as ice. "Take your dying sister and get out of our city, Henry. Her life has nothing to do with us anymore."

Henry didn't scream or rage.

He simply looked at the three of them with eyes as cold as a grave.

Turning on his heel, Henry walked out of the villa and stepped straight into the howling blizzard, leaving Rose behind forever.