Vengeance of the Reborn Villain: This Time, I Defy Destiny

Ch 3: A Parasite

"This engagement was originally a rule set by the older generation, and there is no emotional foundation at all. A forced union will benefit neither you nor me. I know this will damage the Ashford family's reputation, but I... will never accept a marriage without love. I hope we can part on good terms."

Standing beside her, Damien heard Veronica defending him like this, and a flash of smugness crossed his eyes as he straightened his back even more.

"Did you hear that, Ethan?" Damien sneered, his tone filled with undisguised mockery.

"Besides having some dirty money and a good family background, what else can you give Veronica? You can't give her the independence and happiness she wants! If you're sensible, hurry up and annul the engagement. Don't be shameless and keep pestering her!"

The bodyguard captain, Commander Marcus, seeing this all, clenched his fists until they made cracking sounds, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, barely able to suppress the urge to kill.

But at that moment, Ethan slowly stood up, adjusted his suit until it was impeccable, and looked down at Damien from a superior height, with a playful look, as if watching a circus monkey, and then shifted his gaze to Veronica.

"A marriage without love is indeed a kind of torture."

Ethan's deep voice rang out in the hall. He leaned down slightly, looking at Veronica's flawless face, and a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"You want freedom? Very well. I agree to break this engagement. But you want to part on good terms? Do you take my Ashford family and me for fools? Hehe, how could actions not have consequences? Since we've broken up, let's settle things clearly so we don't get entangled later."

Veronica's beautiful eyes were filled with astonishment.

Could she have misheard?

Her mind flashed back to countless moments from their past.

Every time she'd shown the faintest hint of displeasure, Ethan would have done anything to restore her smile.

She remembered vividly when she had a high fever in the middle of the night, he arrived in less than ten minutes after traveling over ten miles, and to avoid embarrassing her, he had a female bodyguard carry her, holding an umbrella and feeding her hot water the whole way.

That Ethan, who had worshipped her like a goddess, was now agreeing to end their relationship so easily?

Even then, why did his agreement make her feel uneasy?

She had imagined feeling free, soaring weightlessly after casting off the chains of their arranged marriage.

Instead, Ethan's casual mention of "consequences" and "settling things" planted a seed of dread in her heart.

Was he trying to intimidate her?

Did he truly believe that Veronica Harrington could be frightened so easily?

"What consequences? What is there to settle? Don't try your manipulative games with me, Ethan. Your tricks no longer work on me. Even if you were to kneel and beg for forgiveness, I would never come back to you!"

Veronica clenched her small fists in anger and threatened him.

How dare this bootlicker make her feel scared, even for a second?

It was so humiliating for her.

She wished she could punch Ethan in front of her to vent her anger.

"Hahaha, wonderful, Veronica!" Unaware of her thoughts, Damien laughed out loud and patted her shoulder to show his support.

He was standing with his chest puffed out like a peacock displaying its feathers.

Then, he stepped forward, deliberately positioning himself as Veronica's champion while looking down on Ethan with sarcasm.

"Ethan, it's wise of you to finally understand. Veronica is destined to soar through endless skies, not a caged bird for your corrupt family to trade and exploit. Rest assured, since you've agreed so readily, once I, Damien, rise to greatness, I won't bother crushing you beneath my foot, provided you stay out of our way."

Damien's arrogant laughter echoed through the room.

Though it was a bit amusing.

He was a trash man himself, who had wasted his entire life bullying the weak and leeching off a mother who scrubbed floors and washed clothes for others just to keep food on the table.

Once she was dead, Damien shifted to another target without any remorse.

Furthermore, he was someone who actually mocked his mother's corpse for being poor and leaving no inheritance.

He was such a man, yet he had the audacity to look down on Ethan.

One must know that despite being born in a rich family, Ethan had to work extremely hard to become competent at managing such a huge business at such a young age.

Despite having money, he never got involved in any drugs, gambling, or alcohol. He always helped others and shouldered the weight and pressure of a massive enterprise himself.

But then again, this world made Ethan a villain and Damien the so-called "protagonist."

Blessed with great luck and having recently acquired superhuman strength, Damien's ego was inflated to delusional proportions, blinding him to his own hypocrisy.

In his narrow, envious mind, anyone more successful than him, especially someone like Ethan, was just some silver-spoon kid who threw his family's wealth around.

He didn't even realize that his "righteous judgment" was nothing more than green-eyed jealousy.

Intoxicated by his new power and having somehow wooed Veronica, an ungrateful, naive, hypocritical woman cut from the same cloth, Damien genuinely believed he was king of the world.

Unfortunately for Damien, Ethan knew all about him. Many of these facts Damien himself had told Ethan while torturing and mocking him in the future.

"Rising to greatness and crushing me beneath your foot? You?" Ethan's voice was filled with contempt as he looked at Damien. "What kind of delusion are you living in? Do you honestly think I don't know exactly what you are? You're a parasite. A good-for-nothing leech living off a mother who broke her back for a few dollars, only for you to piss away her hard-earned wages on cheap booze and gambling, sending her to her death."

In an instant, Damien's smile faded, but Ethan didn't give him a single second to breathe.

"Expelled from three different schools for bullying. Harassing a female teacher. You are the absolute filth of society, a hypocrite relying on a few dirty connections just to get by. Do you think I don't know? And you dare talk to me like that?"

Hearing his dark past exposed so casually, especially in front of Veronica, Damien panicked into rage. He shifted into an attacking stance, fully intending to teach this arrogant scion a hard lesson.

But before he could even take a step forward, all the bodyguards surrounded him, pulling out their guns and pointing them at him and Veronica, all while protecting Ethan behind them.

The air in the room froze.

Cold sweat broke out on Veronica's forehead, who had just heard Ethan speak about Damien, and she looked like a deer caught in the headlights, practically paralyzed with fear.

Damien also swallowed his next words.

He could read the dead-eyed professionalism in the guards' faces and understood that if he even twitched, they would shoot without hesitation.

While he was arrogant enough to believe he could dodge the bullets and escape, he couldn't say the same for Veronica. He couldn't let this naive beauty, whom he had hooked with such immense effort, slip through his fingers now.

She was the key to his rise.