Golden Breath Villa.

“Ugh…..”

Rory was laying in his bed, twisting and turning while covered in cold sweat. He looked like he was having a nightmare.

“Ugh…..Grandma….I don’t wanna go to the other side…..”

He groaned in his sleep.

“Grandma!”

He flew up out off his sleep and sat up, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.

“Oh….It was only a nightmare.”

He placed his hand on his head.

“I can’t believe that my dead grandmother was trying to lure me to the afterlife……Wait…”

He paused.

“I don’t have a grandmother….Then who the hell was that?”

He looked completely puzzled.

“Lord Aniket.”

At that moment, one of the maids, Sade, knocked on the door and entered his room.

“Sade, what happened? My memory is fuzzy….the only thing I remember is apples.”

“You ate some apple cake and passed out, My lord. You slept for over three days.”

“Apple cake…..”

Rory felt there was something there, but his mind just couldn’t process it as if he was trying to suppress a traumatic memory.

“Are the others okay?”

“Yeah. Everyone is fine now after drinking the medicine, Ms. Elia bought.”

Rory remembered that the last time he saw Amelia, she was holding a paper bag. It must’ve had medicine inside.

“I see. You can go down now. I’ll be downstairs after changing.”

“As you wish.”

Sade bowed and left after closing the door. After she left Rory climbed out of bed and started to get dress.

“Ugh….My stomach still hurts.”

He rubbed his stomach for a bit, before leaving the room and headed downstairs. When he reached the living room, he saw all the girls gathered together expect for Amelia. He looked around and saw someone stooping down facing a corner.

“Wow, this the first time I’ve seen someone actually make the room feel gray with their mood.”

Rory mumbled to himself. He looked at Reina, who shook her head helplessly. Seeing that, he sighed and walked over to the corner where Amelia was.

“……..”

He looked at her silently and then placed his hand on her.

“Well, you know….Everyone has their strengths and weakness. It’s nothing to get depressed about. Just don’t ever enter the kitchen again and everything will be fine.”

“Ahh!”

Amelia suddenly sprung to her feet and started strangling Rory.

“Okay, okay! I apologize!”

Rory begged while trying to pry Amelia off him. After some time, Amelia released him and looked down with an embarrassed expression.

“I don’t get it. Fraus can do it so why can’t I?”

Rory placed his hand on her shoulder again.

“There’s no need to compare yourself with others. Everyone has stuff that they can and can’t do.”

He paused a little bit before saying-

“After all, you’re the first person to oneshot a Demi-God level being with cooking.”

“Ahh!”

Amelia once again pounced at Rory and started strangling him.

Sometime later, the two were sitting on the couch together. Rory had finger marks around his neck, from him getting strangled.

“So….Lord Aniket. Where did you go a couple days back?”

Fraus asked in an attempt to change the topic.

“I was out dealing with some business.”

Rory said while rubbing his neck.

“By the way, Fraus. Isn’t it time you go join whoever you’re working with?”

Fraus didn’t answer immediately and showed a smile.

“I would like to, but I’ve grown attached to you all over these couple days. It would sadden me if I just left, especially after everything you’ve done for me.”

“I didn’t do anything major. I saw a beauty in need and the gentleman in me couldn’t ignore you, so I helped you out.”

“Even so, you saved my life.”

Rory became silent for a while.

“Speaking of beauties, I met a really interesting one before I was poisoned.”

Amelia glared at him, but he kept a serious expression.

“Oh, what she’s like?”

Fraus asked.

“You should know her.”

Fraus eyes slowly widened as a trace of fear appeared on her face.

“You don’t mean…”

Rory nodded.

“I met Pearl St.Claire.”

“What? Why?”

Reina asked.

“I thought that you weren’t interested in the Three Dons.”

Amelia and Reina's reactions were that of pure curiosity, but Fraus looked like she had accidentally bitten a bug. Rory noticed that and found it amusing.

“I originally didn’t, but I had something I wanted to confirm regarding her origins.”

“You did mention something about knowing someone with the same family name as hers.”

Amelia said.

“Yeah, I know that they were related. But I didn’t just go there to confirm that. I also had some real business that I needed her help with.”

“Which is?”

“Money Laundering. I had some money I wanted her to clean. Some money had saved up.”

“You had money saved up? How much?”

“5 billion Ani.”

“5 billion?!”

All of the girls were shocked out of their minds after hearing the amount. They couldn’t believe that someone this close to them had that much money.

“Wait. You had that much money and we’ve been paying for everything when we were traveling together?!”

Reina and Amelia stood up and glared at him.

“Well, I mean just look at me. I’m a catch. It would be weird if I didn’t have a sugar mama or two right?”

“Su..gar….ma…ma?!”

The girls were so angry that they had trouble pronouncing their words. They stood in place as if they were having a meltdown.

“Anyway…”

Rory looked back at Fraus.

“Pearl and I talked about some stuff when we met.”

He smiled.

“I kinda hinted to her that I had you here.”

“Why?!”

Fraud stood up.

“Do you know that Pearl can send people here to have us all killed?!”

“Yeah. I think she hinted at something like that.”

Rory laughed.

“This isn’t a laughing matter, Aniket! Why would you do that?!”

Fraus was both angry and frightened.

“Because I was curious. Why did one of the Three Dons go to the length of arming her men with Animite bullets to kill you? When I asked her, Pearl said that members of her gang could leave whenever they wanted; but she couldn’t let you leave.”

Rory stood up.

“She hinted that you stole something important to her when you left.”

“…..I did no such thing.”

“Really?”

Amelia, Reina, and the maids all noticed a mood shift in Rory. He now gave off the feeling of a predator. Fraus also noticed this, which made her extremely nervous.

“I’m just curious though. What could you have stolen that was so important that Pearl was willing to go through a lot of effort to recover it?”

“……..”

“I’m starting to believe that it had a lot of value.”

Rory grinned.

“I’m beginning to desire it for myself.”

“?!”

Fraus suddenly looked like she had realized something.

“You…Could it be that the reason you took me in and let me stay here is because you wanted to rob me?”

Rory showed a devilish smile in response. Seeing that, Fraus started to step back.

“I told you when we just met didn’t I?”

Rory took a step towards her, which made her take several steps back.

“If you’re planning anything, I’ll advise you to just give it up.”

Cold sweat started soaking Fraus’ body. When she looked at Rory’s eyes she felt like a dark hand was squeezing her heart. She clenched her teeth and then sighed and relaxed her body.

“And I really liked this place too.”

Under everyone’s eyes, they saw her stick her hand in her cleavage and took out a mic.

“Move in!”

She shouted.

*Bam!*

Suddenly the front door was kicked in and dozens of men in black suits and skull masks ran in and pointed their weapons at Rory and the girls. Simultaneously, more men came from the back and some were seen even coming from upstairs. Rory and the girls were completely surrounded.

“What the hell?! Who are these guys?!”

The girls were shocked by the sudden turn of events. Rory, on the other hand, didn’t seem shocked at all.

“Well, This isn’t good. With this many Animite guns aiming at us, I don’t think that even I could survive this with my current strength.”

He lifted his hands up and started chuckling.

“It’s as you said, not even you can take this many Animite bullets and survive. So, I want to stay where you are and let me leave.”

Fraus said.

“Do what you want, it’s not like I can stop you.”

Rory shrugged his shoulders and said. Fraus looked at him in silence for a while before walking away. The men in suits quickly covered her back and escorted her out of the mansion. They all then began disappearing from Rory’s sight.

“They’re already gone. They’ve been trained well.”

Rory put down his hands. Reina and Amelia immediately moved towards the doors.

“Where are you going?”

Rory asked them.

“Aren’t you going to chase her?”

“No, not really?”

“Why? They just invade our home and you want us to let them go?”

“If you want to chase her go ahead, but I’m not going to.”

Rory then started to walk away ignoring the girls' upset expressions.

“They were able to sneak up on me to the point I could only sense them when they were going to attack. Was it a concealing type Animus?”

He laughed a bit to himself.

“Interesting.”

Later that day, somewhere in Cugine City.

“Ma’am, I’ve returned.”

Fraus was inside a dark room which looked like an office. She was kneeling in front of a desk while offering something to the person sitting behind it.

“With this, Madame will be one step closer to surpassing the Three Dons, Benito Mussolini, and the Black Dogs to rule this city as your own!”