The tension in the living room was thick enough to cut with a knife when the sound of an argument outside drew both women's attention.
"It's Alice. I'll go see what's happening," Jodie said, rising from the sofa and heading toward the door.
She had only met Alice that morning, knowing her as Veil's housekeeper. From the sound of it, the woman seemed to be in some kind of trouble.
Lisa, though still seething, had no choice but to follow.
---
Outside the villa, Alice stood with a bag of groceries in hand, her face flushed with anger as she glared at Roy.
"Roy, I've told you countless times—stop bothering me!" she snapped, her voice trembling. "But instead of listening, you've resorted to following me? What happened to you all these years abroad? How could you change like this?"
She barely recognized the man before her. The Roy she once knew was gone.
People really did change.
Roy's expression twisted in frustration. "Alice, I swear, I didn't mean to—"
Memories of their childhood flooded back—how Alice had protected him from bullies in the orphanage, taking blows meant for him. Now that he had power, he had dreamed of returning the favor, of shielding her from harm.
But reality had played a cruel joke on him.
Instead of protecting her, he had somehow become the villain in her eyes.
"You blocked my number," Roy said desperately. "You hang up the second you hear my voice. There's been a misunderstanding, Alice. Just let me explain!"
Alice's heart wavered for a moment—she had always been soft-hearted—but then she remembered the blood dripping from Veil's arm that night, and her resolve hardened.
"What's there to explain?" she shot back. "I know you've made something of yourself, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt Master Veil !"
Roy's jaw clenched. "Hurt Veil? I didn't even know him before this! And the subordinate I sent to Veyport City has gone missing—I suspect he's been killed!"
The whole situation reeked of a setup. Every piece of evidence pointed to him, yet he knew he was innocent.
"Alice, the world isn't as simple as you think," Roy said darkly. "Sometimes, the real criminal is the one pointing fingers."
Alice's eyes widened in outrage. "How dare you?!"
She couldn't believe Roy would stoop so low as to accuse Veil of framing him. The man before her was a stranger.
"I haven't changed, Alice," Roy insisted. "I'm still the same Roy you knew. But none of this adds up! Even if I had ordered a hit on Veil, do you really think some spoiled rich boy could survive an attack from one of my men? And why would my insignia—the Blood Wolf—be left at the scene unless someone planted it there?"
He was laying everything out now, desperate to make her see reason.
Clap. Clap. Clap.*
Slow, mocking applause echoed from the villa's entrance.
Before Alice could respond, Lisa and Jodie stepped outside.
Lisa took one look at Roy and let out a cold laugh. "Roy. How noble of you. What kind of man spends his childhood flirting with girls, handing out business cards promising protection?"
Roy stiffened. He had been so focused on Alice that he hadn't noticed their arrival.
Of all people, it had to be Lisa—the woman who despised him for last night's misunderstanding.
Jodie's lips curled in disdain. "Mr. Roy, while I'll admit Veil's character is… questionable, that doesn't give you the right to slander him repeatedly."
Her voice turned icy. "Last night, you accused him of kidnapping my sister. But what you don't know is that we've already identified the real culprit. If not for Veil, my sister might still be imprisoned. Have you ever considered the consequences of throwing around baseless accusations?"
The irony wasn't lost on her. Had last night's events not unfolded as they did, Jodie might have even entertained Roy's suspicions about Veil. But now?
Now, she saw Roy for what he was—a man scorned, lashing out with lies.
Alice's expression darkened further. Every word from Jodie and Lisa only reinforced her belief that Roy had become someone she no longer knew.
Roy's fists clenched. "Alice, please. You know me better than they do. There's more to this!"
Alice shook her head, her voice trembling with disappointment. "I don't know you, Roy. Not anymore. And one thing is certain—I never told Master Veil about your mercenary background. He had no idea who you were. So why would he frame you?"
She took a step back, her eyes glistening. "Enough. Just… leave. I don't want to see you again."
Between Jodie's testimony, Lisa's contempt, and Alice's own convictions, the verdict was clear.
Roy wasn't just a failed protector in Alice's eyes—he was a man who had betrayed her trust and slandered the person she owed her life to.
As the three women turned away, an elderly man passing by paused beside Roy, placing a gnarled hand on his shoulder with a sigh.
"Young man," he murmured, "these waters run too deep for you to navigate…"
"Get lost!"
Roy whipped around, his eyes flashing with a predatory glint that sent a visible shiver down the old man's spine. The elderly gentleman hurried away, muttering about "no manners these days" under his breath.
Roy stood seething, waves of fury crashing through him like a storm-tossed sea.
Veil... this is all your doing.
The murderous intent radiating from him could have solidified into a blade.
I won't forget this.
...
Meanwhile, in the opulent third-floor VIP suite of Veyport City's Queen's Club...
The very man occupying Roy's thoughts lounged across a velvet sofa, exhaling a slow stream of smoke toward the ceiling. Veil watched with lazy amusement as Saoirse - clad in her signature black pencil dress - balanced on one leg to slip into patent leather stilettos, her cheeks still flushed from their earlier activities.
Her silhouette curved in that perfect S-shape against the floor-to-ceiling windows, backlit by the neon glow from the dancefloor below.
"We shouldn't see each other again," she announced suddenly, not turning around.
Veil exhaled another smoke ring. "Why? Things were going so well just now."
Saoirse shot him a glare over her shoulder. "What exactly are we doing, Veil? You think we're exploiting some sort of loophole here?"
She couldn't keep doing this - not when just the sight of him made her legs unsteady. The psychological toll was becoming unbearable.
As Saoirse's agitation grew, Veil's smile deepened. His system notifications chimed pleasantly:
[Ding! +1000 villain points!]
[Ding! Heroine Saoirse emotional disturbance detected. +800 points!]
[Ding! Protagonist Roy emotional disturbance detected. +1000 points!]
[Ding! Roy's protagonist aura decreased by 500. +5000 points!]
He nearly chuckled. All his efforts with Saoirse paled in comparison to simply making Roy seethe with rage.
"Come now," Veil purred, stubbing out his cigarette and crossing to slide an arm around Saoirse's waist. "They say intimacy deepens with repetition. I'm just working toward our hundredth encounter."
When she didn't immediately slap him (progress, he noted), Veil directed her attention downward through the one-way glass. Below them, a young man in a rumpled white dress shirt was pouring an entire bottle of Château Lafite over some middle-aged executive's head while his entourage laughed.
"Who's that?" Veil asked. "Looks familiar."
Saoirse didn't pull away from his touch - another small victory. Instead she snorted. "Kosdy Murphy's bastard son. Of course he looks familiar - same smug chin as his sisters, just without the class."
Veil's eyes gleamed. "So that's the little shit who caused the rift between the Murphy sisters and their old man?"
Perfect. His reconnaissance mission to the club (disguised as a liaison with Saoirse) had borne fruit sooner than expected.
"Hypothetically," Veil mused, fingers tracing idle patterns on Saoirse's hip, "what would happen if I helped those lovely sisters remove this particular... complication?"
Saoirse finally twisted free, her stiletto heel coming down painfully near his instep. "Don't even think about it."
When Veil raised an eyebrow, she continued in a hushed hiss: "Kosdy Murphy is obsessed with that boy. When some schoolkids bullied Damon years ago? Kosdy had Black Dragon Society break every bone in their families' bodies before dumping them outside the city. When a teacher dared discipline him? They fished the man's corpse from Victoria Harbor the next morning."
She jabbed a manicured nail against his chest. "That's not just protection - that's deranged obsession. You want to poke that hornet's nest?"
Veil caught her wrist, bringing it to his lips. "How touching. Five minutes ago you swore never to see me again, now you're worried for my safety?"
"Go to hell." Saoirse wrenched away, stalking toward the restroom with that telltale uneven gait he'd come to recognize.
Alone again, Veil's smile turned razor-sharp as he watched Damon Murphy below, now grinding against some terrified waitress. He pulled out his phone.
"Kai," he said when the line connected. "Bring the car around. We're going to give our young Mr. Murphy... a proper welcome to high society."
The game was afoot.
The luxury sedan glided smoothly through Veyport City's neon-lit streets as Kai navigated away from Queen's Club. In the backseat, Veil exhaled slowly before breaking the silence.
"Have the arrangements been made?"
Kai's grip on the steering wheel remained steady, his eyes focused on the road ahead. "Everything's set. The team will move tonight." His voice carried a rare edge of disgust. "Young Master, you wouldn't believe the things we uncovered about Damon Murphy. The man's a walking atrocity. Several families have been destroyed because of him."
No guilt troubled Kai's conscience about what was to come. If anything, investigating Damon's crimes had put Veil's past misdeeds into perspective - his young master's transgressions now seemed almost forgivable by comparison.
"Then he'll serve his purpose perfectly," Veil remarked without surprise.
Though Veil's former self had been a notorious playboy, the Lancaster family's influence in Luxhaven City had imposed certain limits. There were always watchers, always consequences to consider.
Damon Murphy operated under no such restraints.
With Kosdy Murphy shielding his every action—no, actively enabling him—Damon had grown into something far worse than a mere spoiled heir. He was a predator given free rein, his every cruelty rewarded with paternal approval.
Kai's voice pulled Veil from his thoughts. "Just as you predicted, Roy confronted Miss Alice. Their relationship is beyond repair now." He shook his head in admiration. "If this were ancient times, Young Master, they'd call you a prophet!"
Veil rolled his eyes. "It's called strategic planning. Weren't you supposed to be reading those management books I gave you?" He arched a brow. "Or did you 'return' all that knowledge to that manager of yours last night?"
Kai's ears reddened. "Of course not!" Eager to prove his intelligence, he hurriedly added, "I was thinking—maybe we shouldn't return immediately? Let Alice sit with what happened today. The longer this festers, the more impossible it becomes for Roy to recover."
Veil leaned back, closing his eyes. "Change of plans. Take us to Starlight Orphanage."
Kai's understanding remained surface-level. Rather than letting Alice gradually turn against Roy, Veil intended to stoke the flames himself—not directly, but through channels that would inevitably burn Roy regardless.
Some games required more nuanced plays.
And Veil had always been a master player.