Chapter 1 Iceberg Alert

The bathroom was filled with steam, which condensed on the glass as water droplets and slid down. On the other side of the glass, a woman's figure could be vaguely seen. She brushed her hair away, revealing her pretty face.

Her skin was fair, and her features were exquisite. Her eyes, in particular, were clear and untainted. She didn't show any expression, yet her face was still dazzlingly beautiful.

Violet Cooper wiped off the steam on the glass and smiled at herself in the mirror.

Today was her 18th birthday. To celebrate, she secretly came to the Royal Vacation Hotel, the best hotel in Zeloth. However, she did not spend any money on a room. Instead, she climbed in through the window.

It was still early. Normally, this presidential suite was only booked after 8 pm. Violet felt tired after her shower, so she drew the curtains and decided to take a two-hour nap before leaving.

At the same time, Violet's birthday present from the fates was heading toward her room.

"I'm tired. Don't bother me for anything," Carl Walker said coldly.

He was a handsome man, but he looked extremely cold. His eyes were sharp, and his lips were tightly pursed. Dressed in a black suit, he looked distant and aloof. His domineering manner could make people go weak in the knees with just a glance.

The room was dim. Carl walked over to the bed. When he saw that there was a woman sleeping in it, he stopped.

His gaze darkened. There was no light in the room, so he couldn't see the woman's face clearly. However, the covers over her body were enough to make his imagination run wild.

Violet giggled in her sleep. She was having a sweet dream where Santa Claus had given her a sack of hundred-dollar bills. She was checking the authenticity of the bills with a machine. All of the bills were real. At that moment, she was checking her 50 thousandth bill, and the sack was still full.

Carl's eyes were cold. He drew back the covers with a flourish, exposing Violet's body. Her hair fell over her face and obscured it. She was only wearing a pair of underwear. She didn't have much curves since she was quite slim. But Carl's interest was still strangely piqued.

Did the hotel provide this woman?

Carl smiled. Normally, people would send him sexy and curvaceous women. However, this one looked quite young.

Just as he threw the covers off of her, Violet opened her eyes and leaped from bed. Before she could land, Carl grabbed her wrist and pinned her onto the bed. He trapped her between himself and the bed.

Outside, thunder sounded. The sky was dark and gray. The room was pitch black.

Violet was in pain, but she glared at the man above her coldly. "Who are you? Let go of me now!" she said threateningly.

"Playing hard to get?" Carl did not budge at all. "It doesn't work on me."

Violet was furious. She had been so deep in her sleep that she hadn't realized someone had come in. That shouldn't have happened. Her hearing was normally sharp enough to keep her vigilant. This man was probably some kind of ghost!

"Do you know who I am? I'll skin you alive if you dare anger me!" Violet said haughtily.

Violet was the infamous Nightshade. Nightshade was famous among the underground forces, the top assassin at the Novya Assassin Agency. She would kill anyone, no matter the risk, as long as the client had enough money.

No one knew who Nightshade actually was apart from the head of the Novya Guild. Even her gender was no more than a guess to the public. She was the guild's greatest and best-kept secret.

"Oh, my little fierce kitten," Carl crooned as he drew a finger down her cheek. "You're the one getting skinned here."

Violet was trembling. She knew as soon as she was restrained that she was no match for this man. He was too strong, too big, and too apathetic.

After 18 years of triumph, was this how she was going to be defeated?

"Let go of me," she gritted out.

Carl's gaze darkened. Even though he exuded an air of coldness, his passion did not cool off. He tried to get a good look at the woman, but he could only get a vague outline of her face in the darkness. It only made him more excited.

To him, she was good at playing hard to get, and he was interested in joining her in her game.

Since her verbal threats did not work, Violet had to prove herself through her actions.

She freed her hands, but before she could do anything, Carl grabbed them again. She tried to move her legs, but he braced his knee against hers.

"Fucking bastard," she cursed under her breath. Bracing herself against his hold, she lifted her body to buck him off and reverse their positions.

Right before her leg could make contact, Carl pinned her back down with one hand. Violet only managed to kick him in the leg.

Even so, she was the first person to ever succeed in attacking Carl.

Carl's eyes lit up for a short moment.

He took off his clothes without Violet noticing. "Don't resist," he said in a sultry voice.

"This is my last warning—" Before she could finish, she felt a sharp pain and cried out. Tears welled up in her eyes. With her hands and legs restrained, she could do nothing more than scream in anger as his strength pressed her down. She had no way to fight against him.

Carl was surprised by how amazing it felt. The only thing he was unsatisfied about was that she kept fighting against him in an attempt to escape.

For the next hour, Violet fought in vain against Carl. She was angry and ashamed. She'd never thought that she would end up like this.

She kept her head turned to the side so that her hair was covering her face, as if obscuring her face would make her feel less humiliated.

"You'll be my lover from now on," Carl reassured her in a patronizing tone.

Violet clenched her fists. She suffered from night blindness, so she couldn't see what the man looked like. However, she knew that she shouldn't resist any further, or he would attack her again.

"You'll be my arch nemesis from now on!" Violet grabbed his belt and whipped it toward him.

Then, taking advantage of his lapse in attention, Violet grabbed her belongings and jumped out of the window. She leaped across balcony after balcony to escape.

Immediately, Carl looked out of the window in search of her, but she had disappeared.

He put on a bathrobe and left the room. "Get the surveillance footage and find out who the woman in my room was," he told his men.

Since the room was dark and Violet had kept her face obscured on purpose, he hadn't seen what she looked like.

Six hours later, his men came back to him. "Sir, there was no footage of her entering the room. During her escape, the cameras only caught her from behind, so we have no way to even start investigating …" The last sentence was said hesitantly.

Hearing this, Carl's gaze turned murderous.