As dim-witted as Liam was usually, even he could sense the displeasure in Celena's tone, so he plastered a grin on his face and crooned, "What are you talking about, my love? I think you're the most beautiful woman on this earth—not even my boss can match up against you! And besides, you're my wife, and you have my whole heart. I just need to do my job so I can provide for you and Jovie!"Liam was telling the truth—in his opinion, he had never laid eyes on a woman as gorgeous as Celena, and no one could even come close!Celena's anger eased a little, but she was still feeling a pang of jealousy at Liam being in close proximity with another woman. She scoffed, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and said, "Fine! I won't get mad at you, but you have to promise me a few things!"Liam raised his arms above his head in a gesture of worship and said earnestly, "Very well, your Highness! I will promise you everything you want!"Then, he grinned, raising his eyebrows mischievously, and
Liam then repeated everything Celena had said as though to prove his sincerity, and he had to promise he would uphold these rules multiple times before Celena finally began to relax.When he saw Celena's frown smoothening out, he grinned and asked, "Are you not mad at me anymore, my love?"Celena rolled her eyes at him. "Mad? Why would I be mad at you?"Suddenly, she stood up and pressed a light kiss on Liam's cheek, so light that it felt like a feather brushing against his skin. Then she said shyly, "This is your reward for being such a good husband!"Then, she grabbed her bag and skittered out of the house before Liam could see her blushing, leaving Liam at the table, frozen in shock at what had just happened. He slowly reached a hand up to touch the spot where Celena had kissed him, grinning stupidly from ear to ear. This was the first time Celena had ever kissed him first!Liam was grinning so hard he felt as though his face would split into two.Celena had kissed him!Jov
Meanwhile, Liam dropped Jovie off at school and went straight to work. He arrived just in time as Sunniva was leaving the building, so he immediately got into her car, along with some of her trusted aides, and headed straight to the village in the Northern District. When they arrived, a group of villagers, about five or six dozen people, had gathered at the entrance to the village, waving banners and chanting slogans in protest. The situation was beginning to get out of hand."Merciless developers out to get innocent villagers! Destroying our homes and ruining our livelihoods!" the villagers chanted at the top of their lungs. In the lead were the thugs that had called this village their home, who, just to spite Sunniva and her company, had invited reporters from various news outlets to cover the story. When the reporters raised their cameras to document the scene, the villagers grew even more agitated and raised their farming tools above their heads, shouting even louder than befo
"They even said that they won't evacuate the area if we don't cough up the money, and if we want to demolish the houses, we'll have to bulldoze right over them! Not to mention they've got reporters covering the entire story…" the manager explained, exasperated. He shook his head, sighing, as he glanced at the protesting villagers. Sunniva's brows were deeply furrowed as she glanced at the villagers in frustration, but this did not stop her from scolding the manager, "Alright, that's enough. These are all rightful citizens of Biskeland, so I won't have you going around calling them scoundrels or the like. You'll be toast if any one of the reporters catch you saying that. Now's the time where we really have to be careful of everything we do and say."The manager had let it slip out of his mouth out of annoyance but soon realized his mistake. He grinned apologetically and said, "Yes, Ms. Bristow. I'm sorry. I let my temper get a hold of me and acted impulsive. It won't happen again."
Indeed, Sunniva had played the right move by making these attractive declarations, because the fidgeting villagers all began to settle down as soon as they heard this. It was no wonder she had become one of the most successful young entrepreneurs of her time—she was a woman of quick wit and intelligence!The thugs who were behind the protests in the first place were all horrified to see that the villagers had been swayed by Sunniva's offers. They stepped forward, feigning indignation, and shouted, "You're lying! Your men promised us an extra two hundred thousand dollars each, but now you're reduced it to fifty thousand dollars? You're taking advantage of these honest, hard working villagers on account of their lack of education! And besides, why should we believe you'd keep to your word? You could always forge the contracts, and we'd be none the wiser! We know that all you greedy developers care about is money, and you'll stop at nothing to get what you want, even if it means you'll h
The man immediately clamped his mouth shut, his mind racing as he stared at the dagger, trying to formulate an escape plan. Then, his eyes twinkled with an idea, and he immediately replied, "Nonsense! You're trying to frame me! You planted this knife here and tried to frame me for murder so that you won't have to pay us out compensation! I know what you're trying to do! You can't blame an innocent man for murder!"He turned to the other villagers and shouted, "My friends, please don't believe a word of these lying snakes! They're doing this on purpose to weasel out of the deal! They're trying to frame me so they won't have to pay us!"As expected, the villagers were all outraged to hear this and immediately stomped toward Liam and Sunniva, brandishing their weapons. "Gentlemen, let's not waste any more time trying to reason with these crooks! Chase them out of our village!""You snakes! First you come here, trying to force us out of our homes, and now you're framing an innocent me
The man who had attempted to stab Sunniva watched with terrified eyes as Liam lumbered toward him. He was just about to get up and make a run for it when Liam brought his foot down against his back, forcing him back onto all fours. "Ahhhhh! Let go of me! Everyone, he's trying to kill me! Help me!" he screamed as he tried desperately to free himself from Liam, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not budge even an inch.Liam sneered, then with a swift motion, hurled the dagger with such accuracy that it came to rest in the ground just a few inches away from his neck. The blade glinted precariously in the sun, just a few inches away from his neck artery, which when severed would undoubtedly lead to his death. The man, feeling the cold blade against his skin, began to tremble with fear as he stared at Liam. "Sir…sir, please show me mercy… I won't try that again… I made a mistake…" he pleaded, knowing he was just seconds away from death. Although he was a gangster, he was secretly
The color drained from Sunniva's face when she heard this, and she immediately stomped over, her heels click-clacking against the platform. She stared down at the thug from her towering height and demanded, "Who is the man behind this?"The thug was practically shaking like a leaf at this point. He knew these people were perfectly capable of killing him if he did not come clean with the truth, but he had already told them everything he knew. He wailed, "I…I don't know…"All of a sudden, he felt something cold brush against him, and moaned, shuddering, "Sir, I'm not lying. I have no idea who that man is… All I know is he has plenty of men working for him, and he's very generous too… I'm sure he must be a very rich businessman…"Liam furrowed his brow, then asked coldly, "Do you remember what he looks like?"The thug considered this for a moment, then replied, "Yes. He's a middle-aged man, a little plump around the middle, with a broad face and small eyes… Oh, he also has a scar on t
The entire meeting room was in absolute chaos. The remaining three Elders were equally vexed, and they all scowled, cracking their knuckles in fury."These people are getting out of hand! How can they possibly frame Liam's poor wife for such an atrocious crime?""We must get to the bottom of this! We must find out who's behind this! He or she cannot go unpunished!"Timothy nodded in agreement and roared at his cowering assistant, "Go find out what truly happened! Find out which filthy scum ordered Celena's arrest and what could possibly delude them into thinking she is a spy against our country!"His assistant squeaked a reply, then sped out of the room as fast as his legs could take him. He did not stop until he reached the front door of the Grand Pendragon Department, where he stood, panting and trying to catch his breath. His expression was wild with fear. He had never seen the Four Elders so furious before. Clearly, whatever had happened to Celena was something very serious ind
Keyon could see right through Prince Faber's apprehension. He replied with a smile, "Prince Faber, why are you so scared of that Liam fellow? Have you somehow forgotten that you are the commander-in-chief now? You have hundreds of thousands of soldiers at your beck and call. Why does it matter what Liam thinks? He has been deposed and is no longer in power! Besides, you have the Yeager family backing you, and there is nothing he can do to harm you!"You don't have to worry about a thing; the Yeagers have this all taken care of. We are just doing this to lure Liam out of hiding. If he dares to touch so much as a hair on your head, he'll be falling right into your trap."Prince Faber furrowed his brows at this. He could not help but question the validity of Keyon's claims. Keyon, sensing this, added, "Prince Faber, you must remember that stripped of his powers, Liam Cole, is now nothing more than an ordinary civilian! If he dares to harm you, he will be sentenced to death for treason a
What would Liam do if he found out Prince Faber had captured his wife? Surely he would not hesitate to turn the entire city upside down to look for her?Prince Faber was more than familiar with Liam's fierce loyalty and could not help but begin to worry at the prospect of having to face his wrath. He stared at Keyon's leering face and asked with belated realization, "Mr. Yeager, you ordered me to capture all those people from the Drunham City Connoisseurs, but the truth is, your sole target has always been Liam's wife. Is that right?"Keyon nodded, smiling. "That's right. We could care less about those businessmen. All we wanted was to get our hands on Celena Stone!"I must admit I was very surprised when I found out that Celena Stone is the wife of the great King Pendragon. Not only that, but I made an even more shocking discovery—it turns out that Liam is none other than the lone survivor of the Cole family, the noble clan who were allegedly wiped out seven years ago!"The ment
After a few moments' hesitation, he finally decided to shoot his shot. "Mr. Yeager, there is something I don't understand. Why did the Yeagers order these businessmen's capture? I've looked into their backgrounds, and they are all honest businessmen who have not broken the law before. If the media catches wind of this, they will surely accuse me of abusing my power…"This was what Prince Faber had been worried about. He had already investigated the people whom the Yeagers ordered to be captured and did not understand why the Yeagers wanted them imprisoned. They were all civilians who had not committed any crime, and he dared not even imagine the consequences if the public found out he had ordered the incarceration of innocent citizens.Keyon understood immediately Prince Faber's concern. He smiled and replied in a reassuring tone, "Worry not, Prince Faber. We Yeagers have taken care of everything. We have made absolutely sure to cover up all your tracks, and no one will know you were
Meanwhile, Celena and the group were taken out of the hotel and shoved forcefully into a couple of jeeps waiting at the entrance. They were whisked away to a nearby military base. Before they could even get their bearings straight, they found themselves being tossed into holding cells. Celena, on the other hand, was taken separately to a small, dark room, illuminated only by the barest sliver of light that peeped in through a tiny window. The room was entirely empty, save for a metal bed frame. A sour stench hung in the air, and it was clear this room had been abandoned for a very long time. A soldier shoved Celena roughly into the room, and before she could realize what was happening, the soldier slammed the door shut.The soldier had pushed Celena so hard that she fell onto the ground, but upon seeing that her captor was about to leave, she leaped to her feet and sprinted over to the door. "Sir, can you tell me what I did wrong? Can you please have mercy on me? Can you at least
Tristan seemed just as baffled as they were. He returned their puzzled gazes with an equally perplexed one of his own. "I… I have no idea…"The general glanced sharply in their direction, then gestured to his soldiers and declared sternly, "Take them away!"His soldiers obliged and stepped forward to restrain the members of the Drunham City Connoisseurs, who all shrieked in alarm, "Why are you taking us away?""General, what did we do wrong? We didn't do anything illegal, so why are you arresting us?""Mr. Xander, save us! They've got this all wrong!""What's going on here? Why are they arresting only us?"Celena's entire body was shaking like a leaf. She eyed the soldiers around her and asked, stammering, "General, what did we do wrong? Why are we being captured? Where are you taking us?"Tristan, stricken with panic, shoved a soldier aside and shouted at the general, "General, I'm the president of the Drunham City Connoisseurs, and I want to know why we're being taken away. Wh
Celena was utterly terrified by the sudden turn of events. She stared pale-faced at the soldiers around her, not daring to move even a muscle. What was going on?All of a sudden, a man in a uniform stepped into the room. The badge on his shoulder indicated to everyone that he was a general. The heavy thumping of his boots echoed through the silent room with every step he took. All eyes were on him as he stepped onto the stage.He carried himself with great authority, and clearly, this man was not one to be messed with. He scanned the room as if searching for someone. Finally, he announced in a deep, resounding voice, "Do not fear, ladies and gentlemen. We are here on a routine check after receiving a tip-off regarding your conference. We will release you all once we have carried out our investigation, and the process will be quicker and smoother if you all cooperate. "Now, I would kindly request you get your documentation ready so that my men may confirm your identity."Everyone
Derek nodded earnestly and replied, "Of course it's true. My sources have never failed me. I wouldn't have trusted you with this information if I didn't think you'd be interested."Celena stared at him for a moment, then turned to glance in the direction of the people he had pointed. She could not help but be tempted by the offer. She considered this for a few moments, then accepted his offer. "Alright then, Mr. Duncan. I'll go with you. Thank you for inviting me."The smile on Derek's face widened. He could hardly believe his luck—Celena had agreed to go with him! Taking that first step was always the hardest, but he had done it!Unbeknownst to Celena, Derek already knew her long before their first meeting at the conference. Her name was known far and wide in Drunham City, not least because of her beauty, but because of her—in the eyes of the public—tragic marriage. Celena had earned herself a reputation as one of the most beautiful women Drunham City had ever seen, and although
The attention they received, however, was large due to Celena and her young, handsome companion, who was a man named Derek Duncan. Their attractive looks, both individually and combined, were easily the topic of discussion that night. Everyone who laid eyes on them admired both their good looks and brains, for certainly only the cream of the crop were allowed to attend this prestigious event. What made this feat even more impressive was the fact that they were both so young!Aside from her beauty, Celena's name was already known far and wide in the business world, not just because of her strong leadership but due to her association with Liam and her company's connections with many international corporations. She had started her business from scratch, but within a few short months, she had single handedly built it up to become one of the top ten grossing companies in Drunham City.There were hundreds of people gathered there tonight, and their seats had been allocated according to t