In the past, Xavia had barely ever thought about the consequences of her actions… Because of that, she felt like a completely different person now. Regardless, he was quick to reply, “…Though I’m glad to hear you’ve matured, I’m serious about this, Vee. Nobody else that I know fits the brand’s concept more than you do. To prove that I mean it, you should know that my brand hasn’t ever had a spokesperson, even after all these years. As for the scandals part, I’m sure you were just framed in all of them. All in all, please understand that I’ll always support you till the very end…!” Upon hearing that, Xavia pursed her lips before saying, “…Mark, you don’t know what I’m going through now… It’s a lot, but to make things short, things aren’t great at the moment… With that said, either find another spokesperson or leave the position open…” Mark, for one, hadn’t expected Xavia to be so determined. Knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to talk her out of it, he simply sighed as he r
In the end, Bianca’s constant persuasions made Xavia agree… and on the very next day, Demon Land’s developers announced the news. Attached to the post were pictures of Xavia from previous events, and it didn’t take long before the post hit the trending tab. ‘#Demon Land uses Xavia Lockhart as an in-game model!’ ‘Holy cr*p, is this real? To think that they’d use a real person as an in-game model!’ ‘I know, right? It’s the first time I’ve heard of something like this happening! Still, they made sure to pick a real beauty as the model, huh?’ ‘Does she deserve such an honor, though?’ ‘I’m a fan of the game’s novel series, and I can attest that her beauty is befitting of the role!’ ‘Oh, she deserves it, alright! Unless you’re implying that you’d make a better model than her! Make sure to donate ninety-million dollars while you’re at it!’ ‘Chill, y’all. That aside, with how beautiful she is, I can safely say that Demon Land made the right choice!’ As with all online sensation
Looking at Bianca’s phone, Xavia soon read, ‘#Xavia Lockhart involved in prostitution?!’ Attached to the post, was a caption that stated that back in the day, Xavia used to work as a food delivery worker in a gourmet restaurant in S City. The caption also added that Xavia barely thought twice about selling herself to the wealthy to earn an extra buck! At the bottom of the post, was a high-definition video of her taken from a bar, and in it, she seemed almost eager to be intimate with a fat man…! ‘Holy cr*p! Is that really her?’ ‘Who else could it be? Do you think Jenna would be caught dead wearing such shabby clothes?’ ‘I can hardly believe my eyes! She seemed so pure on the outside… To think that on the inside…!’ ‘Tell me about it… To think that I was praising her beauty just this morning… Makes me want to vomit now that I think about it.’ ‘Mood.’ Aside from that post, Demon Land had apparently uploaded their own post that stated, ‘Due to her shady past, we have decided
Sneering in response, Xavia retorted, “Oh please, who else could’ve done it but you? You’re the only one who wants me to suffer!” Understandably, Jenna was slightly taken aback by all this. After all, she really hadn’t done anything wrong this time! Feeling that it was unjust for her to be blamed like this, she gritted her teeth before retorting, “Look, I didn’t do it, alright?! Do you really think I’d choose this topic of all things to use against you?! Use your head and realize who else wants to bring you down already!” …The only other person she had offended recently was… Sophia. But… That couldn’t be the case, right? That woman had no idea of her past and… she wouldn’t resort to such drastic measures… right? Shaking her head, the frowning Xavia growled, “I’m not going to be fooled by you, Jenna.” Before Jenna could even reply, Xavia had already hung up. Truth be told, she had only made the call to scare Jenna… but with how resolute Jenna sounded earlier… She… didn’t seem to
“T-that aside, I’m still trying to figure out who the perpetrator is, and where they even got the video in the first place! After all, I was sure that I had eliminated all previous copies back then…!” declared Nathan as he raised his right hand, a sign that he swore that he was telling the truth. Upon hearing that, the icy man seated on his office chair continued glaring at Nathan for a while… before ultimately replying, “If what you said was true, then only I should possess the original footage… I’ll give you one more day to look into things and figure out who messed with my database.” “U-understood…! Thank you for giving me this chance, Young Master Burton…!” exclaimed the overjoyed Nathan as he rushed out of the office. He needed to find the true culprit before Young Master Burton killed him…! As peace returned to the office, Zivon couldn’t help but sigh as he checked the news on his phone again. True enough, more and more people were starting to sympathize with Xavia’s situat
Either way, it wasn’t long before Luke’s criminal records were released… And that night, several online celebrities took the chance to expose Luke’s debauchery, and disgusting acts of underaged girl trafficking. It was also revealed that several of his victims had either been sent to asylums or ended up committing suicide! Naturally, everyone was opposed to such scum, which resulted in Xavia’s usual haters banding together to sympathize with Xavia and bring that piece of trash to justice! As law enforcement began stepping in, Demon Land themselves made an effort to reach out to Xavia to resume their collaboration. Xavia, however, had no intentions of cooperating with them anymore. “There’s no point working with business partners who have such little faith in us. I’d rather not risk having them terminate the contract later or making things even worse by trying to obtain compensation from us if something like this happens again.” Naturally, Bianca could now see things from Xavia’s
Rather, she was worried about the gossip that would surely arise! Sure enough, it didn’t take long before someone posted Xavia and Mark’s photos online, and chaos ensued once the post hit the trending tab under the hashtag of, ‘#Xavia rumored to be dating Hartman Brand’s designer!’ Attached to the photos was a caption that detailed how Mark had met up with Xavia a few times ever since he returned to the country. Two of those encounters had even been personal visits, and it was rumored that Xavia had visited Mark’s first property in the country for at least a few hours. Whether that was true or not, the two were definitely close to each other. The fact that Mark had given Xavia two of his dresses only served to solidify that theory, and the icing on the cake was that Mark had stepped up to defend Xavia just earlier when that scandal broke up. With all that said, were the two a couple…? Not only were the descriptions vivid, but the angles taken of the two all seemed to suggest that
However, since the hype was mostly positive, nobody thought much about it… Well, nobody but Xavia, of course. After all, she had no idea when those photos were even taken, and she was pretty sure that this wasn’t that simple a case! In the end, she was prompted to say, “…Could you try to keep this topic down for me, Bianca? Also, try to see if there’s anyone pulling the strings behind the scenes…” “…I’ll try. However, with how popular you are now, I feel it’s going to be highly difficult to keep things under control… That aside… Is Mark really your first love, Xavia…?” muttered Bianca on the other side of the call. Though her expression darkened a bit when she heard that question, she eventually replied, “…It’s true. That aside, I’m feeling suspicious since I never really had proper relationships with my classmates… Hell, I don’t know half of them so they can’t sincerely be giving me blessings! It’s the reason why I believe someone’s orchestrating all this…” “While you may thin
Staring in shock at the kneeling man, Yulia mustered her remaining sanity as she replied, “B-but you’re younger-” “Even if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean that I’m much more ‘capable’ than your older pursuers…?” …Why were his words so suggestive all of a sudden?! Forcing herself to calm down, she took a deep breath before saying, “…Elliot, I’m not sure what spurred this decision, but… I’m not the one for you. Please find someone your age. I’m sorry.” After saying that, she strode straight for the car… but before she could start the engine, she couldn’t help but notice how desolate he looked standing under the pouring rain… Clenching her fists, it took her a while to finally sigh and walk back to him… “…Are you really sure about this?” asked Yulia, much to Elliot’s delight. “I am! Please! Give me a chance! You won’t regret it!” …When he put it that way, all Yulia could do was help him up before finally deciding to return his kiss… Sure, things had taken a sudden, unex
She stared in horror as he removed his shirt right there and then! “W-what are you doing?!” yelped the startled woman as she quickly looked the other way. “…Huh? I mean, I’m drenched, so…” “E-even so, you shouldn’t change right in front of me!” “…Yulia, we bathed together as children… It’s not like you haven’t seen everything already…” “Y-you can’t compare that to this situation…!” “Fine, fine, I… Um… Go cook, I guess… I’ll go get a change upstairs first…” muttered Elliot as he headed upstairs. Yulia herself had to try her best to calm down! After all, Elliot had been plaguing her mind in the past few days, and… she even had dreams where he had… …No! She couldn’t be thinking about such things! She needed to cook! Maybe that would help get her mind out of the gutter! Once that was done, she’d leave and finally start devising a plan to get rid of him…! As Yulia scurried off, Elliot himself was currently staring at an old photo that showed him eating some candy in Yulia’
Just as she had arrived at her car, the president of the Halls Group suddenly walked up to her, a bouquet in hand! The Halls Group had collaborated several times with the Burtons before, and because of that, she was well acquainted with the man. Sadly, he had also proposed to her on multiple occasions… and though she kept rejecting him, he never seemed to get the hint! “There you are, Miss Burton… Since you’re off work, I was wondering if you’d join me for dinner tonight…” asked the charming man. Feeling awkward, she was just about to come up with an excuse when Elliot suddenly grabbed her by the waist and said, “Oh? Another one of your admirers, Yulia…? Sorry, but she already has a boyfriend, my man. If that doesn’t deter you enough, then you should know that she prefers her partners younger. Now please leave.” Startled to hear that, the man glanced at Yulia, his eyes begging for an explanation… Yulia herself was eager to just escape this embarrassing situation, but before s
With that tale done, it was now time to return to Yulia’s story… Ever since she was a child, she had undergone countless hardships with her mother… and even after she was able to reunite with her father, things didn’t go much easier from there. To make matters worse, Fabiola ended up getting kidnapped for the longest time, resulting in Frank ending up the way he was today… Because of all that, it only made sense that she’d mature much sooner than others her age, and unlike the naïve girl she used to be, she was an extremely competent woman today. Alas, because of how used she became with working, she soon lost the urge to find herself a romantic interest… Things continued that way until… Well, that time that Elliot… …Wait, what was she thinking?! He was younger than her, for heaven’s sake! Quickly shaking her head, she attempted to force herself to concentrate on work again… But before long, a knock was heard on the door. After being allowed in, the department manager entered t
Knowing that there was no point in keeping things a secret anymore, Rea took a deep breath before saying, “…Alright, so… The truth is, I’ve always been highly competent, but… I’ve been pretending to be useless just so that you’d eventually marry me… The trip my parents are taking… That was my suggestion too…” Feeling speechless, it took Frank a long while to reply, “…So you weren’t really drunk when you did all that last night?” Pursing her lips, Rea awkwardly muttered, “…I wasn’t… Luna suggested it, and since it sounded like a good idea to accelerate things…” …Fucking hell, to think that he had fallen straight into her trap without even putting up a fight! Watching as he glowered at her, Rea gulped before adding, “A-anyway, now that we’re married and there’s potentially a baby in my belly, you won’t divorce me, right…?” “…Oh, believe me when I say that divorce is the easy way out! From today onward, I’m making you pay for your actions for the rest of your life!” Fast forwa
Fast forward to the next morning, Rea awoke with a yawn… What a nice sleep… Wait. Why was she naked? And why was Frank…?! Her following scream immediately woke the icy man up… and upon looking at her, he was immediately reminded of what had transpired last night! Essentially, Rea ended up clinging to him, and though he initially wanted to just carry her to bed to let her rest… Damn it! Had she really been that sensual?! How had he lost control so easily?! His train of thought was cut short when he realized that Rea was bawling her eyes out… and after rubbing his temples, he was prompted to say, “…Why are you crying when you’re the one who initiated this? I’ll have you know that I never forced you-” “I-I know, but…! I’ve just…! This is my first time…!” whimpered the quivering woman, prompting Frank to purse his lips. As if he wasn’t in the same situation… “…You’re not alone there.” “It’s not the same! Men are free to sleep with whoever they want but when it comes to women, I’l
“Say, wouldn’t you agree that the food smells delicious…? Why don’t I teach you how to grill, Rea…? Oh, but make sure to take your clothes off first before we start! Wouldn’t want them to get dirty…” With how drunk Rea was, she wasn’t able to fully register his words… and just as he was about to touch her clothes, an icy voice roared, “Stop right there…!” Instantly feeling a shiver run down his spine, the man turned around… and to his horror, it was Frank! Young Master Burton’s perpetually icy son…! Why the hell was he here?! Before the frightened intern could think of how to even react, Frank walked up to him and growled, “Leave now before I chop your hands off…! Don’t make me repeat myself!” Nodding in terror, the man frantically bolted off… and once he was out of sight, Frank glared at the tipsy Rea before adding, “This is what you meant by learning how to be more responsible…?!” “Huh…? But the food really did smell super good… I want to learn…” mumbled the drunk woman.
After leaving his office, he headed off to look for Rea. She had said that she wanted to use the bathroom, but… It had already been half an hour since she disappeared. What trouble had that idiot gotten herself into this time? Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he found her laughing along with some of his interns… When the interns saw him, they were quick to bow and say, “Good morning, Mr. Burton.” Barely even glancing at them, Frank looked at Rea and said, “It’s time to head home.” “I… Won’t be following you back…” “…And why is that? Are your parents back?” “No, it’s just… These are my good friends back from school, and they’ve been staying together to learn to be more independent… With that said… I think that staying with them will be a good start for me to learn more about how the world works. Thank you for taking care of me up till this point, Frank… I won’t bother you anymore.” Raising a slight brow, Frank then looked at the interns for a while before saying, “…Are you
Regardless, after leaving her in the room, Frank returned to the shower to cool himself off… but no matter what he did, he simply remained irked. It got to the point where he couldn’t relax at all, and after wrapping a towel around his waist, he grabbed his phone to send his father a text. ‘Was there really nobody else who could’ve taken care of Rea?’ ‘What? Can’t even care for a woman properly.’ ‘I’m a busy man.’ ‘I trust in your time management skills.’ …Though he really wanted to tell Zivon that he had misplaced his trust in him, he didn’t want to disappoint his father either. With that, all he could do was clench his fists before giving Rea’s parents a call… “Hello? Frank? Why are you calling at this time of night?” “…When are you and Uncle Saltman returning, Aunt?” asked Frank who wanted them to take back their idiot already! “…Huh? What was that? Sorry, the line isn’t very good… I hope Rea isn’t giving you too hard a time! Don’t worry, we’ll be back after about a