It took some dumb bravery on the guard’s part to deny Javier entry. He did not know why the former thought it was a good idea and he did not care. All Javier really wanted to do right now was cast the guard aside as far away from him and as obsequiously as possible.Before he could act, though, Suzanne made her way over to the guard, who immediately gave him a grin that aimed to please. “Oh, you must be our honorable guest from Yuzuia!”Finding the guard’s words inaudible, she turned to Javier curiously.He translated the guard’s words for her, and Suzanne decked her hand across the guard’s cheek so hard that his hat slid until it was askew. Blue eyes stared back into her own, wide in confusion due to the reaction.“Take this! A Chinean warning!” Suzanne snarled in Elizabethan at the guard who looked on, appearing as perplexed as ever. As it seemed, the guard was no good at speaking the common language either…Still, his linguistic ignorance did not necessarily represent his compa
Javier’s first instinct was to pass it up, but he considered how small of an agenda he and Suzanne had while in Garman and agreed to attend it instead.Since the soiree was abrupt, the two had not been sartorially prepared. After leaving Heinfensmirtz Inc.’s building, they decided to get themselves something appropriate from a gown-and-suit shop. To get there, they hailed a ride.Not a ride in a modern-day cab, though. The two hailed a horse-drawn coach instead—a charmingly quaint carriage drawn by two snow-white Orlov Trotters and driven by a refined, gentlemanly coachman. Suzzanne, who was palpably relishing the opportunity, chirped, “Oh my gosh! I feel like an eighteenth-century princess!”Javier nodded in agreement. “D*mn right you are! Go on, your Prince Charming is right there, driving the coach for your pleasure! Go and beg him to give you a true love’s kiss!”While the coachman had impeccable manners and behaved like a gentleman, he was a little…on the old side. As in, fift
Any quips aside, the two of them managed to display an abundant air of pomp and circumstance the moment they entered the hotel’s regal hall and saw its romantic-era classical architecture.Suzanne’s beauty quickly attracted attention. Her deep-V cleavage and porcelain skin provided a stark, seductive backdrop against the half-transparent lace covering the slit between her breasts. Her equally fair and delicate features only seemed even more entrancing in combination with her outfit for the evening.If a person’s beauty were to be measured by how many heads turned in their presence and how many eyes gawked, then Suzanne had to be the most beautiful woman in the entire hall tonight.Even Adolf, who had already seen her earlier today, approached them with admiration in his eyes. “My honorable madam, what a startling beauty you are this evening! You must be a rose fallen from heaven, a bloom personally tended in God’s kingdom! There’s no other explanation for the existence of a beauty s
Adolf was flummoxed. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever thought Javier would dare lay a finger on George. George was a Hachison! The representative of the irreproachable Hachisons of Yuzuia! He was basically a modern-day retainer-cum-ambassador of the emperor!And now the same ambassador had just had his finger snapped in Adolf’s turf. How was he supposed to explain that away?Had the person who had broken George’s finger been literally anyone else, Adolf would have ordered security to apprehend the offender already. But this was no ordinary man either—this was Javier Kersey, his super-important, most larger-than-life client to date!Poor Adolf was more than just shocked. He was in a helpless bind. What in the world should he do now?Now, if his goal was to ingratiate himself with George, there was really only one choice: He had to order his people to go after Javier and fix the latter up. Unfortunately, what Adolf really, really wanted to do...was the complete opposite.By G
Before the soiree was over, Herschel strode back into the hallway and nodded at Javier. He had not tried to hide it from prying eyes, so Adolf caught it and knew the demigod he used to know existed no more.It was terrifying. They were all outwardly humans, and Adolf himself was commonly regarded as one of the world’s elites. Now, however, he knew there was more to it. Some people were simply born to be godlike. He had always thought George was the only one like that, but now, that seemed like a premature conclusion. At the very least, he now knew Javier was one of them and that he was even more of a god than George ever could be.He sidled up to Javier, a little frightened and intimidated, but ultimately mustered enough guts to admit, “Mr. Kersey, I’d like to work for you.”Javier laughed. He knew what Adolf meant. He was hoping to work for him so he could climb that social ladder. The world did not lack like-minded people, and they had all swarmed toward Javier too. However, few c
Javier’s actions had stupefied Suzanne. She had really thought he was going to take her untouched body to town tonight. As a matter of fact, Javier let her go as soon as the kiss ended. His hands at least knew how to stay put.There was one part of him that refused to stand down, and it was not the kind of thing Suzanne’s present bashfulness was about to let her speak of.Suddenly, Javier said, “Looks like we’re free tomorrow. Wanna hang out, go sightseeing, and just enjoy ourselves?”With her cheeks still flushed, she nodded softly. She had to wonder if she’d said yes because she was too scared to say no—what with the man’s body being on top of hers right now—or if she genuinely wanted to go out with him. Regardless, her answer was yes, even though she then pointedly turned her feverishly pink cheeks away from him to avert her gaze.Javier’s finger grazed against the softness of her cheek. “You, Suzanne, are beautiful,” he breathed approvingly. “So much so that you could make anyo
“You…didn’t secretly study all this before we left, right?” Suzanne asked aloud, feeling shocked. The breadth of his encyclopedic knowledge was just too hard to believe.Javier smiled and nodded. “Definitely! I even learned how to predict the future last night. That’s how I knew ahead of time that we were gonna visit Gauthe’s residence.”Suzanne knew he was joking. Javier would never learn any form of augury, and it was even more impossible for him to have known that she would want to visit Gauthe’s house. It had been a spur-of-the-moment request on her side, as Javier had never made any formal traveling plans.In other words, Javier had not been secretly memorizing trivia about Gauthe—he was genuinely a pro.As the two of them talked among themselves, another foreign couple stepped closer to them. Judging by their conversation and the language they used, they were Chineans too. The woman, Mallory Cadman, told her boyfriend, “I’ve never read Fowst before, but I know it’s like, supe
As Javier spoke, Donny was baffled. He did not even have the confidence to retort to the insult thrown at him at the end of Javier’s sentence. That was because he felt that Javier was not acting cool and making things up. He really knew what he was talking about.It was then a blond, blue-eyed foreigner came over and clapped formally.“Excellent. Mister, you’ve successfully dispelled my impression of Chineans being ignorant and foolish just now. Thank you.”The foreigner spoke Chinean fluently, but what he said was kind of disgruntling.“Oh, my bad. I think that didn’t come out accurately, but please, believe me, I don’t mean what you think I meant. It was because of this man’s nonsensical explanation just now that I think he’s ignorant and foolish. I wasn’t generalizing.”Javier felt slightly better with the explanation. Certain people could be ignorant and foolish, but one must not put the label on everyone. That would be a suicide attempt.The foreigner then turned to Donny.