Emi took Yahiko’s side and advised Nanako, “Nanako, listen to your father. You should represent your father at the frontline, and your father will stay behind the scenes to guide you and be the mastermind.”Nanako nodded her head gently as she said, “Alright, I will work hard for it!”Yahiko and Emi were relieved after Nanako made her promise without much hesitation.All the while, Yahiko had had high expectations for his daughter. It was just that Nanako had been indulged in martial arts before this and had shown little interest in the family’s business operation and management.Back then, Yahiko had had to crack his head to shift his daughter’s focus back on the family's business instead of her own interest.Initially, he had thought that with his physical condition, he would be able to endure for at least a decade or more so as to prolong Nanako’s freedom.Nevertheless, who would have thought that such drastic changes had taken place so swiftly and changed everything.Despite
Knowing that Yahiko wanted to have some private time with Charlie, Emi and Nanako rose up without hesitation and left the ward.After the two had left, Yahiko looked at Charlie and said in a serious tone, “Mr. Wade, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for all the offences that I’ve committed against you. Thank you for your gracious kindness, for saving my daughter, as well as salvaging the Ito family. If it wasn’t for you, I’m afraid the Schulz family would’ve mistakenly thought that our family was the one who had killed their offspring, and that could have been the end of our family.”Charlie smiled faintly and said, “You’re welcome, Yahiko. I saved Nanako purely out of platonic relationships. As for the helping hand lent regarding your family’s issue, you don’t have to mention it either. After all, I’ve taken your money. There is a saying in Oskia, ‘If one gives you money, you will avert the disaster for him.’. Since I have received the money from you, I must do my part, wou
“I am aware of that.” Yahiko smiled, then continued indifferently, “So what? Even if you’re married, Nanako still fell for you, didn’t she? Both myself and Nanako are willing to forgive and forget about your past and present, but what matters the most to us is your future!”Having said this, Yahiko said solemnly, “Mr. Wade, since the incident, I have gained new insight in regards to human life. When one is alive, everything becomes meaningful. Being rich has its own purpose; Being poor has its own purpose. However, when one is dead, life is nothing regardless if one is rich or poor.”“Before this incident, I would never have allowed my daughter to marry a foreigner. Nevertheless, after the incident, all these things were no longer of vital importance to me. What matters most is to make my daughter happy and give her the best in life!”“Mr. Wade, you’re strong, capable, and charismatic. Nanako is cultivated, has a good family background, as well as inner and outer beauty. Also, she l
Charlie was startled by what Yahiko had just said.Firstly, he had never expected Yahiko to know so much about Oskian culture.Secondly, he had never thought that Yahiko would mention the cycle of fate.He might not know if the Japanese believed in luck and fortune. But now, he knew that the Japanese at least believed in fate.What Yahiko had mentioned might have seemed like a normal conversation. However, there were hidden meanings in between.Whatever he had said was not entirely nonsense. After all, no one could be certain about fate.He recalled Chandler Lennard, an elderly master of luck and fortune whom he had met at Mount Wintry in Eastcliff.Chandler had been dependent on the cycle of fate in order to meet him at Mount Wintry.Also, it was he who had solved Charlie’s fate-related problem to enable him to rise like a phoenix from the ashes.The elder must have had a better understanding and insight regarding the cycle of fate.Unfortunately, the elder was far away. The
Therefore, Charlie knew very well that if he were to challenge the Schulz family in the future, he had to gather sufficient power and not depend on himself alone.Furthermore, he hadn’t confirmed if the Wade family were related to his parents’ death.If the Wade family was related to his parents’ death, he might have to face the Schulz and Wade family all by himself in the future.As such, Charlie had made up his mind that after his return to Aurous, he would keep a low profile and develop the Apothecary Pharmaceutical.Since the beginning of the Apothecary Pharmaceutical, he had built up his own empire of business.Only then would he stand a chance to fight with the Schulz family and Wade family and even defeat them!Yahiko had no idea about Charlie’s true identity, neither would he know what was in Charlie’s mind. He only knew that Charlie looked unambitious, thus, he advised him.“Mr. Wade, you have Apothecary Pharmaceutical as your foundation as well as an abundance of cash
Yahiko sighed after Charlie rejected his suggestion.He really hoped Charlie could be involved in the shipping industry.That was because, at the moment, Oskia would be the most profitable customer in the Asia shipping industry.Oskia had occupied more than half of the world’s top ten most bustling ports. Only a business empire with a massive amount of import and export trading could support a huge shipping industry.This was beyond the reach of Japan.As such, despite the Ito family having the intention to do the business, it would be a fruitless attempt due to lack of demand from the local market.He faced Charlie and said, “Mr. Wade, the Ito family business will be passed on to Nanako in the future. Should you change your mind, you may contact her at any time. I believe you both will form a great partnership.”Charlie nodded his head gently, then answered thoughtfully, “If I change my mind, I’ll surely contact Ms. Nanako.”Yahiko smiled and said, “Nanako is a good girl. I dare
Very soon, Emi had arranged a team to go with Charlie, who was in his own car.Nanako sat in Charlie’s car without hesitation.Charlie drove his car to the Ito family’s mansion in Tokyo under the escort of the team.Tokyo was one of the world’s cities with the highest housing and land market price as each acre of land was very costly. Nonetheless, the Ito family had a private manor located in a quiet environment.The design of the manor was in a Japanese vintage style—quaint but elegant.Charlie could see that the wooden materials used in each room were distinctive.Apparently, the filthy-rich ones had too much wealth and had nowhere to spend. Thus, they would spend as extravagantly as they could during their house construction and renovation. They would spend lavishly on all the exported high-end stuff over the local and lower-end stuff. In other words, they would only spend on luxurious goods.All of the servants in the Ito Family’s mansion were dressed neatly and stood resp
Without a moment of hesitation, Charlie answered, “Say it. I promise I’ll give it my all.”Nanako hesitated for a while, then she looked at him expectantly and said in a serious tone, “I hope you can depart a while later….”“Later?” Charlie was slightly stunned, then he asked subconsciously, “How long do you mean by a while? To be frank with you, I plan to return to my home country tonight. My airplane is on standby in Osaka.”Nanako felt the heat around her eyelids, then her eyelids drooped slightly, and she said in a faint voice, “That… will depend on Charlie-kun’s time arrangement. It doesn’t matter even if you manage to delay it for a few more hours…..”Nanako then added hurriedly, “Please don’t misunderstand. The main reason is because my father and Tanaka were seriously injured. Then, my aunt is fully occupied. Not only does she have to settle our family’s affairs, but she also has to take care of them…..”“Moreover, I am confused myself and don’t know how I should begin. Th
Elaine may have led a life as if she was above the rules, but beneath that tough exterior lay crippling insecurities and a horrific inferiority complex.She was always afraid of being belittled—but more than that, of being ostracized and betrayed.Over the years, the greatest source of her complexes could all be traced back to Matilda.After all, Matilda had been a star back in their school days. Because Elaine was a close friend of hers, many boys would get chummy with Elaine, but only because they were interested in Matilda.Being from a poor farmer's family, Elaine had been scorned plenty and therefore felt exceedingly inferior around Matilda.It was from that sense of inferiority that Elaine had inadvertently developed a one-sided rivalry against Matilda, and she believed her greatest triumph over Matilda in this life was the moment she had stolen Jacob from her.However, while Elaine presumed that she could hold that victory over Matilda's head, Lady Wilson had soured that v
Moreover, given Elaine's ridiculous temper, Jacob knew she would definitely go overboard and destroy him.He wouldn't even have a place to live at that point, and it would really be game over if she held a grudge and stormed the Calligraphy and Painting Association!Under such circumstances, he couldn't ask for a divorce—hell, he might even refuse a divorce if Elaine asked for one!However, that was when Elaine laughed coldly. "Oh, my… You're really not going to divorce me?""Come on—how long were we married?" Jacob quickly reasoned. "Getting divorced at our age? People would laugh at us."Elaine scoffed. "Now I'm curious… Matilda's quite old too, and she's a divorcee marrying again. Won't people laugh at her?""Technically, she's a widow—"Jacob blurted out, but soon turned pale, tensing up again not a second after he had just calmed down, asking gingerly, "W-Why would you suddenly mention her?'Elaine stopped pretending right then and snapped, "It's actually impressive that y
Horrified, Jacob promptly grasped the steering wheel and brought the Cullinan back under control while not hesitating to snap, "Are you crazy?! We're on the highway—that could have killed the both of us!"However, Elaine ignored him and seized the moment to open the armrest box, pulling out the large white envelope.As she opened it, she muttered, "So, it really was a wedding invitation… You really are a terrible friend, Jacob Wilson, hiding a wedding invitation like this! What's the point? Just look at that nervous face of yours—would I suspect you of having an affair with the bride-to-be?"She flipped open the card and was experienced enough to check the names first while disregarding the usual preamble. She wouldn't care about the venue or the time either, focusing solely on the professor who had somehow made Jacob very nervous.That was how Elaine found the names in less than a second: Yolden Hart and Matilda Hall.Matilda?!The name could well be knives stabbing Elaine in th
Jacob's brain blanked out, leaving only a dull hum as soon as Walker mentioned 'Professor Hall'.Already feeling nervous in the first place, he quickly said, "Okay, okay—I got it. Anyway, I'm hanging up if there's nothing else!"With that, he promptly pressed the button to hang up.Nonetheless, Elaine was soon asking in curiosity, "Who's Professor Hall?"If Jacob had any semblance of composure, he would have said 'a colleague at Senior University' as if it was perfectly natural, and the matter would have been forgotten.But the reality was that he didn't—in fact, he was the champion when it came to dropping the ball as a casual question from Elaine left him sweating all over his brow.Even as he slid nervous glances at her face, he stammered uncontrollably, "N-Nobody…"Elaine promptly noticed his strange reaction and frowned. "I'm talking about Professor Hall. What do you mean, nobody? Who are they? And what's this about an invitation? Inviting you for what?"Seeing that he was
Jacob had really had too much to drink and couldn't remember the later parts of what had happened last night—even how he had gotten home was a blur.Naturally, he also forgot that Walker had brought Matilda's wedding invitation, and therefore didn't hesitate to answer the in-car answer button.Over the phone, Walker was positively fawning as he asked, "Mr. Wilson? It's Walker. Why didn't you come in today? Had too much to drink last night?""Uh-huh," Jacob grunted, lethargic. "I did—my head still hurts now… Anyway, what's up? Trouble at the association?""No, of course not," Walker quickly said. "I was just worried you're still hungover, so I called to ask. If you need a driver or anything, you just need to ask!"Then, before Jacob could answer, he continued, "By the way, my wife is somewhat knowledgable in Oskian medicine, and she has recipes for brews that cure hangovers and nourish the liver. I'm sure you'll need the latter since you're always drinking at social events, so I as
Fortunately, Elaine and Jacob's bickering never escalated.Even though Elaine was winning, Jacob found it tolerable.After Jacob finished his lunch and cleaned up, he never looked up as he said, "Charlie sent a text, saying Claire's flight would touch down earlier at three. We will leave at two."Elaine grumbled. "Why leave so early? She's coming back from abroad, and there'd be checkpoints she has to clear—she'd be lucky if she could leave by half past three. I'm sleeping a few winks now, and we'll leave at half past two."As she left the dining room, she didn't even look back as she said, "Clean up for me too."Jacob had a million complaints but said nothing as he kept his head down, throwing Elaine's lunchbox in the trash can as well.With Elaine gone, he sat on the couch as her hangover slowly cleared while his mood soured with the lack of alcohol.In the end, the pleasure of being fawned over at the Diamond Room was but temporary—the pain of his beloved leaving with someone
Vera kept her plan to investigate the identity of the abbess deep in her mind and told Charlie nothing.Instead, she smiled as she said, "It seems that it's both yours and Ms. Ito's good fortune that she has attained enlightenment. You've never had anyone who could attain enlightenment and master Reiki at the same time, so Ms. Ito will definitely be a great help to you in the future."Charlie chuckled and said calmly, "I'm not hoping for her to help. I'm simply happy for her with her enlightenment and excited to have another comrade in my solo ventures into the dark forests."Vera nodded in understanding, and she murmured emotionally, "I've lived for so long, and it's only when I opened my heart to you that I felt that sensation you described."There was a flicker of wistfulness in her eyes.She really did not expect to attain enlightenment before meeting Charlie.Years ago, she thought that she would eventually avenge her father.Now, she no longer hoped to murder Fleur Griffi
Vera was inwardly disappointed to hear that Claire was returning.That meant there were fewer chances of Charlie visiting the Scarlet Pinnacle Manor, as were her chances of seeing him again.Still, she didn't let it show, instead asking casually, "How are things at Champs Elys? Are the warriors improving at a rate to your satisfaction?""Well, most of everyone's improvement is within expectations…" Charlie explained, just as he remembered a certain someone. "By the way, there's something I haven't told you yet. Are you perhaps acquainted with the name Ito Nanako?""Yes," Vera smiled. "The Japanese lady who was with you. What about her?""She attained enlightenment days ago.""Enlightenment?" Vera did a double take and soon pressed, "Enlightenment in what sense? Essential Qi or Reiki?"After all, the former was the path to enlightenment in martial arts, while the latter meant enlightenment in cultivation.But despite the distinction between both domains, enlightenment was a comm
While Charlie had long since gotten used to Elaine and Jacob's bizarre marriage, being near the heart of the storm still took a toll on his senses—to the point that he felt physically sick.Leaving right away was therefore his best solution.Once he left, however, he realized he didn't have anywhere to go. Champs Elys was quite far, and it would take a lot of time.As he started to feel bored stiff, he remembered Vera for some reason and called her.Once Vera answered, she quickly asked in curiosity, "To what do I owe the pleasure? Lunch, perhaps?"Charlie chuckled. "Since you've put it that way… I haven't eaten either, so lunch it is!"Vera giggled. "Come over to my place, then. It's cold outside, and I was just lighting up a hot pot. I'll have Madam Marilyn prepare an additional portion.""Okay!" Charlie agreed to it without hesitation. "I can return her car too. Just wait, I'll be right there!"Once he hung up, he got on the Rolls Roycs he had borrowed from Scarlet Pinnacl