“Do you think you’re better than me?” Frederick suddenly asked.Julius’s arrogance immediately crumbled. “How can that be? I just want to look cool in front of Ruth. Can you not put me down?”Frederick was dissatisfied. “Do you have to step on me just because you want to look cool?”“But I didn’t step on you!”“How else would you put it?”The father and son quarreled at the slightest disagreement.The argument was especially childish.Ruth and Abel looked at each other helplessly, feeling that they could not say a thing.After the two finished arguing, Ruth explained that she had no intention of drawing boundaries with the Rivas family. Since she was back in Sommerset now, she wanted to contribute to the combat training academy.In other words, she was taking in a student.However, Frederick did not seem as happy as he was in the beginning to hear this.He evaded her questions. “You’ve already overseen the freshman assessment this time. Also, you’re about to prepare for your
Under Ruth’s puzzled gaze, Abel slowly took a sip of tea and elegantly put down the teacup.He turned to look at her. “Do you think you can get an apprentice?”Ruth was dumbfounded.“Students aren’t naturally talented as they were in the past. Everyone worked hard to get this opportunity. They’re not going to waste it on training under someone they don’t know.”Ruth’s excitement dimmed.Abel continued, “Besides, I don’t want you to take in an apprentice either.”Ruth was surprised. “Why?”“First of all, you don’t have the time and energy to teach them. Secondly…” he paused for a moment. “Forget it, there’s no second reason. You can find any excuse to stay here. It won’t be easy for them to chase you away.”Ruth looked at him grumpily and retorted, “What do you mean by that? Do you think I’m that stubborn to stay here with any random excuse?”Abel turned around and stared at her indifferently.Ruth stared back at him for a few seconds before finally giving in.“Okay, I can be
Ruth did not say anything.She gave it a few seconds of thought before sending Abel a reply.[Is it because I’m too direct? Are children that soft these days? My teacher used to scold me every single day!]Abel was in disbelief. [Did he call you stupid and berate you too?]Without batting an eye, Ruth shot him a reply. [Yep! He used to yell at me every single day! In fact, I’m just echoing everything he said to me back then! I was waiting for this day!]Abel was incredulous. Did Julius expect this would happen today?Had he anticipated that no one would want to be under her because of this?Julius was indeed a force to be reckoned with. He was brilliant.Although she said that, Ruth had obviously changed her strategy.She now tried her best to not be sarcastic and switched to being more encouraging.“Your kick just now was very precise. Although it didn’t achieve the desired effect, at least your goal was clear.”“Although you lost, you’re very sturdy! You actually withstood
The assessments continued.Some newbies were bragging about picking Ruth as their sparring partner and beating her. However, they were all talk.They had all seen how ruthless she was. She was terrifying.Abel leaned back in his chair. He tapped the armrest occasionally, analyzing Ruth’s strengths and weaknesses.If someone wanted to be her student, it was because they could see she was talented and dedicated. Her only drawback was that she spoke without thinking.However, this was an important trait to have. She was honest and forthright. She would treat her students sincerely and not be swayed by the words of others.Anyway, the most important thing that any potential student Ruth would take in had to be mentally strong and capable of withstanding her sharp tongue.“Sometimes accepting you’re weak is a part of becoming stronger. This is the most prestigious institution when it comes to combat training. If you give up now, it’s hard to say if you can join again next year.”H
Moreover, Ruth was the one who went easy on Piers. Why would it matter if she beat him again?Ruth had spent the entire afternoon trying to choose her words carefully. She was afraid that she would hurt the new students.However, it did not seem to be working. They were still looking at her with fear in their eyes.After the assessment ended, they quickly dispersed.They did not even dare to interact with the instructor beside them.Finnian and the other seniors looked at her and wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, they could not help but tell her, “Ruth, why don’t you come again when you’re ready to take an apprentice?”Ruth was at a loss. “Huh? Can’t I continue to be here anyway?”The seniors were dumbfounded.She was obviously not trying to pick an apprentice from this batch! What was she doing?Moreover, this would affect their rapport with the new students!Originally, Finnian had booked a restaurant for tonight to welcome Ruth’s return.However, because
Abel lowered his gaze and stared at the glass of water in front of him. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Who’s the previous head of the Rivas family?”Galen was confused. “Frederick. Julius, the current head, will have to retire soon.”“Is there no fifth child with a different surname?”“Not really.”Abel pursed his lips and was silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, he said, “For now, keep an eye on Sean Lovehart and Denver Lovehart.”Galen was confused. Why did his target change so quickly? Why did he go from investigating the Rivas family to the Lovehart family?Ruth took the phone into the house, snuggled into the sofa, and swiped the answer button.Lily’s excited voice quickly came through the receiver. “How is it? Did you see the message I sent you?”Ruth was confused. “What message?”“Look at it! It’s my new room!” Lily squealed. “Take a look! Wow, Notus is quite efficient. He tidied up the room for me in the afternoon! It’s all decorated according to my tastes as wel
Lily thought for a moment. “There’s not much information about him. I only know that Sean dotes on him and uses his connections to help him excel in many areas! The most powerful position he holds is being an instructor at some big-name combat training place!”“The Rivas Family Training Grounds.”“Wow! You have a great information network! How did you learn about this? Why didn’t you tell me?”Ruth replied, “Have you forgotten that I once told you that there was a senior who was always inexplicably hostile toward me?”Lily was surprised. “Damn! It’s him? I heard from Dulcie later that because your teacher’s fifth apprentice is highly respected, his apprentices have very high statuses in the institution! But didn’t that man commit a crime later? Why is he still so highly regarded?”Ruth frowned and was about to ask something when she heard a clear voice behind her. “What did he do?”She had forgotten to turn off the loudspeaker when she was looking at the photos, so their conversa
Night fell.Julius and Frederick were still in the school building. It had been several years since they had stayed in the school building for so long.The new students were excited. They could feel the importance the family head placed on this assessment.The seniors realized that this was because of Ruth.Originally, they were quite nervous, worried that the apprentices they had painstakingly nurtured would be snatched up by Ruth.Unexpectedly, most of them received a secret notification that night. They had to do everything they could to stop Ruth from taking in apprentices!This was easy!Taking advantage of the fact that she had become very unpopular in the afternoon, the seniors rushed over to curry favor with their potential apprentices.At the same time, they began “talking” about Ruth. They talked about her lack of punctuality and how she had a much sharper tongue than what the newbies had seen. In addition, her partner was a very jealous man and would not accept her
Galen stood nervously at the side. At first, he wanted to step in and help, but he held himself back.In the end, he gave up and watched the fight.The more he watched, the more startled he was.Despite her delicate frame, her moves were calculated and ruthless.Many of her moves were lethal.She was a young woman who was loved. She was pampered and adored by everyone. How was such a person so ruthless in combat?It was as if she often fought to the death…Mr. Watson was shaken as well. He covered his neck with one hand, while his other hand hung limply by his hand. He looked at Lily in shock. His other hand hung weakly by his side. He looked at Lily in shock.How could such a small and delicate-looking person possess such strength? Was she really the heiress of the Cavendish family?“Do you want to verify it? The wounds match with the one who attacked me. I broke his right wrist on the spot, though. After that, I didn’t wait for reinforcement to come. I moved immediately an
Her hand paused while hefting the silver fork.Ruth’s husband was really very considerate. He loved her sister truly and everyone in her family.She decided to find a boyfriend like him for herself in the future.“I definitely will!” She thought.She stood in the spacious living room and looked at the man beside Galen who wanted to get to the bottom of this investigation. Her fingers tightened on the fork. “Words might not be enough to explain. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you give this a try?”Galen had not reacted when Charles spoke, nor when Abel had talked about switching it to a blunt weapon, but he definitely did now. “Nonsense!” he said sternly and stood up.Lily’s fighting spirit was ignited, but his stern rebuke deflated half of it. “Why not? Is it now allowed? You said attacking a police officer wasn’t allowed, didn’t you?”“He doesn’t count!” Galen said with disdain.Lily’s aggressive stance was completely deflated. “Well… if he doesn’t count, then his skills
The seemingly innocent question was directed at the young police officer.He looked troubled.Her delicate appearance did not help.The young police officer turned to the stern-faced man beside Galen for some help. The man pursed his thin lips and spoke in a deep voice.“Your Excellency… Madam… the nature of this case is severe, but the process of investigation is smooth. If your daughter doesn’t reveal the whole truth, it’ll be difficult for us to reach the crux of the issue. I assume that you don’t just want the result from this investigation but also the truth?”His firm voice was authoritative yet respectful.Charles turned to look at him. His brown eyes were calm, and he was sizing up this person.The police officer’s cold demeanor momentarily faltered. He quickly looked away and did not dare look him in the eye. “We’re just following procedures. To prevent this matter from escalating further, we hope for your cooperation.”He sounded intimidated yet resolute. It seemed
He was already determined to stake everything on his plan.“Right,” Lily said, “What about those bodyguards assigned to protect me? How were they swapped?”“Abel offered them ten times the price and bribed the group of bodyguards hired by Denver. The two poor people were taken down. The rest were replaced by our own people,” said Galen icily.Lily was shocked. She looked at him and then at Abel, who was driving calmly.Ruth looked at her husband with the same shocked face.So, this was how money made the world go round!When Denver had transferred money to that company, Lily had caught wind of it, but it seemed Abel had found out even sooner.He had already made arrangements to take drastic measures.“Don’t they have any morals? I heard that those kinds of organizations have principles. They won’t willingly betray the ones who employed them,” said Ruth.“As long as it’s not a terrorist organization, every organization needs connections. William’s group was already in dire stra
It was mainly because Denver clearly fabricated an alibi. But he had appeared on the scene and had been taken away.It was indeed quite puzzling.At that point, everyone looked at Abel in confusion.Abel looked straight ahead and did not speak. He only spoke when he was asked directly.“The father and son lost because they didn’t know each other’s motivations. It’s easy to bribe their people to send a message to the other and get them to the scene…”Before they set off, Sean received news that Denver was going all out and wanted to go down with Lily in the manor in the suburbs.Sean did not doubt it because Denver had been acting increasingly strange recently.He was transferring his assets and buying and renovating manors. It was as though he was prepared for death.He had even arranged for his funeral.Afraid that his son was taking things too hard, he put down whatever he was doing and rushed over to the scene.Since that was taken care of, it was easy to deceive Denver af
“See what you are doing? What if something happens to your sister?”Charles was not known for showing affection or caring about people outright.However, when his daughter cried and threw a tantrum, he could not stop himself.Charles stood by Lily without hesitation and scolded Abel for his incompetence.Ruth was originally filled with resentment and wanted to vent it out on Abel too, but when she saw that the father and daughter duo had joined forces to attack her husband, half of her resentment dissipated.With four bodyguards that had been arranged to deal with two outsiders, coupled with Lily’s abilities, her life was indeed not in danger…She glanced at Lily hesitantly. At this moment, Galen had cleaned up all the stains on her palm.Other than the redness between her thumb and index finger, she did not seem too badly hurt.All the resentment was gone. In fact, she was even a little protective. “Why did you have to deal with the four bodyguards?” Lily lowered her head an
Everyone was speechless.This discussion was fruitless. Everyone had their own opinions, and no one wanted to give in.In the end, Reina and the old man took a car, while Ruth, Abel, Charles, Galen Barker, and Lily got into another.The fire slowly died down.The cars left one after another.After Mr. Lockton got into the car, his cloudy eyes became shrewd. He asked his daughter, “Do you think that police officer is also interested in Lily?”Otherwise, why would he be so active and rush to the front? Why would he find such a lousy excuse to be the one to drop her home?“I think so, but unfortunately, Lily doesn’t seem to be as interested as before,” Reina said helplessly.Otherwise, why would she reject such a good opportunity to get into his car?Wouldn’t she have acted pitiful enough to earn his sympathy to get into the car?Mr. Lockton frowned. He was in deep thought.The last time he had heard that his granddaughter had fallen in love with another man who happened to be
Also, she was sure that if it was Luna being attacked at that time, he would have helped her without hesitation.This man was just like Notus. He was stupid, stubborn, and hypocritical.The reason why she spoke on his behalf was that she could not stand Luna’s smug face. Even if she wanted to drag someone down, she had to ask first.It was just the truth. She would not die if she made that clear anyway.Luna’s smug look cracked as she stared fixedly at her. Her gaze shifted from doubt to resentment and unwillingness.Aquilo was not surprised when Lily accused him. He knew that he had done something wrong. If not for Abel’s careful consideration, they would have died here today.However, he was quite surprised to hear her defend him.As he was handcuffed and escorted to the police car, he could not help but turn to look at her.“Lily…”Lily was about to walk to her car.She paused for a moment and turned to look at him calmly.Her usually playful eyes were indifferent at that
Aquilo opened his mouth but did not know what to say.Just then, a team of uniformed police officers rushed over to the scene to rescue the hostages.Looking at the people standing before them, they could not tell which ones were the hostages.Galen Barker walked over from behind and glanced at them. “What are you still standing here for? Get out quickly!”This manor had an ancient Sommersetese courtyard.The place where they were gathered was a small open space in the courtyard.After passing through the desolate artificial mountain pavilion, they arrived at the large courtyard outside the manor. There were many people gathered there, with many police cars parked nearby.A fire truck had also arrived.To Lily’s surprise, Sean Lovehart and his father were also there and were being escorted into the police car.When he saw her coming out, Denver’s face filled with hatred. He wanted to rush to her and strangle her. “You’ve got guts! You risked your life to drag us down with you!