Adrian’s chin was tilted downwards as he glanced at the glass of wine in his hand.
Occasionally, he swirled it lazily watching as the lights from the chandeliers flickered on the red wine.
He did not look up. Not even once.
No one dared to breathe too loudly.
This great being was always unapproachable but for some reason, there seemed to be a glacier around him. Hence nobody dared to approach him.
Ji Yan stood behind the throne chair with a phone in his hand.
And his gaze was intensely focused on the phone, waiting for it to buzz. Those were his Second Master’s orders, to not look away from the phone in case they missed a text from Ella.
Unfortunately, the man’s phone never buzzed and as time passed by, Ji Yan grew unsettled, feeling like ants were crawling all over his body.
Miss Yu... Miss Yu... Please save this poor thing...
Everyone watched as the devil king’s head snapped up finally, his intense gaze shifting to Ji Yan who was initially smiling wide.
But then his smile fell off when he realized that the phone that buzzed was his, not his second master’s.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed, mushroom clouds floated above his head.
Ji Yan shivered and stepped aside to take the call.
’’Second Master!" Ji Yan returned in two minutes, his face pale and tense.
Adrian did not glance at the man.
Ji Yan leaned down and whispered something in Adrian’s ear.
The wine glass in Adrian’s hand shattered.
Crimson liquid trickled down his fingers, wine... and blood.
A violent silence fell.
The chandeliers swayed slightly, as if recoiling from the shift in the air.
the devil opened both his eyes.
Adrian rose, slow and lethal.
His aura exploded like a storm erupting beneath a frozen lake—dark, absolute, and devastating.
The crowd instinctively parted.
Ji Yan followed, stiff and solemn.
Behind them, whispers ignited.
"Was it the King Family? Is there a power shift?"
This devil King has been untouchable and immortalized for every person present there.
For Adrian King to act in this mortal manner, what could be his trigger point?
Yet no matter how they searched or investigated, they were bound to live with this mystery.
’’What... do you want?"
’’Your hairpins,’’ Ella glanced at the gold hairpins in Ruby’s hair, a sly glint dancing in her gaze.
As they stepped out of the wooden door, they were greeted by an abandoned courtyard—walls cracked, weeds coiling up, silence lurking in every corner. And surprisingly, the place was completely empty.
Even after a while, Ruby’s jaws remained dropped.
Until Ella pressed her chin up, "Close that pretty mouth. It’s filthy around here.’’
Ruby swatted away her hand, flustered, ’’How did you even do that?"
Ella massaged her wrists that had turned red, her eyes a little shifty, ’’Eh, we need to thank you for holding the door for me. If not for that, my hand would not have managed to fit in through that teeny tiny gap at all.’’
’’That’s not what I asked.’’
I know what you asked but I don’t know how to answer that.
Ella smiled stiffly, her mind flashing back to the version of herself who had nothing but time and a constant to mess around with Adrian.
In her previous life... When nothing worked in escaping Adrian, she decided to get on his last nerve by messing with his private stuff.
Where would one keep their important private stuff? In the lockers.
How to get past the lockers? Pick locks in traditional ones. Break through the codes through some sneaky tricks in the modern lockers.
Hence the reason she could pick locks was because she had seen countless tutorials in her previous life to learn this.
’’That way...’’ Ruby pointed at the gates in the distance.
Ella nodded and followed her, ’’Let’s hurry up...’’
As they ran towards the gates, Ruby gave her a side eye, ’’You are in a rush...’’ she remarked.
’’I am afraid of staying here for another moment hehe~" Ella heaved a sigh of relief when Ruby seemed to have brought her words.
Rush? Of course, she was in a rush.
If the big devil back in the Eve Mansion knew of this, won’t he lock her up forever for the sake of ’protecting her’?
The thought of it made Ella accelerate her pace.
Just as they were about to reach the gate, two tall and bulky men in black suddenly sprang out, blocking their path.
Ella pulled Ruby back on instinct as those men stepped forward.
However, in the next moment, they were grabbed separately.
"Ugh...’’ Ruby jabbed her elbow in the neck of the man who grabbed her.
"You bitch!" The man slapped her.
"Don’t forget. We need her alive,’’ The man clutching Ella muttered, calm as he yanked her by her hair and dragged her to a room.
Pain seared across her scalp as she was hauled back inside.
Ella and Ruby were thrown into separate rooms.
Suddenly, the ray of light pervading the room disappeared as the person locked the door.
Ella was enshrouded in darkness.
A layer of cold sweat covered her body. She slowly extended her hand.
Unable to see her hand in the darkness, she felt a shiver crawling down her spine.
Ella closed her eyes and distracted herself.
This time, Ruby’s calm voice reverberated in the empty rooms, ’’You are shivering. Cold?"
Ella gulped, ’’I didn’t mean to lie to you yesterday."
’’The reason I said that I don’t have a man...’’ Ella looked around and slowly backed into a corner, ’’is because the circumstances of my relationship with him are special. And I didn’t want you to misunderstand my relationship with your fiance...’’
Ella smiled bitterly.
She opened her mouth to speak but her throat constricted.
In front of her eyes, she could see shadowy figures in the dark.
Suddenly, her ears perceived the sound of mice.
She could feel them climbing on her body, biting on her flesh till chunks of her flesh tumbled.
Ella’s vision grew blurry as she dusted off her body.
Ruby’s voice seemed to come from a distance.
Ella opened her mouth to respond yet no words came out.
And before she realized, her body fell forward with a thump!
"Ella...! Open the damn door... Ella!"