Chapter 126
I stared at him for a moment, then smiled.
“To devour the House of Mare in a hostile takeover. We claimed your family heirloom that had been in your family for generations, and stripped your mother of her power as matriarch.
Enoch’s face was drained of color as his shock grew.
How’s that? Knowing the full story make your blood boil?
Because I’ve always known that Uncle Claude isn’t the kind of man to help people out of kindness.
‘Kido, this engagement is to obtain the Mare family heirloom and the ducal title, tools tied to the Demon of Greed. It’s for your future.’
I wonder how far ahead had Uncle mapped it all out?
His methods always seemed inefficient at first glance, but the results yielded were anything but.
I had trusted in his bold, unpredictable investments. I’d even agreed to flee with the useless members of our bloodline.
I thought it was a contingency plan, to throw them as bait and escape when necessary.
But looking back on the betrayal, maybe he wasn’t even the same uncle I once knew.
To this day, I still don’t know why he needed the Mare heirloom, likely collecting dust in a secret bank vault by now.
No point asking Enoch because he wouldn’t know. And even if he did, it was all useless now.
I shrugged and continued.
“That was the only thing worth trading, wasn’t it? It would’ve crumbled on its own anyway. I just followed Uncle’s wishes and agreed to the engagement, but the more I think about it… you were a bad investment.”
Enoch looked like he was fighting back a scream.
“I knew you were cold and calculating. But to crush someone’s pride and honor with money. That’s monstrous. That’s why I left you.”
Does he still not get that personal attacks don’t work on me?
“You didn’t leave. You unilaterally broke the contract. And this conversation? It’s a preemptive notice so you don’t delude yourself into thinking I was ever hurt or jealous over you and Viviana. Start your prison romance, throw a wedding, have a baby shower. I don’t care.”
With no filter, I stepped in closer and whispered.
“But you should start thinking about breach penalties and compensation. I don’t care what you do, but if you mess with me or tick me off? I won’t let that slide.”
He looked so pathetic as I was watching him talk so poetically about love and self-vindication.
Viviana’s no different from me. If he ever finds out she used their great romance as leverage, he’ll be devastated.
And from the looks of it, that relationship’s already got an expiration date. I didn’t even try to hide my snickering.
What’s wrong? Wanna kill me now?
Go on, make a plan with Viviana.
I’ll reclaim what I invested with interest, through your own damn powers.
Enoch had gone quiet for some time, when he finally spoke.
“All those years…was there not even a moment when you liked me?”
Why was he asking like that, all heartbroken and wistful?
“You were so uninterested that you didn’t even notice I was seeing Viviana?”
I figured I might as well be honest.
“I assumed you wouldn’t dare betray me. I thought you’d make a decent marriage partner, mainly because I aesthetically liked your face when I was ten, and thought you wouldn’t be a bad partner for marriage.”
If he’d been ugly, I would’ve canceled the engagement with every childhood tactic in the book: tantrums, starvation, fake tears.
Even if the Mare heirloom was important, living your life tied to someone who looked like a deep-sea fish? That’s torture.
“Kido, you’re just pretending. You think I don’t know when you lie? I’ve watched you for years.”
Enoch gave me a strange smile.
Why did he look… pleased?
It felt like I was watching a bombed-out city still standing tall.
[Unfulfilled retrieval conditions – retrieving this subject will raise karmic debt]
He still didn’t want to kill me.
I checked again, but the same message popped up. He was not a valid retrieval target.
So even after all that? The venom, the facts, was it still not enough?
You betrayed me to kill me, remember? What changed?
“Ha…”
Bitterness rose to my throat, but Enoch completely misread my sigh.
“Don’t die so easily, Kido. You need to understand how I felt. Maybe learn a few things from Viviana too, like how to treat a man.”
They say the hardest arguments are with people who make no sense and reject all logic.
I was about to tell him to go off and die, when he leaned in close, smug grin plastered across his face.
“Regret losing me, then make sure you die.”
Regret and die in misery?
So this is what he wanted?
To him, I’m nothing more than the lowest of the low now.
“Regret? What a joke.”
And that’s when someone suddenly burst in.
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