44 A Small Prank shouldn't Hurt

Suzue got dressed up in her comfortable clothes (a tank top and a sweatpant of course) and made it to the living room to grace her guest with her presence. It was only now she realised that Goren looked horrible.

She sat across from him with an expression of concern, all hostile feelings that she had harbored toward him slowly melting away, "Who hurt you this bad?"

Goren shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about that. More importantly-"

"I know," Suzue sighed. "My condolences."

"I'm not here for your condolences," Goren gritted his teeth.

"For shelter? Okay I'll offer you shelter. Stay here for as long as you like. It's a big house."

"Suzue, I know who killed Mr Cheng."

Suzue looked up at him, not interested that much. She didn't care who killed Mr Cheng, doesn't change the fact that he's dead. What they needed to do now was to look forward.

"It's Mitchell. The brother of an old classmate of mine. He killed him. He also knows about our leader, The Last Magnate and about the blood powers."

"I see," Suzue sighed. She hadn't told Goren that she was The Last Magnate either. It was a piece of information only very few, sometimes random, people knew.

"Are you not concerned?"

Suzue shrugged, as if to ask him what she should do about it. "I mean, he was your father. You can avenge him if you want…"

Goren shook his head, clearly disturbed. "No, besides that… he was our leader. As a close friend of the Last Magnate, do you know what he will do when he finds out that the leader is dead?"

Suzue pretended to think. "I don't know… appoint a new leader?"

"Who?"

"That's for the last magnate to decide. Maybe you. Who knows? Or wait, do you want to meet him? He is on the third floor right now."

Goren's eyes lit up. "Wait what? For real?"

Suzue nodded excitedly. "Yep, I have to go somewhere real quick. But I'll tell him that you're coming to meet him and the maids will lead you in. Why don't you talk to him personally?" Suzue asked kindly. She looked at the corner and saw Ani standing against the pillar with her head in one hand. The assistant looked up and mouthed, 'What are you doin, Su?'

Suzue smiled inconspicuously and winked while Goren wasn't looking.

"Alright, bye for now, Goren. See you later."

Goren nodded while Suzue ran upstairs with Ani at her heels. Once they were inside Suzue's room again, Ani threw her hands up in the air. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Chill! I'll just wear some heavy robes, cover my hair with a hat, look like a guy, and sit in the third floor attic with my back turned to him." Suzue laughed and mumbled, "I don't know why everyone automatically assumes that the last magnate is a dude. Goren has always wanted to see the Last Magnate in person."

"He has!" Ani protested.

"But to him, I'm just Suzue!"

Ani groaned. "Whatever, what's done is done. You seem to be in the mood for pranks lately."

Suzue hugged Ani. "And I'm also in the mood to piss you off."

"Oh haven't you made that so very clear," she said through gritted teeth.

"Ooooh sarcastic Vanilla. Cute! Now dress me up!" Suzue folded her hands and they got to picking some robes that Suzue had collected to approve for her theatre play this week.

In a few minutes, Suzue was sitting on the floor on one end of the dark attic. The lights were off and the only illumination were the huge candles by the walls. There was a light screen covering Suzue's face and a cushion on the opposite side of the screen where Goren could sit.

Suzue couldn't help but feel excited.

Ani covered her mouth in realisation after the setup was done. "He'll recognise your voice!"

Suzue snorted and cleared her throat before speaking in a very deep voice. "You still think my voice is a problem here?"

Ani dropped her hands and her eyes shone in awe. "Damn, you really did sound like a dude when you said that."

"I've been doing this stage actress gig for too long, ah!" she said dramatically.

Ani shook her head and smiled at her best friend. While she was a pain to deal with sometimes, she loved her. And she supported her fight. She always will.

Now, the attic was quiet and Ani stepped outside and ordered one of the maids to call Goren in. The message was delivered to another maid on the second floor, then it got passed on to a maid on the first floor who walked across the hall and called Goren out of the living room.

Goren's heart threatened to leave his chest. Sweat formed on his forehead as he followed the maid to the third floor attic.

He stepped inside the slightly dark room as quietly as he could and his eyes fell on the person sitting behind a screen, bundled up in robes. He couldn't tell if it was a male or female because of all the clothes surrounding the person, but his brain automatically assumed the male gender, like he always had.

Slowly, he sat on the cushion and bowed.

"It's an honour to finally meet you, Last Magnate."

The sweat was clear on Goren's face. He bent his legs and sat down on the cushion. Weirdly, he felt calm around a domineering leader such as the last magnate. His heart fluttered at the realisation. 'Maybe I feel comfortable around great people because I belong with them,' he let out an involuntary smile with the confidence that the Magnate wouldn't be able to see him through the screen.

"Name yourself," Suzue said in the gruff impersonation of a male.

Goren cleared his throat. "It's me, the son of Han Cheng, Goren Cheng. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"You're only lucky to meet me. Suzue," the Magnate said, "informed me of the reason for your arrival. Mr Cheng has passed away?"

"Yes, erm...sir…" He started to panic slightly, not sure what to call his leader. "He was murdered by a man named Mitchell Keeser, a member of the Project Dream System we are at war with."

"And did you witness this murder?" The magnate asked coolly.

"I...no. But I stepped into the room and saw Mitchell standing there with a knife in his hands and my father on the floor next to him. Don't underestimate my father! Mitchell caught him during the 5 minute gap the veil between the dimensions faced problems, I suppose you know why that happened?" He asked, curious now. What great thing had happened to cause a shift in the powers of so many cultivators at the same time? If it hadn't happened, his father could have defended himself. He wouldn't be dead.

"Child," The Magnate warned. "Before you entered here, you should have known three things."

Goren gulped. His fists clenched in annoyance. 'Didn't I tell him my name was Goren? How dare he call me child?'

"One, you do not tell me what to do. Two, if there are things to be shared with my members, I will have done that immediately."

Goren found himself involuntarily bowing his head by some moral force. "Y-yes, sir…" he stuttered.

"I understand your father's disadvantaged position which led to his death. But a strong cultivator would have means to protect himself even during his weak points." The Magnate paused for a while and Goren watched her shadow bend down and sip something from a cup.

"You do not seem to be affected by his death," the magnate observed.

"I am just trying to be strong, sir," Goren replied instantly. His skin itched and that comfortable feeling had gone away like sand on a windy desert. It was like the Magnate towered on top of him and blew all his courage away with just a simple whistle.

"Good. I suppose all the members are anxious to know who the next leader is."

"Yes, but I want to end this killer."

"Because he killed your father?"

"Yes."

Suzue smiled under her cloak. "Wrong." Goren was dipped into silent surprise. "You want to end anything related to Tiara. You want to make her miserable. Isn't that the case here?"

The hair's on Goren's arms rose up. 'How did he-' He shook his head. "No, sir, I-"

"I didn't tell you the third thing, did I? The third thing is not to lie. Because when you do, I know."

Goren swallowed his saliva back down in regret. This Last Magnate was no joke, he realised that now. Might as well trust him… right? He had nowhere to go now.

"She destroyed my life. She made my friends hate me. She made my teachers hate me. She was the reason I ended up dropping out of school in middle school. I thought if I took her out of this world early on maybe my life could come back to normal, but even after she was in coma… the effects remained. I just want to let her feel some, just a quarter, of the pain she caused me."

"Goren Cheng, was that it?"

Goren nodded, his breaths less than steady.

"You said that the girl was the reason for your misery. Yet, when the girl was gone, you continued experiencing it. So is that the girl's fault… or yours?"