[Volume 1] Chapter 17- Your dead lover...

Esme tapped his shoulder with a deliberate, forceful touch, her eyes locking onto his with an icy, unwavering glare. "Get lost. Leave. I don't care about anything," she declared, her voice cutting through the air like a sharpened blade. Each word dripped with cold indifference, her demeanor as unyielding as stone.

She began to walk past him, her steps measured and purposeful, but halted abruptly after only two strides. Her head turned slightly, just enough to cast a sidelong glance back at him. "Don't you dare think that just because I am here, I am like a bird in a cage and will do anything for you," she warned, her tone serious and laden with the weight of her resolve.

As Esme resumed her stride, her movements fluid and confident, a vague, mocking voice pierced the moment, freezing her in her tracks. "And here I thought you really wanted to avenge your dear ex-lover." The words, dripping with sarcasm, came from Ray, striking a chord deep within her.

As soon as his words fell, Esme stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around, her face darkening with an intense, menacing expression. Her teeth bared, her eyes blazed with a molten gold hue. A dark, ominous aura began to swirl around her, thickening the air with palpable tension.

Ray and Kai, unfazed, stared back at her without blinking. Instead of fear, a steely resolve shone in their eyes. Ray closed his eyes briefly, a calm settling over him, and when he opened them again, they glowed a vivid blue. The air crackled with energy as the tension mounted.

In an instant, two formidable beasts materialized. Behind Esme, Beom emerged, his powerful fangs gleaming as he growled with feral intensity. With a ferocious roar, he lunged towards Ray, his muscles rippling with raw power. But before Beom could reach him, a massive eagle materialized from behind Ray, its wings spanning wide as it screeched a battle cry and dove towards Beom, talons outstretched.

The clash was immediate and violent, the air exploding with the force of their collision. Beom's fangs snapped at the eagle's wings, while the eagle's talons raked through the air, each seeking to overpower the other. The ground trembled beneath the intensity of their struggle, as Esme and Ray stood as silent commanders of their ferocious beasts, their eyes locked in an unyielding stare.

Esme's eyes blazed with an intensity that could melt steel. Mentioning her deceased lover, Carl, was the ultimate taboo in her empire. Few even knew his name, and those who did had the sense never to breathe it in her presence. Once, a brash businesswoman had recklessly spoken Carl's name, hoping to rattle Esme. Instead, she had awakened a beast. Within two days, the woman's thriving enterprise had crumbled to dust, and she had vanished without a trace. Not a single cent remained of her former wealth, her name erased from the annals of power.

Such was the formidable might of Esme. She ruled with an iron will, and her wrath was legendary. Those who dared to wield Carl's name as a weapon against her learned the hard way that Esme would stop at nothing to obliterate them, leaving no trace of their existence.

Ray's voice cut through the tense silence, flat and unyielding. "Stop glaring at me like that. It's not like what I said is wrong. Even after these past three years, you still haven't found any clue about his death."

Emse's eyes flared with an intense, silent fury. Her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and her jaw tightened in a grimace of suppressed anger.

She shot a look of pure hatred at the brothers, her gaze like shards of glass.

The words Ray had spoken had struck a raw nerve, peeling back layers of frustration and pain that she had struggled to keep buried.

Her chest heaved with uneven breaths, each inhalation a struggle against the crushing weight of Ray's accusation.

She turned away sharply, her movements sharp and jerky as if the words had physically pushed her. The room seemed to shrink around her, the walls closing in on the painful reality Ray had laid bare.

Despite her best efforts over the past five years, every lead she chased had ended in a dead end, leaving her with nothing but the haunting emptiness of unanswered questions about Carl's death.

The weight of her failure was heavy, dragging at her shoulders, pulling her down.

"If you really want to just stay in this prison and let those people enjoy and laugh at your demise, then be my guest," Ray's voice was icy, his tone laced with disdain. He pivoted his wheelchair with a swift, almost theatrical motion, the wheels screeching slightly against the cold, stone floor as he rolled forward.

Kai, silent and solemn, followed his brother's lead, the clatter of his footsteps echoing in the dim, musty corridor.

Both brothers stopped a few steps from the prison cell, their presence looming like a dark cloud. The air between them and Emse crackled with tension.

Ray's face, usually a mask of cold calculation, was now etched with an expression of frustrated intensity. His eyes, sharp and unyielding, met Emse's with an unspoken challenge.

Emse stood motionless, her hands gripping the bars of the cell with a desperate strength. The harsh light from a flickering overhead bulb cast long shadows on her face, highlighting the turmoil etched in her features.

Her breath came in ragged gasps, her body trembling with the effort of keeping her emotions in check.

Ray's voice softened, carrying an undercurrent of reluctant sympathy.

"But... if you truly want to find the truth and take revenge on them, follow me. Believe me... if I were in Mr. Carl's place, I would want to see you happy, not like this."

Ray's gaze held a flicker of genuine concern, a rare glimpse of vulnerability. His usual detachment gave way to a hint of empathy, and for a brief moment, the hard edges of his demeanor softened.

Kai's eyes, often shadowed by his brother's harshness, showed a glimmer of earnest hope as he looked towards Emse.

The contrast was stark: Ray's cold, calculated exterior clashed with the earnest plea hidden beneath, and Kai's silent support echoed a promise of potential change.

Emse's eyes darted between the two brothers, a storm of conflicting emotions battling within her.

The thought of hope, so distant and elusive, seemed to beckon from beyond the confines of her cell, stirring a reluctant flicker in her heart.

Her gaze hardened, a mixture of skepticism and fragile hope. Her breath steadied as she considered the possibility of a way out, the chance to uncover the truth and find some semblance of retribution.

The idea of stepping beyond the prison's bleak confines, fueled by a desire for justice and vengeance, became a tantalizing possibility.

Emse's posture, once hunched with resignation, began to straighten as she faced the brothers, her resolve visibly strengthening.

She clenched her fists, not in anger this time, but as a sign of her determination to seize this new opportunity, however uncertain it might be.

Her eyes met Ray's with a mixture of defiance and fragile hope, ready to follow wherever the promise of truth and vengeance might lead.