Chapter 15: Notorious

Great pressure pressed down on the servants and maids present, falling especially heavy on the group of guilty men.

No one dared to utter a word or make a sound, fearing to be noticed and gaining everyone's attention.

"Brother, I told you, it's nothing. I'm fine. It was just a little incident and I handled it very well," Ian tried to reassure his concerned brother, even sounding a little proud of himself with how well he handled the situation. 

After he found out about the poisoning and the betrayal, he immediately caught the perpetrators who committed the crime and punished them. This not only served as a warning and example to their staff but also to outsiders to not to scheme against the Everett family because not one of them is a softie.

He did a good job.

At least he himself thought so.

However, he also understood that his brother would not like the fact that he had been poisoned, so he tried to keep that fact out of the picture. Nonetheless, he knew that it would be impossible once Doctor Isaac gives him a checkup and discovers the remaining traces of poison in his body.

Doctor Isaac never keeps anything from his brother, after all, Angus was his boss and employer, the one who pays his generous salary.

Sad to say, Doctor Isaac was a truly materialistic person. 

Yet despite Doctor Isaac's materialistic nature, he was genuinely loyal to Angus and the Everett Mafia Group. Having been picked up by the Everett family as an abandoned baby and adopted by one of the gang members, Isaac saw the Everetts as his benefactor and savior. He became a doctor to fulfill his dream of paying them back for their kindness—and to make big bucks.

That is why, besides listening to Angus's orders like the law, he helped cover for Ian at times, temporarily, like that time with Shade.

After having experienced his last life, Ian knew who to trust the most around him and his brother. With Levi taking the top spot on the list and Doctor Isaac not far behind. This was the reason why Ian so boldly revealed Shade to Isaac, believing he would help him keep this secret from his brother at least for the time being.

Doctor Isaac approached Ian and gave him a quick but meticulous checkup. His honey orange eyes took on a solemn look once he saw the results, and at the same time, he was a little relieved.

Putting back his equipment into his bag, Doctor Isaac explained his diagnosis, "There are traces of poisoning in Ian's blood. The poison seems to be a very potent and fatal type that can lead to an immediate death once it's taken. Good news is he only ingested a tiny amount of it and his body seems to be very resistant to the poison so he's getting better already. Just in case, I'll prescribe him some medicine to take to quicken the recovery process." To be honest, Isaac had felt very surprised at how powerfully and dominantly Ian's body was fighting against the poison. By the time he checked, all the poison was nearly gone, only mere traces remained of their existence which would've soon been wiped out completely. 

It was as if Ian was immune to poison. Doctor Isaac entertained such an interesting thought.

Ian felt Doctor Isaac looking at him weirdly. Ian calmly looked back with a smile. 'He must've discovered I'm immune to poisoning. I knew he was a very insightful and thoughtful person.'

Ian agreed to the checkup regardless of the possibility of Doctor Isaac discovering his special situation. This was for the most part because of Ian's trust in Isaac, that he would never tell this to another, maybe except for his brother and that wouldn't matter. 

Ian had first found out about this special ability of his when he was assassinated with poison in his last life. He had drawn the annoyance of the enemy by constantly interfering with whatever plans he had access to and found out through his information sources. This caused them a small amount of their forces and wasted a lot of their time and resources, so they finally decided to get rid of him through the hiring of an assassin.

The assassin they hired was a poison master. The poison the other party used at that time was stronger than the one he had today, it was so strong it was rumored to be able to melt a person into liquid. Truly a marvelous assassination tool where no traces will be left of either the culprit and their victim.

Ian had unknowingly intaked a large dose of it. That poison was special and unique in that it could not be detected by any method, not by silver needles or anything else used to test poison. That's why Ian had been blind to the fact that he had been poisoned until it was too late. By the time he found out, his body was unable to move and he could feel his body burning and churning like an ice cube melting in hot temperatures. 

He thought he would die.

But he was unwilling. He had yet to get revenge on those who destroyed his life and took the lives of his family and loved ones in cold blood. He would never allow himself to die before he let them get a taste of the agonizing pain he felt.

Ian couldn't see it himself, but in that moment, his powers activated by itself as if sympathizing with his determination and indomitable will. His light purple eyes had glowed a deep and enchanting purple that threatened to swallow the entire world in its powers, making everyone his puppet.

Before long, Ian had passed out due to overdrawing his powers. In his sleep, his powers made his entire body glow faintly purple as magical lights started moving in his blood throughout his body, eliminating everything bad or harmful in his body on sight.

Once Ian woke up, he felt better than ever. All the impurities of his body were removed and all the dangerous poison were gone, even his skin that was dried and dark from lack of care turned soft and healthy.

The assassin who had come to check if Ian had died was beyond shocked to see Ian still alive. The poison he set had taken the lives of tens of people he had targeted, each died without knowing how or why, without being able to struggle, yet Ian somehow survived. Unbelievable.

He unluckily perished in Ian's hands.

From that day on, Ian discovered his immunity to all poison. No matter how potent the poison he drank, he would only be in pain for a while, the duration depending on the amount he intakes, and then after that, the poison would eventually disappear from his body.

Ian did not know how it happened, but he had a strong feeling that this was all thanks to his powers. It was the only explanation that made sense.

This event made his powers seem even more mysterious. He couldn't see the bottom of it. 

Ian became even more sure of his guess that his immunity to poison stemmed from the powers Levi planted in him, because the special ability came with him after he was reborn.

He had almost forgotten how badly it hurt everytime he got poisoned. Until tonight when he once again almost got killed by poisoning.

"Poisoned?" A rumbling sound like dark rolling clouds and thunder before the storm came from Angus.

The servants and maids kneeling on the floor lowered their heads even more into the ground, not daring to speak. They were at fault too for their carelessness and had no courage to defend themselves from the anger of their master.

Angus turned his head to look at the tongueless man who trembled uncontrollably like he had essential tremor when he felt Angus's gaze on him. If he had his tongue still, still he wouldn't utter a word.

The tongueless soup chef had no idea how Master Angus knew that he was the one who poisoned young master Ian. 

"Drag him away and feed him to the dogs!" Angus commanded with a shout as his ice cold voice ceased the tongueless man's shaking at once. Unable to even muster the courage to resist, the soup chef was instantly taken away by the two bodyguards. His fate decided just like that. Even he himself did not rebel as though Angus's words were absolute.

"Tsk! Tsk! Angus, brother, when did you get so soft? You call that a punishment?" Levi sounded like he was joking as he fanned himself. Using his fan to cover his mouth, Levi smiled, but the smile seemed strange. A deadly aura seemed to radiate from him as he said in a normal tone with a normal volume, "Isn't being fed to the dogs a luxury for someone like him who has the fine guts to poison our little Ian? He should be —— and ——, then —— with —— followed by ——..." 

Levi continued his rant until he finished with, "...only then does he deserve to die."

He said this all with a normal tone of voice in a normal volume, not being loud or quiet. But his voice reached every corner of the mansion and entered every ear. 

Everyone with ears trembled, wishing they could dig a hole in the ground and stuff their heads in. An illusion of torture with death as the relief came over them. They have always known what kind of people their master and the people around him were, but this was the first time they had so closely interacted with that world.

Even Ian appeared shocked, never knowing that Levi was such a genius in torturing techniques.

Angus appeared to seriously think over Levi's suggestion. Gesturing over a bodyguard, Angus whispered something to him and then waved him away. The bodyguard respectfully saluted before chasing after the bodyguards who left with the tongueless.

Ian seemed to have heard his brother telling the bodyguard something along the lines of Levi, method, torture, man.

Ian shrugged. Not interested. After all, in the end, these people were merely accomplices and not the real conductors. Playing parts more like scapegoats.

Besides, he already had his share of the fun and vented his anger.

After Angus dealt with the tongueless soup chef's punishment, he quickly arranged the punishments of the other chefs involved. No matter how much they begged for mercy, Angus had them beaten till they lost all their teeth and could only groan and moan in pain before being roughly dragged away.

During this time, Doctor Isaac had Ian eat the medicine he gave him to cleanly get rid of the poison in his body. Ian didn't protest even though he knew all the poison had already left his body as he no longer felt any pain. But Doctor Isaac didn't know that. And to reassure his worried brother, although the other appeared cold-faced and not different from normal on the outside, Ian took the medicine.

Even though things had finally calmed down, nobody was in the mood to eat, not after knowing the food had been poisoned and could be poisoned again. 

"Brother, Levi, I'll be going back to my room to rest," Ian said after he got bored watching the maids and servants cleaning up the mess he made in the dining room.

"Hm, yes, go get some rest. You need it," Angus said as he squeezed the bridge of his nose, tiredness showing on his face as well after having experienced anger and fear in one night. 

"Sweet dreams, little Ian. I'll be here when you wake up tomorrow," Levi said as he smiled, making himself look like a scammer once again. 

Meaning that he will be staying the night in the Everett Mansion. Ian understood the underlying meaning of Levi's words.

Ian nodded to them and headed back to his room after a long night. Shade also followed after him, only returning to his room once he escorted Ian safely to his room and Ian entered and the door closed.

"Good night, Master."

Ian smiled. "Good night, Shade."

The door closed.

In just a single night, not one of the big gangs did not hear of the cruelty of Ian Everett, the younger brother of Angus Everett, who only appeared gentle and polite on the surface.

This made someone's plan change.