Louis felt his chin gripped—so light in strength, it was as if it were Joshua's hand.

Louis knew Joshua's body was nothing extraordinary: neither mechanized nor trained.

He was cruel, attention-seeking, but not particularly intelligent. Athena was right—Joshua would have found it hard to survive without her.

The shadow of Athena loomed large, but she was also the greatest wing Joshua had ever had. Only Joshua himself was never willing to accept it.

There may be one thing the two siblings shared: ambition. A great ambition that drove them to do anything to seize what they wanted.

Louis raised his head in submission. Joshua narrowed his eyes, gaze sly:

"No one has ever dared ignore me like this, Louis. If it were Athena, would you dare act this way?"

Louis frowned slightly. "Athena would never play such a lowly game!"

Being entangled with Joshua clearly annoyed Louis. He even forgot how terrified Joshua once was of him—daring now to frown and throw sharp words at him.

Athena, Athena... it was always because of Athena.

"So, you're saying, Athena is still better than me, isn't she?"

Louis didn't reply, but his defiant expression said everything.

Joshua couldn't help but smile, then suddenly asked,

"Do you know why Athena gave you to me?"

Louis looked at him suspiciously. Joshua chuckled softly.

"Don't look at me like that—I don't know either. But if you're hiding something from Athena, you'd better be careful, because she must have already figured it out."

At those words, Joshua's eyes lit up with satisfaction as Louis's pupils trembled violently. He seemed to think of something, his whole face stricken with panic and fear.

Ha ha ha. Foolish Louis—he couldn't even hide his own emotions, and yet he dared to deceive Athena?

Joshua gently pulled down the white lace veil from Louis's head, gazing at him with extreme tenderness, as though he weren't the same person who had just threatened to snap his neck.

Softly, he wiped the porridge stain from Louis's face and whispered,

"Come now, Louis. Tell me—just what is it you've been hiding from Athena? Don't worry, I have the power to protect you."

Of course not.

Louis's eyes widened, locking with Joshua's gray ones, as though under a spell. He whispered,

"It's Sylus. Sylus and I..." He paused briefly, then added in a low voice: "Sylus and I knew each other from before."

"Ha ha... Louis, you really don't know how to lie. How pitiful. Maybe that's why you can never hide anything from Athena." Joshua sneered.

Louis pressed his lips together, his eyes turning red, tears pooling.

"No... Athena will kill Sylus! Sylus must already be in danger!"

Joshua looked at him silently.

Louis, as if clutching a final lifeline, grabbed Joshua's sleeve, pleading desperately,

"Joshua, please, I'm begging you—save Sylus. As long as you save him, I'll do whatever you want! Please, I'm begging you!"

Louis was on the verge of sobbing. Joshua's lips curled upward, satisfaction flooding his eyes. Yes—this was how it should be. Beg me. Treat me as your only light.

Joshua bent down and pressed a soft kiss against the tear sliding down Louis's cheek, the gentle touch making Louis freeze.

Watching Louis tremble despite his outward calm, Joshua couldn't help but laugh.

So naïve. Naïve to the point of stupidity.

Louis, just how much do you think your life is worth?

With just a single strand of Louis's hair, Joshua could create dozens of Louis. Yet Louis foolishly believed he could earn Joshua's help with nothing more than a bit of tenderness.

The amusement in Joshua's eyes faded slightly. If Louis survived this ordeal, Tch'd throw him into Leo's pen to play.

Ah, and it seemed Leo's mating season was coming up.

Recalling the tragic scene of the last batch of slaves torn apart, Joshua's lips curved into a satisfied smile.

He didn't even bother hiding his thoughts. He was confident stupid Louis wouldn't suspect a thing.

Looking at Louis, he said softly,

"I can save Sylus. But Louis, I have a condition."

Without hesitation, Louis asked,

"What condition?"

Joshua chuckled.

"Ha ha, no hesitation at all, huh? Tell me—what exactly is your relationship with Sylus?"

Louis replied in a low voice,

"We're friends. Best friends."

Hearing that, Joshua narrowed his eyes.

"Best friends, huh? Sounds rather extravagant."

Louis gave him a doubtful look, but Joshua suddenly lunged forward, leaning close to his ear. Louis instinctively tried to push him away, but the whisper that brushed his ear made him freeze.

His eyes widened slightly, lips parting as if to speak—but in the end, he stayed silent, yielding instead with a quiet,

"Keep your promise."

Joshua tilted his head, taking in Louis's flawless profile and the faint flush at his ears.

He licked lightly at Louis's ear and whispered,

"Of course. Once I take Athena's seat, there's nothing I can't do."

Louis shuddered but said nothing.

After instructing Louis about the banquet the following day, Joshua left the garden, skipping with light steps—his cheerfulness plain for anyone to see.

Louis glanced at the bowl of porridge across the table, then suddenly turned toward the nearby butler. He asked softly,

"Could I have a piece of chocolate?"

He admitted it—he couldn't hold back any longer. He felt he would collapse right there if he went even another minute without eating. He was at his limit.

The butler's smile remained unchanged, impartial as ever. No—more accurately, he showed no emotion beyond the service duty.

The butler quickly left, then returned with a bar of chocolate for Louis. Louis chewed on the chocolate as he returned to his room.

He didn't know whether this chocolate bar had been laced with some "seasoning," but whatever—he was going to die soon anyway...

"Sylus, you were the one who abandoned me first..."

Louis's gaze turned dim as he muttered under his breath.

If Sylus had been captured, he surely had also guessed that Louis's situation wasn't much better.

And yet he let himself be taken! Louis suspected that his goal had been his own memories all along. After all, Louis had read the original novel—he knew just how terrifying Sylus was. The entire main cast was terrifying.

Kill Sylus? Perhaps only Aboli had the power to do that. In the novel, their relationship is relatively peaceful—Sylus is like a dog clinging to Aboli, and of course, they have never actually fought each other.

Louis was even sure that Sylus's capture and memory loss from the beginning had been part of Sylus's calculations, that he had deliberately thrown himself into it in search of entertainment.

Sylus knew full well, and yet chose to ignore him.

Louis understood that it was because Sylus had no memories. But even if he did, Sylus was nothing more than a callous man who enjoyed hearing sycophantic words. Friendship? That was just an empty label. A pervert like him could never have true friends.

Louis no longer wanted to play the role of Sylus's "best friend." Aboli had already taken Luna and Lucas to Zone 5, while Sylus was someone he could never rely on...

"As expected, you can only rely on yourself in this world."

Louis collapsed onto the bed, one hand gently rubbing his stomach. Eating just a little already made him feel so much better. Don't worry, my body—this life of humiliation will soon come to an end.

The next day, the sky was gloomy, dark clouds gathering as though foreshadowing a great storm to come.

Louis sat in a carriage, Joshua by his side. Both of them were dressed formally.

Joshua swung his little legs, his mood still bright ever since yesterday.

"See, Louis, I really am better than Athena, aren't I? I didn't even make you wear a collar. My god, how humiliating! Athena must have been ruthless to treat you like that!"

Joshua lamented, as though slaves weren't stripped of clothes and forced to crawl on all fours in a mansion that wasn't even under his ownership.

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